I’ve recently returned from Peru with the non-profit foundation, Team 5. Team 5 Foundation is comprised of Special Operations medical practitioners, survival experts and civilian ultra-athletes. The five person team ventures to the most extreme, overlooked and remote locations in the world to provide medical assistance. While the primary mission of Team 5 is humanitarian in nature, this trip also included a specific teaching element. For this mission, I was tasked with teaching Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) to over two dozen Peruvian Special Operations medics from the nation’s Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine forces. The opportunity provided a unique perspective to both instruct and work alongside the Peruvian military in a single week.

The following is my personal experience and take away from working with Team 5 and Peru’s elite commando medics.

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It’s evident from the first five minutes of instruction that the class was highly motivated, yet under equipped. Of the twenty-seven men in attendance, all were highly attentive with notebooks open, two had an Individual First Aid Kit (IFAK) and none had what’s considered an equipped aid-bag, by US medic standards. The first question asked to the class is, “Who has treated a trauma patient in combat?” Half of the class raised a hand in response.