I'm trying to build up 4 very basic (tourniquet, chest seal x2, Israeli dressing, kerlix roll and maybe a needle for chest decompression) IFAK kits....but holy cow, $30 for tourniquets?

Anyone know of a good place to get this stuff?

Good question. I am curious as well.

You don't want to get counterfeit tourniquets because if you actually need one you can't afford for it to break or not work.

Go to a place like:

https://www.rescue-essentials.com/tourniquets-holders/

https://www.narescue.com/combat-application-tourniquet-c-a-t

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Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity

DISCLAIMER: These are the author's own personal views and do not represent the views of the author's employer.

In my experience Rescue Essentials is a good company to deal with, and yes, good tourniquets are not cheap.

We are working on 2 kits at my medical company;
Kit a A survival, get home or anywhere but home
ITEM NO. PRUDUCT NAME QTY PHOTO
1 Whistle 1
2 Gauze Roll 6cm*4m 1
3 Signal mirror 1
4 Compass 1
5 Fire starter 1
6 Mouth to mouth breathing mask 1
7 Cotton tipped applicators 10
8 Lodine volts cotton swab 10
9 Adhesive bandage 12
10 Knuckle adhesive bandage 4
11 Elbow & knee adhesive bandage 2
12 Gauze pad 7.5*7.5 2
13 Medical glove pair 1
14 Medical tape 1
15 Safety pins 4
16 Triangular Bandage 1
17 Israeli bandage 2
18 Alcohol wipes 4
19 Sting Relief wipes 4
20 Emergency Blanket 1
21 CAT Tourniquet 1
22 Tweezers 1
23 Scissors 16cm 1
24 A broken finger splint 1
25 Burn Gel 10*10cm 1
26 First aid instruction 1
27 Bag breakaway molle velcro 20.5x18.5
bag material :1000D Nylon

Kit B For home use
EVA Case
Home kit

Specifications
• 351 pieces of comprehensive first-aid treatment products
• EVA Case

This multi-purpose First Aid Kit includes:
Clean
• 12 Antiseptic Towelettes
• 6 Hand Sanitizer Gels
• 36 Alcohol Pads
• 6 Sting Relief Pads
• 2 Sterile Eye Wash .675 oz
Treat
• 10 Antibiotic Ointments
• 10 Burn Cream
• 1 Burn Dressing 4in x 4in
• 10 Antacid Tablets
• 10 Aspirin Tablets
• 10 Non-Aspirin Tablets
• 1 Instant Cold Compress
• 2 First Aid Guides
Protect
• 20 Adhesive Bandages 1in x 3in
• 70 Adhesive Bandages 3/4in x 3in
• 50 Adhesive Bandages 3/8in x 1-1/2in
• 15 Butterfly Bandages
• 18 Wound Closure Strips
• 1 Gauze Rolls 2in x 108in (4 yd)
• 8 Sterile Gauze Pads 2in x 2in
• 4 Sterile Gauze Pads 4in x 4in
• 2 Sterile Trauma Pads 5in x 9in
• 2 Eye Pads
• 1 Breather Barrier
Additional Supplies
• 30 Cotton Tip Applicators
• 1 Adhesive Tape Roll 1in x 180in (5yd)
• 1 Adhesive Tape Roll 2in x 180in (5yd)
• 3 Finger Splints
• 1 Triangular Bandage 40in x 40in x 56in
• 1 Metal Scissors
• 1 EMT shears (Plastic handles)
• 1 Tweezers
• 4 Nitrile Examination Gloves


These items were carefully select by a group of my peers with vast experience in Combat, emt/ems and surgical backgrounds.

Yes, there are no chest seals or quick clots, but these highly specialized item are readily available for YOU to upgrade/customize.
We are finalizing the fine print and hope to have then=m in the next 30-60 days.
I will post when they are available. They will be very well priced.
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This message has been edited. Last edited by: downtownv,

Dark Angel Medical has top quality, well thought out gear. As good or better than any others on the market, imho.

Don't put anything in your IFAK that you don't know how to use and have practiced with.

