Nothing wrong with your post, you just told the truth.
Thought for the Day (1):
Laws that forbid the carrying of arms… disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes.
Thomas Jefferson, in Commonplace Book, quoting from On Crimes and Punishment, by criminologist Cesare Beccaria, 1764
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Thought for the day (2):
I am going to post a short video that was sent to me. I don’t know if will play here or not, but, if it doesn’t, try just loading the link in your browser. I am not criticizing the officers involved, nor, the tactics they used. No cops died, so that was a win. Did the lead officer use different tactics than I would have? Yes, but, that is Monday morning quarterbacking and I try to stay away from that unless it is entirely stupid.
To set the scene, the perp has a handgun in his waist. The lead officer knows that. My question is the vast amount of “felony stupid” displayed by the perp. Just how many times does an officer have to say “don’t touch the gun, drop to your knees, and turn around”? An officer is killed about every 72 hours now, and you still have to beg perps to comply?
Seriously, when is enough, enough?
What are they teaching in academies now? Tell them 5, 10, 500 times? Knowing that the longer it goes on, the more chances an officer will die?
https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/949109023688634368/pu/vid/1280x720/04WCi3g3_pmAtBgk.mp4
That is pretty confronting. Those officers are very lucky is didn’t go any worse. The officer in the background yelled out that he had been hit. Do you know if he had been or not?
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Thanks! The fear of liability has definitely taken over the fire service. That’s why you hear of fire trucks staged up blocks away from a mass casualty incident and never getting into action. But I don’t know why they’re moving at a snails pace on getting us this equipment. The chief himself talked about it during the last department pep rally. Yet he’s still spending money on dumb shit, and not getting us what we need.
I do put all of my requests for tourniquets etc in email, and I save the emails. Know what I’m saying?
I don’t know if he was shot or not. I will try to find out.
Smart move. As someone who has been sued three times in Federal Court, you can never protect yourself enough from the bottom feeders. If a lawsuit comes down, they will be combing through your training records and the local brass will be looking for a scapegoat. Don’t let that be you.
I have never heard of any fire department that had such a shortage of tourniquets. If some child bleeds out because XYZ fire department did not have any tourniquets and that hits the media, you might as well just sell your city to cover the monetary award they are going to collect.
Such a simple thing that I have seen used countless times to save lives. I carry 4 on my harness and two on my off duty rig. Everyone I work with carries three or four, because the golden rule is you never use your own on someone else ( tactical work, not civilian).
Now, we don’t have to pay for them, (unless I am counting my federal taxes) but, if your chief had any intelligence, he would have had someone quietly leak that to the local press, that little John and Cindy will probably bleed out because our fireman don’t have any medical supplies.
Nothing a local mayor or city council hates worse than being accused of not caring about children. Strange issue you have there.
Part of the problem is in civilian EMS there is still a huge prejudice against tourniquets. I got my EMT-B 10 years ago, and the golden rule during class was you NEVER use a tourniquet. This was 2008, at that point, men and women had been coming home from Iraq and Afganistan for years trying to spread the word about tourniquet use.
6 years ago I started doing paid EMS at a different agency, and we were told by our supervisor to never put on a tourniquet. There was one on each ambulance, only because the state regs said there had to be.
Guys I talk to in other jurisdictions still get chewed out by ER doctors for applying tourniquets, like on a leg partially amputated by a chainsaw for example. It’s not just my agency, but what’s galling here is that the Chief is saying the all the right words, so he knows, it’s just not happening.
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Yes, anti-tourniquet prejudice.
Someone, sometime decided that if a tourniquet was applied, it would Almost Always result in Amputation. I don’t know who or when, but that old opinion/info has lingered.
I’m not militarily experienced, but I was in ROTC a couple years in college ('98-'99). We learned first aid, bandages, stopping a sucking chest wound. Using a pair of boots to immobilize somebodies head, etc.
When it came to tourniquets, we were told it was 100% last resort and would nearly always result in amputation. Almost, don’t worry about this, because you shouldn’t do it.
As if it were a silly technique from the old days, like shock therapy. Or stuffing a wallet in somebodies mouth when they have a seizure.
There is no telling where else this old info continues to linger.
The theory I heard is that tourniquet equals amputation dates back to the American Civil War. I don’t know if there is documentation supporting this.
They amputated limbs by default during the Civil War because the .58 caliber Mine Ball was 585 grains of soft lead. It’s the equivalent of a 1 &1/4 ounce slug. It shattered bone, and if you were shot in the leg with one today and it hit bone they would have to amputate.
