Tourniquets: Tactical Medical Solutions
B.J. HallDescription
Old-school thinking held that if a tourniquet were used on an extremity wound, the injured person would lose that limb. That has been shown to be incorrect, and tourniquets are now in the first-aid kits of medics on battlefields and streets worldwide. SWAT Medic B.J. Hall presents three tourniquets that he has found reliable and effective as tactical medical solutions: the Pneumatic Tourniquet, the C-A-T Tourniquet, and the SOF-T Tourniquet. To stop bleeding on extremity wounds, a tourniquet should be your go-to tool.
Here comes another important tip from the Personal Defense Network. Good afternoon, my name is B.J. Hall. I'm one of the SWAT medics for St. John's County Sheriff's Office. Just want to touch base with you on the tourniquets that are on the market now that would be used for injuries that you might come across in a battlefield situation or some type of tactical operation. Basically, there's three tourniquets that are out there that are approved by the committee that have passed all the testing for the military that we tend to stay with. One of them is a pneumatic tourniquet that you won't see in the field. The other is the CAT tourniquet, which is produced by North American Rescue and then the SOF T tourniquet, which is produced by Tactical Medical Solutions. Both tourniquets are great. They have the windlass setup. They have a catch to catch the tourniquet and there, the CAT happens to have Velcro to make it self-applying. And then the SOF T is set up the same way with the windlass. However, it has a little triangle setup that catches the windlass and is used to stop bleeding from extremity wounds. Anytime you have an extremity wound, if you have a tourniquet with you, this is gonna be your first go-to to stop the bleeding. One of the biggest things we've run into in combat is the fact that a lot of people that bleed to death from extremity wounds that should have been stopped or could be stopped by tourniquet applications. However, up until recently, with the studies that have gone through the military with all the wars, tourniquets haven't been used. You might've heard of the old time or the old days, if you used a tourniquet, you were going to lose a limb. That's found out not to be true. So now the military and law enforcement SWAT teams, tactical operations, are starting to implement these into a kit that they will, operators will carry with them at all times to fix just that. These are the three tourniquets you're most likely to find in an aid kit that an operator will carry. The SOF T wide, which is the new one that's come out. It happens to be my personal favorite. It's very sturdy and will hold up to the elements and won't give you any problems. Be sure to check out the Personal Defense Network for more important tips, just like that one.
Tourniquets are not the first line of stopping the bleed. It is pressure and, if necessary, stuffing the wound. Only if these two do not work, then the tourniquet is applied. And one must note the time applied as well.
rob, now how about a video about how to use these touriquets
BTW, don't think that you can just improvise a tourniquet, & it will be as good as a purpose made tourniquet like the C.A.T.. IT WON'T! The persistent myth that using a tourniquet will automatically result in the loss of the limb comes in large part from improvised tourniquets! A tourniquets needs to be at least 1.5"-2" wide. Sure you can stop the bleeding with a shoe string, a neck tie or a piece of rope, and doing so is far preferable to dying, but your improvised tourniquet will cause so much tissue damage that loss of the limb is a real possibility! Belts are often wide enough, but they're extremely difficult to tighten enough to stop the bleeding. The real solution is to buy a C.A.T. & keep it handy!