We all were shaken to our cores by the horrific murders of 20 schoolchildren and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. When the shock had somewhat lessened, I began to think about how to respond to these active-shooter events in the future. Having a child in elementary school, it was difficult
In this day and age, those in the roles of sheepdogs and/or gunfighters are expected to do more with less. Peace officers are expected to make entry to dangerous active-shooter situations with what resources they have. Our soldiers can get into gunfights while clearing structures in faraway lands looking for bad guys. Many lessons have
Face it: if you own or carry a gun for self-protection, you may be shot by the very threat you are armed against. This doesn’t mean you will be killed or even incapacitated before you can effectively take your attacker out of the fight, but it does mean you should be prepared to deal with
I’ve been fortunate to have done a lot of shooting over the years. Moreover, I’ve done much of it under the tutelage of professionals, whether of the itinerant type such as LFI, OPS, or ASAA, as well as schools with permanent campuses such as Gunsite and Thunder Ranch. I’ve done enough training over the years
According to a number of sources in the medical field, a significant injury to an artery located in an extremity is capable of causing unconsciousness and leading to eventual death in as little as ten minutes.
Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) is a concept developed for highly trained military medics in combat. These medics operate in a completely different arena than their civilian counterparts, working within an expanded scope of practice that is only allowed when operating in a specific environment, such as a combat zone.
In the September 2008 issue of S.W.A.T., Jeff Randall answered the request of some readers by writing about remote first aid. Jeff did a good job of covering what you may face once you leave the safety of your home, though I should really say, once you leave the safety of your bed, since most accidents occur in the home.
For units ranging from national anti-terrorist units to local SWAT teams, the need to take down a multistory building may arise. Generally, the type of incident dealt with by a local SWAT team will be more contained and will not likely involve terrorists, but the basic techniques are similar. An office or apartment building of
Two of the things that cannot be foreseen in preparing for a lethal attack are where it is going to happen and what the threat is going to look like. Once the threat is perceived, we decide on the course of action, hope it is the correct action, and then proceed through the threat, calling on our training to guide us.
Small bleeders are typically easy to control by direct pressure and by using dressings such as sterile gauze pads, Band-Aids, steri-strips, or by taping the wound closed with simple duct tape. Rarely should you attempt to sew a wound closed. Serious bleeding should be controlled by direct pressure and pressure dressings.
