Tactical Tailor’s $225 Trauma Pack is at the large end of dedicated medical packs, and focuses it’s design on simplicity and adaptability.
http://www.tacticaltailor.com/produc...s/trauma_pack/
Purpose
Tactical Tailor bills their Trauma Pack as being designed to meet the needs of the tactical medic or EMT. Their website does not post dimensions, but a little work with my wife’s tape measure shows a conservative volume of about 2938 cubic inches, which easily expands to about 3260 cubic inches. Included in that volume is a main compartment of between 2,254 and 2,576 cubic inches and two 342 cubic inch padded external zipper panels with elastic loops and a flat mesh pouch. PALS webbing on both sides of the pack allow for adding additional pouches, increasing volume even further, as well as providing a convenient spot to stash a pair of trauma shears if you’re not worried about snagging hazards or dynamic movement.
Construction
The pack is all Cordura, with the exception of the sewn on pack straps which are 500d nylon. The bag sports very neat stitching lines, with double stitching at key stress points. While not “over built” as some other manufacturers products are, the bag is very solid, and shows no signs of wear despite my being the second owner (original owner was a Canadian Forces medic). Notably, the Trauma Pack is surprisingly light for it’s size. Finished off with heavy-duty coil zippers, compression straps, a removable waist belt, adjustments at the top and bottom of the pack straps, and carry and drag handles, it is nice to see a product that is well built, feature rich, and still pretty light to pick up.
Design Features
I particularly like the Trauma Pack for it’s remarkable versatility. Another example of focusing on multi-purpose mesh pockets for compartmenting, the Trauma Pack consists of 5 medium sized bellow pouches in the main compartment, a large bellow mesh pouch on the inside of the main panel, and a Cordura 342 c.i. zipper pouch with a internal flat mesh pocket also on the inside of the main panel. The outside of the pack has the two aforementioned 342 c.i. padded zipper panel pouches with elastic loops and internal mesh pocket.
In total, this design offers a total of 9 mesh pockets of various sizes, and 3 large zippered panel pockets with a total of 12 elastic loops inside 2 of those. Despite this considerable amount of storage potential, there is still more space above and below the 5 mesh pockets for larger, bulkier items, and the pack is even tall enough (23”) to accept a flattened cervical collar in the hydration slot without any bending or stretching! Also, if you prefer pull out pouches, the mesh pockets can be used as sleeves for these, or can be easily pushed flat out of the way for large piece of equipment. The Trauma Pack really leaves the all the choices to you in ways that other medical packs I’ve worked with don’t approach.
Recommended Improvements
This gets tough, given that this pack rings my bell so well. Still, if I had to throw out a want list, it would be as follows:
-The sides of the pack could be enhanced with a flat SAM splint sized pocket with PALS over the face of the pocket. A slot and retention strap for shears would also be nice, given that the PALS webbing invites shears to be put here anyway.
-The middle lower mesh pocket has the potential to be used as a sleeve for the bottom of an O2 tank. The addition of a retention strap between the upper mesh pockets would help to secure the tank in place and improve the versatility of the main compartment.
-Given the size of the main panel on this panel loader, there is an opportunity to have a full length and width interior sleeve for blankets, MAST/PASG, or other large and reasonably flat items.
-Removable web straps on the top of the pack would allow a coiled climbing rope to be carried, but really, I’m probably getting greedy here.
It should also be noted though that each of these additions will bring with it a trade off in pack weight.
Summary
The Trauma Pack provides a great amount of versatility as a fully featured dedicated medical pack, yet it’s design is not overly specialized, allowing it to easily fit the bill as a rescue pack or general assault sized pack without modification. At $225, this pack offers great versatility with large volume for a middle ground price tag. In my opinion, it’s one of the best values in medical packs out there.
Pictures
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