January 5, 2019
Location: Lowell MA: Private building, third-floor walk-up, piano repair/refinishing warehouse.
Class size: 7 students and 2 instructors
Cost: $100 + $25 (room fee)/PP
Amenities: Private bathroom, full-size refrigerator in the classroom stocked with water. Coffee and decaf and bagels were available. Foldable 48” banquet tables with folding metal chairs.
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Took my 13-year-old daughter Kate who asked to attend the class and learn the necessary skills to save her life. ROCK ON KATE!
I have been wanting to take a trauma medical class for a decade. Been carrying a trauma “blow-out” kit with me everywhere for years without any professional training other than my wife (RN 30+ yrs of experience from cardiac to being the Trauma Program Manager in a big Boston Hospital.) I was nervous in the fact the class was going to be a ton of medical information. You are going to have to remember the procedures and the steps…and do them in the correct order or people will die. A lot of responsibility.
I thought it was going to be too much medical lecture I was afraid of my brain being full too early.… I was wrong! The class was not too overwhelming and I could handle everything we did. PHEW!
There were so much information and so much stimulus I am sure I forgot to mention a ton.
---
We started off the small class with introductions of the instructors and then the students. We all came from different occupations and were all somewhere between 40-60 years old except for Kate my daughter who is 13 years old.
Matt (chief medical instructor) opened up his presentation with a video of a soldier being shot in the chest and his fellow soldiers trying to figure out what to do. It was painful to watch so many doing so little…. Matt walked us through all the things that were happing and all the things that were not happing.
We each received a CAT TQ for the class. We were shown the parts of it and the correct way to use it and store it for quick use. Matt had us apply the TQ on our left arm. He told us to wind that TQ down and down until we had no blood flow into the arm. It hurt. We were told to keep it on until told to take it off, and then Matt goes back into his presentation like nothing just blabbing away…. I hear his words, but my mind is focused on the fact that my arm is throbbing and I am really not paying much attention to him. As hard as I was trying to care what Matt was saying my mind was laser focused on my hand turning blue. Finally, Matt said to release the blood to our arms. (Matt will now be referred to as Matt the Sadist or MTS (I loved him, he was great! This is just being fun)) It felt like the TQ was on for 10 minutes but I am sure it was under 120 seconds…
We applied the TQ on our own arms and legs a few times and the got up and gathered on the carpet. (YES, REST and NAP TIME I thought…) He told us to line-up against the wall and put our TQ on a leg. DO IT NOW, RIGHT LEG! Once the TQ is on correctly walk to the opposite wall. We learned if the TQ was on correctly that leg is DEAD. If you can use it in any way it's not tight enough. It was quite a sight to watch us trying to stumble/fall/limp for 10-15 feet.
Matt showed us how to kneel on the artery area of the injured while applying the TQ to reduce blood loss and sometimes to control the person.
We were told to carry the TQ with us all day. The left pocket was our standard location for the class. At any time MTS would yell RIGHT ARM, LEFT LEG… and we would have to apply the TQ on high and tight. (STAT!) It was to be done fully and correctly to the point of hurting and keep on until MTS would let us take it off. At the beginning of the day, I thought this was going to suck, but as the day went on I kind of enjoyed the pain of cranking down. The pain was there, but it was not as important and again, kind of enjoyable. Clearly, the loss of blood to my extremities had f***ed with my sensibilities.
Talking to the injured you are caring for was emphasis all day. It’s vital to reassuring them, ask them questions, understand they are really scared. Keep communicating with them and keep reassessing their situation.
We learned how to and when to apply chest seals. How to recognize sucking chest wounds. How to use compression bandages / Israeli bandages on arms, legs, head, stumps, chest and in the armpit area. Check the armpits.
We each got a compression bandage and we practiced on ourselves and a partner, legs and arms. It was tricky to keep the bandage flat and wide as you went around the leg or arm. Good stuff we practiced!
