Co-author of Standing Next to History, Jeffrey Robinson explained that they always travel with bags of blood in the president’s motorcade in the event a transfusion is needed. In addition, every agent assigned to the Presidential Protection Division (PPD) is trained in “10-minute medicine” so they can do everything possible to keep the President alive until he can receive medical attention.

This training once helped save Reagan’s life after an assassination attempt in 1981. He was thought to only have a minor rib injury and going to be taken back to the White House (considered the safest place in the capital). But, in the limo, Agent Jerry Parr noticed frothy red blood coming from his mouth, which was a sign of bleeding from the lungs and redirected them to the hospital where Reagan was rushed to surgery, and later able to make a full recovery.