Things Go Wrong.....

[Patriotic Sheepdog]

There you are, one and a half days into a three day patrol with three of your tribe members when you have contact with the very gang you were trying to recon. This gang has been raiding other homesteads in your AO and no one has seen them in a couple weeks after they raided, raped and killed the Smith family. Their homestead was only a mile away from yours, so you thought it best to try and recon. Your team has taken up cover just before a firefight entails. Yours is behind a good size boulder. You think this is a great cover as you can see all four gang members. Your other team members have found good cover as well and each is about 30 yards from each other. Two minutes into the fight, you take a hit to your dominate arm right at the elbow. Pain is excruciating. You cannot believe that you are hit but realize that it was a weird ricochet off the rock. You knew better than to "chicken wing". You've practiced that many times in your rifle classes you've taken. Why did I do that, you mumble. Thank goodness for the boulder as the round would have hit you in the chest if it wasn't for the ricochet. You think, well at least I would have been hit in my armor. My arm doesn't have any armor.
Your arm immediately goes limp and blood is spurting every time your heart beats, which now is about 120 beats per minute. Blood is spurting out three feet into the air with each precious pump of your heart. Quick, think! You know you don't have much time to get your tourniquet on. You go to reach for your CAT, which is in your IFAK located on your right side. Your injured arm doesn't move despite the pain you have when trying to move it. Oh you can shrug your shoulder, but everything below the elbow is useless. You don't want to look but do. All you see is a bloody mess and see muscle, shards of bone and blood squirting. Your heart rate now is pumping faster. It's been 30 seconds since you were hit. You remember back to that Survival Medicine Class JRH put on and realized that the heart rate increases with blood loss. I'm going into shock. Time is running out and quick. You know you HAVE to get to your CAT. Your team mates are returning fire, but you know they may not get to you right away. You now realize that your life is in your hand. When you think that you chuckle, as literally it is in your hand, not hands. And then the thought comes to mind that the hand you are depending on is your non-dominate hand. You take your left hand and struggle to get to your IFAK. Dang, armor...it's slowing me down. It takes you 20 seconds to get the flap of your IFAK open, but finally able to pull out your CAT. It's now been a minute since that round entered your life. Dang, I thought I had removed the plastic wrapping on the CAT. You then put the wrapping into your teeth to rip it apart. After 15 seconds you are able to get to the CAT. Now comes the chore of getting it in place. Think! How does this go on? That class was a year ago! I practiced it there once with my good arm. I wish I would have tried it more...they wanted me to but I was too embarrassed to keep trying. Now, I wish I had at least tried at home. Wow, it's getting harder to think. It's been two minutes now, I've got to concentrate. This armor is getting heavy...do I remove it? Things are getting fuzzy. Maybe I can just put pressure on it, let me try. Nope, still bleeding pretty good. It's now been three minutes. Heart feels like it is beating so hard it's coming out of my chest. Is the fight still going on? Things are blurry. Quick, think, I've only got seconds left. Pull the Velcro, it's hard with my left hand. Arm doesn't hurt as bad....that's not good, I think. Who's coming at me? I see someone but who is it? Eyes are so blurry! Quick, get my sidearm. Can I reach it with my left hand? What is he yelling? I can't fight anymore.....what is he doing to me? I feel pressure on my upper arm. He's telling me to lay still, I hear my name and something about starting an Ivey. What does that mean?

Where is your tourniquet? Can you reach it with both hands? Can you put it on with either hand? Do you practice? Can you put it on with your gear on? Does your team have the same tourniquets? If not, do you practice with all types? Does everyone carry their tourniquet in the same spot? Is it on the outside of your gear so you have easy access without getting it out of a pouch? Is it still in its plastic wrap?

You better know the answers to those questions now as you will only have a couple minutes to make it right if things go wrong. Medicine is like everything else. If you don't practice, you will lose the skill, or become slow at the skill which could result in the difference of life and death.

Oh, you can reach your sidearm with both hands as well, right?


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[justanothergunnut]

NICE..... awesome points sheepdog. The scenario drives it home. Im placing a second cat in the front of my plate carrier. Thought about it a dozen times, THANKS for the poke. I appreciate it..

[Grand58742]

Survival rules of three starts with:

3 minutes of heavy bleeding.

Good post. Good points.

[protus]

NICE..... awesome points sheepdog. The scenario drives it home. Im placing a second cat in the front of my plate carrier. Thought about it a dozen times, THANKS for the poke. I appreciate it..

cats on my chest secondary rides on my belt.also carry izzy on chest as well. ifak bag is for the guy working on me. the cat/izzy is to keep me from painting the woods reds.

