The Golden Hour.
In the context of a life-threatening traumatic injury, it represents the period of time within which medical intervention can prevent a death.
Salvador Ramos walked into Robb elementary school at 11:43 and began shooting children. At 12:50, he was finally neutralized. That's a one hour and seven-minute span of time during which 19 students and 2 teachers were shot and killed. The autopsy results have yet to be released, but it's a cinch that some of those deaths were unnecessary; if immediate medical treatment had been administered, they'd be alive today.
Instead... today, the authorities aren't celebrating lives saved, they're pointing fingers and casting blame... at each other. It appears the responding units which arrived on scene first were fired upon... the definition of an "active shooter." But instead of advancing, which is their directive, they withdrew. As an ever-increasing number of police officers arrived, the scene was redefined as a "barricade situation." Even as shots were being fired inside the school, presumably, at helpless children, heavily armed officers listened... and waited.
Before throwing all the responding officers under the bus, it's important to consider the "chain of command." It sets up immediately and directs all on-scene operational efforts. Commanding officers are almost always politically connected and/or driven, in many cases, they're the least capable people on a scene. In the politically correct police (and fire) departments of today, promotions are often based upon appearance and identity, not merit. So, it's very possible no take-down efforts were mounted for over an hour because of command incompetence... a perfect example of that can be found in the White House!
But, whatever the case, as expected, in the aftermath, the "experts" and pundits have lined up behind one theory or another, each pontificating upon what could have happened or might have been. Meanwhile, politicians have taken up similar positions, espousing their party's talking points. None of the political posturing is helpful because no actual solutions are being proposed by anyone... and when it's all over, no problems will have been solved.
Sure, law enforcement will conduct endless investigations; each agency will identify its mistakes and create protocols for the future. But in the present are countless examples of still unresolved abject failures which allowed the "Golden Hour" to tick inexorably by as 2 teachers and 19 little children exsanguinated just a few feet from dozens of holding-their-position police officers.
And so, the citizens of Uvalde, Texas will soon bury their dead; there will be 21 new headstones in the local cemetery, but none of the names engraved thereupon will ever cross the lips of media members, politicians, or pundits because their political gains will have all dried up... they'll be long-gone.
I'm reminded of a similarly horrific situation, except during this one, there was no hesitation, no calls for back-up, no holding-of-position... no retreat. The members of law enforcement... and their commanders, who stood by in Uvalde, Texas and listened to shot after shot without making any attempt to neutralize the shooter could learn a lesson from the ordinary, unarmed citizens on a plane known as "Flight 93." Their actions surely saved countless lives... their courage is exemplified by two simple words..."Let's roll."
If only the same were spoken in Uvalde.
