When I went through basic training in the U.S. Army (just after the Revolutionary War, according to the young cadets I train), our combat medical training amounted to little more than first aid. Now, every soldier headed for deployment to Afghanistan or Iraq is taught and equipped to save themselves and/or a buddy from a life threatening wound. We’ve learned not to wait for a more highly-trained medic — you can bleed out before they arrive. While the death toll at the 2009 Ft. Hood terrorist shooting was terrible, many lives were saved by ordinary soldiers who applied battle field medical techniques before the medics arrived.
Recently, I had the opportunity to attend a Rapid Medical Response: Self-Aid and Buddy Aid for Patrol Officers course taught by the PROTECMED Group. This daylong class is taught by working paramedics, several of whom have military medic training and/or Tactical Emergency Medical Services (TEMS) experience with a local SWAT team. The PROTECMED group has been training these classes through Illinois’ 16 regional Mobile Team Units, funded by a grant from the Illinois Terrorism Task Force.
All first responders in attendance left with life-saving knowledge, a live-saving medical kit, and the experience of learning the techniques in stressful, reality-based training scenarios. It is important to note that no specialized medical training is necessary to attend this course. Any police officer with basic first aid training will quickly master these techniques.
Keeping Black Bands OFF Badges
The course covers the three primary causes of battlefield casualties:
• massive blood loss (60 percent)
• tension pneumothorax, aka sucking chest wounds (33 percent)
• impaired airway (6 percent)
In case you think cops don’t need to know these techniques developed by our troops in the Global War on Terror, consider these facts. In most metropolitan locales, a paramedic unit will be on-scene at your shooting in about four to six minutes. If you are shot in the thigh, severing your femoral artery, you can bleed out in two to four minutes.
Now consider the final problem with your plan: even if the paramedics do arrive before you die from massive hemorrhage, they will only come to your aid if the scene is “safe.” If you are pinned down by a barricaded shooter, the paramedics will feel very bad when they watch you die before their eyes. But, they WILL NOT come to your aid until the scene is safe. If you can’t treat yourself or get buddy aid from a fellow police officer, there will be black bands on badges to mourn your passing.
“X” Marks the Kill Zone
The instructors emphasize throughout this course — in both the classroom and hands-on scenario exercises — that “X” marks the spot where a police casualty goes down. Therefore, the “X” is in the Kill Zone, a place we don’t want to be. As soon as possible, get OFF the X — in other words, get the wounded officer out of the Kill Zone. If the officer can move, have them perform self-aid with their own gear, or crawl out to safety. When the officer cannot treat or move themselves, we must consider a rescue operation, but that will generally place more officers at risk. So, the on-scene leader must conduct a quick risk assessment … do we stand a reasonable chance of getting the wounded officer out without taking more casualties? If we do choose to make a rescue in an active Kill Zone, we must move the wounded officer as rapidly as possible, not taking the time to stabilize their injuries — LOAD and GO.
During the course of this training day, all participants are taught to effectively apply an Israeli Battle dressing, a CAT tourniquet, QuikClot gauze, and a nasopharyngeal airway. At the end of the day, each student leaves with a grant-funded medical bag that contains everything except the CAT Tourniquet and a package of QuikClot (PROTECMED is hoping to add those remaining items during the next grant cycle).
Practical Training
After the morning classroom session and some hands-on experience with the medical equipment, you will practice those skills under the added stress of airsoft-munition tactical exercises. Some members of a team will engage and secure the threat while others will need to assess a downed officer’s injuries — get them “off the X” and out of the Kill Zone. Then the officers must apply the necessary treatment for a massive bleeding wound and/or a tension pnuemothorax wound. As with all other critical skills, learning them under the stress of a simulated combat condition really drives the lessons home.
If you live in Illinois, contact PROTECMED and see about hosting one of these lifesaving classes. If you live near Illinois, I still recommend you contact this group to see if they can train in your locale. Of course, the Illinois Terrorism Task Force won’t fund anything outside of Illinois, so see if you can find terrorism training funds in your state.
We train for failure drills in firearms training. If our first two body shots fail to put our adversary down, then go for a head shot. If your weapon malfunctions during a fight, clear it and continue to fight. So we must train the mental and medical skills needed to survive gunshot wounds. Learning these medical skills will help you save a life someday ...maybe your own life.
