A pocket sized guide is OK to carry, but the really important stuff in it you have to KNOW, you won't have time to dig the book out, find the page, then try to read the CPR (for example) instructions in the 50 mph winds that are blowing. By the time you get that done your victim is a gonner.

Re carrying oxygen, that stuff is the wonder drug of first aid. It is amazing the improvement of a victim, no matter what the ailment (with maybe a couple of exceptions), will show after you start the O2 flowing. Probably the most important, it can give you a head start on shock prevention. I am not a certified EMT anymore, but I found some O2 cylinders and requlator at a garage sale one day (some oldster had passed on), and try to keep it stashed away in a corner of our vehicle...

Well, I used to have first responder qualificationsa, about 10 years ago, for S&R. I just recently got back into the swing of things, and just found out that ALL searchers are required to have SOLO training (wilderness first aid). Its all that the state, and NASAR, will officially recognize. Makes me wonder who gets the money from the courses....

Yikes! If the instructor saw what I posted he would have hanged me up by my yardarms! His rank was Chief Petty Officer 1st Class and he was in the Navy. He just kept saying Chief and for some stupid reason I was thinking Army.... <img src="/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />
That's was I get for doing time on an air training base as a civilian contractor.

I still have Battle Dressings in my FAK's but If those become no longer useable (contaminated), I will start carrying 2-4 old fashioned OB pads. They make great medium size battle dressings. You just place them neatly in a zip lock bag, squeeze the air out, and seal the bag.
No, I am not a Doctor, or corpsman, or EMT,,,,,I just played a Medical Officer on a Coast Guard Cutter.

I was taugth the pad trick about 35 years ago. Good ideas sometimes last forever...

Thanks, i like the place so far.