As I do have a Concealed Handgun License (CHL), I carry a concealed firearm pretty much every day. My Every Day Carry (EDC) traditionally consists of a compact or subcompact semiautomatic pistol, folding knife, cell phone, and a solid wallet. While this combination is well and good, I have been bothered by the absence of one potentially life saving piece of equipment: a First Aid Kit.
Putting politics aside, recent events worldwide have really stressed, to me anyway, the importance of being prepared. Perhaps you are uncomfortable carrying a firearm for any reason, or perhaps you are comfortable with carrying a firearm and cannot for some reason (i.e: you are in a gun-free zone). Carrying an Individual First Aid Kit (IFAK), even if it is small (but still adequate), could potentially help save lives. This is not just applicable to the various horrible scenarios involving madmen. Hunting accidents, car crashes, any number of industrial accidents or slips and falls could result in grievous injury. You might as well be prepared just in case something pops up.
I have First Aid Kits in my truck and in my home to treat everything from scrapes and pulled muscles to serious lacerations and gunshot trauma. If I am going to carry a pistol on me, should I not have the necessary equipment to save lives as well? This question reared its head recently as I was standing in a sporting goods store looking at magazines for my AR and AK pattern rifles. There was a really good sale, and I was strongly considering buying a few of each, when this meme popped into my head:
I suddenly felt a little embarrassed as I have talked about concealed carry and responsibility before, and I’m sure the sales associate stocking shelves next to me was wondering what she did to make me blush. I hurriedly put down my impulse buy and hustled back home to do some important research.
Since I am a bit of a geardo, I had to remind myself that a EDC First Aid Kit could not be a full size, super prepared, military style kit. In order to stay discreet, it had to either fit easily in a pocket, or be mounted to my belt inside the waistband of my pants, much like the pistol would be. For the kit to be this discreet, it would have the bare essentials: a tourniquet, bandages (preferably impregnated with a cauterizing agent), gloves, and the ability to form a seal over a sucking chest wound.
I did a bit of shopping around, and decided that eventually, I was going to have to try out a few of them before settling on just one. Besides that, nobody ever asked someone “Why do you have so many first aid kits?”
Eventually, I narrowed my initial purchase to a Dark Angel Medical Pocket D.A.R.K Mini and a Rogue Gunfighter LOW VIS Inside the Waistband (IWB) Med Kit. While the Rogue Gunfighter Kit comes with a handy low-profile pouch for carrying the kit on your belt, it is quite a bit more expensive than the Dark Angel Medical kit. So in the end, I chose to buy two of the Pocket D.A.R.K Mini kits from Dark Angel Medical and an extra Combat Application Tourniquet (CAT).
Going forward in this post, I would like to point out that this is not really a “review” of the kits. More truly, this is more of an “initial impression” of the kits, as I am still working out how to best utilize the kit.
The two kits arrived very quickly, and I immediately placed one of the kits in my Haley Strategic D3CR, along with a Medical Patch I had acquired at some point in time, and strapped the extra CAT onto one of the D3CR’s straps. The second Pocket D.A.R.K was placed with my EDC pistol (currently a Glock 19 9mm).
Breaking down the Pocket D.A.R.K, it is 4″ high x 2.5″ wide x 1″ deep and weighs 4.8 ounces, so not too heavy or big. The kit contains (from the Dark Angel Medical product description):
1) SWAT-T–easily and quickly applied as a tourniquet or pressure wrap, it can also be utilized as an expedient sling or rib binding.
2) Celox Rapid Ribbon–With Chito-R for fast control of life-threatening hemorrhages, this 1″ wide by 5′ long length of Z-Folded hemostatic gauze is perfect for narrow wound channels and doesn’t take up a lot of room.
3) Gloves- one pair, nitrile, latex-free gloves to protect you from blood or other bodily fluids.
4) 2′ length of duct tape–multi-use and can be utilized along with the vacuum-bag to make an expedient occlusive dressing.
Alright, so it has everything I require of an IFAK, and that is all well and good, but how does the thing work as an integrated part of your EDC? So far, I can say that it depends on how you dress, especially if you are like me and did not spring $10 for the pouch that Dark Angel Medical offers to help keep the kit together and smoother. Both of mine look like packs of cigarettes, and hence slightly bulky. This added bulk looks weird in most pairs of pants, and since we are trying to stay “low-profile” here, a better solution must be found.
I do however, still carry the kit with me everywhere. Well, nearly everywhere. Going to work in a Blues uniform does not provide me with early enough pocket space. The good news is that, while I am in Texas, it is “Winter” here, so wearing a sweatshirt or a jacket does not make you look weird or overly sweaty, so finding an extra pocket to stuff the pouch is easy.
When I get ready to go, I put my pistol on my belt, spare magazine in my left pocket (or in a magazine pouch on my belt if I really plan ahead), folding knife in my back right pocket, throw on my jacket, and put the Pocket D.A.R.K in one of the jacket pockets. This set up works well most of the time, but I would like to figure out how to be able to carry the kit more discretely. Perhaps dropping those $10 on the pouch would be a good plan.
In terms of the kit that is in my D3CR, it is still there, taking up minimal space, and I hope I never have to use the kit, or any other kit for that matter. It is, however, reassuring to know that I have the kit with me, just in case something does happen.
Stay tuned for more detailed information on how the kit works for me, but in the mean time, I would be sorely remiss if I didn’t plug another key part of the IFAK: Training. Please, on behalf of any person who you may have to use your kit on, learn how to use it first. I am lucky enough that I get refresher first aid training every year as part of a job requirement, but many communities offer first aid training. Hell, take CPR while you are at it. You are more likely to use that than anything else, really. Usually these classes are run through the Red Cross or some other organization, and even the most basic of instruction, if imparted properly, can make a world of difference.
In life, it truly is up to you to take care of yourself. Take the time to get trained and properly equipped to handle whatever terrible situation life throws your direction.
Stay safe out there,
-Spencer
*****A special thanks to Erik Rima (RN, NRP, CCP-C) for providing the EMT picture and, as is his modus operandi, strong opinions.*****
Nice article, something I never thought of for CCW.