What are the priorities during Care Under Fire (CUF), Tactical Field Care (TFC), and Tactical Evacuation Care (TEC)?

The priorities during Care Under Fire (CUF), Tactical Field Care (TFC), and Tactical Evacuation Care (TEC) are critical to ensuring the successful management of casualties in combat situations. The focus during CUF is on achieving fire superiority to ensure the safety of both the casualty and the care provider while performing life-saving interventions such as applying tourniquets for severe bleeding. In TFC, the emphasis shifts to performing a full trauma assessment to identify and manage the injuries that the casualty possesses, along with beginning necessary interventions. Finally, during TEC, the focus is on casualty preparation, which involves ensuring that the casualty is ready for evacuation, with the necessary information and items for their continued care post-evacuation.

The choice that reflects the accuracy of these priorities emphasizes the sequence and the shifting focus based on the operational environment. In particular, tourniquets are crucial in the CUF stage where rapid control of life-threatening hemorrhage is often necessary under hostile conditions. The TFC context requires a more comprehensive trauma assessment to guide subsequent treatment decisions and prepare for evacuation. Finally, securing the casualty’s readiness for evacuation is central to the TEC phase.

This understanding highlights the progressive nature of the care paradigm in a tactical environment, where the priorities evolve