What’s your safety plan?

MUST HAVES in a real Trauma Kit

What's Your Safety Plan?

Always Better. | July 19th 2021

As a young law enforcement officer, my agency used to schedule our bi-annual Qualification Days such that it was a “day off” from our other duties. That meant we were allowed to wear casual clothes and throw our duty belts on over whatever we were wearing. I always wore my soft body armor over my shirt and was generally ridiculed by the older guys. “Hey rookie, you think a bad guy is going to break into the Range and get you?” I always replied with the same reasoning. “No, but today is the one day on this job that I know there is going to be shooting. Why wouldn’t I wear my vest?”

Fast forward several years and I was part of a federal agency that had me travelling nationwide as a Medic for our SRT. We borrowed training sites across the U.S. and one of the first things I always did was assess the medical capabilities of the facility we would be utilizing. I have seen every manner of “med kit” you can imagine. From the orange spray-painted .50 cal ammo can with a couple of Vietnam era field dressings (and spiders running out) to a catalog purchased EMT kit locked in the office vault. My thought process was always the same as when I wore my vest back as a rookie, if you know that shooting will definitely occur, why wouldn’t you prepare for someone to be shot?

Giving a Safety Briefing and having a plan to call 911 is NOT a complete safety plan. Having a competent Trauma Kit nearby and knowing how to use it is a necessity.

“First Aid Kit” and “Trauma Kit” are not Interchangable

First, you should know that the terms “First Aid Kit” and “Trauma Kit” are not interchangeable. They both have a place on the firearms range but, of the two, the Trauma Kit is the required one. So please educate yourself. Insect sting gel, burn creams, splints and band aids all have a place but they won’t help when someone is bleeding profusely. If they try to sell you a med kit based on the number of items in it – “420 piece Complete Medical Kit!” or because “Delta SEAL Ninja Force 6 uses it” then it isn’t what you want. Likewise, if it costs $14.99, it isn’t a true Trauma Kit either (tell your Purchasing Department sorry about that).

Combat Application Tourniquet (C-A-T)

A popular response is to purchase a large “Stocked EMT Bag” out of a catalog. There are a couple of problems with this approach. One, these kits are chock full of items tightly shoved into a large bag. If you aren’t a practicing EMT then you won’t know what is what when you open the bag. Not good when someone is laying on the ground bleeding. Second, these bags are set up to treat multiple patients over multiple events throughout the course of an EMT’s work day. I don’t know about you but my plan is to stop at one person being accidentally shot on the range. You don’t need to pay for equipment to treat ten patients.

The most immediate threat as a result of a survivable gunshot wound, accidental or otherwise, is going to be bleeding to death. As anyone who has spent time around a range can tell you, the majority of accidental firearms training shootings are going to be to the leg (draw and holstering), groin/buttocks (draw and holstering) and hand/arm (presentation and improper barricade use). These are all body locations that contain major arteries and veins. A true Trauma Kit is going to allow you to treat an injury in these locations via the use of a Tourniquet and/or a Hemostatic Dressing. These items are MUST HAVES in a real trauma kit. Remember, we are treating immediate life threats in this case. That means the closer the kit is to the incident scene, the quicker you can begin treatment.

For these reasons, I recommend to firearms instructors that they have immediately available or (better yet) on their person an effective Trauma Kit. This kit should contain a tourniquet, hemostatic agent, a SWAT-T tourniquet/pressure dressing and gloves. All the items you need to treat that life-threatening bleed without the extraneous things you don’t. Don’t forget to seek out competent training on how to use any kit you purchase.

Your car has seatbelts and airbags and your office has sprinklers and fire escapes. Why wouldn’t you have a trauma kit and the training to use it if you are in law enforcement?

(Author’s Note: Much of the above applies not only to the range but for day to day law enforcement activities as well. If you agency doesn’t provide it, seek out appropriate training and equipment to protect yourself, your partners and the public in the event of a traumatic injury. What you do in the time between injury and arrival of trained medical providers can absolutely make the difference.)

About the Author

John “Brad” Gilpin

John “Brad” Gilpin is a prior law enforcement professional who served at the state and federal levels. He was a founding member of the USBP BORSTAR unit serving as Assistant Team Leader / Team Medic and has been involved in advocating tactical medicine skills for LEO’s since long before it was cool to do so.

Recommended Items Mentioned in this Article

Micro Trauma Kit Now Pro Fill Kit
Micro Trauma Kit NOW!™ - PRO Fill Kit

Designed primarily for First Responders, the PRO version is equipped to treat life threatening bleeding and hypothermia while bridging the time gap between injury and arrival of advanced medical providers. Paired with a tourniquet, the PRO kit allows for treatment of extremity and junctional bleeding with a minimal amount of training...

SWAT Tourniquet
SWAT-T Tourniquet

The SWAT T is being utilized in BFG med kits as a PRESSURE DEVICE and not as a primary tourniquet. While it can be utilized as a tourniquet, we recommend the CAT or SOFTT-W as a primary tourniquet for their ability to be self applied.

Hemostatic Dressings
Hemostatic Dressings

QuikClot is an easy to use bandage dressing that contains hemostatic agent that assists in clotting to reduce blood loss in major hemorrhaging injuries.

Pressure Dressing
Pressure Dressing

Pressure dressings are designed to aid in stopping bleeding, after the use of a tourniquet or wound packing, and also to protect the wound from external contamination.

Trauma Gloves
Trauma Gloves

Trauma Gloves, Nitrile gloves are a staple of any first aid or trauma kit. As the easiest way to prevent the transmission of blood borne diseases, bacteria, viral infections, or other dangers from coming in contact with bodily fluids – anyone serious about medical aid should have several pairs of gloves for your protection or anyone else that may assist in medical attention.

Adequate training should be completed from a licensed professional before performing any first aid discussed in this article. This is not medical advice.