For the past couple days I have been hosting an ODA 18D from third group at work for some collaborative trauma 'stuff'. We have had some great discussion and there are few points from those convo's I want to share:

1. Blood type patches. Yeah, don't wear them. Cool guy factor +10, but really no one pays attention. Most team medics have that info on hand; if the team medic goes down, it's elsewhere. If you are wearing your dog tags, the info is there. If you are civilian, you are getting O neg until you are typed and crossed. If a cool unit guy has a BT patch, it's because it's part of their protocol.

2. TCCC. Since NAEMT has proclaimed itself king of civilian pre-hospital/out-of-hospital trauma care, these courses have popped up everywhere. They are a dime a dozen. There is no 'real' cert. Because of this, like shooting and tactics instructors, make sure you vet your instructors. Larry Vickers is a different animal than Billy Bubba who likes shooting his tricked out AR and learned because he watched the YouTube.

3. Trauma care. If this is your thing, watch for some interesting developments coming out in point-of-care trauma assessment and treatment. Nothing that civilians will utilize but interesting none the less. These things usually start at the SOF level and once vetted tricked down to everyone.