It Started With Soldiers: STOP THE BLEED^® Enters a New Era

WASHINGTON, D.C. — September 30, 2026 — STOP THE BLEED^®, the official bleeding control program of the U.S. Department of War, today announced a new website at DODstopthebleed.org and a new goal: make bleeding control an everyday public safety skill, as widely known as CPR.

A person with life-threatening bleeding can die in minutes, sometimes before professional help arrives. As a public safety program, STOP THE BLEED^® teaches people how to act in a bleeding emergency before professional help arrives. The need is broad: bleeding emergencies happen on roads, at work, at home, on sports fields and during disasters.

A New Era

Today, an estimated 10 million people worldwide have been trained through STOP THE BLEED^®, including more than 4 million trained by licensed organizations in 2025. More than 3,000 organizations are licensed to provide training, and the Program is active in 172 countries.

The new website gives the public a single place to understand life-threatening bleeding, learn about direct pressure, wound packing and tourniquet application, find licensed training, identify appropriate equipment and licensed sellers, and explore the Program’s history and standards.

STOP THE BLEED^® is not simply another term for bleeding control. It is a defined standard for training and equipment. The new era includes active management of that standard and a growth strategy designed to increase the capacity to train millions more people.

From Battlefield Knowledge to Everyday Public Safety

The evidence behind that public-safety mission began with service members. They were taught bleeding-control skills in training and then used them on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan to save one another. In doing so, they demonstrated that people without medical backgrounds can be trained to take effective action in a life-threatening bleeding emergency — establishing the principle at the heart of STOP THE BLEED^® today: the person already at the scene can act during the critical minutes before professional help arrives.

That battlefield experience is more than part of the Program’s history; it remains part of its foundation. As STOP THE BLEED^® enters a new era focused on reaching millions more people, the knowledge service members brought home — and their contribution to establishing what trained people can do — will remain central to the Program’s growth.

They were taught it. They used it. They brought it home. Now we carry it forward.

“What service members demonstrated in Iraq and Afghanistan is now at the heart of STOP THE BLEED^®, a public safety program open to everyone,” said William S. Gardiner, Director, STOP THE BLEED^® Program. “The public increasingly understands that a teacher, a coworker, a coach or a parent may be the first person in a position to act. That growing interest helped licensed organizations and instructors train more than 4 million people in 2025 alone, and our goal now is to make bleeding control as widely known as CPR.”

Military physicians developed the clinical evidence and doctrine that underpinned modern hemorrhage control, while service members demonstrated that people without medical backgrounds could use the skills under extreme conditions. The Hartford Consensus, the White House, the National Security Council, the American College of Surgeons, the Stop the Bleed Coalition, and many medical, government, public safety, and community organizations help bring bleeding control education to the public.

The new website, CPR-scale training goal, and Brand Standards are the first visible elements of a broader growth strategy for STOP THE BLEED^®. Over the coming year, the Program also plans improvements to training licensing and to the tools available to licensed instructors and organizations.

Learn more at DODstopthebleed.org.

About STOP THE BLEED^®

STOP THE BLEED^® is the official bleeding control program of the U.S. Department of War. As a public safety program, it teaches people how to act in a bleeding emergency before professional help arrives. It is the evidence-based standard for bleeding control training and equipment. The Program sets standards for what is taught and the equipment to carry, and licenses organizations and manufacturers authorized to deliver them. Learn more atDODstopthebleed.org.

Media contact: Patrick O’Neill, Cadence Brand Management, media relations for STOP THE BLEED^®.patrick.oneill@cadencebrandmanagement.com· 973-202-6637

STOP THE BLEED^® is a registered trademark of the U.S. Department of Defense.