US special operations in Africa—Challenges to trauma care and training

Abstract

The lessons learned from combat casualties have positioned the US Department of Defense to pioneer advancements in trauma management practices. However, for foreign military partner forces, basic tactical or combat trauma care management remains suboptimal. For these partners, the primary challenges facing combat trauma training are availability of equipment, previous knowledge scope, baseline education of partner force, and training management. At the same time, training curricula and first-world emergency medical training standards are continuously changing as the result of different battlefield environments and information gathered from the latest trauma management data. In 2015, the civilian “Stop the Bleed” public awareness campaign prescribed hemorrhage control measures identical to those of the Department of Defense (https://www.facs.org/media-center/press-releases/2023/stop-the-bleed-is-the-cpr-of-bleeding/). The techniques taught in Stop the Bleed, in particular, the use of tourniquets was formerly opposed by US pre-hospital care standards and highlights the dynamic nature of trauma management practices. However, these lessons learned are not typically transferred in training to partner force organizations, and consequently, these forces do not have the capability or survivability that the US forces have. Africa represents a unique challenge to training partner forces due to its less traditional warfare and scarce resources. This article describes the challenges of training partner forces on combat casualty care in Africa.