We were shown the correct way to look for wounds with our fingers “scraping”
We were shown different types of litters, how to use them correctly, which position was in command of the litter. MTS showed us how the best way to move an injured body and how to position the wounded on the ground. The funkiest way I remember was the four-handed seat carry. Where two people interlock their hands and the injured sits on your hands. Pretty rad!
Both MTS and Ben showed us how to correctly pack a wound and use gauze. A gel-type cube with holes and slashes cut into it was passed around with some gauze for us to practice packing the wound. It was not as easy as I thought to keep the pressure on while adding more gauze. Ben showed us some of his own pictures of a hole a Doctor had packed with ten feet of gauze in his own leg from an infection he had. (f*** that man is dedicated to his company!)
We ran all sorts of exercises/drills, where some of us were the injured and the others were the “medical” people.. The “medical” people or person would be outside of the room while MTS went around and told the injured people what was wrong with them, “you have left leg massive bleed and head injury” “you are unconscious” “You pull your sleeve over your hand to simulate a missing hand and just a stump” The “medical” people would rush in and have to locate the injured, assess their injuries and fix them up. Sometimes we would have to move the injured in a litter to an area MTS called casualty collection point.
So much was learned by what we missed during the drill and in the next drill we missed less and got more correct. We started working and communicating as a team. We talked about our plan, shouting out to each other what was going on, sometimes there was a need two for two “medical” people to deal with one injured.
The drills were more stressful than I would have thought. This was all fake and made up with no one really being hurt. But my heart rate was up, I was sweating and I was in the moment.
It’s hard! You get frustrated that you can’t get the TQ around his/her arm because of a sweatshirt and the way he/she was laying. However, there is no blood, there is no gore, there is no one screaming for life and I am having problems getting a TQ on an arm. Humbling for sure!
One of the earlier drills was a life-changing incident for me. My daughter was in the injured group with three others for a total of four injured. In the previous last two drills, the injured group had been only a total of three people and Kate had been in my group. We “medical people” ran into the room and immediately we saw bodies on the floor and we went to work. After a minute or two of chaos and doing what I could do for the hurt guy I was working on I stood up thinking the drill was over. MTS looked at me and said YOU LEFT YOUR OWN DAUGHTER! OH f***, he was right! I scanned looked for Kate and I saw her behind chairs lying on the ground. My own daughter! My mind was so tunneled focused on fixing my injured that I forgot that Kate was in that group. As the great poet Joe Biden said, THAT’S A BFD!
I took a good amount of shit and all of it was earned. How embarrassing is that? It was the bestest lesson I had all day. For the rest of the day, I forced myself to step back and look at the total area and to actually think about breaking my tunnel vision.
On my way home my daughter said, she LOVED the class and was so excited she had attended. It was the best thing she had ever done. I was super proud. I wish I was that on the ball at 13.
This was a fantastic class. I am so glad I took it and my daughter was there with me. This was the second class I have taken from ONSIGHT FIREARMS TRAINING and I continue to be impressed with the quality of content and instruction. Both Ben and Matt have a great sense of humor and a way of making you feel comfortable yet transferring super important information into your knowledge. As the young kids say today: hashtag knowledge bomb! Tough important information was learned and practiced. I can’t say enough good things about this class and this training company.
Take this class!
---
Notes:
Tactical Combat Casualty Care – “TCCC, TC3”
Three phases:
1. Care under fire
2. Tactical Field Care
3. Evacuation
Care under Fire
Win the gunfight. Get the wounded to a safe or safer area to be worked on.
Tactical Field Care
M.A.R.C.H.
Massive hemorrhage Use a TQ, Quick Clot, Israeli Bandage
Airway opening of the airway: Make sure tongue is out of airway, Use Nasopharyngeal airway* Make sure lubed. Place in recovery position
Respirations Fighting for air. Needle decompression in chest. *DON’T DO*
Circulation Shock. Lie flat
Head issues Hypothermia – head injury & keep warm
Evacuation
Call 911 and prepare for more skilled to take over.
##
Location: Lowell MA: Private building, third-floor walk-up, piano repair/refinishing warehouse.
