Donating Blood

hamleton

hamleton

5-Year Member
Joined
Jan 6, 2016
Messages
48
Hey all, just wanted to get opinions of others. I've donated in the past and want to donate again, but don't know if I should in case any complications arise from donating between April 27 and R-Day. Any and all opinions/advice is appreciated.
 
There's a pretty small chance of complications. You will have plenty of opportunities to donate blood at West Point though if you wish to hold off. Don't feel obligated to donate before if you think it might hurt you though.
 
I would not donate blood this time. My brother is a long-time donor and had a nasty reaction after he donated a year ago---some type of phlebitis I think. It was very painful and took a long time to clear up.

You can't arrive at Beast injured.
 
I agree with Dixieland. Not worth the risk. I'm taking the utmost caution in things, and anything that risks injury - such as taking a pint of blood out of your body, for example - is not something I want to be doing right now.
 
Read this post after I donated blood for the first time yesterday. Never realized the range of implications but then again I was nice to the worker :D

Take caution if you do.
 
If I recall, the Corps of Cadets has over 90% participation in blood drives, so they always have opportunities to donate. Red Cross loves USMA.
 
And did I say, cookies by the dozen! Assuming USMA is like most military donation drives.
 
My advice would be to go ahead and donate. But I do understand the other viewpoint.

Thought I would share an "old Corps" story about blood donations. It came to mind after jagger19 cited the 90% participation figure. Back in my day, there would be occasional blood drives held on base. They were always scheduled on a payday (this is back when we would all get a paper check). We always had 100% participation and woe to the unit that didn't. Let's just say that there is a reason they were held on payday. ;) My Platoon Sergeant distributed each check after the Marine "volunteered" and finished donating blood. Never had an outlier. I can't say this was standard practice but I saw it used at multiple duty stations and assignments. In fact, the same method was used to ensure 100% participation in the United Way campaign. (oh well... it was done for good causes)
 
Haha. Oh yes, at OCS, blood drives were on Friday afternoon. Early and extended liberty was given to those companies with 100% participation.
 
Thank you to everyone who offered advice, it really did help. I decided to donate (all went well thankfully) because I determined that having the opportunity to help another live for another day/week/month/year is worth possibly being pushed back to the USMA C/O 2021. Thank you all again.
 
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