The leading causes of preventable combat death due to traumatic injuries include hemorrhage, from the extremities/junctional areas, tension pneumothorax, and airway trauma or obstruction.3 By far, the majority of preventable deaths were from massive hemorrhage.

Throughout this course, you will notice the emphasis on controlling bleeding, whether that be through tourniquet placement on the extremities, the use of hemostatic dressings and wound packing, or the use of junctional tourniquets. But we still need to be cognizant of respiration and airway issues and be prepared to do needle decompression of the chest or chest tube insertions and control the airway through airway maneuvers or advanced airway procedures.