by: The PSG Cadre
In today’s article we’re going to talk about a piece of gear that is easily overlooked but should be found in everybody’s individual first aid kit, and that’s the tourniquet. A lot of people out there might be thinking “Why should spend money on a single use item like a tourniquet when I can easily improvise a tourniquet with a belt or a handkerchief ” My reasoning is this: For some things- like critical lifesaving items- you need to invest in good, quality pieces of kit that do that one job exceptionally well. You don’t want a team member to bleed out because your shooting belt doesn’t flex enough to close an artery or because you couldn’t find a stick that wouldn’t snap under the stress needed to stop arterial blood flow.
Everyone’s chest rig should include a combat tourniquet for stopping arterial bleeding to the extremities. These can be had cheaply and come in a couple main varieties: the CAT Tourniquet and the SOF-T Tourniquet. Both of these tourniquets have a lot in common and can be used in the same way. The main difference between the two is in the windless, which is the rod that you twist to constrict the tourniquet.
The CAT Tourniquet
The CAT Tourniquet has a plastic windless that is secured when tightened by a C shaped bracket. There is a Velcro strap that closes the C bracket after the windless is secured inside it, ensuring that the windless can’t come back out. The most devastating drawback to the CAT Tourniquet is that it has a reputation for failing when tightened all the way. In some cases the windless has actually snapped, making the tourniquet useless. Granted, this hasn’t happened enough for the military to stop issuing them to regular troops, but it has happened in the past.
The SOF-T Tourniquet
The SOF-T Tourniquet works basically the same way as the CAT tourniquet. The main differences are in the hardware-it has an aluminum windless that is secured by triangle shaped brackets that slide over the windless when it is tightened down. It has buckles that can be locked with thumbscrews instead of relying on Velcro. The nylon on the SOF-T is also a bit heavier than what is used in the CAT tourniquet as well.
Again, both of these tourniquets work in the same fashion, but it is important to familiarize yourself with the tourniquet before you need to use it. Applying a tourniquet isn’t that tricky, but it’s not something that you want to have to figure out how to do on the spot. Just know that you can’t reuse a CAT tourniquet, so if you decide to practice with one, make sure you don’t put that back in your first aid kit and that you mark it as a training aid. For the tourniquets that you do carry on you (and we’d recommend more than one per person), make sure that you prep them so that they’re immediately ready to be used. This means looping the tourniquets through the appropriate buckles so that they’re ready to go over a limb and be cinched down so you’re not trying to lace the tourniquet together over a person’s limb while they’re writhing on the ground in agony. The more you can reduce needing to use fine motor skills in a high stress situation, the better you’ll be able to perform.
Applying the Tourniquet
There are a few rules to applying a tourniquet:
- Never put a tourniquet on a joint. It won’t pinch the artery very well and will crush the joint and permanently destroy the cartilage. Tourniquets must be placed at least two inches away from a joint.
- Make sure to put the tourniquet around the part of the arm or leg that has the long bone in it (femur or humorous). If you place the tourniquet on the forearm or foreleg the radius/ulna or fibula/tibia (respectively) will probably break which will cause another problem and may cause more damage to the artery. Also, in some people the artery will grow between the bones which makes using a tourniquet a lot less effective. If placed over a long bone, the tourniquet will have a lot easier of a time compressing the vein.
- Always place the tourniquet two inches above the wound (providing you have the space to work with)
- Make sure you write down the time the tourniquet was placed on the victim. Some tourniquets have a place for this information, but most likely the easiest way to do this is to use some of the victim’s blood to mark the time on their forehead.
In closing, I’d like to say that the tourniquet is one of the most effective ways of stopping arterial bleeding and has a spot in everyone’s first aid kit. In the old days (before the War on Terror, during which the tourniquet was perfected), it was thought that people who needed a tourniquet would definitely loose the leg or arm below the tourniquet. Now it’s known that a person can go for at least 18 hours with a tourniquet before amputation is necessary. Of course that is with an experienced surgeon removing the tourniquet and performing the necessary surgery. I’m not sure how long one would go before limb loss is a concern in an undeveloped part of the world without a modern surgical facility, but the tourniquet will most definitely save your life if you need it.
