Mick-Boy's work gear (what and why)

[Mick-Boy]

love your posts i bought the mayflower chest rig based off your recommendation its comfortable as hell....why do you prefer a chest rig over having mag pouches at your side????

I've got that single rifle mag on my belt as my go-to reload. Too many magazines on the belt and you start to look like the michellin man. I keep the chest rig on the floorboard of the truck if I'm not in uniform. It gets put on before I open the door in the event of contact.

I think I posted something like this before but I'm not sure what thread I posted it in. Here's my deal with extra magazines; When we invaded Iraq in 2003 I walked off the ship carrying 165lbs of gear between my ruck, armor, deuce gear and weapon (249 SAW). In 2004 most of our gear was in the trucks so my equipment weight was down to about 75lbs. After an incident assaulting a house resulted in me getting hung up climbing over a wall and looking way too much like an Echo silhouette for the fellas we were scrapping with. I decided I needed to dump more weight off of my load out.

Over the last nine years I've slowly shed weight off of my equipment in two different ways.

First - I look hard at what I use that I need now and what I use that I can stick in a pack/go-bag or leave in a truck. I can what-if situations like it's nobody's business and I'm a classic over-packer so this is a tough one for me.

My watchword here is ruthless efficiency based on the realities on the ground. How long has it been since I needed to go to that fourth magazine on my vest? Maybe it's time to drop to three? When's the last time I needed to reload my pistol more than once (or ever?) while carrying my rifle? Do I need to have two different radios on me? Can one of them stay in the bag/car etc?..

Just because I can think up reasons to carry shit doesn't mean I should. This is a very hard lesson that I have to keep reenforcing to myself.

With the exception of one drawn out running gunfight in Lutifiya, Iraq in 2004, I've never gone through more that four magazines in one contact without gaining access to a vehicle. This is mostly because I'm a big believer in accountability for the rounds I fire. The key to suppressive fire is the accuracy. Making noise on your end doesn't do a damn thing to the enemy. Effective incoming fire does. I shoot when I can identify a target. Return fire is not a woobie (that's a warm, snugly, glorious, piece of gear that exists for no other purpose than to make a grunts life a little better... for those of you not in the know ).

Second - I'm constantly looking for ways to maintain the same capability with less weight. Mayflower's 500D rigs, BFG Helium Whisper attachments, First Spear's stuff. All of these are ways to get the same capability out of my kit while lowering the weight.

All that being said, I have a hard time not "what if"ing myself into dozens of pounds worth of extras. I make a living planning for contingencies so envisioning scenarios that may require hundreds of rounds of ammunition isn't hard. Ruthless assessments of reality. Not what ifs.

I hope that answers your question. Sorry if I got too deep into the weeds there.

why do you carry a 14ga needle? and is it a sewing needle or a syringe????

I am guessing its to do, among other things, a needle decompression of a tension pneumothorax (look up needle thoracostomy). SuperiorDG is correct - unless you have recieved specific training, and do ongoing practice, in how to do one you need to stay away from this technique. For most situations a chest seal is the preferred method for dealing with a tension pneumothorax. But I am guessing MickBoy knows what he is doing, has had the training, and has chosen to use this technique for his particular situation.

Nailed it. The 14Ga is to relieve a tension pneumo. Yes it definitely requires training.

An easy rule of thumb is anything above the navel and below the clavicles gets a chest seal. The casualty needs to be constantly monitored once an injury to the lung has been identified.

I don't want too get too far into the weeds (I know, I know) on the medical stuff. I get about three days of live tissue trauma training annually but I'm not a medic. Here's the idiots explanation to chest trauma (as the idiot understands it anyway); The lungs work on negative pressure. The Diaphragm literally *pulls* air into the lungs thanks to the airtight seal in the chest cavity. When something breaks this seal (a bullet or shrapnel for instance) air is pulled from the outside, through the chest wall into the space between the ribcage and the lung. The best medicine is going to be an occlusive dressing over the wound and transportation to a higher standard of care. Sometimes that transportation isn't something that will happen in a timely manner. When that happens you need to get some of that air out of the chest cavity or the lungs will be compressed to the point that the casualty can't breath. A needle is the way to do that.

*NOTE* this isn't like the movie Three Kings. The lung won't re-inflate itself. What you're doing is a stop-gap to get the negative pressure again (you NEED that occlusive dressing). The patient is still going to need a higher standard of care ASAP.

[Hoser]

Excellent info. Thanks for taking the time to post it all up.

It is nice to get actual hands on, no-shit, info from someone that has actually been there and does that.

Keep your head down.

[SA Friday]

Honestly, the biggest thing (as always) is just having a handle on the "norm" and recognizing when things are outside of it. Whether it's body language or the situation on the street. If something feels "off", it probably is. That doesn't mean the fight is on, it just means something is off.

