I'm a firm believer in trying as much as possible to be prepared for almost any eventuality when you leave the comfort and safety of your home. Be this headed out into the great outdoors for camping or hiking or just bumming around town on errands or what have you.
I have some limited medical knowledge and training, mostly on an informal basis. But I have a working understanding of how to deal with most trauma. I know how to pack a wound, how to use a tourniquet, how to apply an occlusive dressing to a sucking chestwound etc etc.
Thus, I carry equipment to treat such injuries at least on a temporary basis. I also carry what is commonly referred to as a boo-boo kit.
A boo-boo kit is a medical kit meant to treat injuries that are generally not considered life-threatening. Cuts, scrapes, splinters, sprains, etc.
This kind of kit typically has a variety of band-aids, OTC medications, antibiotic ointment and so on, which I'll cover in further detail later.
That's the quick overview of the medical part of my Every Day Carry. Like I mentioned, this will be explored further later in this article.
In my kit, I also carry a variety of other equipment. Most of it stuff that is largely intended to help keep me comfortable in case of an emergency or out camping.
I tend to keep most of my gear organized in various compartments in my pack and in smaller bags that go inside my main pack.
For instance, my boo-boo kit and the Miscellaneous Kit are contained in three tubular cordura pencil cases. They're color-coded with the two cases needed for the boo-boo kit orange and black, and the one for the Miscellaneous Kit being black and dark green.
I keep them clipped together with a locking carabiner, along with a Surefire spares carrier that holds 4 CR123 batteries in a waterproof container. There's also a Photon Micro light knock-off attached to the zipper pull on one of the boo-boo kit cases. This makes it easy to yank the kit out from the bag, and quickly find what you need.
On the topic of lights, as a general rule, my pack always has at least two. One is a LumaPower IncenDio, strapped in it's holster to one of the shoulderstraps of my pack, the other one is an Inova X5 which typically rides in the front compartment of the pack.
The Inova X5 is an older light that uses five 5MM LEDs recessed in a hard-anodized aluminum body, the switch being a typical momentary/twist-on variant.
It's a very simple light, that is exceedingly good at eeking out the last few photons of usable light from an almost run-down set of batteries. No-nonsense, reliable and tough. The one I have was an over-run from a special government order, and as such is sterile and has a very tough Type III coating on it in a typical military dark green.
Now, on top of that, I'll usually have another light in the pocket of whatever pants or jacket I'm wearing. This will typically be something with considerably more power, such as the LumaPower M1-T or my SureFire with the Malkoff M60 drop-in.
My pack will also normally have at least two knives in it. One being my Kershaw Outcast, strapped to the front panel of the pack (Subtle? Me? Naaah!) and the other being my old Benchmade Nimravus, in the front compartment. Knives are very important tools, and something I think is very under-rated. A good large knife like the Kershaw can be invaluable when clearing a trail, hacking up wood for a fire or cutting through most anything tough.
The Nimravus serves a variety of other purposes. Skinning small game, cutting fuzz-sticks, or any other more fine task.
I also generally carry a Gerber Multiplier.
And when it's appropriate, I'll have my XD40 plus an extra magazine with me. This is something I always bring with me when I go hiking or camping. One, this is mountain lion and bear country. Two, humans are some of the most dangerous predators out there and I don't like to be caught unawares.
Another thing I like to carry, although admittedly I've not had much use for it since I moved to New Mexico, is a full set of gore-tex clothing. In this case that means an OR Elixir jacket and a pair of the OR Furio pants.
Both roll up to a compact size and doesn't add much additional weight, while allowing me to stay completely dry and protected from wind. Even if it's not raining, being able to shrug this on over your regular clothing, can make the difference between dying from hypothermia or surviving, albeit uncomfortably. I also have an OR Nomex bandana with me. Good for a variety of things. Filtering the worst muck out of water before you purify it, cover your face to protect it from insects or dust, extra warmth, etc.
Then there's a couple of odds and ends. A mini-tripod for my camera, a pair of small binoculars (the ones I have now are kinda shitty but they work. I plan on upgrading these in the near future.), my sunglasses, about 60 feet of paracord and a 1-liter Nalgene often supplemented with a Camelback or Dromlite bag.
This loadout is often supplemented with whatever clothing I think is appropriate for the expected weather and sometimes food, commonly in the shape of various energybars.
I like the Humm Food brand Lara Bars. They're simple, high energy, tasty and blend well with the dietary requirements of humans, without resorting to a lot of artificial means.
Here's a picture overview of my normal loadout.
