Bug Out Bag 'Special' Items

[anon71262119]

Bump. I saw that Chris recently linked to this in the Hurricane thread.

@ First Aid
I recently asked a question about first aid supplies that you’d add to a basic first aid kit in The Tactical Life thread.

I’ll put them here since this is more to the topic.

@idaho

Some basic items:

A tourniquet, for uncontrolled extremity (arm and leg) bleeding. I like the CAT version.

An N95 mask, or a mask that, at a minimum, will effectively filter dust and other particulates (a particulate respirator).

Combat gauze. This is a trauma dressing impregnated with a hemostatic agent, meaning it will help stop uncontrolled bleeding more effectively than normal gauze.

A chest seal. This is an occlusive dressing used for penetrating chest wounds (also called “sucking chest wounds”). You simply place it over the hole in your chest to treat the resulting open pneumothorax being caused by said hole.

@Uncle_Gabby

I’ve talked a lot about Tourniquets. The two best on the market, and really the only two you should consider are the CAT-7 and the SOFTT WIDE gen 3 or 4. A five minute youtube video will show you how to use it and they are durable enough that you can practice applying them hundreds of times and you won’t hurt them.

Watch out for counterfeit tourniquets, and order from a reputable source, like Rescue Essentials (not Amazon).

Other than that it depends on how big your kit is and how much you want to spend. Hemostatic gauze is nice, but expensive, has a short shelf life, and is really only needed for certain applications.

I’ve heard people say that Benedryl will reduce the severity of a major allergic reaction. It’s certainly not as effective for anaphylaxis as an epi-pen, but it’s inexpensive, is something you can carry around all of the time and is much better than nothing.

This moves more to stuff to have in your home in an emergency.

Also, related to power supplies. My husband has been looking at lithium battery units that can be recharged with solar panels. Also, we’ve been looking at generators.

@ Power. We’re looking to replace, and go up a bit in function. We’ve had an old portable power supply unit that would jump start the car, charge a cell phone, useful for plugging in a lamp during power outages. They aren’t making these anymore.