They also had thousands of casualties to treat, and only a handful of medical personnel to treat them. So it went like this:
“Where’s he hit?”
“Right leg”
“Looks bad. Cut it off. Next.”
So, IF that’s where the idea comes from, the logic was flawed from the beginning.
Unbelievable stupidity. I have been out of the civilian world for a decade, I find this information to be incredible. You would think 17 years of constant war, not including special ops all over this world would have made this type of crap obsolete.
One of the dumbest things I have ever read. Of course, it comes from some civilian doctor, who lacks any practical knowledge. Battlefield medics, Air force Pararescue, SF medics, Navy Corpsman will save your life. How the hell do these civilian doctors think people are saved from massive trauma on the battlefield? You get a leg blown off from an IED, what are you going to do: pack it with super glue? What total morons.
You get a leg blown off from an IED, what are you going to do: pack it with super glue? What total morons.
On that positive note, anyone have any experience using super glue to actually treat trauma? I have used it before for minor cuts and the stuff was damn near magic, always curious how it would hold up to something smaller but also not (I think) dumb enough to try it just for the sake of finding out.
Temporary at best. Last ditch effort because of the risk of infection due to the chemical involved. Observed it being used once by a “local national” medic on about a 6 inch slice from a piece of shrapnel. Slowed the bleeding but that was about it. Probably best used for paper cuts or some last Hail Mary attempt. In a desperate situation, I would take saran wrap over super glue.
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My county did a TCCC train up for LE and does continual updates/new hire training. A major part of care under fire is tourniquets. This is a POST certified course complete with county EMS approval. At the end of the day, your parting gift is an IFAK with 2 TQ’s, 2 Olaes bandages, chest seal, shears and tape. I don’t know why/how people are hanging on to the old myths about TQs.
Thought for the day: Speak softly and:
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That’s awesome! I took the class at a not too distant regional school. They had a recent high profile incident which prompted several of their officers to find this training on their own. They were able to fit it into the regional school, and very soon they are going to run all of their employees through.
Flashback Friday: : William. E. Fairbairn, a pioneer in CQB.
William Ewart Fairbairn (28 February 1885 – 20 June 1960) was a British Royal Marine and police officer. He developed hand-to-hand combat methods for the Shanghai Police during the interwar period, as well as for the allied special forces during World War II. He created his own fighting system known as Defendu. Notably, this included innovative pistol shooting techniques and the development of the Fairbairn-Sykes Fighting Knife
Fairbairn served with the Royal Marine Light Infantry starting in 1901, and joined the Shanghai Municipal Police (SMP) in 1907. He served in one of the red light districts. During his service with the International Police in Shanghai, Fairbairn reportedly engaged in hundreds of street fights in the course of his duties over a twenty-year career, where he organized and headed a special anti-riot squad. Much of his body, arms, legs, torso, even the palms of his hands, were covered with scars from knife wounds from those fights. Fairbairn later created, organized, and trained a special anti-riot squad for the Shanghai police force. He also developed numerous firearms training courses and police equipment, including a special metal-lined bulletproof vest designed to stop high-velocity bullets from the 7.63x25mm Mauser pistol.
During World War II, he was recruited by the British Secret Service as an Army officer, where he was given the nickname “Dangerous Dan”. Together with fellow close-combat instructor Eric Sykes, Fairbairn was commissioned on the General List in 1941. Fairbairn and Sykes were both commissioned as second lieutenants on 15 July 1940. He trained British, American, and Canadian Commandos and No. 2 Dutch Troop 10th Inter-Allied Commando forces, along with Ranger candidates in close-combat, pistol-shooting, and knife-fighting techniques. Fairbairn emphasized the necessity of forgetting any idea of gentlemanly conduct or fighting fair: "Get tough, get down in the gutter, and win at all costs… I teach what is called ‘Gutter Fighting.’ There’s no fair play, no rules except one: kill or be killed,” One of his pupils was Raymond Westering, who fought behind enemy lines in Burma and Indonesia.
For his achievements in training OSS personnel, Fairbairn eventually rose to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel by the end of the war, and received the U.S. Legion of Merit (Officer Grade) at the specific request of OSS-founder “Wild Bill” Donovan.
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Thought for the day: Keeping with our discussion on trauma care:
I am in no way associated with this company, I have bought from them in the past and was not screwed over.
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@idaho, what do you think a civilian should carry with them in regards to a first aid kit? I’m thinking gauze, gloves, tourniquet, tape. Anything else?