[JJ1701]

I'm working on making my first aid kits, for my get home bag, and was wondering what everyone here would put in there.

I'm thinking of starting with:
-alcohol wipes
-neosporin
-bandaids
-moleskin
-tweezers and nail clippers
-ankle wrap bandage and clips
-Quick clot
-Israeli bandage, perhaps?

Something for nausea, diarrhea, and headaches would probably be a good idea.

That would cover some basics I know, but what else might be good for an emergency?

 

[JLeeS1983]

My IFAK that I carry camping/hiking has an pressure (Israeli) bandage, a couple different size gauze pads, a few cotton balls, a few band aids, steri strips, moleskin, anti septic wipes, neosporin, tape, bug repellent, ace bandage, tylenol, ibuprofen, antihistamine, anti diarrheal, tweezers, a few safety pins and a tourniquet. Would be the same for get home bag. Probably more than some carry, but I refuse to go ultralight with first aid if I'm going to be a couple hours from anywhere. I've had a few cuts and punctures that refused to stop bleeding with only a small gauze pad and a band aid. A few of the items are not just first aid, but I keep it all together. Edited to add i should add quick clot to mine.

 

[GoblintheCat]

I'm working on making my first aid kits, for my get home bag, and was wondering what everyone here would put in there.

I'm thinking of starting with:
-alcohol wipes
-neosporin
-bandaids
-moleskin
-tweezers and nail clippers
-ankle wrap bandage and clips
-Quick clot
-Israeli bandage, perhaps?

Consider two things:
1) What injuries are you likely to sustain for this mission

2) What injury you can sustain and still accomplish your mission such that your First Aid kit can assist you.

The second point will likely be controversial. But you should consider it. Most of these kits tend to assume that you will be medivac to medical center and be under professional medical care within that golden hour. For some scenarios, this might be the case. For others, likely not. But you are not in the military, you do not have military backup, remember that.

For those in the 'likely not' remember that you are carrying weight that, minor as it might be, that will impact your body and likely impact your ability to not be injured in the first place.

 

[merlinfire]

for a GHB to me there's 2 questions

1) what injuries would be catastrophic/show-stoppers that i would need to triage immediately or probably fail to get home, or fail to get home in any reasonable amount of time

2) what injuries could i endure, but would be easier and faster to power through with a little medical assistance

i think obviously the answers to #1 include bandages to handle major cuts and wounds, and ankle sprains. it might include other things too and i'd be interested to hear your thoughts.

#2 i think are some of the other things you mentioned. obviously if you're walking 30 miles you going to get some fatigue, some pain. some painkillers to dull the pain, some caffeine pills to give energy. i say the latter because i remember reading about how during the Nazi blitzkrieg into France that the soldiers were all given uppers and they went sometimes for days without sleep which contributed to their victory. Now obviously this would be a bad long-term strategy, but if you need to get home ASAP, maybe this is a good compromise. If you're planning on getting home within 3 days i'm not sure that anti-diarrheals and laxatives are necessary.

 

[ROCK6]

Much depends on your experience level with first aid and your activities.

A lot of gauze (rolls and squares), tape and anti-bacterial cream will cover 90% of most needs.

An ACE bandage is good for a sprain and some improvisation.

I like to have some burn-gel if you're cooking around an open fire or stove.

Leuko-tape is more useful than moleskin as it's more for prevention than after you get a blister.

Instead of alcohol, I like the iodine wipes.

If you have a nasty gash, butterfly strips are small and easy to keep open wounds closed up.

Superglue if you're know how to apply it.

Remember, it's about stopping bleeding, cleaning/disinfecting, and covering up. Most bad lacerations need constant bandage changes, so it's better to have more gauze than less.

My preferred "meds" are Advil, anti-diarrhea, Benadryl, and some electrolytes.

ROCK6

 

[Just Jeff]

Recommend keeping your "boo boo kit" separate from your blowout/trauma/bloodstop kit, partly so they're not cluttering your workspace when time really matters or forcing you to make more decisions under pressure when adrenaline is pumping.

Trauma kit: tourniquet, QuikClot, Halo chest seal, trauma shears, and not much more. Maybe a nasopharangeal airway and decompression needle if you're trained. Belt-mounted because it's first-line gear, or on the outside of a GHB if that meets the mission better. I have one on my gun belt mounted horizontally in a Raven Tactical Flat Lifeline IFAK (link) because I figure if I need to make holes, I'm more likely to need to plug holes, too.

For my truck bag, I have a few more things in a Rip-Away Pouch (link) mounted on the outside of the bag. Since I'm not always wearing my gun belt, this sits in my truck. If I see an accident or something, I can rip it off the velcro and move to the injured person.

In my truck kit, I keep both in the same rip-away pouch, but one compartment is dedicated to trauma and the others are for minor injuries. That way I only have to decide which compartment to open and the gear is already sorted for me. It's a compromise, but one I'm comfortable with.

 

[lasers]

The main things I tend to look in a first aid kit for is acetaminophen(for some reason aspirin doesn't work for me nearly a well) and band aids.

A suture kit could be handy. I am thinking of ordering this https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Practice-Including-Generation-Education/dp/B078NZMQKF I have had cuts that should have gotten stitches but didn't because it was inconvenient to get to a hospital and a bit of diy could have helped out. Butterfly strips should be included and tried first.

A few large bandages would be a good idea as well.

Ways to clean a wound.

Keep updated on first aid classes and cpr. Not necessary to be certified but if the last time you took a first aid class was 20 years ago in middle school there is a lot you have forgot and could use a refresher.


