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miclo18d · 08-23-2013, 08:47

I was very fortunate to be an 18D when all of these bandages were coming into the inventory. Being in SF we got first dibs on this stuff as it came available. I actually had to look up a bunch of the brand names to see what each one was as there was no brand name for the chitosan bandages when we first got them.

We preferred the chitosan over the quick clot (and its variants) because of the exothermic properties of the quick clot and the HemCons were just not that much more effective at 5 times the cost. The problem with the chitosan at that time (2003+) was that it came in a large 4x4 dressing that was very stiff and very hard to get because the factory was being built. At first we would try stuffing the whole thing in the wound but quickly adapted and started cutting off small pieces and putting that right on the bleeder. As you can see the problems on the battlefield trying to cut a small piece of chitosan. The quick clot was a powder that you just poured into the wound but most people under stress would hardly get enough to the source of the bleed and it was ineffective.

That said seeing that they heard our recommendations for a gauze that could be pushed into the wound these products sound like they will be VERY effective in the future. As of my retirement in 2008 our primary go to for a bleeder was still a TQ and regular rolled gauze and we had a few chitosan bandages each for severe emergency bleeds.

Good to see these products fulfilling their potential!

08-23-2013, 08:47	#100
miclo18d Quiet Professional Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Occupied Northlandia Posts: 1,697	I was very fortunate to be an 18D when all of these bandages were coming into the inventory. Being in SF we got first dibs on this stuff as it came available. I actually had to look up a bunch of the brand names to see what each one was as there was no brand name for the chitosan bandages when we first got them. We preferred the chitosan over the quick clot (and its variants) because of the exothermic properties of the quick clot and the HemCons were just not that much more effective at 5 times the cost. The problem with the chitosan at that time (2003+) was that it came in a large 4x4 dressing that was very stiff and very hard to get because the factory was being built. At first we would try stuffing the whole thing in the wound but quickly adapted and started cutting off small pieces and putting that right on the bleeder. As you can see the problems on the battlefield trying to cut a small piece of chitosan. The quick clot was a powder that you just poured into the wound but most people under stress would hardly get enough to the source of the bleed and it was ineffective. That said seeing that they heard our recommendations for a gauze that could be pushed into the wound these products sound like they will be VERY effective in the future. As of my retirement in 2008 our primary go to for a bleeder was still a TQ and regular rolled gauze and we had a few chitosan bandages each for severe emergency bleeds. Good to see these products fulfilling their potential! __________________ "The rifle itself has no moral stature, since it has no will of its own. Naturally, it may be used by evil men for evil purposes, but there are more good men than evil, and while the latter cannot be persuaded to the path of righteousness by propaganda, they can certainly be corrected by good men with rifles." — Jeff Cooper
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