Medical kits save lives - not just outside the wire, but here every day at home. Unfortunately not everyone has access to one; fewer still know what to do when things go wrong.
Numerous options for medical preparation have become available. The D.A.R.K. kit from Dark Angel Medical itself has evolved - it has also saved some lives.
Kerry "Pocket Doc" Davis (founder of Dark Angel Medical and designer of the D.A.R.K.) asks his students at every class to let him know if they ever use his gear or his training in an actual event. He recently announced the last two saves - #21 and #22 respectively. This is exactly why we should all have access to a medical kit, on our person, in our briefcase, in the car. D.A.R.K., MBOK, Slim Line or NOLATAC, doesn't matter to us - and it's doubly important (as we see it) if you carry a knife or a gun everyday.
Save #21 occurred in Lafayette, CO. Apparently a citizen on the way to a sporting goods store to sell his handgun had failed to clear the weapon. He thought it was empty. While stopped a stoplight that round was cracked off. The bullet went through his tibia and out the rear of his calf, piercing his anterior tibial artery. An ER nurse in a vehicle nearby called 911. The responding officer was just a short distance away and responded within 3 minutes. He used the SWAT-T in his Pocket DARK to stop the bleeding in the man's lower leg.
Save #22 happened just a short time ago in New York. There an intoxicated male punched a window out, ripping open an artery in his arm. One of Pocket Doc's students provided initial treatment to the man by using pressure and gauze on the wound. When that proved insufficient he used the Combat Application Tourniquet in his D.A.R.K. to cinch the man's arm. He was taken to a nearby hospital where the ER doc was quickly briefed on the CAT, which was left on until a vascular surgeon arrived to operate.
Here are a few words from Davis about tourniquets, which should no longer be viewed as a "last resort". Take a minute to watch it, then let us know - have you slacked off on your TCCC awareness since coming back from deployment? Do you have any sort of medical provision in your "EDR/EDC" (Every Day Carry/Every Day Ready) gear? Did you buy it or 'roll your own'? What's do carry and why?
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjCPhykCJ9g]
You can read more on the topic in The Missing Link: Medical Training for Shooters and Train like you bleed.
About the Authors: The Mad Duo have been contributing to Kit Up! for many years now. They are the combined writing voice of a whole team of execrable minions who represent a wide array of backgrounds and many years of service, military and LEO and both combined.
