When we were first contemplating making instructional youtube videos, we didn’t give a shit about being entertaining to the masses. What we wanted to do was build a place where operators, professionals, and gun-loving citizens could go to find good information on guns, gear, and training. Now, the focus is mostly on shooting skills. However, we do also cover survival, driving, breaching, and all the other great “Man-Skills” that every American should know… including Medical. As I started my life in Special Forces as an SF Medic, I have a warm spot in my heart for Trauma. That, and I like the taste of blood.
This week’s video is about Tactical Combat Casualty Care, or what we call “TCCC.” Remember First Aid Class in Cub Scouts or maybe CPR class in high school? Well, TCCC is the same thing but geared towards combat wounds.
Now, we didn’t have time to go into everything… Hell, that’s a solid 1 to 3 days of hands-on training. That said, we have and will continue to cover all the steps and skills that you need to know. See some of our other videos, like “How to put on a Tourniquet.” More videos to come for sure.
In this video, Stooks talks us through the different phases of TCCC.
Care Under Fire: Return fire & Tourniquets… Keep the red blood cells in the body. Think of it this way… if it takes you 2 minutes to fireman-carry your buddy back to the next Suburban… that’s 2 whole minutes he is bleeding out IF you don’t first apply a tourniquet. Remember, superior firepower is good preventive medicine in a gunfight.
Tactical Field Care: Plug all the Holes… OK, you have fireman-carried your buddy to a semi-safe location… now, save his life. There are different acronyms that different units use… ABCs, SCABS, MARCH, SMARCH. Pick whichever you want, just don’t miss an injury or treatment. It’s not about checking the blocks on a grade sheet; it’s about treating a patient. Here’s a couple examples:

ABCs
Airway
Breathing
Circulation

SCABS
Security (Shoot back)
Control Massive Bleeders (Tourniquets)
Airway
Breathing
Shock

CasEvac (or MedEvac): Handing your patient off for transport to a proper medical facility. Whether it is a 5-minute ambulance ride in St. Louis or a 2-hour Helicopter ride in Afghanistan, your patient better be stable.
So, this is only for Combat? Nope? The laws of physics are the same whether it was a terrorist’s bullet or a Cape Buffalo’s horn. You still need to prevent further harm (to you or your patient) and you need to keep those red blood cells inside the body.
Now, again, we didn’t have time to cover all the medical training you need here in this one video. If you really want to be prepared, it’s more than just buying a tourniquet and an Aid Kit. You need to invest some time and take a proper TCCC course, available at many great training centers.
So, before you skip this video and and move on to the “Call of Duty 6” trailer video, you need to ask yourself if you are ready for a real trauma situation. Say you are out Holiday Shopping at the mall with your family… To hell with a terror attack; let’s say a Piper Cub airplane crash lands in the food court. 25 people, just like you, just got the snot knocked out of them by a food processor with wings. What do you do? Half the sheep will run and the other half will be filming with their damn cell phones. A few will call 911. In the 15 minutes it is going to take for the Paramedics to arrive, many of these casualties are going to bleed out. How many tourniquets could you make and apply in 15 minutes?

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Tactical Rifleman will continue to bring you good training videos. Most will still be gun related, but we will still sneak in a few medical videos every now and then. Remember, knowledge is power, and medical knowledge can sometimes be the best tool for the job. Strength and Honor, TR.


For more go to http://www.tacticalrifleman.com/ and Follow me on Twitter-http://bit.ly/TACrman