TACMED TWENTY — Episode 002: Packing a Wound

A tourniquet handles a limb. It does nothing for a groin, an armpit, or a neck. That's where most people run out of training.

In this episode: - Pack the tract, not the surface — find the source with a gloved finger first - Three minutes of uninterrupted pressure, on an actual clock - Technique beats product: plain gauze plus good hands outperforms hemostatic plus bad hands

This week's drill: Pool noodle or rolled towel wound trainer. Pack a full roll, tract first, then hold three minutes with a stopwatch running.

Referenced: CoTCCC hemostatic dressing guidance (consensus). Kaolin efficacy data is primarily bench and animal model. Package clot-time figures are manufacturer claims.

Get the free Ultimate Hemostatic Agent Guide → tactical-medicine.com (short: tac.med)

MED-TAC International Corp. — clinician-founded, veteran-led tactical medicine. South Florida, US of A. tactical-medicine.com | @medtacintl | @talkingtacmed

Two inches above the wound. High and tight over the uniform. Both are taught, both are correct, and which one applies depends on something most courses skip entirely — the phase you're operating in.

Doc works tourniquet placement to the ground: where the doctrine actually diverges between care under fire and tactical field care, why repositioning and conversion are not the same decision, and the two-bone myth that will not die.