Yep. My time in Iraq, the difference between hauling ass back to the armor vs continuing the conversation was knowing what what was normal and when you were standing outside of it. Got out of the vehicles once and no less than three minutes later, my translator (an Iraqi-American with a TS and years of experience) said "this isn't right, nobodies outside and everyone's home"

Gotta go... see ya. We red-zoned that village permanently.

this is just such a huge point. You can do everything right, but you fail to listen to your gut telling you something isn't right and that is when crap goes bad.

[cmailliard]

Regarding the Combat Application Tourniquet. Mick does carry his CAT in the non traditional way of keeping it set up with the double routing vs. the standard single routing. This is a preference and as long as everyone on his Team sets it up the same and can be ready for the same setup there is no big issue with this. That said I just got a new study that was done to show the Single vs. Double Routing. Good info in this study, some surprising. Take a look at it and if you have any questions let me know.

HERE IT IS

[cmailliard]

Nailed it. The 14Ga is to relieve a tension pneumo. Yes it definitely requires training.

An easy rule of thumb is anything above the navel and below the clavicles gets a chest seal. The casualty needs to be constantly monitored once an injury to the lung has been identified.

I don't want too get too far into the weeds (I know, I know) on the medical stuff. I get about three days of live tissue trauma training annually but I'm not a medic. Here's the idiots explanation to chest trauma (as the idiot understands it anyway); The lungs work on negative pressure. The Diaphragm literally *pulls* air into the lungs thanks to the airtight seal in the chest cavity. When something breaks this seal (a bullet or shrapnel for instance) air is pulled from the outside, through the chest wall into the space between the ribcage and the lung. The best medicine is going to be an occlusive dressing over the wound and transportation to a higher standard of care. Sometimes that transportation isn't something that will happen in a timely manner. When that happens you need to get some of that air out of the chest cavity or the lungs will be compressed to the point that the casualty can't breath. A needle is the way to do that.

*NOTE* this isn't like the movie Three Kings. The lung won't re-inflate itself. What you're doing is a stop-gap to get the negative pressure again (you NEED that occlusive dressing). The patient is still going to need a higher standard of care ASAP.

On this note the CoTCCC just published new info on Open Pneumothorax.

Here it is from the email -

Tactical Field Care (New text in CAPS)
3. Breathing
b. All open and/or sucking chest wounds should be treated by immediately applying a VENTED CHEST SEAL to cover the defect. IF A VENTED CHEST SEAL IS NOT AVAILABLE, USE A NON-VENTED CHEST SEAL. Monitor the casualty for the potential development of a subsequent tension pneumothorax. IF THE CASUALTY DEVELOPS INCREASING HYPOXIA, RESPIRATORY DISTRESS, OR HYPOTENSION AND A TENSION PNEUMOTHORAX IS SUSPECTED, TREAT BY BURPING OR REMOVING THE DRESSING OR BY NEEDLE DECOMPRESSION.

[275RLTW]

Regarding the Combat Application Tourniquet. Mick does carry his CAT in the non traditional way of keeping it set up with the double routing vs. the standard single routing. This is a preference and as long as everyone on his Team sets it up the same and can be ready for the same setup there is no big issue with this. That said I just got a new study that was done to show the Single vs. Double Routing. Good info in this study, some surprising. Take a look at it and if you have any questions let me know.

HERE IT IS

Thanks for the link on the study. I've always prepped my CATs through the inner route. This way it was faster and 1 hand friendly for arms; for legs, I (potentially) have 2 hands free to route through both and provide a better hold on much stronger muscle groups.

[Mick-Boy]

I've got to head out the door here in a minute but a couple of questions/points I got from scanning that study;

-Was the TQ prestaged in a single/double threaded configuration or was it completely unsecured and the subjects had to thread it through one or both?

-They acknowledge that the patient was not transported at all.

-They acknowledge that dirt/mud/blood/cloth wasn't a factor.

I can take a video when I get back to my computer tonight with how mine is set up and how I apply it to an arm/leg if that would help answer any questions. I think it's highly likely that single threading would hold just fine under most conditions. Particularly in a non-combat/civilian application. I also think it's likely my T1 will work with no problem... I still have my back up irons zeroed.

More when I get back.

[cmailliard]

I would guess the CAT is not setup in the double route as your's is Mick. This would have a positive affect in the time to application in your case. Also very important that mud, clothes, etc. was not involved, this will affect CAT performance.

[Mick-Boy]

Alright. Here's a 2min video where I stumblingly explain the how and why of my TQ prep.



Regarding threading the TQ through one or both buckles, I see it as limiting the potential for failure with very little cost. I might be able to get a single threaded TQ on a hair faster, but I know I can get a double threaded TQ on pretty quick and I'm not just relying on the velcro to hold it in place while I'm dirty/bloody/moving all over gods creation.

[TheBelly]

Thanks for sharing this. Since I'm 2/3rds of a moron, I really appreciate the video to help me see the concept.