Tactical emergency casualty care

Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) is a set of guidelines for trauma care based on lessons learned in military combat operations. The guidelines were developed by the U.S. Defense Department to reduce the number of preventable combat deaths. It’s been known for decades that many battlefield deaths occur from massive blood loss. It can take less than a few minutes for a person to die from uncontrolled hemorrhaging. Until relatively recently only those serving in specialized roles had the equipment and knowledge to stop massive blood loss. The TCCC guidelines help to ensure that all military personnel have the gear and knowledge to render self-aid and to assist others as soon as possible after a wound occurs.

TCCC has been adapted for civilians and law enforcement personnel. This version of the guidelines is known as Tactical Emergency Casualty Care (TECC). Whether on the battlefield, after vehicle accident, during natural disaster, or any other mechanism of injury (MOI), following these guidelines can help anyone save a life.

For more information and to view an excellent series of training videos, please click on the image below.

TECC Quick Reference Card

The image below was developed by the Panoplia.org Team as a quick reference guide to the TECC MARCH Assessment Sequence. It has been formatted to display well on most smart phones. We encourage you to save the image on your phone so that it can be quickly accessed if needed. Please see section 03.03.03 of the Panoplia.org Soft Skills and Tactics (SST) course for more information.