D.A.R.K. by Dark Angel Medical
Kerry “Pocket Doc” Davis, owner of Dark Angel Medical, has been taking care of people for more than half of his adult life. Kerry spent time in the United States Air Force as a flight medic and as an aircrew training instructor. Since his separation from the USAF, he has spent the latter part of his career in the critical care and ER field. He has also completed his training as an RN and now teaches as an adjunct instructor with SIG Sauer Academy, teaching “Bullets and Bandages.”
Using his extensive experience, Kerry wanted to create a superior product to the standard IFAK (Individual First-Aid Kit). The components were carefully selected based on Kerry’s extensive experience and from feedback from industry professionals. The Direct Action Response Kit, or D.A.R.K., was created to address this concern. When you first look at the components that are included, it seems limited, but if you think about the reasons for the products, you truly understand how powerful of a kit this really is. This is not a basic first aid kit. This kit is for serious trauma. Many of the IFAK’s or other first aid kits out there are severely lacking in the necessary materials for serious trauma.
If we take a look a the cause of deaths in combat, 90% of them can be attributed to Hemorrhage, and Airway/Breathing. The D.A.R.K. is made to directly address these important, life-threatening issues.
Included in the kit is:
- Combat Application Tourniquet (CAT-T)
- The CAT-T is the most widely used field tourniquet on the market today. They are easy-to-use, quick to deploy, and can be effectively applied with one hand. This TQ is one of the most effective ones on the market and it is your first-line defense against life threatening hemorrhage.
- Trauma Shears
- This specialized pair of shears has a 7.5″ black-oxide coated blades and enables the user to quickly remove clothing or any obstructions for prompt visual inspection or treatment of any injuries.
- The Insert
- One Pair of Nitrile Gloves to protect you from blood or other bodily fluids.
- A basic Nasal Airway to assist in clearing patient airway.
- Quik-Clot Combat Gauze – 12 Feet of Z-Folded gauze with a built-in hemostatic agent that can be stuffed into a wound.
- A 4″ Israeli Bandage for absorbency, compression and focused pressure.
- 12′ of Compressed Gauze for additional packing material.
- Halo Seals – A pair of super-adhesive seals to maintain a solid, occlusive seal in the case of pneumothorax, a.k.a. a sucking chest wound. The adhesive used on these seals allows you to remove and relocate them without any loss of adhesion.
- A Mylar Space Blanket which helps the patient stay warm and prevent shock/hypothermia.
- Custom 3rd Generation Pouch
- In conjunction with First Spear LLC, Kerry designed a pouch to hold everything securely and also be able to mount the pouch via MOLLE to a belt
There are two versions of the D.A.R.K. available; a Civilian/LE model and a MIL-SPEC model. The main difference is that the MIL-SPEC model includes Quik-Clot that has an X-Ray strip in it, alerting medical staff to the presence of the Quik-Clot bandage.
This kit is not cheap. At $164.95, it is significantly more than the garbage you can find on eBay or Amazon. However, you get what you pay for and this is no exception. These are all top quality components and I also believe in the importance of support our fellow small businessmen in the industry. You also get the advantage of having everything tightly vacuum sealed so it fits nicely into their pouch.
I keep my D.A.R.K. attached right to my HSGI Battle Belt that goes to the range with me anytime I am doing training or making more sweet Inked Up GunFighter videos. I had always kept a blowout kit in my range bag and in my vehicle, but now it is nice knowing that I have one right on my belt in case of an emergency.
Overall, the D.A.R.K. is widely known amongst shooting enthusiasts as THE kit to have when you’re out at the range. With its small package and great value, I couldn’t think of another better solution for an IFAK to put on my “battle belt.”
Another thing to note is that Kerry offers a trauma first aid training course. As he says on his website: “The time to learn to use your personal trauma kit is not when you or someone else is bleeding out.” That is absolutely true. His course is $450 and includes one of his D.A.R.K.’s. For a two-day instruction, including the kit that you will be learning how to use, it is well worth it. Too many people overlook medical training and it is eleventy billion times more likely that you will need to use your med kit or first aid training over your firearms training.
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