From left to right, starting with the top row.Outdoor Research Furio pants, Outdoor Research Elixir Jacket, trauma/blow-out kit in a vacuum-sealed bag, SAM splint and ratchet tourniquet, paracord, Nalgene bottle.
Second row:
Binoculars, Mini-tripod, Outdoor Research Nomex bandana, Benchmade Nimravus, Kershaw Outcast.
Bottom Row:
Oakley Razorwire NBT sunglasses (this changes a little depending on what I feel like wearing), extra magazine for the XD40, Springfield Armory XD40 in a custom IWB holster that I made, LumaPower Incendio, Inova X5, Surefire Spares Carrier, Miscellaneous Kit and boo-boo kits.
Delving in further to the contents of these kits, I'll start with the Miscellaneous Kit.
From the top:Zip-ties, water purification tablets, diamond sharpener, titanium spork, mylar emergency blanket, pen, roughly 20 feet of 800-lb test Spectra line, compass and magnesium firestarter block.
Moving on to the boo-boo kit.
From the top again:Condoms, eye drops, ziplock bag containing a variety of snivel gear (different sizes of band-aids, some being latex-free, antiseptic wipes, neosporin packets, Imodium AD, Cortaid, Burn-Jel, medical tape, couple of small rolls of gauze, 3M Steri-Strips etc.), white 8-hour lightstick, ziplock bag with OTC meds (Tylenol, Ibuprofen and Benadryl. Stacking Tylenol and Ibuprofen gives a markedly better painkilling effect than either drug on it's own.), finger-splint, contact lens case, Polysporin tube, tweezers for splinter-removal and contact lens fluid.
Lastly, the trauma/blow-out kit holds all the more serious gear.
Abdominal pads, rolled gauze, Quickclot sponge, Naso-pharyngeal airway, SWAT-T tourniquet ( a fantastic product, highly recommended!), petroleum gauze, 2 Israeli bandages, 2 triangular bandages, medical tape, more 3M Steri-Strips, couple pairs of nitrile gloves, Asherman Chest Seal, and a minor assortment of gauze pads, mostly 4X4.
As you can see, it's a fairly extensive loadout, one that potentially covers almost any eventuality.
Especially when it comes to the medical part, I think a lot of people are under-equipped and more so, under-trained. I've been blessed with friends that know their stuff and I've hung on their every word, soaking up as much of this knowledge as I could. I've also done a fair bit of self-study on the topic, but have yet to have any formal training in trauma management.
I would recommend to everybody that they at the least take a CPR class at your local American Heart Association, as even that will give you a basis for continuing to learn more about trauma management.
My good friend, Morgan Atwood, has also come up with a suggested guideline for civilians to deal with injuries in a hostile setting.
You can read this guideline at Combative Concepts
And frankly, there is an almost inexhaustible amount of information available for free on the web for continued self-study and more and more training facilities are now offering training courses for a relatively small amount of money that can further educate you.
I want to say something real quick about the SWAT-T tourniquet.
It's in my opinion one of the more interesting new products on the market. Simple to use, easy to apply, even to yourself and very effective at gaining occlusion. They are also remarkably cheap and can be had either directly from the manufacturer or through various other medical supply houses. In my opinion, everybody that carries a blow-out kit should add at least one of these to their kits!
Here is the link to their website SWAT-T Tourniquet
Know your gear. Learn how to use it. Before you have no choice but to use it.
Addendum: Upon re-reading this, I realized that I should more thoroughly cover the concept of stacking acetaminophen (Tylenol and other brands) and Ibuprofen (Advil and other brands).
What you're dealing with is something commonly referred to as a synergistic effect. Acetaminophen works by acting on certain pain receptors in our bodies, where as a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug or NSAID like ibuprofen and aspirin works on different receptors, thus taking both types of drugs together, you effect more pain receptors.
Almost just as important as their different methods of action is that they metabolize differently. Acetaminophen metabolizes in the liver and can actually be quite hard on the liver. It's distressingly easy to get too high a dose of acetaminophen and you can actually damage your liver. This is especially compounded by alcohol or if you're taking other drugs that metabolize in the liver.
NSAIDs don't metabolize in the liver and as such you won't be compounding the metabolic load on the liver by combining NSAIDs with acetaminophen.
Thus, you can safely take the recommended dose as per the instructions on the packaging, of both types of drugs and get a significantly better pain-relieving effect than say, doubling the dose of either drug on it's own. It's just safer in general. Mind you, if you are allergic to any of these drugs, don't take them, stacked or not stacked! I can't be held responsible for any damage you may do to yourself with this, so do this at your own risk. It is up to you to further research this and to properly educate yourself.
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