Combat action tourniquet questioned

For Military, Different Wars Mean Different Injuries

by NPR STAFF

June 12, 2011
There's a new type of tourniquet being issued to every Marine in Afghanistan, former military physician Dr Ron Glasser writes in his new book, Broken Bodies Shattered Minds: A Medical Odyssey from Vietnam to Afghanistan. It's called a combat action tourniquet — essentially a plastic cinch soldiers pull to tighten.

Marines, without anyone ordering them to do so, have begun heading out on foot patrols with the tourniquets already loosely strapped around their thighs, so they can be tightened quickly if a foot or a leg is blown off.

Officers don't like it.

"They view it has a kind of defeatism on the part of the troops," Glasser tells weekends on All Things Considered host Rachel Martin.

The officers feel that by wearing the tourniquet, Marines are resigning themselves to the fact they'll be wounded.

"But the Marines don't care," Glasser says. "The basically say, 'The hell with it. We're going to wear it anyway. If our legs get blown off, at least we'll survive.'"
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For Military, Different Wars Mean Different Injuries