TFB's 6th Day Of Christmas: First Aid And Survival

Right in the middle of TFB’s 12 Days of Christmas are the least glamorous gift suggestions. But sometimes the least flashy presents, the ones you fail to buy for yourself, are the most satisfying to receive. Case in point: first aid.

Unfortunately only a small percentage of shooters and hunters carry any sort of cuts-and-scrapes supplies into the field, let alone a trauma pack. What’s the difference? A boo-boo kit will help keep blood from your hang nail from getting on your expensive Crye pants. An Immediate First Aid and Kit (IFAK) is filled with supplies that can save you (or your buddies) life.

If you don’t carry a trauma first aid kit, either set a New Years resolution to start, or gift yourself one and learn how to use it. Most setups made these days are compact and portable enough to carry with you everywhere you go. So you have no excuse for not bringing it along to every range session.

Lastly, I’m far from a dedicated “prepper”, but keeping a few days of food, water and supplies on hand in case of a service disruption is just basic common sense.

As a reminder, the products listed below aren’t paid advertisements. If you have suggestions or comments, please let everyone know in the discussion section.

The biggest kit in the world won’t make a difference if it’s sitting in camp while you’re in the field. The Field Trauma with QuikClot® is designed to be small enough to stash into a daypack while equipping you with the supplies and information to venture 1-2 days away from your base. A 25g QuikClot® Sport dressing stops life-threatening bleeding fast, while the included bandages, dressings, and medication enables you to stabilize the fracture or sprain, and keep the patient comfortable while you make your way back to camp or await rescue.

The patented C-A-T® is a true one-handed tourniquet proven to be 100% effective by the U.S. Army’s Institute of Surgical Research. Tests proved that the C-A-T® completely occluded blood flow of an extremity in the event of a traumatic wound with significant hemorrhage.

The C-A-T® utilizes a durable windlass system with a patented free-moving internal band providing true circumferential pressure to the extremity. Once adequately tightened, bleeding will cease and the windlass is locked into place. A hook and loop windlass retention strap is then applied, securing the windlass to maintain pressure during casualty evacuation. The C-A-T®’s unique dual securing system avoids the use of screws and clips which can become difficult to operate under survival stress or where fine motor skills are compromised.

ETA Trauma Kit Pouch was born out of the necessity in developing both a pouch that could hold our Vacuum Sealed Fatboy ETA Trauma Kit, as well as the contents of the kit if the end user needs to break the seal, or wants faster access to individual components.

We worked with Zulu Nylon Gear for nearly a year to design what we feel is one of the best medical pouches on the market today. With a simple pull on the handle, the pouch quickly filets open to provide immediate access to your medical components without delay. The new addition of a small 1″ section of red VELCRO® brand ONE-WRAP® fastener affixed to the color-matched webbing handle can be removed for a lower profile.

The main rear-most pocket provides space large enough to fit our Vacuum Sealed Fatboy ETA Trauma Kit or a complement of other medical items. The two rear wing pockets are large enough to store Decompression Needles, NPAs, or other Airway devices. The flap panel design comes from our ITS Med Insert and allows you to custom configure the shock cord loops to hold whatever you need it to.

The pouch can also be quickly secured by simply pulling back up on the handle and affixing the VELCRO® brand fastener. Trauma shears can be tucked behind the PALS/MOLLE mounting at the rear of the pouch or attached to the single channel of PALS/MOLLE that run on either side of the exterior of the wings. This channel can also be used to secure a tourniquet, tourniquet pouch, or rescue hook pouches.

The most advanced emergency blanket on the market – meticulously designed to never fail when you’re counting on it with your life. It all starts with the material, vacuum-metalized polyethylene, that reflects 90% of your body heat while also offering a number of other important features that set it apart from traditional mylar blankets; it opens easily and will not shred if nicked or punctured, rips and tears can be repaired, it is quiet and won’t crinkle in high winds, and its high-visibility orange exterior makes it easy for rescuers to find you. Sized to fit one person.

LifeStraw is ideal for hiking, backpacking, camping, travel, and emergency preparedness. The straw-style filter design lets you turn up to 1,000 liters of contaminated water into safe drinking water.

With our Follow the Liters program, for every LifeStraw product sold, a child in a developing country receives clean, safe drinking water for an entire school year.

Filters up to 1,000 liters (264 gallons) of water

Removes 99.9999% of waterborne bacteria (>LOG 6 reduction), including E-Coli

Removes 99.9% of waterborne protozoan parasites (>LOG 3 reduction), including Giardia & Cryptosporidium

Reduces turbidity, filtering down to 0.2 microns

Ultralight: weighs only 2oz

Does NOT use iodine or iodinized resin

ORAL I.V. only contains trace minerals + structured water. No sugar, no chemicals, no additives, no stimulants and zero calories. It’s raw, organic and as natural as natural can be. We focus on only the smallest and right amounts of sodium, potassium, magnesium, chloride, iron, copper, selenium, zinc and a blend of other natural trace minerals that the body requires to trigger its hydration processes.

Now you can easily customize an emergency food supply with Mountain House Just in Case…® Emergency Food Supply Multi-Day Kits.

This stackable 2-day boxed kit contains a variety of popular breakfast, lunch and dinner entrees for one person. Use it alone or combine it with our Just in Case…® 5 Day Emergency Food Supply Kits for 1 week of food. Add in our 3 and 4 day Emergency Food Supply kits for a full 2 weeks of meals.

Contains 15 total servings making it the perfect starter kit, or kit to keep in the trunk of your car. Includes 6 total pouches:

Breakfast Skillet 2x — Hash browns and scrambled eggs mixed with pork sausage, peppers & onions. Each pouch makes two 1-cup servings.

Spaghetti with Meat Sauce 2x — A mouth-watering tomato sauce accompanied by tender pasta and beef chunks. Each Pouch makes 2.5 1-cup servings

Rice & Chicken 2x — Rice and chicken in a savory sauce accented with pimientos. Each pouch makes three 1-cup servings.

Our nearly 50-year legacy of providing the best freeze dried and emergency food available means you can trust our meals to be dependable and delicious no matter what. Mountain House is the only emergency food brand with a Taste Guarantee. We promise that our meals will still taste good 30 years after they were made. This is the longest proven shelf life in the industry. Period. This makes it easy to see why Mountain House is the wise food storage choice.