Warning the following video is extremely graphic.
A video posted to FUNKER530 shows exactly what kind of reality our soldiers fighting overseas face. The video shows an Afghan National Army soldier embedded with a couple american soldiers. After talking with the sergeant the afghan soldier walks through a choke point and all hell breaks loose. The Afghan soldier walks right onto an IED most likely triggered by a pressure plate. The resulting blast sends him flying into the air and knocks the US Army sergeant to the ground and what follows is the stuff of nightmares.
Thankfully none of the American soldiers were injured in the blast and were able to quickly render first aid. We are sharing this video because we want to show the importance of not only being aware of your surroundings but the effectiveness of having a proper tourniquet. The situation highlights the importance of not only keeping a tourniquet handy but being able to know how to use it should the situation arise. We cannot stress the importance of this life saving tool. Keeping one in your vehicle or bag could very well save your life or someone elses! Had the tourniquets not been available the situation could have been far worse.
The C.A.T. Tourniquet has been with the Military for quite a while and has proven time and time again to stop severe arterial bleeding. With the simplicity of a band looped around a limb and a rod to twist it. Pressure is applied equally above the wound to stop traumatic bleeding. This prevents exsanguination or bleeding to death which is the most common cause of potentially survivable deaths on the battle field. Since its introduction in 2005, The Combat Application Tourniquet decreased the mortality rate due to extreme exsanguination by 85 percent according to the makers of the Gen 7 tourniquet.
