Proper tourniquet placement could save your life

By SPC Ariel Solomon

In Afghanistan, every U.S. and coalition trooper carries a tourniquet, a simple device that has saved countless lives by preventing blood-loss from catastrophic injury. The likelihood anyone would ever need to use a tourniquet is very small, but if you do, it could save your life.

Most Soldiers I've seen on Bagram or Kandahar Airfield put their tourniquets in two places, the right shoulder pocket and right ankle pocket. Often this is dictated by a unit's standard operating procedure, and when I've asked someone why they put their tourniquet in their ankle pocket they nearly always say their leaders told them to put it there.

Everyone should be thinking about the possible outcomes of their choices, especially leaders. If I stick my hand out of a moving truck it very well might get taken off by a stationary object. If I stick my tourniquet in my ankle pocket I might lose my tourniquet along with my leg. According to the Journal of Military and Veterans' Health, lower limb injury and amputation is among the most common sustained injury because of improvised explosive devices that are most often on the ground. 

Putting your tourniquet in your shoulder pocket minimizes the risk that your tourniquet will be lost in an explosion. It still might not be ideal, it's difficult to get to your right shoulder pocket and pull it out with your right arm if your left is injured., but at least you will still have it when your buddy comes to help put it on you. Ideally your tourniquet should be somewhere where you could grab it with either hand and your buddy could find it easily.

In the end the important thing is to have your life saving equipment accessible at a moment's notice. Placing your equipment without forethought or without training yourself where your equipment is, is preparing to fail.