Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/483661
a f t e r m o G a d i S h U In 1996 (3 years after the „Battle of Mogadishu", which forced changes in strategy and tactics of the rescue activities on the battle field) together with the development of the Tactical Combat Casualty Care guidelines, US armed forces announced a contest for a constricting band/tourniquet to be used on the field combat situations. The first which entered into use was Combat Application Tourniquet (C-A-T). It was adopted with a very high applause and imme- diately verified in the combats of the special police units. After the incident in the west Hollywood in 1997 one draw attention to the necessity of possessing by the policemen personal equipment to provide a first aid (including cases of shots). Shortly after it, other products appeared which allowed to select appropriate solutions when taking into ac- count performed activities. The tactical tourniquets are a sub- ject to a detailed research during which is considered both their ef- fectiveness, and easiness to use them by the user on himself and other wounded person. Now, a few types of the tourniquets can be found on the market which meet requirements of the field combat situations. Depending on the realized task (water, land actions, etc.), terrain conditions (wooded, grass, desert land, etc.) and climate conditions (dif- ferent seasons, atmospheric precipitations, etc.) a user can chose a tried and tested in ac- tions tourniquet which meets the best his preferences. A constricting band included in the personal equip- ment, should be prepared to use and placed in such a place to make it easy to reach it both with a left, and a right hand. During trainings one pays atten- tion not only to a time of the operation of putting on a tourniquet, but also on the accuracy and, first of all, effectiveness. A tactical tourniquet put on in a hurry and carelessly will not work in the majority of cas- es. 1 A part of products offered on the world market, unfortunately, does not comply with requirements of the combat field and they fail in the unexpected moments. Dur- ing the last conflicts ( Afghanistan, Sudan, Nige- ria) there happened cases of creaking the bands, astringe tapes or breaking down a tourniquet. TCCC