Class size: 7 students and 2 instructors
Cost: $100 + $25 (room fee)/PP
Amenities: Private bathroom, full-size refrigerator in the classroom stocked with water. Coffee and decaf and bagels were available. Foldable 48” banquet tables with folding metal chairs.
---
Took my 13-year-old daughter Kate who asked to attend the class and learn the necessary skills to save her life. ROCK ON KATE!
I have been wanting to take a trauma medical class for a decade. Been carrying a trauma “blow-out” kit with me everywhere for years without any professional training other than my wife (RN 30+ yrs of experience from cardiac to being the Trauma Program Manager in a big Boston Hospital.) I was nervous in the fact the class was going to be a ton of medical information. You are going to have to remember the procedures and the steps…and do them in the correct order or people will die. A lot of responsibility.
I thought it was going to be too much medical lecture I was afraid of my brain being full too early.… I was wrong! The class was not too overwhelming and I could handle everything we did. PHEW!
There were so much information and so much stimulus I am sure I forgot to mention a ton.
---
We started off the small class with introductions of the instructors and then the students. We all came from different occupations and were all somewhere between 40-60 years old except for Kate my daughter who is 13 years old.
Matt (chief medical instructor) opened up his presentation with a video of a soldier being shot in the chest and his fellow soldiers trying to figure out what to do. It was painful to watch so many doing so little…. Matt walked us through all the things that were happing and all the things that were not happing.
We each received a CAT TQ for the class. We were shown the parts of it and the correct way to use it and store it for quick use. Matt had us apply the TQ on our left arm. He told us to wind that TQ down and down until we had no blood flow into the arm. It hurt. We were told to keep it on until told to take it off, and then Matt goes back into his presentation like nothing just blabbing away…. I hear his words, but my mind is focused on the fact that my arm is throbbing and I am really not paying much attention to him. As hard as I was trying to care what Matt was saying my mind was laser focused on my hand turning blue. Finally, Matt said to release the blood to our arms. (Matt will now be referred to as Matt the Sadist or MTS (I loved him, he was great! This is just being fun)) It felt like the TQ was on for 10 minutes but I am sure it was under 120 seconds…
We applied the TQ on our own arms and legs a few times and the got up and gathered on the carpet. (YES, REST and NAP TIME I thought…) He told us to line-up against the wall and put our TQ on a leg. DO IT NOW, RIGHT LEG! Once the TQ is on correctly walk to the opposite wall. We learned if the TQ was on correctly that leg is DEAD. If you can use it in any way it's not tight enough. It was quite a sight to watch us trying to stumble/fall/limp for 10-15 feet.
Matt showed us how to kneel on the artery area of the injured while applying the TQ to reduce blood loss and sometimes to control the person.
We were told to carry the TQ with us all day. The left pocket was our standard location for the class. At any time MTS would yell RIGHT ARM, LEFT LEG… and we would have to apply the TQ on high and tight. (STAT!) It was to be done fully and correctly to the point of hurting and keep on until MTS would let us take it off. At the beginning of the day, I thought this was going to suck, but as the day went on I kind of enjoyed the pain of cranking down. The pain was there, but it was not as important and again, kind of enjoyable. Clearly, the loss of blood to my extremities had f***ed with my sensibilities.
Talking to the injured you are caring for was emphasis all day. It’s vital to reassuring them, ask them questions, understand they are really scared. Keep communicating with them and keep reassessing their situation.
We learned how to and when to apply chest seals. How to recognize sucking chest wounds. How to use compression bandages / Israeli bandages on arms, legs, head, stumps, chest and in the armpit area. Check the armpits.
We each got a compression bandage and we practiced on ourselves and a partner, legs and arms. It was tricky to keep the bandage flat and wide as you went around the leg or arm. Good stuff we practiced!
We were shown the correct way to look for wounds with our fingers “scraping”
We were shown different types of litters, how to use them correctly, which position was in command of the litter. MTS showed us how the best way to move an injured body and how to position the wounded on the ground. The funkiest way I remember was the four-handed seat carry. Where two people interlock their hands and the injured sits on your hands. Pretty rad!
