This hands-on class will develop proficiency in basic battlefield medical techniques utilizing the military’s latest “Tactical Combat Casualty Care III” protocols.
Students will learn to stop traumatic bleeding from gunshot and knife wounds using the latest pressure bandages, tourniquets, and hemostatic agents. Self care and care under fire will also be addressed.
Students will also learn simple patient assessment techniques, how to treat a sucking chest wound and tension pneumothorax as well as field fracture immobilization and expedient c-spine immobilization.
In addition, students will learn how to treat themselves and families in the event of a long-term breakdown in our current medical system. Wound cleaning and disinfection under field conditions, injection of local anesthesia and would closure (including minor suturing) will be practiced in our “trauma lab”. If time permits, students will integrate all of these skills in several practical scenarios.
4 hours
$40 each student including all supplies
Some people have asked me specifics about this class. They are wondering what exactly we’ll cover and how this class is different from every other first aid class they’ve ever taken. Think about this:
How many times when you are working your gun defenses have you not quite got offline quickly enough??? How many times would the muzzle be off of your chest, but …maybe…still covering an arm or leg when your partner pulled the trigger? Did you know that if a bullet severs the Brachial Artery in your arm or the Femoral Artery in your leg you could bleed to death in 2-4 minutes? Even if the call was immediate, ambulance response times average more than 5 minutes in Central Ohio, and even longer in rural areas.
Do you know how to stop spurting arterial bleeding when direct pressure fails? Can you keep youself alive until the ambulance arrives?
Speaking of ambulances, do you ever go camping? How about visiting remote wilderness areas or even third world countries? There won’t be any speedy ambulance services there. Can you fix your fractured ankle enough to hobble your way to safety so you don’t freeze to death? What about being able to stop the bleeding on your child’s leg when he cuts himself chopping firewood?
Or, taken to the next level, what about a natural disaster on the scale of Haiti or Hurricane Katrina? Medical care was completely non-existent in both instances…a total collapse of all of the medical services we depend on. Did you see the coverage of Haiti where hundreds of seriously injured people were waiting in line in the streets for three days to see an overworked doctor or nurse? Those people waited in the hot sun without shelter for days, laying among the dead and contagiously ill until they could be treated. If that were you, wouldn’t you rather have the skills to suture your child’s scalp laceration at home instead of subjecting yourself to that misery?
And what if the worst happens…you get stuck in a hostage situation or home invasion? You or someone you love is hit by a bullet. The police and paramedics are on the scene, but they won’t go in until it’s safe. That means you wait while they negotiate. I’ve been on hostage barricade calls that have lasted more than 12 hours. Could you treat your bullet wound or be able to save the life of a loved one who is dying from a sucking chest wound and tension pneumothorax???
After my class you’ll be able to confidently handle all these scenarios!
This is the information you wish they had taught you in your last first aid class! We’ll cover simple, easy-to-remember protocols that will allow you to treat the most serious traumas without any fancy equipment or advanced medical training.
Come learn the skills that our military medics have been using to save countless lives on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan. You may not ever be deployed to a combat zone or serve as a paramedic, but I promise that you will need these skills at some point in your life!
Bring a pen and paper for note taking, and a yearning for knowledge.
Greg Ellifritz is a 15-year veteran police officer. He is currently assigned as the department’s full time training officer, responsible for developing and instructing all of his agency’s in-service training. He has previously served as patrol officer, bike patrol officer, and field training officer for his agency.
Greg is also an adjunct instructor for the Ohio Peace Officer’s Training Academy, teaching firearms, defensive tactics, bike patrol, knife defense and physical fitness topics. He has taught firearms and self defense classes at the national and international level through the Tactical Defense Institute, The International Association of Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors and The American Society of Law Enforcement Trainers.
Greg holds instructor or master instructor certifications in more than 60 different weapons systems, defensive tactics programs, and law enforcement specialty areas. He has a Master’s degree in Public Policy and Management and has written for several publications including: ‘The Firearms Instructor”, “Ohio Police Chief”, “Combat Handguns” and “The Journal of the American Women’s Self Defense Association”.
Greg has studied martial arts for more than 15 years, earning rank in Shorin-Ryu Karate, Judo, Jiu Jitsu, and Krav Maga. He currently is a member in good standing in the International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association (ILEETA), International Association of Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors (IALEFI), and The American Women’s Self Defense Association (AWSDA).