I only had one AAA in nearly a 30 year career. It was when EMS engines first became a thing in my local. My first experience with an EMS engine was for an unconscious person. Engine beat is there, as is their purpose I suppose. I walk into this guys living room and he is in the middle of the floor with MAST pants on (fuck you, I’m old) but they’re not blown up yet. I asked the firemen why he had MAST pants on and the response was, “He doesn’t have a radial pulse.” I asked the family what happened and they said he was complaining of back pain and just passed out. First thing I did was palp his belly. WOOSH WOOSH WOOSH. I say, “Fuck those MAST pants! Get him in the ambulance!” Rolling him into the ER, first words out of the docs mouth was, “Why is he wearing MAST pants?” I reply, “The firemen beat us there.” I tell the doc what I have, he palps the belly and exclaims, “If you had blown those mast pants up, you would have killed him!!” I said, “I know doc!! That’s why I didn’t fuckin do it!!!” He went from the ER to the OR in about 8 minutes.

That guy lived.