Bandage

A Bandage is a piece of material used to either restrict a wounded part of the body or put support on the wounded part of the body, applying pressure to stop blood flow if the wound in question is an open wound.

Big Boss and his soldiers
During the Virtuous Mission and Operation Snake Eater in 1964, FOX agent Naked Snake procured some bandages during his missions within Tselinoyarsk. In addition, because of injuries sustained from his encounter with The Boss nearing the end of the Virtuous Mission (which included a fractured left elbow and rib bone, and lacerations to his upper arms, right elbow, and abdomen), most of Naked Snake's upper torso was covered in bandages during Operation Snake Eater.

During the San Hieronymo Takeover in the early 1970s, several of the medical kits utilized bandages. In addition, Roy Campbell had injuries on his chest, thus necessitating bandages around that area. Several of Big Boss's soldiers also wore bandages in the aftermath of the event, due to their attempting to stop the ICBMG from launching and getting caught in the ignition blast.

During the Peace Walker Incident in 1974, the FSLN Commandante Amanda Valenciano Libre had a bandage around her right arm.

Raiden and Snake
During the Tanker Incident in 2007, Solid Snake procured some bandages, and frequently made use of them to cover up wounds to keep the Gurlukovich Soldiers off his trail. Two years later during the Big Shell Incident, Raiden would later procure bandages for similar purposes.

Behind the scenes
Bandages were first introduced in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. One-time use bandages are used to patch up wounds. Use this when the life gauge turns orange. That indicates your character is bleeding. If you don't treat the wound, his health will wane, leading to potential death. The droplets of blood leave behind a trail the enemy can follow. Of course, a bandage should only be used as a last resort. After using a bandage, the blood loss immediately stops at whatever life that still remains--unlike allowing your character to recuperate and clean up the wound himself. Because of the bleeding mechanic in that game, the player had to frequently procure bandages and use them to stop the flow of bleeding when the LIFE bar reaches the red area. The concept was also reused in Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, the 2004 remake of Metal Gear Solid.

Similar to the above games, Metal Gear Solid 3 utilized bandages, as well as the bleeding system. However, unlike before, the bandages cannot be used within the item menu. Instead, the bandages are used inside the Survival Viewer.

If the player decides to wound Ocelot while he is unconscious (by stabbing or shooting him in either the arm or the leg), he'll have a bandage in that location during the remainder of the game.