@Dawn, here in my state, we can contact local community education outreaches for medical training. On my next day off, I can reach out and help assemble a national data list for medical training by state? I have an extended weekend coming up in February and can work on it then?
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Love that your local community has educational outreaches for medical training, Deril! Give me a shout over PM here and we can chat about it!
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I will do that. Have a good night.
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My EDC is large compared to most people I know, but it breaks down like this. I constantly carry my glock 42 and 2 extra mags, I’ll often carry a back up weather it is my P320 or bodyguard .38 depends on the weather. The other typical items are a flashlight, knife, multitool, notebook, pen and sharpie. I also carry a dummy wallet (nothing of importance). On top of all that I also keep an IFAK on me at all times consisting of a modified quick clot adventure pack, 2 CAT tourniquets and a SWAT - Tourniquet. I recently added a Samsung Gear S3 watch to the mix anyone in the market (highly recommended, has some great features for EDC, if interested just ask. No sales pitch). I also have an emergency kit that lives in my car so it’s always on hand.
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How do you carry that much stuff on you every day? Tactical pants? Lots of pockets?
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Not going to lie, I love tru spec for their pants. I work in maintenance at first solar so we are constantly around glass and hard on our cloths. They stand up to the punishment and hold everything I carry quite well.
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I have a pair but I don’t have enough to fill their pockets. I personally bought a pair of Duluth Firehose Cargo pants. Those help me at work more and I actually like them better. Plus the pockets are deeper. 
But that’s me, and I think the whole goal of EDC is to blend in and after giving it some thought I figured that tac pants make a person stand out and kind of says that you’re carrying or that you might be carrying.
I’d rather look as normal as possible, even if I do look a tad utilitarian (which is fine because that’s my line of work anyways).
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I agree with you on the gray man theory. I have several types my everyday work pants do have a tactical look to them over all, but the pants i have for around town look like regular khakis. I also try to make it a point to not be noticed or memorable in most situations. Just curious, how cut resistant are the fire hose pants you were talking about. Always on the lookout for better gear.
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I’m not sure how cut resistant they are but the pockets are designed to not be punctured by tools. They feel sturdy. I just got them in last night.
here’s the link: https://www.duluthtrading.com/mens-fire-hose-cargo-work-pants-92204.html?dwvar_92204_color=BRN#q=firehose&lang=default&start=1
Though they are more expensive than most tac pants, I’d rather have them over tac pants. But that’s my personal opinion.
I work in the trades with a guy who does all sorts of things and the pants come in handy. But have a look for yourself and see what you think.
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Sweet! They make the firehose pants for women too! So often the female market isn’t as robust as the male’s market.
I’ll definitely be checking them out!
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Isn’t the Samsung Gear S3 watch a smart watch? And how much did your IFAK cost or did you not order a pre-built kit but rather just carry the parts separately in your pockets?
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What are the pros and cons to ordering a pre-built IFAK/ trauma kit? I was looking at some different ones today by two different companies and wasn’t sure if it’d be better to buy one or make my own.
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The gear S3 is a smart watch and I was hesitant to buy one only because I thought they were kind of gimmicky. However this one has a really cool sos feature built in that made me lean the other way. As far as the IFAK goes I peiced it together. I couldn’t find everything in one for a decent price.
I started with the basic trauma pak and added the CAT tourniquets, a SWAT-T, EMT shears, combat gauze and the bandage protectors make a hasty chest seal on a budget.
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Cool. How do you carry it all though? Did you buy a pack to put it all in or do you just stuff it all in your pockets?
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Most of it fits in the adventure pac and fits nicely in a cargo pocket
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I see. I gotta get myself into some first aid classes again and then use the USCCA’s book and DVD for treating GSWs, knife wounds and other wounds like that. And build my own med kit between this.
Could you send me a pic of what that adventure pack looks like? or is it the bag in the photo you already sent?
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The little black bag is the package it comes in a few extras I highly recommend are the NPA (nasal pharyngeal airway, 28F is recommended as the go to size for most adults). It comes with a quick clot sponge, but would highly recommend combat gauze, celox, ect for wound packing. It also comes with a small roll of duct tape so you can rip the package apart and make a chest seal but I would recommend a better alternative. I bought some bandage protectors from Johnson and Johnson (about $10 for 8) that are basically a large plastic patch with adhesive on all four sides. A good tourniquet is a must I always recommend to double up CAT tourniquets work great if your a bigger person the SOFT-T is a bit larger and has aluminum hardware compared to plastic. I personally carry a SWAT-T for two reasons it’s not great for self application, but it makes a great pressure bandage if need be and can be used as a tourniquet on smaller people and children since its basically just a rubber band (sometimes their arms my be to small for a CAT or SOFT-T to tighten up enough to be effective)
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Wow. I’ll have to find those. The more you speak about it the more I realize I need to know much much more about medical stuff and how to save a person. 'Cause right now if I had to, they’d die assuming it’s a life threatening wound.
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Alittle more food for thought most people are in the same boat your in, either they never think about life saving skill until they need it or they want to learn but there isn’t time right now that kind of mentality. With all of that in mind build an IFAK with the thought that it is for you in a worst case scenario. This includes medications, if your diabetic then have a means of insulin, if you have allergies then an epi pen, ect. But keeping in mind most people are not in your situation and probably dont have the skills to administer such things should you be incapacitated so include simple straight forward instructions on how to administer such things. This is specific to YOUR IFAK. The other side of this is if you want to prepare for the worst day possible build a BOB (blow out bag) stock this thing with what you think would be necessary for treating life threatening trauma on four or five people, include easy to understand visual aids on CPR, tourniquet placement, ect. So that if the worst should happen and you have to deal with mass casualties you can get help from those around you that may need instructions on the fly. One good resource I have found there is a YouTube channel the guy goes by skinnymedic he has a ton of good videos for dealing with GSWs and other trauma as well as spotting fake CAT tourniquets. This along with the material you got from USCCA and some hands on training can be invaluable if for no other reason the piece of mind.
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Cool. Thanks for that. I’ll definitely look him up. Thankfully I don’t have any allergies that require an eppie pen or am I diabetic. So from what I can gather all I’d need is just stuff to stop bleeding and splint broken bones. An IFAK can be used to stop life threatening injuries too correct? Or can it only do so much which is why it’s important to have a bag of medical materials in your vehicle for when you need to treat mass casualties?
I took first aid classes and now how to treat heat conditions and cold conditions and simple injuries (thanks to the Civil Air Patrol). But as far as someone collapsing I wouldn’t be sure whether to start CPR on them much less if they were bleeding.
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