Frag Out! Magazine

carrying a wounded person on the poncho or on the transport stretchers. The SWAT Tourniquet is last of the described tour- niquets. It is a rubber band with printed patterns which put on the limb and pulled over in the appro- priate manner (Please see a template) completely effectively stops hemorrhages – especially from the upper limbs. Very intuitive in use, although it demands self-restraint and an excellent training. There is no element to fix its end so one must wrap it skillfully. Well, if you do not have what you like … Tactical Tourniquets in the Civil Rescue Services The tourniquets presented above, in particular the C-A-T™ and SOFTT-W, now have also their ver- sions intended for the civil rescue services. Be- sides a well visible orange color they do not differ literally anything from their "combat" brothers. A color allows for location a tourniquet on the limb and it is decidedly more "emergency" than sub- dued tactical black. The studies conducted during wars in the last dec- ade showed a great sur- vivability of the sufferers after applying constric- tion bands. A large scale of limb injuries caused by the mines, improvised ex- plosive devices or shots showed a range of provid- ed interventions and their effectiveness. The con- striction bands made using original tactical tour- niquets shortened greatly a time of putting them on what allowed to restriction of hemorrhage be- fore medial eventuation units arrived. The thread of terrorism all around the world also enforces im- plementing appropriate measures to secure rescue services which are to intervene in order to remove effects of assassinations. Finally, the rescue ser- vices also during construction disasters and mass casualty incidents have at their disposal something "ready-to-use" and do not have to worry from what make an improvised constriction band. rememBer: • Never use during training sessions a tourniquet which you will be carrying "in the combat situa- tions" – you must have a "training" tourniquet to use during trainings only; • before making a purchase, explore the market in terms of advantages and disadvantages with regard to fulfilled tasks; • to prepare a place in your equipment for a tac- tical tourniquet – the best one is in the body axis and in the manner which does not make impossi- ble using the equipment (e.g. do not interfere with taking magazine, initiating radio connectivity, etc.); • to take care about a tourniquet, maintaining it and controlling its condition (a not used tourni- quet may be damaged, e.g. when it is a subject to great strengths/pressures or when is exposed to the sunrays for a long time); • to acknowledge a purchase/acquiring source of the tactical tourniquet – sometimes a cheap tourniquet is a counterfeit which can fail in the most important moment… Stay safe! Michał Czerwiński, Paweł Makowiec, The Basis of the combat rescue services, The Difin Publish- ing, 2014 StaY Safe! TCCC

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