Review: ITS ETA (Med kit (basic)

As first seen (well, apart from a teaser) on Breach, Bang & Clear .... 

I was so excited to see this tucked away in the corner of my Propper package, because I've had a lot of trouble trying to get one sent to me, due to the specific rules surrounding selling the Z-Medica QuickClot Combat Gauze  as an export.

This is the ETA Trauma Kits in Fatboy which is designed to fit into the ITS Fatboy Trauma Kit Pouches, but can also be either sealed or broken down for easy access to the individual components, or stowed as is, in its heavy duty vacuum sealed ziplock bag. They’re also well suited for cargo pockets if you’re not going to be keeping it in a pouch for storage.


The ITS team who put their expertise together to develop the kits select every item in the ETA Kit carefully to complement the others and serve multiple purposes. They make several different versions. The Basic, Standard and the MIL/LE ONLY version, as well as new International version, with concessions to Z-Medica's export policy.

Here's what is in the kit that I received, the Basic, with a stock photo from ITS, as I didn't want to pop the seal on mine (bad reviewer, I know).

Basic Contents

• QuikClot Combat Gauze LE (1)
• HALO Chest Seal (2)
• Pressure Dressing (1 — 4″)
• Elastic Bandage (1 — 4″)
• Z-Fold Dressing (1)
• Combat Casualty Card (1)
• Nitrile Gloves (1 Pair)
• Pencil (1)
• Contents List w/ TCCC Care Under Fire Instructions (on reverse) (1)

 The kit is sterile when sealed (which is why I didn't want to bust mine open), and ITS also stock an "inert" training version, for those who want to train how they fight, and fight how they train.

The slightly more substantial "Standard" kit also features

• MojoDart Decompression Needle (1)
• Nasopharyngeal Airway (NPA) Adj. 28fr (1)

Which are a couple of things you'd really be wanting some medical training before using, thats not just patching boo-boo's and plugging holes.

The MIL/LE ONLY replaces the Basic/Standard QuikClot Z-Fold Combat Gauze LE with the more specialised Z-Fold Combat Gauze (w/ X-Ray Detectable Strip — Green Package). The International Kits feature an international version of QuikClot Gauze.
The FatBoy med kits hit very snugly into a two-magazine Platatac FUP pouch which is my gold-standard for pouches, but has an easy-access fit in their slightly larger WUP pouches.

I will be packing the ETA FatBoy with me on all adventures from now on, and it's a good reminder for me to chase up refreshing my FirstAid certification too. This is a great kit, dense, well thought out and packaged and appointed. Lets hope I never need to stop a sucking-chest wound, but if I do, having a kit like this might well make all the difference.

ITS also stock all the same contents in their "TallBoy"kit but stacked long, rather than wide, because it's not always about girth. If you really just need a pocket-sized pal, the EDC Trauma Kit might be more your style.

If you don't feel you'll often be responding to trauma, but rather more minor injuries, you might consider the ITS Boo-Boo kit, or, if you're like me and have multiple kids, and occasionally stab yourself in the leg with a sword, the slightly larger Boo-BooPLUS kit might suit your needs. 

Review: Z-Medica QuickClot Sport bandage

You may recall a while back I tried to get my hands on QuickClot kit by Z-Medica as a part of the ITS Trauma kit but ran in to all kinds of export-issues, where the military grade kits were not for distribution outside of the USA.

I never gave up looking though, and found an alternative supplier, Urban Conquest who, whilst they didn't supply the military-grade versions of the impregnated bandages, with the variety of formats and including x-ray tracking strips and the like, still offered the basic properties of a blood-clotting treatment in a vacuum packed and irradiated sterile package. It looks as though they may no longer stock them however. However, Survival Supplies Australia stock similar (and more advanced) products.

The active ingredient in these products is a kind of clay or clay-stone, albeit in a very high-tech version of it, kaolin or zeolite to rapidly clod bleeding, with out any harmful side effects.

The fibers of otherwise standard medical gauze are impregnated with this material and apparently on application, it rapidly promoted clotting. Some products (in the military and EMT lines, are set up to be deposited deep within penetrating wound cavities such as gunshot and shrapnel wounds, and are reported as being able to stop arterial bleeding. How Kaolin works.

Given the chemistry involved, it should be noted that when working the clotting agent can heat up, something for both patient and responder to be aware of.

I got hold of two different sizes of kit, two of the 25g pouch (3.5" x 3") or 50g pouch (4.75" x 4.75") . I have one of each in my EDC pack, and whilst have not cracked on out to use it (thankfully, no heavy bleeding has presented itself for me to treat any time recently) I like having them there. The 25g pouch is small enough that it can slip into a pants front-pocket and pretty much vanish.

The compact nature of the kits very much lend themselves to having some on hand for any outdoor adventure, where you don't want to be left bleeding through bandages until you can get more serious medical assistance. For those of us who either live adventurous lives, have adventurous families or both, these might be well worth adding to your EDC as well. You never know when you might be called on to plug a hole.