I'll second all that.
I actually wound up as an AMEDD instructor and helped write some of the doctrine and taught the baby medics. The problem with hemostatic powders is the surgical care they require; hemostatic gauze works a bit better since you can pack the wound and add pressure to the bleed.
Leads me to the next. FOR THE LOVE OF FUCK, TAMPONS DO NOT WORK FOR PENETRATING TRAUMATIC WOUNDS. They aren't designed to apply pressure, they're designed to absorb fluid. The next time I hear that from some fat fuck with flat top haircut I'm gonna kick him in the shin. Pack that shit with hemostatic gauze or kerlix.
Final soap box topic: Incidental contact with fentanyl will not result in a meaningful absorption of the drug. This has been proven many times over, all those videos of cops fainting are just cops fainting.
Police reports of accidental fentanyl overdose in the field: Correcting a culture-bound syndrome that harms us all - PMC I carry narcan all the same, but fentanyl isn't the boogeyman, trust me I've
Same with everything in life, learn how to use your gear and plan your loadout for the mission. I had an uh oh a while back on a swiftwater rescue mission, one of our guys was able to chuck a rope to the victim, but there was a mass problem. Rescuer was a 140lb ultra marathon runner, victim was a 220lb dude hauling ass down river in spring run off. Rescuer wasn't wearing gloves and couldn't hold the rope and it took off the skin on both of his hands. I carry big boy booboo stuff in my SAR pack, and little cuts and scrapes bandaids, but I didn't have anything for a rope induced degloving. I did remind him "dude, you can just let go of the rope".
I keep a few different aid kits around. At home I have a bit of everything, broad spectrum antibiotics, pain meds, muscle relaxers, lidocaine and suture kits.
My SAR kit lives in my truck, theres a few rolls of kerlex, a shitload of tape, ace wraps, epi pen, IV start kits, standard meds for our county protocol (narc boxes are controlled at the station), kelly clamps, stethoscope, bp cuff, pulse oximeter. Generally, I don't worry about airway/breathing stuff for SAR missions, anyone that needs a significant invasive intervention isn't going to survive long enough for us to hike to them. There are of course exceptions, but my kit is a baseline and allows me to add on to tailor response. Mostly because I'm lazy and I don't like to carry shit. It came about because carrying a heavy ass aid bag on patrol in the Army sucked and turns medics into easily identifiable targets. We tried to steer doctrine into this tiered approach to casualty care.
When I'm hiking or climbing myself I carry some tape and kerlex gauze, epi pen, and something to improvise a torniquet. As someone who has stabbed himself with his own ice axe, it's a decent set up. I also keep 3 tabs of oxycodone for those times that I roll an ankle or tear a knee and just need to get down the mountain. This all can pack into something the size of a red bull can, weighs less than a pound and is very nice to have when you need it.
All of your kits should have a decent headlamp as well.
I'll do my best to remember to put together an actual list at some point when I have the time.
