What else goes in your range bag besides guns and ammo and mags?

[TGS]

While I was overseas my guys and I always had a couple tampons on us. From nosebleed to whatever a tampon's job is to stop blood flow, they work.

Especially when med resupply isn't very consistent, tampons are always easy to find or get in care packages.

I think the point is that expedient means expedient, it doesn't necessarily mean better. I've never seen anything solid to suggest that maxipads and tampons work as good or better than the usual, and laymans logic would suggest they aren't as appropriate since they're designed to absorb lots of fluid, which means spread it out through the fibers.....which is not what helps coagulation. Keep in mind that a tampon or maxipad is not purposed to stop blood flow.....it's purposed to absorb it.

I can't find any credible articles about clotting matrices of gauze vs those-icky-things-that-females-use-for-icky-female-stuff though, so I don't want to make an absolute statement and eat my words. Suffice to say, a nose bleed is way different than an arterial bleed, so I'd like to hear from anyone here who has actually used maxipads or tampons on arterial bleeds.

Good info everyone. TGS thanks for the post, I've been trained on NCD's, but would not think to do one stateside, even if I had a dart.

Yeah man, that's the awesome thing about military field care and the sucky thing about stateside medicine. In the military, if you're joe-schmoe and the platoon medic takes the time to teach you how to perform a chest decompression.....then you can do a chest decompression! Stateside, if you're a nurse in some sort of advanced specialty and are riding as an EMT on a volunteer ambulance for your small town....it doesn't matter. You're still only allowed to do what any other EMT is allowed to, because you're riding as an EMT and your nurse credentials are not supported.

[CGA]

I've started carrying 2 smaller bags to the range. Instead of cramming everything into one huge bag, I put gun stuff and accessories into one (guns, mags, holsters, batteries, cleaning kit, BOK), and range related stuff in the other bag (stapler, staples, pasters, 3x5s, timer, tape measure, cones, etc). If I'm taking at class somewhere, I can just grab the gun bag and leave the range stuff at home. Obviously, this will be different for trainers.

[C45P312]

I have a standard Midway range bag that was like $30. I've since taken out all medical related items and put them in their dedicated bag. my range bag was getting too full. during training classes, ill bring the medical to the line if the staging area is a ways away.

In the bag:
Range access/membership card
various spare Glock and 1911 parts
nylon punch
screwdriver
old unused moon clips and demooning tool
stapler and staples,
3 different boresnakes
disposable earpro
spare eyepro
surefire earplugs for rifle work
electronic earpro
timer
spare timer
whistle
ar15 cleaning kit rod + brushes
lube
G19, G17 and 1911 spare mags
IDPA rule book
Kirsch's drill book
Anderson's first dryfire book
written IDPA new shooters brief
ballpoint pens
black sharpy
8" cardboard circle stencil
batts for timers, lights and RDS
various sundry empty brass in every pocket
various paper targets
bag of dummy rounds

Have a link to what bag you use?

[Carraway]

You'd better let the Military know right away that they need dish gloves and tampons.

I don't know about dish gloves, but many medics, soldiers and, in general, other first responders will have tampons. They're sterile, absorb blood and can be applied quickly.

[Dave J]

I don't know about dish gloves, but many medics, soldiers and, in general, other first responders will have tampons. They're sterile, absorb blood and can be applied quickly.

They're cheap and compact, but I wouldn't pick them as a primary option, nor do I recall hearing any medics seriously advocating them since about 2005 or so.

If I need to pack a wound, I'd much rather have combat gauze and/or kerlix.

[TGS]

I don't know about dish gloves, but many medics, soldiers and, in general, other first responders will have tampons. They're sterile, absorb blood and can be applied quickly.

If I shoved a tampon in someone instead of the equipment I was given on an ambulance, I wouldn't be having too good a relationship with higher ups. That might have to do with the fact that wound packing isn't allowed in NJ (and probably many other states), but still. Most first responders in general are not carrying tampons. In my time in the Marines, I never met a Marine, CLS trained or not, or a Corpsman, that carried tampons either. Not that I'm the collective whole of all medical experiences wrapped up into one, but I have a real hard time believing the prevalence of tampons in emergency medicine, whether civi or military, as espoused by so many people that have never been in EMS or the military.

Just like Dave J said, this whole tampon business isn't currently widespread and prevalent in reality. It's an issue of beating a horse that just won't die because people want to think that tampons and maxipads are awesome, and make up stuff about how popular they are, or recall instances from nearly a decade ago (or more) about how tampons were used because the only other medical gear issued was a single bandage.

A tampon can be used as an expedient wound packing material. Sure, if you're going out on a hunting trip or range outing, can't find your first aid kit and don't have the time to hit up the nearby drug store for some gauze pads/rolls and a triangular bandage, by all means grab some tampons and maxipads from the bathroom and throw them in a plastic bag. A cop in my city survived from his abdominal wound by wrapping it up in duct tape since he didn't have an appropriate occlusive dressing over top a moistened abdominal pad. That doesn't mean it's just as good. The fact that contemporary combat medics (who are literally the pointy tip of the spear with hemorage control) don't systematically carry tampons and maxipads anymore is telling. Expedient means expedient. That is all.

As for it being some magical tool that plops right into a GSW, that's also a myth. Go grab a tampon. Measure the diameter. Compare that to the average diameter of a rifle or pistol round.

Let's also think about continuity of care. Shoving a tampon in someone at the gun range is not definitive care. They still need to see a doctor. Now, since the tampon has expanded substantially, and since it was larger than the size of the wound to begin with, the hospital team has to deal with pieces of that tampon being left inside the wound. Sure, the wound is already unsanitary, so sterility is already moot......but that doesn't mean we need to add insult to injury by making more work for the hospital to ensure a bad infection doesn't ensue. Infection is still a very real threat. In the US alone, 99,000 people died from healthcare acquired infection in 2009 out of 1.7 million healthcare associated infections. So, as first responders, we need to keep in mind that we are part of a tiered system of medical care. What we do should serve the follow on tiers. This is the reason that most EMS services no longer use burn gels on patients, FWIW. You might think you're doing the patient good by slathering on some burn gel, until you realize that at the hospital the nurses will be scrubbing it off of their burns, and that whole process delays definitive care.....not to mention causing immense pain. Same idea with shoving tampons in GSW's.......you doing so instead of using the proper gear may have just turned their same-day release into a week long hospitalization fighting off a nasty infection. Arclight made a good point in this thread about something being better than nothing, and to at least have something now instead of waiting for the ultra-cool sexy gear.......No one should misconstrue that as it being ok to carry expedient gear when you could instead have appropriate medical gear.

It's not like a couple gauze rolls, pads, and triangular bandages from CVS are that expensive anyway. Considering you can buy them individually, it's not any more expensive, whatsoever, than buying tampons and maxipads.

As for dish gloves, I personally don't understand that. I don't see what someone is going to be doing "in the field" (read: pistol class or hunting) that necessitates dish-gloves, but I'm certainly willing to listen. As it is, I don't imagine I want to be feeling for a pulse with dish gloves.

[gringop]

I have a standard Midway range bag that was like $30. I've since taken out all medical related items and put them in their dedicated bag. my range bag was getting too full. during training classes, ill bring the medical to the line if the staging area is a ways away.


Have a link to what bag you use?

This one, mine's dingy powder blackened green though.

http://www.shootersconnectionstore.c...LACK-P555.aspx

Gringop

[Carraway]

TGS - Thank you for the explanation. My information is about seven years old from current nurses/practitioners, two of which were previously medics even earlier. I'm not in the medical profession, but I did have to spend a long time packing wounds (my own) and other general care. In case you're wondering I used medical supply packing strips, sterile 4X4 gauze pads and swabs, among other things, but no tampons. Thankfully that's been behind me for about five years.

[secondstoryguy]

I was a Corpsman for 8 years. Never had to use a tampon for a battle dressing. The USN was always nice enough to give me everything I need to patch up my Marines and squids. When someone takes a round and all hell breaks loose, it's a lot easier to use something that's designed for the task at hand than to try and Macgyver something into working. Buying good equipment is one variable of an unknown life and death situation that you CAN control. There is even less of an excuse these days as so much good med gear is available to the general public. So many guys are bringing back IFAKs and other gear you can get it for a steal via the forums and eBay...I just got three 2012 dated CAT Tourniquets for $20!