In honor of STOP THE BLEED® Month, Stars and Stripes have highlighted the STOP THE BLEED® campaign through the stories of two Veterans and STOP THE BLEED® Instructors Marcelo and Joshua. Veterans are a crucial part of the STOP THE BLEED® program and have been a part of the campaign since its beginning. We thank Veterans for their service and contribution to saving lives on and off the battlefield.
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STOP THE BLEED® Day & STOP THE BLEED® Month 2025: Empowering People to Save Lives When US Army Combat Medic Marcelo Bini transitioned out of military service to law enforcement in 2016, he was determined to keep serving his community in a meaningful way. A licensed STOP THE BLEED® Instructor through the Stop The Bleed Coalition, Marcelo saw the program as a natural extension of his passion for teaching and his mission to protect and empower others. “I wanted to continue engaging the community around me by teaching how lives can be saved using the STOP THE BLEED® program,” he said. In 2018, that mission took him beyond his home in Texas—to Brazil—where he began teaching STOP THE BLEED® to police officers, school teachers, and students.
Veterans like Marcelo are joining members of the public and organizations across the globe to celebrate STOP THE BLEED® Day on May 22, 2025, a day dedicated to raising awareness and providing life-saving training to the public. STOP THE BLEED® is an official program of the U.S. Department of Defense, which recently launched the new DoD STOP THE BLEED® website. It is designed to train and equip the public to be able to treat traumatic injuries involving severe bleeding until the first responders arrive. It is based on lessons learned by the DoD during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on how best to control severe bleeding.
USN Veteran turned Firefighter and EMT Joshua Chiarini learned those lessons first hand while serving in Iraq. He became a STOP THE BLEED® Instructor because he’d witnessed first hand how fast lives can be lost—and how quickly they can be saved—with just a little knowledge and the right mindset. “As a combat veteran and firefighter, I’ve worked in some of the most high-pressure environments, and what’s clear across every scene is that time matters. Teaching STOP THE BLEED® allows me to give that power to the public—students, teachers, parents, first responders—anyone. It’s not about being perfect; it’s about being prepared. STOP THE BLEED® turns panic into purpose and bystanders into lifesavers.”
The focus of STOP THE BLEED® Day is to increase awareness of the campaign through a wide variety of activities designed to engage both members of the public as well as community organizations. The theme of STOP THE BLEED® Month is to increase the number of people trained. This year will see the first STOP THE BLEED® Trainathon using the new STOP THE BLEED® Training Management System. In addition, applications for the STOP THE BLEED® Grant program will be accepted throughout the month of May.
Why STOP THE BLEED® Matters
Uncontrolled bleeding is a leading cause of preventable death in emergency situations. The STOP THE BLEED® campaign is based on battlefield medical advancements that demonstrated how rapid bleeding control techniques save lives. Someone can bleed out within minutes. It can take first responders up to 7 to 10 minutes to arrive at the scene, and sometimes much longer. In those cases, only people at the scene can help until first responders arrive. By equipping everyday citizens with the skills and confidence to act in bleeding emergencies, STOP THE BLEED® is making communities safer and more prepared. Through hands-on training and public awareness campaigns, STOP THE BLEED® transforms bystanders into immediate responders.
This year marks the 10th year of the campaign, which was launched at a White House ceremony in 2015. Since its start in the United States, the campaign has expanded to 165 countries. Governments, hospitals, schools, communities and humanitarian organizations worldwide have increasingly integrated STOP THE BLEED® training into their emergency preparedness and response strategies. This expansion has been driven by a universal need for rapid bleeding control skills in response to natural disasters, accidents, and acts of violence.
Veterans are driving the campaign’s progress, both in the United States and elsewhere. Since Marcelo became a STOP THE BLEED® Instructor, he and his partners have trained more than 1,000 people in STOP THE BLEED® across Brazil—and counting. “Brazilians are always in need of simple-to-understand, life-saving programs like STOP THE BLEED®,” he shared. “Their access to limited resources for bleeding control makes the program one of a kind.” Marcelo has helped lead the push for legislation in Brazil that mandates bleeding control training using STOP THE BLEED® fundamentals, and the program has been embraced across schools, public sectors, and businesses.
In schools, Marcelo organizes professional development sessions to train School Resource Officers and teachers on STOP THE BLEED®, CRASE (Civilian Response to Active Shooter Events), and ALERRT protocols. For younger students, he developed a kid-friendly approach using “blue blood” materials to teach core concepts without overwhelming them. With ongoing public-private partnerships, his team works to provide bleeding control kits to schools and motivate a growing network of volunteers. “STOP THE BLEED® has become a powerful tool in Brazil, where high homicide rates and limited emergency response make this kind of training essential,” Marcelo said. “Sometimes, these skills are the only recourse citizens have.”
Join the Movement
STOP THE BLEED® training is a simple yet powerful way to make a difference. Whether you take a class, spread awareness, or encourage your organization to get involved, you can help save lives.
To learn more and get involved, visit DoDStopTheBleed.org and StopTheBleedProject.org.
