The Importance of Basic Medical Skills for Executive Protection Agents

If you ask people who do not operate within the executive protection industry what skills an EP agent or “bodyguard” should have, what you will hear is martial arts, firearms, be big, etc. Truth to be told, sadly, there are many colleagues who have the same beliefs.

The primary objective of protective services, or “bodyguarding” as the public knows it, is to ensure the safety and security of high-profile people, whether they are celebrities, politicians, HNW individuals or C-Suite executives. While the focus is often on physical security measures, and risk and threat assessment, an often-overlooked aspect of an EP agent’s skillset is his/her medical training, or at least competency at the basic level. Specifically, the ability to perform first aid in the occasion of a stroke, heart attack, open wound, or broken bone. You will be amazed that an EP agent may spend his/her full career and never have to deal with a gunshot wound, but what they will most likely have to deal with is what we mentioned previously.

Anyone who is involved in this profession should be trained in, at the very minimum, Basic First Aid Skills for immediate response to emergencies. Accidents and medical emergencies can happen at any time to anyone. Having basic first aid skills allow an EP agent to provide immediate care and stabilize the client until professional medical help arrives. This can be extremely crucial in scenarios where every second counts. Just imagine if your client had a stroke or a heart attack, are you skilled in providing help until the medical unit arrives?

Executive Protection isn’t just about guarding against physical threats. It’s about clients’ overall well-being. An EP agent who can respond to medical emergencies offers a more comprehensive protection service, ensuring all aspects of the client’s safety are covered. An incident worth mentioning here is the one involving Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan which highlights the significant mistakes made by his Executive Protection Team. Shortly after leaving the Turkish Parliament, Erdogan began feeling unwell and lost consciousness. His chauffeur and executive protection agent, lacking first aid training, panicked and drove recklessly to a distant hospital instead of the nearby Parliament Health Center. Their excessive speed caused them to lose the rest of their security convoy, leaving them isolated. Upon arrival at the hospital, both the driver and the agent exited the vehicle simultaneously, which resulted in the vehicle doors locking behind them and compromising further their client’s safety and wellbeing as he now was passed out in a vehicle with locked doors and doctors could not help.

Executive protection (EP) agents can often serve as first responders during emergencies and incidents, making their ability to provide first aid or medical assistance essential. Whether operating in client’s estate environments, corporate offices, private or high publicity events, or during travel, EP agents are frequently the first on the scene when immediate medical attention is required for the people they are hired to protect. Their prompt response can be critical in stabilizing individuals until professional medical services arrive.

Some reported incidents of high-profile individuals who were in need for first aid:

1. Ronald Reagan – Assassination Attempt (1981) President Ronald Reagan was shot by John Hinckley Jr. in Washington D.C. His Secret Service agents provided critical first aid, including applying pressure to his wounds and ensuring he was quickly transported to the hospital. Their quick action was vital to his survival and recovery.

2. Gabrielle Giffords – Assassination Attempt (2011) Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head during a public event in Arizona. Daniel Hernández Jr., who was her intern, applied pressure to the gunshot wound on her forehead, and made sure she did not choke on her blood. His actions along with a local paramedic Aaron Rogers are credited with saving Giffords’s life.

3. Harrison Ford – Plane Crash (2015) Actor Harrison Ford crash-landed his vintage plane on a golf course in California. Immediate first aid from nearby golfers and a doctor helped manage his injuries, which included a broken pelvis and ankle, until emergency services arrived​.

An EP agent properly trained in first aid skills can help his/her client in need by providing:

• Quick Response
• Situation Assessment
• Stabilize until medic help arrives
• Prevent Complications
• Communication with emergency services
• Reassure and Calm the Client
• Use of AEDs and Other Medical Equipment
• Control crowd and bystanders

TCCC or Basic First Aid?

We see many colleagues who have spent thousands of dollars to be trained in TCCC, and we have to admit, it looks “cool” but is it the proper training for those who work in the corporate world? First of all, and we know we will disappoint many colleagues, TCCC is much different than just First Aid. While they both focus on providing emergency help, they are designed for different environments and situations. First Aid is focused more on stroke, heart attack, basic airway management, wound care, bleeding control, CPR, and the use of AEDs. Fracture care, burn treatment, chocking relief, poison management, shock care, hypothermia etc. What we would say are more common emergencies for C-Suite executives, celebrities, and politicians in non-high threat environment.

Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) is a specialized form of medical training designed for high-threat environments. Unlike standard first aid, TCCC addresses the unique challenges posed by combat and tactical situations such as gunshot wounds, or explosive wounds. The main components of TCCC are hemorrhage control, airway management/support, chest injuries treatment, and evacuation.

Goals and Priorities

TCCC

• Goals: Focus on immediate life-saving interventions, preventing additional injuries, and ensuring rapid evacuation.
• Priorities: Address life-threatening conditions in a sequence known as MARCH (Massive hemorrhage, Airway, Respirations, Circulation, Head injury/Hypothermia).

First Aid

• Goals: Provide immediate care to prevent conditions from worsening, promote recovery, and prepare for professional medical assistance.
• Priorities: Ensure scene safety, assess the victim, and provide care based on the severity of the injury or illness.

TCCC has been designed for high-pressure scenarios. The training simulates combat environments where agents must perform medical procedures under fire. It also involves more advanced medical procedures than standard first aid. Agents must learn to control severe bleeding, manage airways, and treat penetrating injuries – skills that require both precision and confidence. The physical and mental demands of TCCC skills are rigorous. It requires a high level of physical fitness, quick decision-making skills, and the ability to stay calm under extreme pressure when medical care must be administered under the threat of ongoing violence.

Basic first aid has been designed for non-threatening environments where the primary concern is medical emergencies. While TCCC focuses heavily on trauma care – like managing severe bleeding, treating gunshot wounds, and dealing with blast injuries. Basic first aid covers a broader range of medical issues, such as minor injuries, burns, and common medical emergencies such as strokes, heart attacks, heat exhaustion.

The need for basic medical skills for all EP agents

For executive protection agents, having basic first aid skills is nonnegotiable. You are the closest to your client and the faster you provide assistance in an emergency situation until professional help arrives is crucial. It doesn’t matter if you are a great sharpshooter or have a black belt in martial arts. You will more likely be called to provide help in a health emergency than shoot or fight with a bad actor…

Depending on the environment in which you will be operating, your client’s needs and health records, as well as the laws of the country you are working within, you should always seek additional and ongoing training that will give you the skills needed to provide emergency medical help.