eli5 : why do ordinary soldiers carry multiple tourniquets but tourniquets are mostly not used in civilian first aid?

Question

eli5 : why do ordinary soldiers carry multiple tourniquets but tourniquets are mostly not used in civilian first aid?

In: 12

Answer 1

Tourniquets are a last-resort thing for when you have the combination of

* huge bleeding injuries like getting your hand or leg blown off, and
* actual medics/hospitals being too far away to reach in time

In civilian settings, these types of injuries are quite rare, and that size of injury happening away from actual paramedics/hospitals is even rarer. In a battlefield I don’t want to say it’s *common*, but that combination comes up often enough to be worth carrying a few tourniquets.