Self-Rescue Kits

http://www.officer.com/web/online/POSA/Self-Rescue-Kits/30$50565

A down-and-dirty kit can be assembled with a sanitary pad, a tourniquet made from a length of webbing and FasTex buckles, and a package of clotting agent. Carried in a zip-lock bag, this home-made kit will do the job. A better kit can include professionally designed tourniquets and bandages, such as the H-bandage and the TK-4L tourniquet from H&H Associates. The H-bandage can be applied and secured with one hand, and doesn't require cumbersome wrapping of the limb. The TK-4L tourniquet fared very well in Navy tests and can also be applied one-handed. Going one step further, the relatively new Blackhawk Integrated Tourniquet System incorporates tourniquets directly into their tactical apparel.

Predominant clotting agents on the market today are QuikClot, Trauma-dex, Celox and ActCel. QuikClot has been reformulated so that it is no longer thermogenic (heat producing), and its newest version is QuickClot Combat Gauze: essentially a roll of gauze impregnated with the new inorganic QuickClot formulation that can be used as regular gauze (with hemostatic qualities), or the entire roll can be inserted into a large wound to stem the blood loss. ActCel, the newcomer (distributed by Royal Arms), is made entirely from cellulose and is non-thermogenic and hypo-allergenic (people with fish allergies should not use shellfish-based hemostatic clotting agents.) When it comes in contact with blood, ActCel expands to 3-4 times its original size, promoting clotting, and then converts to a gel that dissolves into glucose and saline over a 1-2 week period. Because of its purity and the fact that it simply degrades to these end products, ActCel does not cause delayed healing. The life-saving value of all of these clotting agents has been proved many times over in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Today, no matter what your budget, you can afford to have a self-rescue kit, and you definitely can't afford to be without one!