Safety & First-Aid In The Field
Most people who talk about survival skills leave out one of the most important skills, first aid. Being able to treat traumatic wounds and injuries could very well mean the difference between life and death. While I recommend taking first aid classes, I have developed the following kits to make it easier for even an unskilled novice to treat illnesses and injuries with little or no training. With that being said, I highly recommend that anyone venturing into the forest should have basic and advanced first aid classes. So get out and get yourself a class. By joining the military you can kill two birds with one stone, so to speak. You get to serve your country, and you will, at the very least, be taught basic first aid. OK, moving on...
While afield, we can operate in the safest manner possible and still suffer an injury. It is important to have the ability to treat anything that might arise. There are myriad first-aid requirements, and just as many firts-aid kits on the market. However, most of these are worthless for treating anything more than a headache or a boo-boo. An internet search will turn up a number of sites offering some pretty comprehensive combat trauma kits. Unfortunately, the average minimally trained person has no idea how to safely and effectively use these kits.
I have to be honest and admit that my first attempt at developing a well rounded kit was a miss. As a matter of fact, it was an epic failure.
I finished building my first aid kit, and showed it to a couple of my survival classes. The feedback was less than favorable. While serving in the NAVY, I received extensive training in advanced trauma care. Without realizing it, I had allowed my military training to influence the kit I developed. While that kit is still the kit I carry, it was filled with things most people would not know how to use. I decided to develope one a bit more functional for the average person. I began by breaking down the list of injuries a person in a survival situation might well suffer.
As I began to assemble the list, it became apparent injuries are not the only medical concerns facing the survivalist. It is just as likely the survivalist will find themselves having to deal with an illness. I wrote a list of possible illnesses, and possible injuries. I soon realized this list was far too long. While I could not pare down the list, I found that I could separate the list into 2 distinct classifications. While afield, the survivalist could very well face both illnesses and injuries. Once I asembled everything necessary, I could not fit everything into a compack pack. It seemed only logical to me that I break it into two kits. A general first-aid kit for treating pain and illnesses, and a trauma kit for treating injuries. I carry the general first-aid kit in one of my pant's cargo pockets. I carry the larger trauma kit in my backpack.
General First-Aid Kit
I began by grouping the general first aid items together based upon treatment methods. I found this group consisted of symptoms that needed to be managed. Below I have included the symptom list, and their corresponding medications.
Symptoms to be managed
Medications to manage Symptoms
Emergency Trauma Kit
I realized the injuries could also be grouped together. Once I sorted the injuries list, I had a much more managable list of injury groups. With this list of injury groups, I looked at how each group was treated. I chose items that could be used to treat multiple different injuries. For example, a compression bandage could be used not only to staunch blood flow, but it could immobilize a joint that has been subjected to a mechanical injury. With multifunction in mind I put together a list of first-aid items that would treat each of these groups. While your list may vary, the following is what I put together.
Injury Groups To Be Treated
Contents For Treatment of Injuries