Tag Archives: edc tourniquet

Donbass days, Kalash nights

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Via MilMag in Poland, here’s a picture of equipment carried by one of the Russian soldiers from the 234th Black Sea Guards Paratrooper Regiment fighting in the Donbass, Ukraine. He participated in the fights over Luhansk International Airport and Krasnodon town in 2014.

-An old-school 5.45mm AK-74 rifle with an RPK-74 45-round magazine, and GP-30 underbarrel grenade launcher.
-8 standard 30-round magazines, 5 VOG 30mm grenades for the launcher, 2 F1 fragmentation hand grenades with fuses.
-2 tourniquets, one pressure bandage.
-On the top: an RPG-18 “Mukha” disposable 64mm anti-tank launcher (the LAW-ski!)
-A flare, a smoke grenade, imported Swedish Morakniv knife, a multitool (Leatherman?), Petzl headlamp and a flashlight.
-Sawing kit, 2 packs of Seven Oceans emergency dry rations, scotch tape, a pen, some misc. papers, a carabiner, safety pins, and the most important item of them all for any infantryman – spare socks.

Russians/Soviets have long been a fan of carrying tourniquets/IFAKs on their Kalash, going back  to the old Afghani days:

Remember, bleeding control is a thing

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It’s 2017, if you don’t carry a tourniquet, you need to address that.

The American Red Cross and American Heart Association changed their guidance to include bleeding control in standard first aid since 2015 and courses are readily available, often for free. Good EDC tourniquets cost about $25.

If you follow the pew-pew life, but don’t carry a blowout kit, there is something wrong with your love story

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One thing often tragically neglected by people who think they are prepared is the ability to respond to a serious causality incident, where a trauma kit and some knowledge of how to use it can save lives– even your own.

If the terrible events of the past several days have proven anything is that you can expect the unexpected to rear its horrible head when and where you least anticipate. In a world of domestic and international terrorism, if you live, work or play near a large city you can quickly find yourself in the middle of a nightmare where overtaxed first responders may not be available or are stretched too thin to control the situation until additional resources appear. On the opposite side of the coin, in a rural or suburban area where a small-scale accident or incident pops off, you could find yourself isolated with the nearest support vital minutes or even hours away. It’s these moments, where conventional civilian emergency medicine protocols fail, that are the most dangerous.

Thus, the need to be ready for trauma.

More in my column at Tac.44.com.