Prudent Prepping: Resupply

The dust has settled and the First 72 Hours have passed. Follow along as I build a long term plan via Prudent Prepping.

Prepared is what we try to be; ready to respond at any time, day or night, to the situation at hand. I've done that several times in the last month, with fair to good results in my opinion. I've grabbed supplies from a really small first aid kit to handle a little problem and also dug into my every day carry first aid gear to take care of a slightly bigger problem at work. I also robbed my camping gear to set up the Purple Pack Lady's car kit. Have I mentioned the bag is purple? 

Yeah, 'borrowing' from one kit to build another has to stop. Now.

 

North American Rescue C-A-T

I have ordered two more tourniquets from North American Rescue and a tourniquet carrier for one, so it can be attached to a pack. I am ordering directly from NAR since there seems to be some confusion on whether or not genuine CAT tourniquets are available from retailers selling through sites like Amazon. Having purchased CAT tourniquets from Amazon before, I will be able to directly compare how they  look and feel. For certain very specific applications these may not be indicated, but for general use, I see them recommended from many different sources.  

https://www.narescue.com/combat-application-tourniquet-c-a-t.html

From the NAR website:

The Fastest, Safest, Most Effective Prehospital Field Tourniquet

• Official Tourniquet of the U.S. Army
• Proven to be 100% effective in occluding blood flow in both upper & lower extremities by the U.S. Army’s Institute of Surgical Research
• NEW Single Routing Buckle for faster application, decreased blood loss, effective slack removal, fewer windlass turns, and simplified training with single protocol application standards
• Includes reinforced windlass, stabilization plate, windlass clip and writeable windlass security strap
• Featuring NAR's signature Red Tip Technology® elliptical tab providing added visual clues during application

Tourniquet Carrier

I also bought a red NAR C-A-T Tourniquet Carrier, to attach to one of my packs. I haven't decided which pack yet, but I knew I wanted it to be very visible whether I put it on the outside or in an internal pocket.

From the NAR website:

https://www.narescue.com/c-a-t-holder.html

• Tailored specifically for your C-A-T®, to protect it from exposure to the elements
• PALS/MOLLE-style connectors for versatile attachment to the duty vest, gear or belt (mounted horizontally or vertically) for rapid & easy access
• 1000D IR Signature Reduced Nylon
• Easy-open pull elastic tab with tourniquet ID patch – “TQ”
• NATO stock numbers available for COY and ODG. Contact Customer Service for details.
• NOTE: Accommodates both Gen 6 and Gen 7 C-A-T® Tourniquets (not included)

 

Also on the shopping list are several more QuikClot, Celox or Israeli Bandage sets, or possibly a combo of all three, to be determined by who decides to carry what in which first aid kit. Purple Pack Lady is a trained nurse but is not currently registered, so she is adding things to her kit as she wants... with some suggestions from me, of course. 

Wisdom

Garry Hamilton, a member of BCP and someone I would like to think of as a friend, wrote a brilliant post and put down what I wish I had said. 

Random Thoughts On Emergency Policy

Do not "borrow" from your First Aid kit.

Do not "borrow" from your food reserves.

Do not "borrow" from your emergency supplies.

Do not "borrow" from your tool box.

Know what you have. Use what you have according to the plan you 

made when you started.

Put tools back.

Replace food reserves.

Replenish emergency supplies.

Replace what you used from your first aid kit.

And if you do not have these things, then obtain them. Stuff happens. Plan for that.

Practice responding to Stuff happening. Learn what you don't know. Knowledge takes time, but it doesn't weigh anything and, the more you use it, the more you have.

Where do you start? Little things. Band-aids. A pocket knife. A small flashlight. Something every week.

If someone told you that you had to evacuate, would that be a big deal? Or would it be "oh, I guess we're going camping?" If a storm kept your grocery store from restocking, would that be a big deal? 

What are your "big deal" events? Fires? Floods? Severe weather? Riots? Plague of locusts?

Do you have a plan? At all? Any plan? For any of those?

Oh, and BTW, discretion is good here. "If the balloon goes up, I'm coming to your house" is not what you want to hear from an acquaintance. Having friends who participate and have their own plans and stuff is good, but choose wisely.

Using what you have but replacing right away is the only way to live and keep stocked when there is an emergency.

  

Recap And Takeaway

• I need to be better at replacing the supplies I use right after I've used them. Waiting gives me a chance to forget where they came from, and then I end up coming up short sometime in the future.
• Purchased directly from North American Rescue: two C-A-T tourniquets for $29.99 each.
• Also from North American Rescue, one C-A-T Holder for $19.99. 
• Nothing else was purchased this week, but that may change later on!

* * *

Just a reminder: if you plan on buying anything through Amazon, please consider using our referral link. When you do, a portion of the sale comes back here to help keep this site running!

If you have comments, suggestions or corrections, please post them so we all can learn. And remember, Some Is Always Better Than None!

NOTE: All items tested were purchased by me. No products have been loaned in exchange for a favorable review. Any items sent to me for T&E will be listed as such. Suck it Feds.