[1Admin]

Good post-

Further-
Have you prepped the CAT so it can be put on easier one handed? Have you practiced it that way? Non dominant hand? Done it face down on the ground wherein you raise up much you get clipped? Know your shoulder transfer down pat? Left handed work? One handed rifle reloads? Pistol one handed, clear that jam and reload one handed. Most importantly, start your breathing cycle, get your heart rate down, get out of tunnel.

[Patriotic Sheepdog]

Good post-

Further-
Have you prepped the CAT so it can be put on easier one handed? Have you practiced it that way? Non dominant hand? Done it face down on the ground wherein you raise up much you get clipped? Know your shoulder transfer down pat? Left handed work? One handed rifle reloads? Pistol one handed, clear that jam and reload one handed. Most importantly, start your breathing cycle, get your heart rate down, get out of tunnel.

Bingo. We can't practice this too much. My non-dominate hand still sucks at things, but I try and work it. Drawing from holster can be tricky, especially with some holsters.


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[Grand58742]

Bingo. We can't practice this too much. My non-dominate hand still sucks at things, but I try and work it. Drawing from holster can be tricky, especially with some holsters.


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This is where a retention holster would come in handy more than anything. Anything with a mechanism or strap can be far harder to get at as opposed to grab and go.

[Hiram]

Excellent post! Makes you stop and think a bit more about what could happen. So many people think is terms of perfect outcomes or at least perfect execution - me included sometimes.

[justanothergunnut]

It's one of the things I like about this site.. REALITY!! Most of the people here seem to be able to grasp it and deal with their own shortcomings. Reality sometimes sucks but it's how we deal with it that determines our success. I fail all the time in my preparedness journey and I highly value when someone reminds me in a brotherly way"hey LOSER your slacken,, PICK IT UP" LOL. I can't stand some of the other forums where clowns convince themselves ooh I have a dog in my yard ill be just fine come the PAW. Or "I can't see any reason I may need NVG's or body armor or a helmet" but they publicly scream that you need at least 15k rounds of ammo.. I may be to harsh but as far as im concerned if you can't admit at least to yourself, you know what I suck at that and then do something about it. Then that is a pretty serious character flaw. Even if its just a step in the right direction anything but don't just ignore it. If you can ID a failure and you make excuses about why it isn't a failure then that's a failure you certainly need to work on. In the op, point taken. I have NOT practiced using my CAT laying down or simulating a totally unmovable limb. Nor have I gotten off my lazy butt and placed a second CAT on the front of my carrier(will be addressed later today) bottom line.. FAILURE!!! We should not be afraid to admit our failures. Learning and practicing new skills can be difficult enough without allowing our ego to handicap us even more. One thing I am implementing is a training schedule of things I can do in the house with and without a training partner. If I don't make a schedule I WILL make excuses, and I don't want to suck!!

[Benn Gleck]

Great post PS.

It drives home a glaring hole in my preps.

I've got to get a couple of CATs and isreali bandages along with training. A blowout kit for each member was on my list but its hard to keep up with all I'm trying to do.

[Patriotic Sheepdog]

Great post PS.

It drives home a glaring hole in my preps.

I've got to get a couple of CATs and isreali bandages along with training. A blowout kit for each member was on my list but its hard to keep up with all I'm trying to do.

Thanks...
The medical aspect of prepping seems to take a backseat to other things. This I understand as it's not as exciting as firearm training, hiking, camping, perimeter security etc. It is also one of the harder things to keep proficient on as most don't practice on a regular basis. We have gun ranges, hiking trails, camping spots but no place to go practice (and learn) Survival Medicine unless one takes classes or works at keeping up on the medical skills with their groups trained medical team members.


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[protus]

Good post-

Further-
Have you prepped the CAT so it can be put on easier one handed? Have you practiced it that way? Non dominant hand? Done it face down on the ground wherein you raise up much you get clipped? Know your shoulder transfer down pat? Left handed work? One handed rifle reloads? Pistol one handed, clear that jam and reload one handed. Most importantly, start your breathing cycle, get your heart rate down, get out of tunnel.

this is a hard one..under stress etc. its harder for me to breath with out thinking of it since i stopped taking the time each day to " meditate" relax. it gets to where you have to think of what your doing vs it occurring naturally. its just getting the pace down and focusing. doing the push up routine you talk about or even holding your head and legs 1-6 inches off ground and breathing works to to help practice.

[justanothergunnut]

Dave AKA SP1 talks about his recent accident. In the after accident recap he points out that one of the things he will change is having a cat tourniquet on him when he goes on call. He didn't have one on him at the time. Thankfully he didn't need it but he acknowledges the fact that he should have and will in the future..