Medkit for the Range

[Arclight]

As with anything in gear, configuring a medkit is a compromise. If you had everything you could possibly want, you'd be carrying a Level 1 Trauma center and an ICU. If you only carry a band-aid and an Aspirin, you're not prepared for much. With this in mind, what I have here is intended to get you thinking about what you should carry, not prescribing what that is. What you should carry and what I should carry may not be the same for many reasons. It's easy to carry too much and too many people carry nothing. There are hundreds of websites and forum threads that discuss what to carry. Some are good, some are dangerously bad. Make sure you get educated advice that fits your skills and environment. Finally, don't get caught up in "sexy" gear and forget the stuff you actually would use.

Let's start with some questions:

• What is this medkit for?
• What am I trained to do?
• How will I carry it?

What is this medkit for?
Think about the situation you're preparing for. Gunshot wound? Training injuries like sprains/strains? General first aid issues that come up in any activity, including shooting sports? Providing full medical support to dynamic entry training? You get the point.





When I'm going to the range, I have three different "medkits". While there is some redundancy, each is for something different. I have my "blowout kit", which is clearly marked and attached to my range bag for immediate penetrating trauma emergencies. I have my "snivel kit" which has band-aids, aspirin, antiseptic wipes and such for everyday minor medical issues (which is in a small ziplock bag and fits in a pocket in the range bag). Finally, as a former medical provider, I have a much larger, more comprehensive kit in my car that encompasses the above items and more advanced/diagnostic care. Why do I mention that? Because each one was born from a different need, and carried/stored according to that need. So ask yourself - what am I trying to prepare for?

What am I trained to do?
This is pretty straightforward. Know your skills, your limitations, and the laws. Be careful with carrying advanced life support gear or medications if you're not certified to use them where you live, even if you know how. The caveat to that, however: Even if you don't have the training, there's still value in having basic emergency supplies with you for the other guy at the range who knows how, but isn't prepared. There are many places to get basic first aid training, and even occasionally ones tailored to recreational shooters. If you don't have any medical knowledge and plan to make a serious hobby of shooting, it's a good investment.





How will I carry it?
Do you want to carry a separate emergency bag? If so, will that always be with you or start getting left behind when you have other gear to manage? How much space do you have? This depends on so many factors that I won't try to prescribe something here, but I'll make this suggestion: If you're carrying trauma/"blowout" gear, it's helpful to have it in a clearly marked kit that attaches to your normal range gear and can be easily found and removed by someone unfamiliar with your kit in an emergency.






My only firm recommendation here is this: Don't get caught up in having "just the right gear" and either feel like you have to spend a ton of money or end up getting nothing. Have something with you, even if it's just a couple of triangular bandages and a pair of nitrile gloves in a ziplock in your range bag. Just those tools alone can handle a surprising number of emergencies and may be just what someone needs.... right now. Remember, the life you save may be your own.


Finally, I am neither a doctor nor a lawyer and I didn't stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night. That's my way of reminding you that medical care, like shooting, is serious business and you are responsible for the choices you make.

[ToddG]

Awesome post, ArcLight. I think every serious shooter should have at least basic training in dealing with penetrating injuries, and everyone should keep some kind of kit (like an IFAK) either on his body or on his range kit 24/7.

Because whether you're just hanging out with friends or among fellow experienced shooters, bad things can happen.

[45R]

I have one of the IFAKs that Todd referenced. Its a great kit, I actually took a Tactical Medicine course to learn how to use the contents.

[jslaker]

A decent medkit has been on my list of things to buy for entirely too long.

Another interesting data point is that NPR did a report on the recent shootings in Tuscon, and the Sheriff's department there credited the fact that they had recently started keeping IFAKs in their patrol cars as a major factor in saving lives that day. The first officers on scene were able to immediately begin rendering aid, buying crucial time until the ambulances showed up.

[peterb]

As a volunteer EMT, I'll echo that you don't need a lot of specialized gear. Simple, multipurpose stuff works fine. Carry a couple of pairs of nitrile gloves in ziplok bags -- the bags can be an airtight dressing if needed. For minor trauma 4x4s and roller gauze or Ace bandages work well if you don't have the all-in-one trauma dressings. Triangular bandages are useful but the commercial ones are usually small and flimsy, so we make our own. Sterile saline is good for irrigation or eyewash -- the little Saljet 30ml containers will fit even a small kit.