Yeah, that's why my list is pretty basic.....Combat Lifesaver stuff.

I buy most of my trauma/medical gear from Chinook Medical and Rescue Essentials.

https://www.chinookmed.com/

https://www.rescue-essentials.com/

$30 is about right for a quality, authentic, reputable (SOF/CAT) TQ.

I'd urge you not to go bargain hunting for TQs, as there are any number of disreputable sellers offering fake SOF/CAT TQ knock-offs, and others selling unreliable/suboptimal TQ designs. By trying to save a few bucks, you may be putting someone's life (or your own life) in danger when your bargain TQ fails when it's needed.

Buy name brand TQs from a reputable source!

quote:

Originally posted by AZSigs:
Don't put anything in your IFAK that you don't know how to use and have practiced with.

AZ, you know, I take that for granted but I've been around this stuff for my entire career...
THIS is the best Point made!
There's lots of YouTubes to teach you, however, but knowing ahead of an emergency is the only way to go!

Prices don't vary much, I bought most of mine at rescue essentials. By the time I built kits for 3 vehicles, my motorcycle, range bag, and home I had spent a decent amount of money.
I'm taking the Dark Angel course in November and looking forward to the training.

quote:

Originally posted by mark60:
Prices don't vary much, I bought most of mine at rescue essentials. By the time I built kits for 3 vehicles, my motorcycle, range bag, and home I had spent a decent amount of money.
I'm taking the Dark Angel course in November and looking forward to the training.

You're right I looked some kits that was posted here as "Deals" and the kit that comes with you new car was about the same. good for cuts anything beyond that they were rather useless.
For a very good kit you're going to spend $69-$99. add quick clot chest seals and $200 is an easy price tag.
An EXCELLENT Kit (Full size Back Pack) can run $400+
I think many of these Rescue websites suck people in, knowing your, just at a starting point with their ala carts added (And if there's Room in their bag)

You're not walking away with any bargain.

Just ask yourself or look on amazon for a CATS/Rats tourniquet, 4" Israeli 6 "Israeli 1 pack of quick clot and a chest seal.... You're already at $50 no bag, nothing else.

I designed a kit that if you were too far from a hospital or in the woods, out on the water, you can handle 90%+ of any incident. Getting impaled or shot are much less likely events and would require a very large pack to hump around. I tried to keep it very compact yet well rounded out with a wide array of supplies to treat a lot of scenarios.

quote:

Originally posted by downtownv:

quote:

Originally posted by AZSigs:
Don't put anything in your IFAK that you don't know how to use and have practiced with.

AZ, you know, I take that for granted but I've been around this stuff for my entire career...
THIS is the best Point made!
There's lots of YouTubes to teach you, however, but knowing ahead of an emergency is the only way to go!

I would have no idea your medical training or lack of. The issue is that many people because of something seen on a video game or You Tube they think sticking a needle into a chest is easy and bears no catastrophic results if done incorrectly. Cause, hey I saw this on YouTube.

Many people have no idea the compression bandage is outdated as is the scalpel about to be used.

My years in the ER and surgery probably qualify me to assist but it has been years since I performed or assisted with invasive procedures. While I am pretty sure I still could place 14Ga venous catheters, thoracentesis is not in my daily activities these days and as such I would not attempt it. Thus again my cautionary message. As always YMMV.

quote:

Originally posted by AZSigs:

quote:

Originally posted by downtownv:

quote:

Originally posted by AZSigs:
Don't put anything in your IFAK that you don't know how to use and have practiced with.

AZ, you know, I take that for granted but I've been around this stuff for my entire career...
THIS is the best Point made!
There's lots of YouTubes to teach you, however, but knowing ahead of an emergency is the only way to go!

I would have no idea your medical training or lack of. The issue is that many people because of something seen on a video game or You Tube they think sticking a needle into a chest is easy and bears no catastrophic results if done incorrectly. Cause, hey I saw this on YouTube.

Many people have no idea the compression bandage is outdated as is the scalpel about to be used.

