Review: Platatac Half Med Pack

I popped in to Platatac a while ago and the guys said they had something new for me, which always perks my ears and puts some extra fluff in my tail. This was no exception. As you might have noticed, I'm quite a collector of pouches, as indicated by my FUP's, SR25's, the 60rnd pouch, modular radio pouch, an iPhone pouch, a wrist mounted map pouch, a camera pouch and a utility pouch, the two twin 40mm pouches, the butt-pack and the 3x30 M16 pouch all of which I have reviewed. I'm quite the pouch enthusiast. The Platatac guys know this well. So, when I came in getting advice on one of my new day-pack options, they introduced me to the Half Med Slot pouch, in Multicam. This is my first piece of Multicam kit, and I must say, it is a nice pattern, looking at it up close. A drier, arid version of "woodland", with more depth of colour than DPCU AUSCAM, whilst keeping the "flowing oilslick" pattern rather than "hearts and bunnies" of AUSCAM, or the static blur of the Digi-cams.

I like it, quite a lot. Perhaps that's a topic for another post, what say you?

So, on with the Half Med Slot pouch. Firstly, the pouch is fronted with a nice broad loop field for putting indicator patches on, like I've done here. The long, broad grip-tab at the front gives a good purchase, without being a snag-risk. The pouch hasn't popped open whilst I've been slinging it around. The top sides of the pouch are held snug with a wide elastic strip. The grip-tab is more than just the opening tab for the pouch, however, it is integral to the internals. A swift yank of the tab tears free the hook-and-loop, and out pops this neat bundle.

There in your hand is a long strip of nylon, bundled in elastic tape, that is jam packed with loops for stowing all manner of small medical aid gear. There is a second loop-field, along with a metal grommet, presumably to act as a means of hooking the kit up once it's "drawn". There are also two looped tabs, one on each side of the bottom, also for post-pull attachment. I've put a roll of z-folded compression bandage on the medium elastic loop, and the large loop holds the bundle together in this picture. However, its in what is underneath that is really the key here.

Here is what options these loops provide, according to Platatac:

1x Large Elastic Loop for FAD or Equivalent

1x Medium Elastic Loop for CAT (tourniquet)

3x Small/Medium Elastic Loops for smaller items such as bandages

6x Small Elastic Loops for other items such as scissors, cyalume or similar items

1x Hidden Pocket for gloves, iodine or similar items

I've put a couple of cyalume sticks in mine, along side a couple of rolls of 5cmx3m bandage, as well as a supply of band-aids, sterile would dressings, a sterile eye-patch and a pair of forceps. Four safety-pins through one of the loops of elastic give me something to keep bandages on. The hidden pocket is a great addition, for longer items that need to be stowed away, like gloves. The main body of the pouch has a couple of interesting features, namely another metal eyelet and two winglets which seem to be for closing off the pouch keeping rain and incidental ingress of crud.

This is a really cool pouch, and I think I will be taking some time to modify this pouches layout and contents, but I will be certainly keeping it on my day-pack as an ongoing trial of a very useful piece of kit.