Next Generation Combat Medic

07/30/2026

For the PA’s, providers and those interested who follow:

The countdown is on! In just one month, Army and Navy Physician Associates from across the globe will come together in San Antonio for one of the premier military medical conferences of the year.

Registration is now open for the 2026 SAPA & NSPA CME Conference, a joint educational event focused on readiness, leadership, and the future of operational medicine.

📅 August 18–21, 2026
📍 Embassy Suites Riverwalk Hotel
📍 San Antonio, Texas

This joint CME conference will deliver high-impact education centered on:

✅Operational and military medicine
✅Leadership and readiness
✅The evolving PA role across military and civilian practice
✅Collaboration and mentorship

👉 Register here: https://cvent.me/VG9oOb

07/28/2026

How often do military medics in your BN get medical classes?
Vote below. 👇🏻

If it’s not EVERY single week, we wrote a new guide on website on how your battalion can increase frequency of training. If it’s once a year, we need to push that to at least once a month.

https://nextgencombatmedic.com/2026/07/27/train-your-medics-weekly/

We are here to help if you run into obstacles.

If you need ideas on what classes to teach, we have that, too.

Let us know what medical classes you have enjoyed, and maybe some options we did not put in article.

07/12/2026

How are you giving antibiotics (ABX) using aid bag?
IM or IV? Comment specifics in how you mix and administer using what you carry.

Lately European Medics | made a good post on antibiotics, and PFC WG put out a podcast episode on ABX.

However, we have noticed that training and deployment prep has not caught up to TCCC guidelines in some circles. Some are so used to verbalizing ABX they don’t really know how to give it. Others are treating it like Ertapenem and not giving it properly. So let us know how giving ABX looks like for training and deployment for your units.

06/28/2026

🚨 Graphic Medical Education 🚨

To continue the theme of shrapnel after our last post, let’s discuss shrapnel to the torso, chest seals and more. Should we use 4-6+ chest seals to cover shrapnel peppering? Vote below. 👇🏻

If yes, should we be putting 4-8 chest seals in our IFAKs solely for covering these wounds? (Not just improvised uses.)

Remember, medicine is not JUST treating a checklist because we were taught “for ______, I use _____. “ It is considering what is harming your patients the most, the quickest, what interventions actually help, and the risk, time, bandwidth and priorities that surround it all.

Some patients will die no matter what we do.

Some patients will live no matter what we do.

Some patients MIGHT survive only if we do the RIGHT thing, at the right time… where do chest seals fit in this?

06/24/2026

Airmen are training autologous blood transfusions but some Army units aren’t 👀

U.S. Airmen assigned to the 3rd Air Expeditionary Wing conduct an emergency blood transfusion scenario during exercise Tropic Tundra 26 at Kodiak, Alaska, May 14, 2026.

The scenario tested skills from Project Valkyrie, a joint-service medical training course that prepares service members to perform emergency blood transfusions in austere environments.

United States Air Force | 3rd Wing | Alaska

06/24/2026

Mark your calendars! Prep your DTS!
Don't forget that SOMA will be returning to the Raleigh Convention Center April 26-30, 2027!

We look forward to seeing everyone again and having another record-setting attendance with over 1800 attendees from over 30 international partner nations!

Will YOU join us?

Next Generation Combat Medic Journal of Special Operations Medicine U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School U.S. Army Special Operations Command 1st Special Forces Command - Airborne Special Forces Medics Marine Forces Special Operations Command Ragged Edge Solutions Tactical Combat Casualty Care - TCCC - DoD Committee on TCCC

06/14/2026

Do you keep the “Tactical” in Tactical Combat Casualty Care? Comment how you have designed your units training so TCCC is not just a stand alone week that focuses on medicine in a void instead of embedded into a units mission.

Many times CUF is glazed over, lasts 30 seconds and never comes back. A unit that just took a casualty is probably not going to move a mere 30 feet and not have to move again for 30 minutes… so why is little to no movement done in TCCC training?

A medic must be prepared for multiple movements to account for leadership moving the unit for lethality and survivability. A medic who does not train this WILL get tunnel vision and delay movements for minor procedures and assessments. They must learn priorities of work and hit times; they cant do everything at once. They must think DURING litter movements and get to work the second the litter touches down.

Failure to do so results in negative feedback.

If you want to include medical training on military ranges, you may need to include that when submitting range packet. While we dislike manikins, they are a safer option when blanks or live fire are involved.

*AI generated images of movement examples on slide 2 & 3, obviously.

06/13/2026

You see your first amputation in a real trauma patient soon after a blast. Your heart rate is ~120 bpm and hands are a little shaky…

You notice it’s dry. Little to no blood. Not squirting blood like a hollywood film. Does that mean it does not need a tourniquet now?

Vote below, and defend your answer in the comments.

06/05/2026

It was great to teach the CBRN lane at JEMX.

If you’re in military medicine and not aware of JEMX, you have to send some of your medics, PA students and residents next year.

SOF medics and Providers can apply to be SME’s for lanes.

05/30/2026

1.) Does anyone carry an abdominal tourniquet (AAJT)? If not, what is your plan for abdominopelvic trauma patients? Improvised TQ, direct pressure, or just administer blood?

2.) What would you say if you were inspecting aid bags/truck bags and your junior medics were packing this? Yes, Never, maybe? (Every medic planning in this must know risk)

Abdominal hemorrhage happens, but you don’t often see these patients in training. While extremity and junctional trauma are great, ensure occasional training patients get abdominal trauma besides the rare evisceration. That requires a medic understanding prognosis, their options and what this patient needs.

Remember: if you are training with any method of abdominal pressure, you must use doppler, pulse ox or palpated pulses to check if it is working… and how long. This can be painful even for short periods. However, before considering these interventions a medic must articulate the known risk and timelines to their unit providers.