First Aid: Self Tourniquet

There's a lot of nay saying about first aid in the zombie preparation world. I don't know why. Sure, if one of those rotting shamblers bites you, you're done for. Do us all a favor and put the bullet in your own head.

But all kinds of things can go wrong in the zombie apocalypse. And chances are good there will be shortage of trained doctors. (I suspect many of them will be compromised in the opening stages as they are called to treat the infected.) So you need a basic knowledge of first aid.

Here we look at using the tourniquet. It's useful for many combat-type injuries. While I advocate cooperation among survivors for the long term benefit of all, I am not naive. Others will not take the long view, and chances are good you will encounter hostile human survivors.

Keep in mind the tourniquet is not a long term solution. It is intended to treat you immediately until someone can get you safe for better treatment.

Zombie Survival Kit Week: Commercial Kit

A zombie survival kit that includes medical supplies? That's good. It also has nutritional bars and water purification tablets.

But this is really more of a generic disaster kit than a true zombie survival kit. There's nothing wrong with that. But what separates the Zombie Apocalypse from other natural disasters is the fact that you will be required to defend yourself. You need weapons. It's not an option. With weapons, arguably, you can buy time to scrounge for the other necessities.

No kit is perfect, so understand the weaknesses and supplement.

Gear Pr0n: The OD War Belt

War Belts are increasingly popular because they efficiently put all the bare essentials close at hand. I like this set-up. Here we see a Safariland kydex drop holster. It has an accommodation for a tactical light mounted to the pistol and the leg platform drops the pistol slightly off the hip for an improved draw without putting all the weight on the leg. Low-slung holsters look cool, but can fatigue your leg much more quickly. There's a small pouch mounted to the platform, I'm guessing for the light if it is removed. Behind the holster, we see three more utility pouches. One is obviously the hunter's blow-out kit because it's marked with a red cross. The other pouches hold other accessories, probably a flashlight for the vertical one.

On the other side, the hunter has placed two spare carbine mag pouches with open tops and a Maxpedition Rolly-Poly as a dump bag. Below the carbine mag pouches, he has taken the unorthodox choice of a pistol pouch drop-leg extension. I don't like this, but it's certainly a valid choice. Note the addition of a black pouch, which I would bet carries his multi-tool. He also has a so-called "morale patch" that says "Regular Guy."

Here's a view of it all at once. War belts typically come in two pieces, an inner belt -- here a nylon duty belt with a quick release buckle -- and an outer belt, or sheath really. The outer belt typically has two or three rows of MOLLE webbing as attachment points. The whole thing fits snuggly around the waist.

Gear Pr0n: Medic!

There aren't many hunter teams that are large enough to maintain a dedicated medic. Most of us make do with our Individual First Aid Kits. Besides, medics aren't much good against zombie bites. Still, this is hazardous work and other injuries can occur. So it's worth looking over a medic's rig to consider the layout. I'll just note even the medic carries ammunition; everyone fights.