Gloves really are important, because the fastest dressing you can apply is usually a gloved hand. I keep a glove pouch on the strap of my first-in bag so I never have to look for my first pair.

I'm certainly not knocking the commercial kits and specialized products. But a few minutes at the local drugstore will get you something a whole lot better than nothing.

If you've got a group/club, organizing a group buy of supplies from one of the big EMS suppliers might make sense.

[Arclight]

A decent medkit has been on my list of things to buy for entirely too long.
...The first officers on scene were able to immediately begin rendering aid, buying crucial time until the ambulances showed up.

Often people get hung up in needing to wait until they find just the right cool pouch and the latest tourniquet. I have nothing against either of those (I have a cool pack and a handful of tourniquets) but start with this:

Go to your local pharmacy/drugstore/online, buy two Triangular Bandages and a pair of Nitrile gloves or two. Put them in a Ziploc bag, draw a red cross on the bag, and put it in your range bag. Triangulars are the miracle tool for improvised trauma care and cost almost nothing.

If you want to go higher tech and spend more, North American Rescue's Individual Patrol Officer Kit (IPOK-CG Combat Gauze) is almost ideal for a minimal-skill-required urgent intervention for a GSW, neatly packaged. My range blowout kit is a slightly expanded version of that.

As peterb noted above, you can often improvise things if you won't/can't carry "the tool" for each emergency. For example, I do carry an Asherman chest seal, but I've found they don't stick well so you're just as well off carrying something occlusive (like the wrapper of the IPOK) and some tape. As he noted, a gloved hand does wonders for plugging holes in a pinch.

Other things, it's worth having the "right one". I'm a fan of the CAT-T style of tourniquet because you can put it on yourself one-handed. I also have the SWAT-T because it's cheap and more multipurpose, but it's not what I carry in a situation I might need to stop myself from bleeding out. If you're not sure, do the research and learn for yourself what features are important and why. Just don't let that keep you from getting something in the meantime.

If you're curious, here's what the Pima County folks had. Quite similar to what's above.

Hope that helps motivate you to bring something with you next time you go to the range!

[JSGlock34]

The Viking Tactics Tactical Med Kit is a good place to start (mirrors the Army IFAK in several components); I keep one in the trunk of each car along with a NAR Combat Applications Tourniquet.

Having these kits available is great, but I can't stress learning how to use them enough. Take a class regularly. Combat first aid has evolved considerably over the past decade - we've come a long way from just having a bandage on the shoulder of your ALICE gear.

[LittleLebowski]

Because whether you're just hanging out with friends.

Tis a flesh wound.

[Arclight]

Having these kits available is great, but I can't stress learning how to use them enough. Take a class regularly. Combat first aid has evolved considerably over the past decade.

I still believe it's better to have a basic kit and not know how to use it than have nothing at all (on the chance there's someone there who knows how but wasn't prepared), but clearly this is ideal. Get the gear, learn to use it. You don't have to recertify every year, but 1) you forget things and 2) things change.

I started doing EMS in 1994. If I did then what we consider standard now, I would have been fired and probably been charged with negligence. Fortunately,since then trauma care has gotten both easier and more effective at the basic combat casualty care level.

The other half of formal training is practice. If you get a combat tourniquet like a CAT-T (which I also highly recommend) or a SOF-T or Ratchet, get proficient enough with it that you don't have to think about it at all. If you can barely operate it in your living room on a Saturday afternoon, how will you fare in low light and under stress? Train, then practice, practice, practice.

One tip for the CAT-T and others of that type -- size it to fit over your boot and the upper part of your thigh (or any leg-borne gear you wear like a drop-leg) before you put it back in your kit. That way when you're trying to get it onto a high femoral bleed in a hurry, you're not trying to resize it. That ends badly.

[JSGlock34]

I still believe it's better to have a basic kit and not know how to use it than have nothing at all.

100% agree.