Quoted from an article in a magazine:

Titled: "Every Soldier is a First Responder"

"For every 10 soldiers who die from battle injuries, 9 never make it to a field hospital. Statistics reveal these nine Soldiers either bleed or choke to death from lack of immediate care"

What I looked at here was the new Individual First-Aid Kit (IFAK)

"All components of the new IFAK - tourniquet, bandage, gauze, rubber tube, a plastic wrapper, roll tape and exam gloves - are securely wrapped for sterility, and fit onto a Soldier's Load Carrying Equipment belt just as ammo pouches or water canteens do."

One IFAK is being issued to every four initial entry soldiers and it apparently comes in an ACUPAT pouch. The entire Army will take about 2 years to switch over to the IFAK

Well, my question is, does this have any lesson and/or application to us civilians when dealing with traumatic injuries? Should I pack a similar kit in addition to my regular FAK? If so, should I vary it any? BTW, I've not kept up with the latest FAK threads (shame on me)

Edited: I found the article online:

https://www.bliss.army.mil/usasma/public...quot;ifak"

The kit looks good. The only application that I can think of for this type of kit in civilian life would be to keep it in the car. (Unless you are in law enforcement in which case you should probably carry it at all times to treat gunshot and stabbing wounds).

The types of injuries this kit would treat, all involve some sort of severe bleeding, something not commonly encountered in everyday life, except perhaps for car accidents.

I have a Bloodstopper and some maxipads in my car kit for severe bleeding, plus some 4x4s and Durapore tape for the less severe one. Tourniquete can easily be improvised. As far as nasopharyngeal airway, this could be an overkill unless one knows how to use it well.

So, you sayeth, Yoduh, carry it in a BOB we must not? Carry it on a hiking/camping or hunting expedition we must not? What if training with this type of kit we hath partaken?

Personally I have no problem with people carrying lots and lots and lots of gear with them as long as they know how to use it. Treatment of traumatic injuries is simple and doesnt really involve advanced training as long as you follow the rules. What serious trauma needs is hosp not field treatment (only field stabilization). Remember that all bleeding eventualy stops on its own. My typical lecture on soft tissue injuries and bleeding takes about 2 hrs. Splinting is another 2 hrs. If you want to carry all that stuff with ya go ahead as long as you know how to use it.

Personally I evaluate my day and what Im going to be doing that day. I go hiking I may take bigger FAK with me. I go to the range I may throw a bag with some fluids and maybe few extra occlusive dressings. I go diving and I will take my O2 tank. But if I'm hanging out around city or just running around basic small FAK is sufficient. You guys know me and I used to carry a small field hosp with me and many many other stuff. Not anymore. I'm new and improved streamline model with carries basic minimum.

One of my hobbies is target-shooting, pistol and light rifle at a local indoor range and high power rifle at an outdoor range some miles form my home. While I do not normally carry an IFAK, I bought the Marine version as a supplement to my normal first aid kit that remains with my shooting kit. I try to tailor my medical supplies to the activates I’m engaged in. When backpacking I add a snakebite kit, extra Motrin, along with foot care products.

This kit is designed for military usage, and replaces a woefully understocked first aid package that's been around forever. Good components, but there wasn't enough of them. It was compounded by the general "lightness" of the medical training that most troops have historically recieved. The Marines and Airborne both issued kits that had about twice the gear compaired to the regular one, and a wider spectrum of gear, and generally had better first aid training.

It isn't bad, but the tournequit is easily enough made and rarely needed. (The military includes it becuase of the likelyhood of IED + body panel = amputation, in whole or in part.) You probably carry a bulk bandage, either maxipads, or an ABD or spare crevate or roller gauze. You probably already carry a roller anyway, as it is one of the best ways of getting a dressing to stay on a limb. Personally, I'm not a fan of surgical tape, but you probably already have that and/or sports and/or duct tape in your gear. You probably already have 3x3s or 4x4s in your FAK, along with the gloves. And while you probably don't have the training for an airway, don't sweat it- I'm more worried about a trooper who got shown how to do an airway once trying it on me.

Other than the plastic shrink wrap and the quikclot, you probably already have this. And you can find other things with plastic wrap in your kit.

There are SO many places in the forest, where if you stumble, you can impale yourself on a broken branch or small broken off tree, that I would think that this sort of thing would be important.
It just seems to me that you have to consider not just the likelihood of an accident, but also the consequences of the accident, IF, it happens...
It my not be likely, but IF it happens, it is IMMEDIATELY life threatening... And it is not like it is something that is VERY unlikely.
And if you have to be wandering around in the dark, it becomes MUCH more likely.
And if you are in an URBAN area after an earthquake or other disaster where buildings are destroyed, there is going to be re-bar sticking out all over the place for you to impale yourself on!

Please keep in mind the best treatment for impalement is to leave the impaling object (tree branch, rebar, etc.) in place and to cut the object away from its source. Packing/dressings should then be built up around the remaining impaled object and transport the victim as securely as possible to prevent further damage. By leaving the impaled object in place, it is providing tamponding, removing it can lead to uncontrollable hemorrhage. Treatment of impalement in the wilderness setting is really no different then the urban environment. To do otherwise may result death depending upon the location of the impalement.

I have doubts, that the IFAK has enough materials to properly stabilize the impalement, if that is reason being used to justify the carrying of said kit.

Pete

Theory floating in the pre-hospital field is that if Steve Irvin left the barb inside he might have lived. Of course if toxins didnt paarlize the cardiac muscle, etc, etc.

I imagine it is quite instinctual to pull out something that has just pierced your body. It takes a mighty controlled <img src="/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" /> and forward thinking <img src="/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" /> individual to override this instinct. I have had only couple of impaled object victims and it is easy to tell them to relax <img src="/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />, not attempt to pull out the object (nor will you) and allow you to dress and bandage the object. However, I am not too sure I would have the presence of mind <img src="/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> to stop myself from quickly snatching the object from my body, as it seems my first instinct, whenever I cut my finger, is to immediately stick the offended finger in my mouth <img src="/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />.

Pete