Some type of topical anesthetic.

Gloves

A handkerchief.

An emergency blanket.

An emergency poncho.

Anti-diarrhea medicine.

Sun screen and bug spray.

Benadryl and epipen

Whistle

Compass

Signal mirror

Tweezers

Scissors

Antibiotic Ointment

 

[cook]

Like any list,this will soon be 5 pages long,and you will need a trailer.

 

[JRR]

My first aid kit is minimal. A few bandaids, some tape, Moleskin, Neosporin, and hydrocortisone cream for rashes. I might add an ace bandage.

 

[merlinfire]

Much depends on your experience level with first aid and your activities.

A lot of gauze (rolls and squares), tape and anti-bacterial cream will cover 90% of most needs.

An ACE bandage is good for a sprain and some improvisation.

I like to have some burn-gel if you're cooking around an open fire or stove.

Leuko-tape is more useful than moleskin as it's more for prevention than after you get a blister.

Instead of alcohol, I like the iodine wipes.

If you have a nasty gash, butterfly strips are small and easy to keep open wounds closed up.

Superglue if you're know how to apply it.

Remember, it's about stopping bleeding, cleaning/disinfecting, and covering up. Most bad lacerations need constant bandage changes, so it's better to have more gauze than less.

My preferred "meds" are Advil, anti-diarrhea, Benadryl, and some electrolytes.

ROCK6

agree

i see lots of tourniquets and specialty bandages in IFAKs listed often, anything in there that i don't know how to use properly i'd just leave out, or, if i were keeping them in, make sure i really know how to use it. bound to be some youtube videos. maybe open one up for practice.

 

[jchavasu]

Recommend keeping your "boo boo kit" separate from your blowout/trauma/bloodstop kit, partly so they're not cluttering your workspace when time really matters or forcing you to make more decisions under pressure when adrenaline is pumping.

<snipped for brevity>

Yes, this. Keep it clear what you are likely to treat. My IFAK's are blow-out kits intended to handle immediate life-threatening bleeding, etc. Band-aids, tweezers, neosporin, etc all goes into a separate first aid kit. All those are not immediate issues.

Also be sure your IFAK/blow out kit has something besides a tourniquet. I know too many guys who go the range or elsewhere out and about and think they are prepared because they carry a tourniquet. An example of that issue is that people often carry them in case of a mass shooting, etc. Most deaths in civilian mass shootings do not result from blood loss to an extremity. They result from injuries to the head or torso where a tourniquet will be useless. The attached article lays it out well: https://www.acep.org/globalassets/s...-civilian-public-mass-shooting-fatalities.pdf

Yes tourniquets have their place and they have saved many American lives in combat, but those troops are generally wearing body armor as well.

 

[arleigh]

You are on foot 30 miles from home, EMP has taken out all electronics and the grid is down. Someone has robbed you of you FAK and you've got a bullet wound in your thigh likely a .22 .
What are you doing next?

 

[jchavasu]

You are on foot 30 miles from home, EMP has taken out all electronics and the grid is down. Someone has robbed you of you FAK and you've got a bullet wound in your thigh likely a .22 .
What are you doing next?

We need more information. Muscle wound? Amount of bleeding? Bone strike? etc. In your scenario you could easily be a "walking wounded" or you could be unable to walk at all without assistance. It could be bleeding severely if you took a hit to the femoral artery, or you could basically not be bleeding at all. It's difficult to triage or treat an injury from just "bullet wound".

 

[Just Jeff]

You are on foot 30 miles from home, EMP has taken out all electronics and the grid is down. Someone has robbed you of you FAK and you've got a bullet wound in your thigh likely a .22 .
What are you doing next?

Kill the ****head who shot me.

 

[Aerindel]

We need more information. Muscle wound? Amount of bleeding? Bone strike? etc. In your scenario you could easily be a "walking wounded" or you could be unable to walk at all without assistance. It could be bleeding severely if you took a hit to the femoral artery, or you could basically not be bleeding at all. It's difficult to triage or treat an injury from just "bullet wound".

Indeed. Details matter.

For instance....this was my leg 20 years ago....I wasn't going anywhere on foot.

On the other hand, a few inches to the side....and maybe I would limp home...or die on the spot 20 minutes later.

In my case, not bleeding at all, totally unable to walk.

 

[Just Jeff]

That looks....uncomfortable.

 

[Aerindel]

That looks....uncomfortable.

I do not recommend it.

Didn't hurt at all for the first few hours......the next two years where a different story.

 

[Just Jeff]

I do not recommend it.

Didn't hurt at all for the first few hours......the next two years where a different story.

Did somebody kill the ****head who did it?

 

[leadcounsel]

I would recommend adding:

* 6x8" or so wound seals, chest seals, etc. For stabs, GSWs, or punctures
* alcohol, peroxide, betadine, etc. to pour over a big wound and flush it out and disinfect.
* something to make a splint, such as zip ties, paracord, etc. to tie a stick
* tourniquets, several
* Pain meds, anti-inflammatory, aspirin, etc.
* gauzes and bandages of various sizes and rolls.
* roll of duct tape
* cutting tools, scissors, a knife
* long needle nose pliers in case you have to extract a foreign object like a broken impaled tree branch, or a bullet, or an broken arrow, etc. Normally it's advised to leave it in until treatment but you might be in a situation where you are best to extract it immediately.

 

[charliemeyer007]

+1 for training. Advanced training is even better. If you have first aide skills you can make do with stuff at hand. Having a nice kit is wonderful especially if you know how to use all the stuff.