Bandage

Bandage
An icon representing a roll of bandage.
Type	Medical
Production and service
Used by	FOX, Sandinista National Liberation Front, FOXHOUND, U.S. Navy
Events	Virtuous Mission, Operation Snake Eater, San Hieronymo Incident, Peace Walker Incident, Phantom Pain Incident

A bandage is a piece of material used either to support a medical device such as a dressing or splint, or on its own to provide support to the body; they can also be used to restrict a part of the body, such as slowing the flow of blood during heavy bleeding.

Usage

Big Boss and his allies

During his missions to Tselinoyarsk in 1964, FOX agent Naked Snake was equipped with bandages in his survival kit. Due to injuries sustained from his encounter with The Boss at the conclusion 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 Snake's upper torso was covered in bandages during Operation Snake Eater, conducted a week later. He had to rebandage himself after sustaining injuries from Colonel Volgin of GRU during his capture and subsequent torture.

Warning: The following information is from outside Hideo Kojima's core "Metal Gear Saga." Its canonicity within the continuity is disputed, therefore reader discretion is advised.[?]

Big Boss had a bandage around his left bicep during the San Hieronymo Incident in 1970, which was presumably caused during his capture by the FOX Unit. Fellow prisoner Roy Campbell also had injuries to his chest and head, thus necessitating bandages around those areas. Several of Big Boss's followers were also dressed in bandages in the aftermath of the incident, due to injuries sustained during their resistance against FOX.

Non-"Metal Gear Saga" information ends here.

In 1972, due to injuries sustained during his fight against Big Boss and his forces, Kazuhira Miller had been covered with bandages as well as stuck with tubes when recovering in a tent.

In 1974, Sandinista commandante Amanda Valenciano Libre had a bandage around her right arm during the Peace Walker Incident. In addition, because of her breaking her right leg during a confrontation with Chrysalis, she also wore a bandage around her right heel.

On March 16, 1975, because of Chico being subject to various forms of torture after being captured at Cuba in a failed attempt at rescuing Paz Ortega Andrade from the detention center there, Chico had a bandage over his left eyebrow.

Around the 1980s, the man known only as Ishmael, who aided Venom Snake (who was believed to be Big Boss) in his escape from the medical facility and claimed that he was a former acquaintance of Snake, wore bandages all over his face, mostly to disguise his true identity as the actual Big Boss. Similarly, Snake, who had just awakened from his nine-year coma at the time, wore a bandage around his head, with a bit covering his blind eye, although the doctor claimed that the bandages were more intended to disguise his identity. The bandages came off after a lightning strike had him, Ocelot, and D-Horse fall into the ocean while escaping the Man on Fire. Aside from this, Snake also briefly wore a bandage on his left forearm, or rather, what remained of his left forearm due to it being amputated as a result of the events of the Ground Zeroes Incident nine years earlier, although this was later replaced with a prosthetic hook, and later a bionic arm.

FOXHOUND

Gray Fox, in 1995.

Gray Fox wore bandages around his head during the Outer Heaven Uprising in 1995, presumably due to injuries sustained during his capture by Outer Heaven forces.

During the Shadow Moses Incident in 2005, Revolver Ocelot had the stump of his right hand covered in bandages, following its amputation by Gray Fox, as the Cyborg Ninja.

Sniper Wolf ended up wearing a bandage due to being injured from a sniper battle with Solid Snake.

Meryl Silverburgh

Because of her narrowly surviving being sniped at by Sniper Wolf and tortured by Ocelot, Meryl Silverburgh wore bandages on the upper portion of her upper right arm, the lower portion of her upper left arm, her left forearm, her right wrist, the top of her right leg, and near her left knee at the conclusion of the Shadow Moses Incident.

USS Discovery and Big Shell

Gel bandages were used by U.S. personnel on board the USS Discovery and the Big Shell. They are highly absorpent pads that gel blood and other fluids on contact. A type of alginate dressing, gel bandages release calcium ions during absorption, improving the coagulating effect and helping to stop blood loss. During the Big Shell Incident in 2009, because of Vamp ambushing Solid Snake while the latter was disguised as Iroquois Pliskin, Snake wore a bandage across his left forearm. Emma Emmerich Danziger was also bandaged around the abdomen after Vamp fatally stabbed her.

Solid Snake

During the Guns of the Patriots Incident in 2014, Solid Snake wore a bandage on the left side of his face in a mission briefing, due to a burn received in Eastern Europe, from an explosion caused by Liquid. However, he removed it just prior to departing for Shadow Moses Island, to demonstrate to Raiden that he, unlike Raiden, had no future.

Behind the scenes

Bandage item window icon in Metal Gear Solid 2.

The Bandage as a gameplay item was first introduced in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. It is used to prevent the player character bleeding after sustaining sufficient health damage, indicated by the Life gauge turning orange. If the player doesn't treat the wound, their health will gradually decrease, leading to potential death. The droplets of blood leave behind a trail the enemy can follow. After using the Bandage, the blood loss immediately stops and the Life gauge remains at its current level. Alternatively, the player can recuperate from blood loss by crouching in a stationary position for a short time. The Bandage is therefore best used when the player is evading enemy pursuit and cannot locate a safe place to rest. The bleeding mechanic and Bandage items were included in the remake of Metal Gear Solid, The Twin Snakes.

The Bandage item returns in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, but is instead accessed through the Survival Viewer, rather than the item menu, and can also be used to treat other wounds, in conjunction with other medical items. If the player decides to wound Major Ocelot while he is unconscious during the Virtuous Mission (by stabbing or shooting him in either the arm or the leg), he will have a bandage in that location during the remainder of the game.^[source?]

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the Naked Snake trophy depicts him with bandages across his arms and torso, in reference to the injuries he sustained in two pivotal cutscenes in the game; the ending of the Virtuous Mission, and when he is tortured by Colonel Volgin in Operation Snake Eater.

Bandages are seen in the icons for the Small and Large medical kit items in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops.

"CURE:Laceration
Corresponding abnormality can be healed from the Cure screen."

―Suture kit description in Metal Gear Survive

The bandage will make a return in Metal Gear Survive, where it served the same purpose as in past games, and in a similar function to Snake Eater. Five of them were issued out as an administrator's gift to the player upon joining the open beta, alongside the other four healing items. Unlike the daily login bonuses, the administrator's gift could be kept in the supply box indefinitely. Its weight in Survive is 0.2 KG, and it can be formed via combining two sets of rags with three sets of alcohol.