My years in the ER and surgery probably qualify me to assist but it has been years since I performed or assisted with invasive procedures. While I am pretty sure I still could place 14Ga venous catheters, thoracentesis is not in my daily activities these days and as such I would not attempt it. Thus again my cautionary message. As always YMMV.

When you talk invasive proddures, again you're right, that is no longer first aid. My certification allows me into OR's for directional instruction only. But most have heard about the infamous Bone saw rep (Stryker, I believe), that was forced to take over when the saw got jammed mid surgery (A lot like a chainsaw when cutting a log from a bad angle.)
No I'm not that guy.
First aid, not surgical kits.

Last batch of stuff I bought from "Skinny Medic"

quote:

Originally posted by downtownv:
I designed a kit that if you were too far from a hospital or in the woods, out on the water, you can handle 90%+ of any incident. Getting impaled or shot are much less likely events and would require a very large pack to hump around. I tried to keep it very compact yet well rounded out with a wide array of supplies to treat a lot of scenarios.

That looks a lot like the tear away condor bag. I used it to make my first aid kit and think it is a great piece of gear. Mine is very simple, with only things that a complete moron can use.

I'm eager to see the cost and contents of yours.

quote:

Originally posted by Paddy314:
Dark Angel Medical has top quality, well thought out gear. As good or better than any others on the market, imho.

Dark Angel has great kits and great training. They sell a lot of the individual items as well. In class, they made a big point of being careful where you buy your stuff, cautioning that there is a lot of counterfeit crap on evilBay and others. They listed the following sites as all good to go:
darkangelmedical.com
tacmedsolutions.com
chinook-med.com
narescue.com

quote:

Originally posted by AllenInWV:
I'm trying to build up 4 very basic (tourniquet, chest seal x2, Israeli dressing, kerlix roll and maybe a needle for chest decompression) IFAK kits....but holy cow, $30 for tourniquets?

Anyone know of a good place to get this stuff?

Do you want two sets of chest seals? Each set comes with two seals. I’d probably do two tourniquets before I’d do two sets of chest seals, but maybe I’m all wet on that.
As an additional backup as far as chest seals go, you can take a used hotel room key and wrap gorilla tape around it. Three feet of gorilla tape isn’t too thick, and according to the Dark Angel instructors, it actually still sticks when there is blood involved, while duct tape not so much.
If you are trained and qualified on using a decompression needle, more power to you. The DA folks were very clear about not going beyond what you are licensed for if you want to avoid liability. A SF member who I met at a shooting class shared that while he had been certified to use a decompression needle and actually did once, his current work in the hospital world didn’t provide currency or certification. It would really suck to stick someone’s brachial plexus...

At the time I posted, I didn't realize they came in pairs. LOL

Now I'm curious about the "trained/qualified" thing. I'm in the WV ARNG, and we typcially undergo CLS training every year. While standards have changed a lot (we don't do the saline lock thing anymore) the decompression needle is still one thing we do. I'm not a medic. My son is, and he was explaining how he could do invasive stuff to a SOLDIER, he was not allowed to do the same to a civilian.

Anyway, I am a certified Combat Lifesaver which I imagine means diddly outside of the military. So if there is some sort of active shooter situation and some civilian who needs an ND in the aftermath, what course of action do you take?

If it’s a true life or death situation and you take action based on your training, beyond basic first aid, I’d bet on the good side of being legally ok.

Google “practicing medicine without a license” and look at the type of cases you see. It’s not people 4 hours from civilization doing needle decompressions after their buddy fell down a cliff. It’s people putting in fake boobs under the table. Or Botox. Generally.

Also, research your state’s Good Samaritan laws. They are state specific.

A tension pneumothorax takes about 90 minutes to become fatal. It’s not something that is seen much in reality, outside of remote combat. I’ve only seen it a few times. That would be at the bottom of my list. For example, I’m not aware of a single documented instance of a police officer in the US dying from a tension pneumothorax.

Surgical airway management would be slightly more likely. But, again, if the alternate is certain death, and you are trained in the procedure...

Obviously this is not legal advice. Just an angle worth researching on your own so you can make your own decision.