Four Hours, No Filler: Inside the First DoD Stop The Bleed Course at Rigad Olomouc

On Friday, January 30, the first DoD Stop The Bleed course took place at the Rigad Olomouc store, organized in cooperation with Elite Training Center Czech Republic. From the outset, the four-hour training focused on the management of massive hemorrhage was built around a simple concept: minimal theory, maximum hands-on practice, and procedures that actually work under real-world conditions.

Training Environment and a No-Nonsense Introduction

The course was conducted on the upper floor of the Rigad Olomouc facility, where new spaces are gradually being prepared for expanded medical and tactical training. After a brief introduction, participants were issued individual IFAKs containing basic medical equipment and were familiarized with their contents—primarily the tourniquet, hemostatic gauze, and Israeli pressure dressing.

The theoretical introduction was concise and well-structured. Participants learned how to identify massive hemorrhage, why its immediate control takes priority even over the initiation of cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and what the basic approach is when encountering a casualty. Instead of breaking algorithms down into academic detail, the emphasis was placed on understanding the logic behind each step and being able to apply it immediately in practice.

Hands-on training in the control of massive extremity hemorrhage. Participants repeatedly practice the procedures to ensure they can apply them effectively even under stress.

From Core Principles to Practical Application

Following the introductory briefing, the course transitioned smoothly into hands-on training. Instruction progressed step by step, starting from the initial approach to a casualty—scene safety and calling for help, communication and assessment, and finally hemorrhage control itself. These fundamental steps were repeatedly practiced in multiple variations to help participants build a clear, memorable mental framework they could rely on under stress.

This was followed by work with specific medical equipment: tourniquet application, use of hemostatic gauze and pressure dressings, treatment of extremity injuries, chest injuries using chest seals, and simulations of massive hemorrhage in the neck region. The core of the training was unequivocally practical; theory served only as a necessary framework, not as an end in itself.

Instructor and Teaching Style

The course was led by Jan (Hanz) Majer, an instructor with extensive experience in tactical and emergency medicine. His teaching style was calm, factual, and consistently focused on what actually works in practice—without unnecessary embellishment or academic digressions.

Throughout the training, there was ample space for questions, discussion, and error correction. Participants were systematically encouraged to work decisively: to properly tighten the tourniquet, to genuinely assess the casualty, and not to shy away from physical contact. This aspect often represents one of the biggest barriers, especially for individuals without prior exposure to similar situations.

Individual First Aid Kit (IFAK) containing basic medical equipment used by participants throughout the course—from tourniquets to pressure dressings.

What Participants Take Away After Four Hours

The primary goal of the DoD Stop The Bleed course is to establish clarity in the fundamentals and to understand what truly matters in a critical situation. After four hours of training, participants leave with a clear, usable framework they can rely on:

• they know how to approach a casualty and structure the situation,
• they can recognize massive hemorrhage and stop it effectively,
• they are able to correctly apply a tourniquet, hemostatic gauze, and a pressure dressing.

At the same time, expectations are clearly defined. Graduates do not leave as “fully trained medics,” but as individuals who have a solid grasp of a basic, proven algorithm and can confidently navigate it when it matters most.

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Who the DoD Stop The Bleed Course Is For

From a practical standpoint, the course is very well targeted. It is particularly valuable for people operating in specific environments—for example, active shooters or range users, for whom standard first aid courses often fail to address realistic scenarios encountered on shooting ranges. It also makes sense for anyone who wants to work with tactical medical equipment such as tourniquets and needs to practice these procedures hands-on.

Conversely, this is not a course for those seeking extensive theoretical instruction or an academic exploration of medicine. The focus here is on functionality, simplicity, and repeatable procedures under real-world conditions.

Simulation of managing massive hemorrhage in the neck area—one of the more challenging scenarios participants encounter during the course.

Further Tactical Medical Training at Rigad Olomouc

The DoD Stop The Bleed course marked the official launch of medical training programs at Rigad Olomouc. It will be followed on February 21 by the NAEMT TCCC All Service Members course—a seven-hour program certified by NAEMT, focused on tactical casualty care in accordance with Tactical Combat Casualty Care standards.

The first session clearly confirmed that the training concept at Rigad works exactly as intended: practical, comprehensible, and free of unnecessary filler. And that is precisely where its greatest added value lies.