The need for periodic updates to the TCCC Guidelines was recognized early in the development of TCCC. The original TCCC paper recommended that the TCCC Guidelines be updated as needed by a Department of Defense-sponsored committee established for this purpose – the Committee on Tactical Combat Casualty Care, or CoTCCC.
Since the goal of TCCC is to provide the best possible medical care consistent with good small-unit tactics, it is essential that the membership of the CoTCCC include combat medical personnel as well as physicians. It is also critical to have Joint Service representation to ensure that differences in doctrine and experience between the Air Force, Army, Navy, and Marine Corps medical departments are identified and best practices from each are incorporated.
The tactical medical personnel selected for CoTCCC membership included Navy SEAL corpsmen, Navy corpsmen assigned to Marine units, Combat Medics, Ranger medics, Special Forces 18-D medics, Air Force pararescuemen (PJs), Air Force aviation medics, and Coast Guard health specialists. Physician membership included representatives from the trauma surgery, emergency medicine, critical care, and operational medicine communities. Physician assistants, medical planners, and medical educators are also represented.
The TCCC Guidelines are reviewed quarterly and updated as needed by CoTCCC. The guidelines are published in a few places; however, Deployed Medicine is the official website to get the most up-to-date TCCC materials. Even though it is a .com website, it is an official site owned and managed by the Department of Defense. As soon as TCCC Guideline updates are approved for distribution by the Director of the Joint Trauma System (JTS), they will be updated directly onto Deployed Medicine.