Dog tag says blood type A+ in the Army

My dog tags list my blood type as "reptile" -- the MEPS personnel knew that I was a recently commissioned JAG lawyer ..............................

Just kidding, mine is AB- -- kind of handy if you get wounded in a combat zone.
 
Back in college I had a roommate that was AB-. Because he was a pharmacy major, he was kind of embedded in the system. Every few weeks he'd get a phone call in the middle of the night. It was a vampire wanting his blood over at the hospital. Apparently they never had it on the shelf and by the time they were calling, it was life or death for some injured fool. And he was a good sport about it. But they didn't care when the last time he gave was, they needed it now. Every time he'd get up and leave I'd mumble about how glad I was I was O+. It may be universal donor, but as long as no one needed my blood, I was happy.

Poor Calvin. I wonder what he's doing today. Probably rich and retired.
 
Texas Star said:
I recall that on, The Lost World the character Finn said that she was O-Negative, the universal donor. If the screenwriters knew their stuff, that infers that O-Positive is NOT a universal donor type.

But it's probably better not to get blood info from TV shows... or, evidently, from the military. There are various reasons why I declined to re-enlist. I'll add this to the others.
Click to expand...

They are correct, rh- people can not receive rh+ blood, but rh+ can receive rh-.
 
Springfeildkid585 said:
They are correct, rh- people can not receive rh+ blood, but rh+ can receive rh-.
Click to expand...


Yes, but is O-Negative a universal one? Or, just any Negative type?

And they didn't know Prof. Challenger's blood type, which is why Finn was chosen as the donor. Being from this century (the others were endemic to the 1922 time frame; Finn was transported back then in a time cave that Challenger had rigged), Finn knew more about transfusions, and helped Marguerite to rig up some tubing and saved Challenger after he got sick from drinking one of his inventions.

If you have the show's DVD's, the episode is, "The Elixer." I was proud of Finny for thinking of this. She was only in 8-9 episodes of the final season, but stole my heart. :)

I'll pay more attention to blood types on TV now. And I'll include a transfusion in a detective novel that I'm writing. It'll add a little authentic detail that should please some readers. ;)
 
The Army actually got mine right in early '72 . . . A+.

Geez . . . or was that a test score during "Zero Week?" LOL
 
The Navy typed me as A+ in 1942 and I still check the same. Must be good, clean living and never lying that kept it the same.
 
The Army said O+, the Red Cross said O+, my doctors say O+. So I'm pretty positive its O. :D

I used to give blood fairly regularly. But they won't let me anymore. Seems that one little heart attack makes you
ineligible. :mad:
 
OK guys and gals. Let's see if this old pathologist and former blood bank director for 40+ years can straighten out some of the mystery. Type O neg is the universal donor and type AB positive is the universal recipient. Many "dog tag" blood types were wrong. People were almost never transfused based on that info, a holdover from WWII.

Blood for transfusion is matched and cross matched, meaning that blood from the donor and the recipient are mixed together. If the test is done properly, it will pick up any errors in types.

Rh negative persons CAN receive Rh positive blood and frequently do. The only problem is that they may develop RH antibodies, which would preclude them from getting Rh positive blood again. Not everyone develops these antibodies, thus the reason for the match and cross match. The real problem comes when you are dealing with pregnant women whose baby may be of a different Rh type (a whole nuther story!)

Just trust me! in today's modern medical practice, don't worry about your blood type. It will be repeatedly tested whether you are giving or getting blood.

medxam
 
Type O is the absence of A or B. You either have Rh factor " + " or you don't " - ". It is hereditary you can ony inherit what one of your parents has, but you may not inherit all that they have (or any).

O negative is the universal donor, because it has "none of the above" so there is no adverse reaction by a reciipent with A, B, AB or Rh + .

My father went in the Army in 1943 and they told him he was O+. Fast forward about 50 years, he developed diabetes and started dialysis and they retested him and found he was really O- .

That doesn't sound like much, except that my mother was also O-. In the 1940's they knew something bad could happen when a woman with Rh negative and the father Rh + had babies (after the first). Now they know why, but they didn't back then. When my brother and sister (her 2nd and 3rd) were born they were ready to take out all their blood and replace it with O- for fear they would die.
 
Emory University Hospital said I was O+ when I had surgery there at age 13. The Navy also said I was O+ in 1968 and the North Florida-South Georgia Blood Alliance has concurred with that typing every time I donated which totaled over 8 gallons.

Anyone with AB- blood who is willing to donate blood should belong to the National Rare Blood Club out of New York. Because AB- is the rarest blood type, it's always needed. The NRBC helps hospitals find donors in emergency situations. I think AB+ can also list with them but I'm not sure.

CW
 
Denver Dick said:
Like some of the other guys, we tested our own blood back in 8th grade science class. The results showed I was B+. That was in early 1965. Later, when I enlisted in the Army in mid 1969, they confirmed my early test result, B+. Then, much later, when I was donating blood at work in the mid 1990s, the Red Cross agreed, B+. So, I state with some certainty, I am B+. ;)
Click to expand...

I knew a biology professor at Boston University. He did that with his Biology 101 class and then went into the genetics of blood type inheritance. One of his students came back in quite a dither: she knew her parents' blood types and just found out she'd been adopted.
 
It is not new in the military to mis-type blood. I joined in 1956 and they made the same error with me back then. A+/A-.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

max
A Very Good Dog Crossed The Rainbow Bridge Today.
2
Replies
36
Views
775
Roofuss
R
oldbrownhat
The bear who was a private in the Polish army
Replies
6
Views
518
oldbrownhat
oldbrownhat
Lee Barner
My Wife Says
Replies
5
Views
597
CalifEd
C
lihpster
Strange tag on item
Replies
7
Views
565
dockmurgw
D
Nevada Ed
Tag, your it.
Replies
8
Views
580
Skeet 028
S

Latest posts

Back
Top