Now you medical professionals weigh in on this. I once had surgery to remove shrapnel from a foot, and instead of anesthesia, the doctors placed a restricting band around the ankle that cut off all feeling after it was on for a while. I was given a sedative and the restricting band, and it was on for more than three hours. My foot is just fine. Is a tourniquet really that dangerous to the limb?

As for the military IFAK, each soldier has one, and most I knew carried extra tourniquets, especially when the roadside bombing campaigns really got started. That way there are plenty of them for use, as not everyone will need one, but everyone will have one. The normal procedure was to reduce the threat, slap on tourniquets, and get out of the kill zone. Then the medical personnel would sort it out, but people rarely bled to death.

I will always default on stopping the bleeding, and worry about other issues later.