Naval Special Warfare Hosts Blood Drive

By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class (SW/AW) John Scorza, Naval Special Warfare Public Affairs

CORONADO, Calif. (NNS) -- Naval Special Warfare Command (NSW) hosted the first of its quarterly Naval Medical Center San Diego (NMCSD) blood donor drive's in San Diego, Calif., March 15.

Sailors and civilians joined in the NSW donor effort and contributed more than 40 pints, which will benefit military members and their families around the world.

"We are a military blood donor center and our mission is to support the military," said Doreen Rekoski, NMCSD blood donor recruiter. "We do that in two ways. The first way is by sending the blood to our hospital, NMCSD, and the other way is by sending a weekly shipment of blood to the troops overseas for the forward deployed medical units."

Military blood donations are limited due to federal restrictions stating that military collections must be performed on military installations. Although anyone can donate, they must have base access to participate.

"Really, our primary donors are active duty or retired military," said Rekoski. "Anyone can donate, but it is a matter of being able to get on base which limits our exposure."

"Donating blood saves lives," said Rekoski. "There is no substitute for human blood and even though you don't know who you're going to help, you will help someone."

Operations Specialist 3rd Class April Reimers has given blood more than 10 times in her life and advocates the importance of donating.

"It saves lives. It's that simple," said Reimers. "People should think about what it would be like to be in a position of needing blood and not having anyone volunteer to give any."

"I've never donated before," said Intelligence Specialist 2nd Class (EXW) Jeffrey Jones. "I've contemplated giving blood for many years, and I couldn't really say what made me do it this time, but I'm glad I did it."