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MODULE B: Field Tools & Tactics
MODULE B: Field Tools & Tactics
Welcome to the Field Tools & Tactics module. In this course, you’ll become familiar with the essential gear that keeps you mission-ready on the streets and learn how to employ it swiftly and safely under pressure. We’ll cover simple tactics for staying effective in dynamic environments: how to move and position yourself, maintain clear communication on the radios, and leverage the strength of a small team with high trust.
Finally, you’ll gain insight into crowd behavior, understanding group dynamics, anticipate surges or shifts, and adapt your tactics to keep both yourself and those you’re aiding out of harm’s way.
By the end of this module, you should be more confident in the tactics and tools we'll be using to maintain safety and provide care.
PLEASE NOTE: THE OPINIONS, STATEMENTS, AND ORGANIZATIONS LINKED HERE ARE NOT ALWAYS ENDORSED BY THE SOCIETY OR MEMBERS. THE TRAINING MATERIALS PROVIDED HERE ARE DUE TO THEIR EDUCATIONAL CONTENT ONLY.
essential Field tips
essential Field tips
The Human Path discusses three of the most important tips for skillsets in keeping yourself safe, helping reduce harm, and carrying the right gear. It's important to understand that we are there to provide aid and care wherever we are needed, and we don't want to add to the chaos and pain!
Basic communications
Basic communications
We use basic GMRS and FRS radios for simple communications and coordinating group efforts or bringing in additional help as needed. Understanding how to use a radio system if you never have used one before is extremely helpful! Be sure to review these and get used to working your radio gear, including PTT mic and earpieces.
The importance of trust in a team
The importance of trust in a team
Working in a small team, sometimes called an affinity group in mutual aid spaces, is a key concept in staying safe and effective in a chaotic or very complex environment. The best way to build a highly effective team is trust. A true affinity group is all about building crucial trust and knowledge of those in the group. It is a hall mark of every elite performance operation.
Basic crowd safety
Basic crowd safety
We work primarily in crowded, energetic spaces. Understanding very basic crowd safety, and some simple security principles of crowd management, can help formulate a plan in interacting with crowd dynamics.
While simple, and understated, this video can help you start thinking about moving and working inside a chaotic crowded environment. This is why we work in a team system, with at least a pair together at all times!
Building a first aid kit
Building a first aid kit
Understanding what to put into a kit, getting familiar with items, and how to use them is all what we'll do in your in-person Community Aid 101 class, but this video offers a great introduction to some of the items we'll look out. Getting familiar with using these, storing them in a way that makes sense to you, and being proficient is one of the most critical parts of providing medical aid in a civic engagement event.
Selection and use of respirators
Selection and use of respirators
An important item we carry with us some sort of respirator that can be quickly donned if chemical agents or crowd control agents are being used by local authorities or counter-movements. Bear spray, OC spray, and CS gas have all been used in wide range of civic engagement events, and many community aid teams have patients brought to them or render care to someone who has been exposed to these agents. Using a P100 respirator with the appropiate filter is critical!
additional materials & references
additional materials & references
A Demonstrator’s Guide to Responding to Gunshot Wounds
Covers basic ballistic wound management for non-medical volunteers, from tourniquet use to improvised dressings, with an emphasis on “you are not your local trauma surgeon.”Protocols for Common Injuries from Police Weapons
Step-by-step care guidelines for rubber-bullet bruises, tear-gas burns, chemical irritants, concussion, and other demonstration-related injuriesMental Health First Aid
Highly recommended training, and one of the cornerstones for our Support Monitors, that all members should take if possible!
The guide Streetwise & Steady: A Workbook for Action Peacekeepers or Event Marshals by Choose Democracy is a fantastic manual on safety techniques and strategies during mass civic engagement events. It covers the basics of crowd movement, de-escalation, and practical tools and principles for peacekeepers, rooted in the belief that nonviolent discipline is not just a tactic — it’s a strategy for resilience.
This article by Patrick Young provides a fantastic overview of the movement of street medicine and community medical aid in civic events. It covers concepts in mutual aid networks, the history, and thoughts around keeping the movements healthy and safe for the future.
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