Setup Saturday: Medical

I know for those of you who have been reading our little series of articles on building the modern minute man, you’re calling bullshit. “Where’s the armor?” “Where’s the rifles?” We are getting to that but the reality is if you have a carry permit and aren’t even carrying when it matters then you’re useless to help anyone.

These past few weeks we have covered the essentials for everyday carry, well, all but one. This last piece is often the most overlooked because it isn’t gucci, it isn’t sexy, and you can’t flex it on the guys at the gun shop, its medical. It is, in my opinion, the most important piece.

We carry guns because of this minute chance we may need it, we carry knives because we need them all the time, we carry flashlights because there is 100% chance of darkness every single day, so why wouldn’t we carry medical in the case we may have to help someone? Statistically you have a greater chance of using it than ever needing to use a firearm and in the event you do have to skin that smoke-wagon there is a high probably that someone there will need medical attention. Bad guys notoriously subscribe to the accuracy by volume bible, there may be people there that are shot that should not have been. If we can solve the main problem first and lend a hand to the next we are fulfilling our duty to protect innocent life.

Let me share a phrase a wise person once told me, “If you are going to carry only one piece of medical gear, carry a tourniquet. If you are going to carry two pieces, carry two tourniquets.” Personally, I don’t like feeling under-gunned or under medicaled (is that a thing?) so I carry an ankle med kit from thetacticalmedic.com. In it are 2 compact hyfin chest seals, nitrile gloves, a rats tourniquet, trauma shears, a sharpie, and a north american rescue compact compression bandage. It is comfortable to wear all day and retain full mobility.

My push for carrying medical has even spread to my friends who are all now at least carrying tourniquets. North American Rescue makes wonderful kits if you are in need because amazon is riddled with Chinese knock offs that will 100% fail. Most popular is the CAT (combat application tourniquet) it is used my militaries all over the globe including ours. Another option is the SOF-T, I however prefer the RATS (rapid application tourniquet) because a CAT will not work on kids but the RATS will. I have heard one place where they will not work, that place is the internet, people will bash them but no one will let me put one around their neck ?.

Ready for the Rosie O’Donnell level of ugly? You knew it was coming, how will you know how to use this stuff when it matters? You’ve gotta get training. Medical training is the least sought out because it isnt sexy at all. Ever see someone get an NPA? Its not likely to make your insta stories. It is however, some of the most important training you can get.

I see a ton of women at medical classes, know why? They don’t have egos. Men tend to only do things we think we will be good at and that we think we can already do. Throw your ego in the trash with your Mariah Carey Christmas cd and go get medical training. We have “Emergency First Aid Fundamentals” classes forming now, get ahold of us to learn more. Dark Angel Medical does some wonderful classes as well. I will leave you with two things, 1. Always aim low with the knife, you can’t put a tourniquet on a taint. And 2. Never seek out trouble, but when presented with the opportunity to be batman, be batman.