The IFAK: An essential high-speed low-drag life-saving equipment

In a combat situation, the medic is not the first line of response. Each member of a unit is trained on how to save their lives and the lives of the people around them. During a Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) scenario, the first step is Care Under Fire. During this stage, the number one […]

The Video of the Week: The five fundamentals of Special Operations

The 75th Ranger Regiment encompasses the Big Five Philosophy: marksmanship, physical training, medical training, small-unit tactics, and mobility for the success of the individual Ranger and the Ranger mission. Special Operations units excel at the battlefield partly because they have mastered the basics of soldiering.

The Pic of the Day: How to save a life

U.S. Soldiers from Landstuhl Regional Medical Center and 30th Medical Brigade participate in Operation Courageous Defense, a collective training exercise designed to showcase integrated medical operations in the European theater, March 5. As part of their preparations for DEFENDER-Europe 20, a theater-wide exercise with the largest deployment of U.S.-based forces to Europe in more than […]

The Pic of the Day: Special Forces medics during urban warfare training

U.S. Army Special Forces Soldiers assigned to 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) conduct simulated operations in an Urban Operations Course at the 7th Army Training Command’s Grafenwoehr Training Area, Germany, April 25, 2018. The course refines the skills of individual operators to ensure special operations forces are postured and ready for a range of missions.

The Pic of the Day: Training that saves lives

A Marine assigned to Combat Logistics Battalion 26, 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), treats a simulated casualty as part of a combat lifesaver exercise aboard the amphibious dock landing ship USS Oak Hill (LSD 51). Bataan Amphibious Ready Group, with embarked 26th MEU, is deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations in support […]

How to save a life: An expert breakdown of the Individual First Aid Kit

The Individual First Aid Kit (IFAK) is one of the key parts of your kit. Whether you’re an assaulter, sniper, medic or a prepared citizen, when carrying a firearm or if wearing body armor, you should have an IFAK and tourniquet present. The very minimum is a tourniquet readily accessible and deployable for self-aid. Equipment […]

The Pic of the Day: Meet the Navy Corpsman who won the Army’s Best Medic competition

Hospitalman Shane McGuire won the Best Medic competition at Kandahar Airfield (KAF) on August 9, 2019.  McGuire was the only U.S. Navy Corpsman to enter the competition, which consisted of 15 U.S. Army medics and Romanian contingent medical personnel. The competition was sponsored by the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, and competitors came from surrounding Forward […]

Why I’d rather be shot by an AK-47 than an M4 (Warning: graphic content)

Admittedly, I’d rather not be shot with either, but if I had to choose, I’d take a round from the AK-47 over the M4 any day of the week. To add a caveat to that statement, I’m talking from relatively close range here—say up to 150-200 meters. To understand why, it’s important to first take […]