Everyone Needs Stop-the-Bleed with Prolonged Casualty Care Training

The concept of the golden hour, which is the critical first sixty minutes post-injury during which prompt medical intervention can significantly increase survival rates, has been a cornerstone of modern combat casualty care. However, as highlighted in recent reports, the conflict in Ukraine has starkly demonstrated the limitations of this principle in contemporary, high-intensity warfare. The ubiquity of drones and relentless artillery fire now routinely traps injured personnel in active zones, delaying evacuation for hours or even days. As one combat medic observed, “Until there’s a real concrete answer for drones, it’s going to continue to be pretty hectic when it comes to that type of care,” underscoring the pressing need for adaptive medical and logistical systems.

Numerous people are making a difference by discussing this issue. Regan Lyons has written a master’s thesis on this. If you have not read her dissertation yet, you are losing cool points. You can also start with Dr Rocky Farr’s broad introduction to Guerrilla Medicine.

What can we do? Be Better. Be proficient in PFC. Better yet, learn to teach PFC up to the same standard that the Prolonged Field Care Collective has. Teach PFC to non-medics. There is a long history of people providing medical care without formal medical training. They learned on the job. They sucked at it at first but got better. We can get a head start on this by training non-medical personnel now. Combat Lifesavers, Wilderness First Responders, and Wilderness First Aid providers can be taught PFC. The Stop-the-Bleed courses should finish with an hour-long lecture on Prolonged Casualty Care.

When I was invited to present at the Taiwan military conference last Autumn, they asked us what the number one way for them to prepare for the coming conflict. My answer was the same. Teach STOP THE BLEED® and Prolonged Casualty Care to everyone. Period. That alone will save tens of thousands of lives.