From its humble beginnings as a Naval Special Warfare biomedical research effort to a joint US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) and Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences (USUHS) research project, TCCC has led a systematic review of all aspects of battlefield trauma care into a set of guidelines designed to combine good medicine with good small-unit tactics. Today, and after nearly two decades of combat operations, the Committee on Tactical Combat Casualty Care and the Joint Trauma System continuously reviews casualty data, best practices, lessons learned, research projects and medical literature to produce a set of evidence-based, best-practice prehospital trauma care guidelines customized for use on the battlefield.
The overall objective of TCCC is to teach service members how to effectively treat combat casualties while preventing additional casualties and completing the mission at hand. The three phases of TCCC include care under fire, tactical field care and tactical evacuation care.
* Care Under Fire (CUF) outlines strategies using limited medical equipment to render care at the point of injury while the first responder and the casualty are still under hostile fire.
* Tactical Field Care (TFC) provides casualty care guidelines once the first responder and the injured combatant are no longer under hostile fire.
* The Tactical Evacuation Care (TACEVAC) phase begins once the casualty has been transferred to a transport aircraft or vehicle. During this phase additional medical personnel and equipment may be available to provide augmented casualty care.
TCCC has been shown to be very effective in saving lives on the battlefield. For this reason in 2005, the United States Special Operations Command required TCCC training for all deploying combatants and not just medical personnel. The conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have enabled the US Military to make numerous advances in battlefield care. This module will explain what TCCC is and why you need to learn about it. Our military presently has the best casualty treatment and evacuation system in history. TCCC is what will keep you alive long enough to benefit from it.
The key elements of TCCC include: