medical

Super Glue, A band-aid replacement?

I hate band-aids – they’re pesky, get in the way and finding one that allows you to continue complete dexterity while wearing it is next to impossible. They need to be replaced what seems like every 4 or 5 hours, they don’t stay in one place, you can’t get your hands dirty while wearing them. Did I mention that I HATE band-aids?

After seeing a friend forgo a bandage from a pretty nasty knife cut, throw on some Super Glue, and continue as if nothing happened I knew it was time to check this out. I don’t use band-aids often anyways, however sometimes they’re necessary and when they are – well see above – I needed something new.

The Disclaimer:

So I’m not a doctor so this certainly isn’t ‘medical advice’ however I feel like there’s something so much cleaner about sealing up your cut, wound, whatever it is every few days rather than deal with some sort of bandage on top of it. And it turns out super glue has played a larger part in our medical past than I thought.

The Details:

About 70 years ago an inventor trying to find a new substance for gun scopes in World War II happened upon super glue. It was used here and there for different things but then in Vietnam doctors in the field used a sprayable version to patch people up long enough to get them to better medical attention. Yes, I know that things have changed in the 40 years since then, however, the principles are still there that this stuff will certainly keep your skin together (almost too much sometimes).

The Description:

There’s definitely an art to it and it’s important to clean the wound (if possible) first, however, this has really saved me a few times so I can keep going – unimpeded.

I started stashing it around my house, car, and emergency kits, you name it – there’s a tube just in case. I also like to take this with me camping, hiking, etc. because most of the time I still need full use of all my appendages whatever I’m doing. It’s also fairly cheap and keeps for a while so it’s not an extravagant expense for how utility it is.

Super glue – keeping it’s shit together for 70 years

What Do You Really Need in Your Trauma Kit?

IFAK – What do you really need?

Let’s get started with a couple of combat medicine axioms that form the basis of all combat medicine dogma.

Combat Medicine Axiom #1 “Sometimes, the best medicine is fire superiority.”

Combat Medicine Axiom #2 “Good medicine at the wrong time is bad medicine.”

Since the Loadout Room is organized around first line, second line and third line gear, we’ll start our medic posts talking about first line medical gear. The only first line medical gear you need is your IFAK. The trouble is, there are literally hundreds of variations of IFAKs to choose from and everybody has an opinion on what should go in it. IFAK Manufacturer Rule #1 – The amount of shit they try to stuff in an IFAK is inversely correlated to their actual combat medicine experience.

What makes the IFAK useful is not its mere existence. Good medicine is not just about equipment. It’s not simply what’s in the bag of medicine that matters. It’s WHO is carrying it. Using an IFAK requires medical knowledge, simple skills, and the ability to decide when to use it. See Axiom #2.

First, an IFAK is First line gear for YOU. It’s not for anyone else. It serves as YOUR minimum necessary medical capability to save your own ass. It is not a mobile ICU in a tacticool pouch.

Second, if you don’t ALWAYS train and deploy with an IFAK as first line gear for your own survival, stop reading right here and immediately apologize to your buddies for being “that guy”. Then call your mom, husband or wife, kids, neighbors and grade school principal and tell them how you have been a complete dumbass, you have now seen the light and will forever more be squared away with respect to your medical skills and gear.

Moving on.

There’s a couple ways to decide what goes in your IFAK.

1. The Academic Method: Most preventable deaths on the battlefield (85% or more) are from uncontrolled hemorrhage (bleeding to death). So the academic would say that 85% percent of your IFAK gear should be for hemorrhage control. The next 9% are from pneumothorax (the proverbial sucking chest wound) so 9% of your gear should be for that….you get the picture.

That’s how most IFAKs have been stocked to date and it’s a decent standard. However, combat death statistics change as combat medicine evolves. A recent Committee on Tactical Combat Casualty Care (CoTCCC, more on that later) meeting included a review of several cases of soldiers who bled to death from wounds to the upper groin/pelvic area, and under the armpits. They called these cases of “junctional hemorrhage” referring to the fact that the bleeding occurred in areas where limbs attach to the torso. Historically, these cases of junctional hemorrhage were not considered preventable deaths because the bleeding couldn’t be controlled with a tourniquet and direct pressure on the bleeder wasn’t possible. Today, with certain field surgical techniques taught to medics and a soon to be released abdominal aortic tourniquet, future deaths from these types of injuries may be classified as preventable. The Academic Method and your IFAK become susceptible to mission creep.

2. The Packrat Method: “If two is one and one is none, then six should do the trick!”.

This method ignores axiom #1, “The best medicine is fire superiority”. Unless otherwise ordered, never sacrifice ammo for more band-aids. Bill, a SOFREP founder, always says he never wants to die from lack of ammo.

3. The Boy Scout Method: Be Prepared! “I’ll just throw in a few ibuprofen, a couple decongestants, a sling, some burn cream, and some moleskin just in case”. Again, think FIRST LINE GEAR. None of that shit will save your life. If you want something for the sniffles, blisters, or joint pain, put it in your ruck.

First line gear relates directly to first line medical skills. If nothing else, you must be able to stop bleeding. Learn how to do this and then use the materials you’re familiar with. You will want to make sure your IFAK has a roll of some type of gauze, (ideally a hemostatic gauze)and a combat rated tourniquet. That’s the minimum. Lastly, place your IFAK in a location on your body where you can reach it with either hand in case one of your limbs is unusable.

Juliet 2

Click here to win this MyMedic RangeMedic Kit that’s worth $150!

Chances are, you clicked this link because you could use a good quality medical kit (or just like free stuff). In either case, you’re in the right place.

MyMedic assembled their RangeMedic kits by compiling injury data associated with hunting accidents, shooting ranges, and direct testimonials provided by military and law enforcement professionals. What they ended up with was a streamlined kit that includes all the essential gear to manage the types of injuries you can expect while out running and gunning. These kits comes in two trims: basic and advanced, and for the purposes of this review, we’re going to stick with the advanced kit. Why? In my opinion, it’s the better option if you really intend to be prepared… but it also happens to be the kit we’re giving away as well!

These kits come with a wide variety of emergency medical essentials, from a tourniquet to a chest seal, as well as a few creature comforts that’ll help make a tough day at the range just a bit easier. Right off the bat, you’ll notice that these kits come with a RATS tourniquet, which I know many of our readers are not fans of. While I don’t personally carry a RATS tourniquet, I do believe that they get a bit of a bad shake online. While they may not be the best tourniquets on the market, independent testing has shown that they are actually competitive with most other brands when it comes to efficacy in stopping blood loss.

As the National Center for Biotechnology Information put it, “All three tactical tourniquets showed substantial capacity for hemorrhage control. However, the two new tourniquet models (RATS and TMT) did not offer any improvement over the C-A-T, which is currently issued to military services.”

Once you’re past the tourniquet, two zippers and some velcro opens the kit’s main body where you’ll find the rest of the gear. This design is my favorite part of the RangeMedic kit: it makes it extremely easy to access whatever you need within the kit without tearing it apart and making a huge mess. All too often, medical kits are packed so tight with stuff that pulling out a band aid creates a full fledged gear explosion — not so with the RangeMedic Kit. In fact, this kit is so well organized that once you get accustomed to it, it’s pretty easy to manipulate without looking at it — something that’s essential for use in many military and law enforcement duty situations.

The full kit includes:

Chest Seal
R.A.T.S. Tourniquet®
QuikClot® | 3in. x 4ft.
Emergency Trauma Dressing
Liquid Skin®
Dyna-Stopper
Compressed Gauze
Fabric Bandage | 1in. x 3.25in.
Burn Gel | 3.5ml
Advil® | 200mg
Benadryl® | 25mg
Tylenol® | 500mg
Pepto-Bismol® | 262mg
EMT Shears | 5.5in
Tweezers
Nitrile Gloves | Large
Lip Balm | 0.5g
Sunscreen | 3.5g
Hydrocortisone | 0.9g
Triple Antibiotic | 0.9g
White Petrolatum | 5g
Sting & Bite Relief
BZK Antiseptic
Alcohol Prep Pads
Saljet® Bullet Wound Wash | 30mL

This kit retails for around $150 and, to be honest, it’s worth every penny. Being worth it doesn’t mean you have to pay full price, however — you can actually save 20% ordering your own RangeMedic kit by ordering one from MyMedic.com and entering the promo code LOADOUTROOM20.

But what are you really here for? A FREE KIT, right? Well that’s the easy part. All you need to do to enter to win the free kit is leave a short comment below telling us what you’d use your RangeMedic kit for. Maybe you’re a hunter, a police officer, or in the military? Maybe you’re just looking for an easy to carry kit to help make sure you’re better prepared for a bad situation. It doesn’t matter because I’ll be choosing the winner at random!

All you have to do is leave a comment before the end of the day on Monday, August 5th below this article. We’ll choose a winner and respond to them with how to claim their prize.

And don’t forget! Follow this link to buy your own kit with a 20% discount using the promo code LOADOUTROOM20

When DIY is your only option: The Voodoo Tactical Minor Surgery Kit

For many of us, it’s our worst nightmare: someone in your group has a serious injury and you’re in an environment or situation that doesn’t permit a quick trip to the hospital. Maybe you’re in a foreign country you’re not supposed to be in, maybe you’re on the trail thirty miles from your vehicle — whatever the reason, blood is flowing and it’s going to take more than gauze, pressure, and a call to 911 to stop it.

That set of circumstances may be a worst case scenario, but that’s what self reliance is all about: preparing for the worst so you can do your best. That’s what the faux-military “Minor Surgery” kit from Voodoo Tactical offers: the fundamental components of a field surgical kit you’d need to handle the sort of emergencies that are usually destined for the emergency room.

As a U.S. Marine, I received precious little medical training over the years. I can recite the life-saving steps (and execute them), triage victims, and do my best to stabilize them until help arrives — but I’m certainly no combat medic. Unfortunately, I’ve been left with no choice but to serve in a similar capacity once or twice. Medicine, like math, is widely considered to be beyond the mental purview of lugs like me — but fortunately I’ve been blessed with a mother and spouse with a breadth of experience in emergency medicine. I’ve never been more popular around my house than when I unveiled the tools included in this kit. Medical professionals are a weird type.

The kit includes a 6” wound probe; 3-1/2” stitch scissors; 3-1/2” tweezers; 5-1/2” bandage scissors; 5” straight and curved forceps; a #3 scalpel handle with disposable blade; pupil flashlight with mm gauge; alcohol pads; antiseptic towelettes; some 5/0 monofilament; and a gram of antibiotic ointment. In other words, it’s got everything you need to clean and stitch a serious wound, as well as everything you’ll need to remove those stitches after the requisite ten or so days of healing.

In terms of survival, stopping blood loss is so important it comes in as the second of the basic life saving steps – just behind clearing the airway and starting the breathing. That means a wound that’s serious enough to need stitches can’t be ignored due to a lack of equipment. At just 7”x5”x2.5” this kit (enclosed in an included canvas pouch) weighs next to nothing and can slide right into your bag, backpack, or vehicle kit. It’s the sort of peace of mind you might stash away and forget all about… that is, until it’s exactly what you need to survive.

I’ve had great success using this kit to treat some more minor injuries as well, such as removing wood splinters from beneath my fingernails (after 7 surgeries, I still consider that to be the worst kind of pain) and it really came in handy when my wife needed to pull a small metal sliver out of my eye… wear your eye protection when grinding knives, kids.

All told, this kit may be intended for “minor” surgery, but the tools included will serve a major purpose in any long-term survival situation. Some things can’t be fixed with neosporin and athletic tape. In serious situations, not even a handful of Motrin and a bottle of water will do it (sorry Navy Corpsman). If you ever find yourself having such a bad day, you can’t do much better than having this kit on you along with a good quality IFAK.

Remember, if you need stitches or any other kind of minor surgery, your best bet is your local hospital. If you don’t have quick access to a hospital, any medical professional is still a better option than the DIY approach… but if you’re serious about surviving the worst, then this kit is perfect for when DIY is the only option left.

These kits are now all sold out, but you can get your own with a subscription to the Crate Club!

Rad on Gear: How many times have you had a booboo? The Crate Club First Aid Kit

In this edition of Rad on Gear, Rad’s talking about how to address injuries the crop up in the field. Whether you’re trying to prevent invention in scrapes and cuts, need to ice down a sprained ankle, or are just looking for a bit of relief from your wind-chapped lips, this First Aid Kit from the Crate Club has everything Rad needs to keep moving.

Unfortunately, this piece of gear isn’t available in the Crate Club store – that means the only way to get all this valuable gear is to subscribe. That’s not all bad news though–because it means you’ll also be getting great new tactical gear every month delivered right to your door.

Here’s Rad to break down what comes inside this first aid kit:

Rad on Gear: Talkin’ RATS Tourniquets in Southern Utah

Contrary to the many misconceptions about tourniquets that took hold throughout the 90’s and early 2000’s, having a good quality tourniquet in your kit is an absolute must. When it comes to life saving gear, it’s tough to beat the bang for your weight-carrying-buck offered by tourniquets like RATS.

In this edition of Rad on Gear, Rad takes a break from lounging in the Utah sun to tell you a bit about the RATS Tourniquet he carries in his kit. Check it out and don’t forget to check out the links for great deals on RATS Tourniquets below!

Check out these great deals on RATS Tourniquets