SPORT FOR ALL
Three minutes is roughly the time it takes to make a cup of tea. It’s also how quickly someone can bleed out and die from what the military calls a catastrophic haemorrhage: the rupture of a major artery and the primary cause of death on the battlefield.
As a proud Yorkshireman, former British soldier James Simpson knows the importance of both timings. In 2009, during a reconnaissance mission in Afghanistan, Simpson triggered a powerful improvised explosive device (IED), blowing him off into the desert through a thick ball of dust. His friend Ricky was rapidly by his side, pulling him onto his back to administer first aid. And as James lay there, staring at the bright sun, he was soon surrounded by other members of his combat unit, all desperately trying to stop an unrelenting flow of blood escaping