Both MTS and Ben showed us how to correctly pack a wound and use gauze. A gel-type cube with holes and slashes cut into it was passed around with some gauze for us to practice packing the wound. It was not as easy as I thought to keep the pressure on while adding more gauze. Ben showed us some of his own pictures of a hole a Doctor had packed with ten feet of gauze in his own leg from an infection he had. (f*** that man is dedicated to his company!)
We ran all sorts of exercises/drills, where some of us were the injured and the others were the “medical” people.. The “medical” people or person would be outside of the room while MTS went around and told the injured people what was wrong with them, “you have left leg massive bleed and head injury” “you are unconscious” “You pull your sleeve over your hand to simulate a missing hand and just a stump” The “medical” people would rush in and have to locate the injured, assess their injuries and fix them up. Sometimes we would have to move the injured in a litter to an area MTS called casualty collection point.
So much was learned by what we missed during the drill and in the next drill we missed less and got more correct. We started working and communicating as a team. We talked about our plan, shouting out to each other what was going on, sometimes there was a need two for two “medical” people to deal with one injured.
The drills were more stressful than I would have thought. This was all fake and made up with no one really being hurt. But my heart rate was up, I was sweating and I was in the moment.
It’s hard! You get frustrated that you can’t get the TQ around his/her arm because of a sweatshirt and the way he/she was laying. However, there is no blood, there is no gore, there is no one screaming for life and I am having problems getting a TQ on an arm. Humbling for sure!
One of the earlier drills was a life-changing incident for me. My daughter was in the injured group with three others for a total of four injured. In the previous last two drills, the injured group had been only a total of three people and Kate had been in my group. We “medical people” ran into the room and immediately we saw bodies on the floor and we went to work. After a minute or two of chaos and doing what I could do for the hurt guy I was working on I stood up thinking the drill was over. MTS looked at me and said YOU LEFT YOUR OWN DAUGHTER! OH f***, he was right! I scanned looked for Kate and I saw her behind chairs lying on the ground. My own daughter! My mind was so tunneled focused on fixing my injured that I forgot that Kate was in that group. As the great poet Joe Biden said, THAT’S A BFD!
I took a good amount of shit and all of it was earned. How embarrassing is that? It was the bestest lesson I had all day. For the rest of the day, I forced myself to step back and look at the total area and to actually think about breaking my tunnel vision.
On my way home my daughter said, she LOVED the class and was so excited she had attended. It was the best thing she had ever done. I was super proud. I wish I was that on the ball at 13.
This was a fantastic class. I am so glad I took it and my daughter was there with me. This was the second class I have taken from ONSIGHT FIREARMS TRAINING and I continue to be impressed with the quality of content and instruction. Both Ben and Matt have a great sense of humor and a way of making you feel comfortable yet transferring super important information into your knowledge. As the young kids say today: hashtag knowledge bomb! Tough important information was learned and practiced. I can’t say enough good things about this class and this training company.
Take this class!
---
Notes:
Tactical Combat Casualty Care – “TCCC, TC3”
Three phases:
1. Care under fire
2. Tactical Field Care
3. Evacuation
Care under Fire
Win the gunfight. Get the wounded to a safe or safer area to be worked on.
Tactical Field Care
M.A.R.C.H.
Massive hemorrhage
Airway
Respirations
Circulation
Head issues- Hypothermia
Airway
Respirations
Circulation
Head issues- Hypothermia
Massive hemorrhage Use a TQ, Quick Clot, Israeli Bandage
Airway opening of the airway: Make sure tongue is out of airway, Use Nasopharyngeal airway* Make sure lubed. Place in recovery position
Respirations Fighting for air. Needle decompression in chest. *DON’T DO*
Circulation Shock. Lie flat
Head issues Hypothermia – head injury & keep warm
Evacuation
Call 911 and prepare for more skilled to take over.
##
