A gunshot wound is more often than not accompanied by copious amounts of blood and for a soldier on the battlefield, bleeding out is the leading cause of death.
Current methods of stemming a deep wound involves packing it with gauze, a process so agonising "you take the guy’s gun away first".
A new medical creation aims to do away with this - a pocket-sized syringe that injects lots of tiny sponges into a wound.
The XStat
Each one is made from wood pulp and coated with chitosan, a blood-clotting, antimicrobial substance derived from shrimp shells.
In 15 seconds they expand to fill the whole cavity. They also cling to moist surfaces meaning they are not pushed out by the force of blood flowing from the wound.
Before
Former U.S. Army Special Operations medic John Steinbaugh, said: "By the time you even put a bandage over the wound, the bleeding has already stopped."
He added: "I spent the whole war on terror in the Middle East, so I know what a medic needs when someone has been shot.
After
"I’ve treated lots of guys who would have benefited from this product. That’s what drives me."
The new system is called XStat and has been developed by Oregon company RevMedX.