Bouncing around the internet last night is how I found the earlier post about the doc and the first aid kit.
Somewhere on that same forum I found this downloadable military first aid manual and thought you guys might like to take a look.
I have all the first aid stuff down pat. As in I walk up to the victim and say, Are you hurt? Are you feeling okay? After that I gotta start yelling for someone to help.
If the future holds to the present trend, the possibility of needing to know some first aid is fast becoming truth.
Great resource ! Into the thumb drive it goes .
ReplyDeleteGlad I could help.
DeleteI hate to break it to you but …
ReplyDelete‘Military’ first aid is predicated on a massive support system you, or I, will never be able to supply/replicate. Even more so than the civilian system most will be more familiar with. So almost everything in it will either be way beyond your capabilities or, surprisingly often, the exact opposite of what you should be doing. Even most wilderness medic/first aid courses and literature are, again, predicated on stabilising/evacuating at best. Any knowledge/training is better than none, but when that training is for situations the polar opposite of what you will probably end up dealing with … (The one exception would be Ranger/SF medic type literature, tasked to operate independently without direct support or that massive logistics tail the rest of the military enjoys).
You’re better off looking for austere medicine tomes to put by. “Survival & Austere Medicine: An Introduction” by Craig Ellis (written as a collaboration by Australian austere medicine specialists) is a perfect example. Or some of the ‘Captains’ references for sailors contain masses of pertinent details for coping with medical emergencies without support. (Medicin Sans Fronter and similar organisations have online literature, for medical staff operating in such conditions, available for free too).
(Of cause the Alton’s book is a must have too).
From bitter experience, in way too many failed states and war zones, plan to assume there will be no support (not even primary care [paramedic, family doctor, etc.], let alone secondary and tertiary treatment services available). You’re going to be “on your own”, so better start planning, to manage what you can, at that level now.
An oft stated mantra amongst those operating in austere environments without support is, "If at first you don't succeed ... lower you're expectations". In what we may face, you really better start lowering those expectations of what you can cope with, right now. In a total collapse scenario, even with the best will, books, tools and medications put by, any 'serious' injury or infection 'will' be a death sentence (unless you have a bottomless pit of medications, a surgical team and an operating theatre in your preps).
Don't get me wrong, with the right books, etc. we'll at least not regress to the medieval, or even Civil War, level, but don't ever imagine we'll have close to what we have now.
Just sayin’.
Did you even look at the manual? It is a "First Aid Manual". The stuff that is in it applies to EVERYONE. There is some stuff in there that applies to the military. Such as injecting morphine, civilians typically won't have that. But for the most part, it applies to EVERYONE. And it doesn't talk about a support system, it talks about first aid. And yes, I do have books such as you mentioned. And they are ok. The Altons book isn't as good as The Survival Medicine Handbook. This manual is a training manual, and from what I saw in it, if I were to take a course with this manual led by a knowledgeable instructor, I could be a relatively good medic. But it is also okay to simply read it and try to learn it that way.
DeleteOh, again not a criticism, but it (showing my age) is now majorly out of date.
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