Medical Equipment

What to remember

• You carry two sets of medical gear: your individual JFAK for yourself, and the CLS bag for buddy aid.CLS M02 Slides, PDF p.5
• On a casualty, open their JFAK first, and only go to the CLS kit when theirs runs out.CLS M02 Slides, PDF p.16
• The tourniquet is the single most important lifesaving item in the JFAK, so keep it easy to reach.CLS M02 Notes, PDF p.3
• A hemostatic (clotting) dressing is for bleeding where a tourniquet will not work, such as the groin, neck or armpit. It never goes inside the abdomen or chest.CLS M02 Notes, PDF p.3
• Airway and breathing gear: an NPA with water-based lubricant, a vented chest seal, and a 10-14 gauge, 3.25-inch needle catheter for tension pneumothorax.CLS M02 Slides, PDF p.7
• Inspect your JFAK, CLS bag and other medical kits before, during and after every training event and mission.CLS M02 Slides, PDF p.14
• Replace anything with a broken wrapper, anything expired, and anything that expires before your deployment ends. Never deploy with missing, used or expired gear.CLS M02 Slides, PDF p.15

Where people go wrong

• Heading out with missing, training-used or expired equipment, or gear that is not CoTCCC approved.CLS M02 Slides, PDF p.15
• Trusting gear without checking it. Fake or substandard tourniquets and hemostatic dressings exist.CLS M02 Notes, PDF p.6
• Using your own JFAK on a buddy when theirs is available. Yours is saved for self-aid.CLS M02 Notes, PDF p.2

Check yourself

Questions on this module, each with the reason and the slide it came from.