SOFTT-W Gen 4 - Fail

Take the title with a grain of salt.

This past Saturday I was teaching a Stop the Bleed class. During the class students were practicing tourniquet applications, one with a SOFFT-W Gen 4. The student calls me over and says, "this broke." I looked at the tourniquet and the retention clip had snapped off.

This was a concern of mine when I received the tourniquet as most of the material is made of aluminum alloy. The retention clip appeared to be made out of plastic and not the reinforced polymer plastic you'll find on a CAT, just plastic. None the less, the tourniquet was approved by CoTCCC and still had the securing triangle, I felt comfortable buying, using and ultimately upgrading to my carry choice and I still do.

I emailed Tactical Medical Solutions at the beginning of the week and told them about the incident. They were extremely helpful as usual and have sent me a new retention clip. That brings me to my issues with this.

Starting off, I didn't know the retention clip was optional and could be removed. During our email exchanges, the representative disclosed this and stated the retention clip wasn't needed and the tourniquet would still work exactly the same as a Gen 3. No problems there, Gen 3's were still good, CoTCCC approved tourniquets. The representative also stated the retention clip was a back-up to the tri-ring.

My issue lies with the wording of these statements. "The retention clip is a back up to the tri-ring." Negative. Now that they have added the retention clip, it is the other way around. The tri-ring is now the back-up. Why is this such a big deal?

Who all buys there tourniquets (one for training and one for that event that will never happen) and then goes home and to classes to practice? I know everyone. Therefore, when under stress, getting shot at, laying in the middle of the road, impaled with a steel rod or whatever the case may be, I fear that once the windlass is secured in the retention clip, one may simply forget, or even chose not to use the tri-ring. Quit honestly, the retention clip should be made well enough to do that.

The failure on the retention clip that I experienced, it just plain snapped in half. Now, we have the scenario of a car accident with a traumatic leg injury. SOFFT-W Gen 4 WITH a retention clip has been applied, but it was applied by someone stressed, losing consciousness, focused on other injuries or just felt it was secure in the clip without the tri-ring.

The patient now goes into decompensated shock and loses consciousness. The retention clip snaps (as mine did) and the patient now loses enough blood, decompensated turn to irreversible and the patient dies. Stranger things have happened.

If you only have the tri-ring to work with (such as a on a Gen 3) that is okay. However, if we have a part on a tourniquet it MUST function properly. This is also why I advocate you purchase a training tourniquet with your carry tourniquet. The representative did advise they are doing a redesign on the retention clip.