Military medics, first responders guided by simple light.

• Author: Beidel, Eric
• Position: TECHWIRE - E/T Lights - Brief article

Five soldiers lay wounded in a field. Who should receive help first?

A San Antonio businessman has come up with a solution to conducting battlefield triage that already is catching on in the military. Juan Cienfuegos is the founder of Southwest Synergistic Solutions, the company that manufactures a new line of triage technology called E/T Lights.

A single light beams four colors based on the condition of a patient--red, yellow, green and blue. Instead of using four different chemical light sticks, a soldier can carry one device that is slightly larger than bulbs commonly used in Christmas decorations. The technology was developed in conjunction with Air Force medics and also is being used by a Marine battalion and Army medics. They use the tights for triage, equipment marking and indicating emergency landing zones, Cienfuegos said.

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A corpsman home from Afghanistan sparked the idea. "He said he was carrying too many bags with...