Ready or Not!

22 July 09 Preparedness! From a friend an CA: "Yesterday, I attended an informal military rifle match. Most shooters and observers were veterans, and many were working LEOs. An elderly gentleman, shooting a Garand with which we was piteously unfamiliar, got a hand inserted into the receiver just as he inadvertently released the bolt, which had been locked to the rear. The bolt slammed forward on his hand and cut it significantly. Once extracted, the hand bled profusely, and the gentleman's reaction was disbelief, followed by slow-motion panic (dithering)! With all the LEOs there, many with their families, not one had a trauma kit! I, a non-LEO, had mine, which I religiously have with me ever since I took your Tactical Treatment of Gunshot Wounds Course. I got to the injured party, settled him down, and quickly applied an IBD to his lacerated hand. Bleeding stopped immediately, and the whole bloody extravaganza came to a quiet end, as quickly as it had begun! He was carried away by an ambulance shortly threafter. All around me were persuaded that I was an itinerant surgeon, and wondered where I got my marvelous trauma kit. I assured them that even non-doctors are allowed to possess IBDs!" Comment: "When it's least expected, you're elected!" Unpreparedness, like cheap insurance, never seems a significant issue, until it is too late! Trauma kits, like guns, need to be carried constantly. You don't get to make an appointment for emergencies, as we see! /John