They say that the One Day Hike (ODH) may be the mid-Atlantic region’s oldest long distance hike. Even though The Sierra Club has been hosting this popular adventure since 1974, I just found out about it last year.

They have two distances for hikers to choose from, a 50K and a 100K. All but 1.5 miles of the hike is on the C&O Canal tow path as it winds from Georgetown, Washington, DC to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. Hiking 62.14 miles in a single day is not what some people consider a day hike, but this is exactly what they are asking people to do.
Being a guy, my ego is in need of a constant check. Luckily I was able to subdue my testosterone enough and made myself promise that I would take this one slow. The mission is to complete the hike; that is all. No speed records, no bricks, just finish.

To complete the hike in the allotted time, you need to average 20 minutes per mile (approximately 3 mph). If you miss the cutoff times at any given station, they bring you in. It’s part of the rules you have to agree to but ultimately it’s for your safety and I understand that.

Note: They throttle the signups and don’t have a waiting list, so you just have to wait until they open registration periodically and grab a spot as quickly as possible.

Since this is a supported event, there are strategically placed aid stations with food, water, medicine, etc. I planned on carrying everything I could to move as fast as possible and keep stops to a minimum. I did however take advantage of the aid stations for food and water resupply when I really needed it.

Gear Loadout

• Outdoor Research Mentor Waterproof Shell
• Outdoor Research Sequence Long Sleeve Zip Tee
• Under Armour Compression Short Sleeve
• ITS Tactical ETA Kit and Trauma Kit Pouch
• Lowa Renegade II GTX Boots
• GORUCK GR1
• GR TAC
• SmartWool PhD Socks
• SureFire Saint Minimus
• Sea to Summit Ultra-Sil 50L Pack Liner
• Source WXP 3L Helix
• LokSak Bag
• Black Diamond Trail Ergo Cork trekking poles
• Fisher Space Pen M4 TAD Edition
• Rite in the Rain No 954T
• iPhone
• iPod Nano
• Zagg Sparq 2.0

The conditions for this hike could not have been better for me. I operate best in the cold and rain doesn’t seem to hurt my morale at all. In fact, for some reason I tend to welcome the rain because I feel as if it becomes a mental barrier for others. So with a low around 39 and high in the low 50′s, I was excited.

I met the organizers in a dark parking lot in Georgetown to check-in. I haven’t experienced this “feeling” in a while and it’s fun being wide awake and geared up for an adventure at some crazy hour (2:30 AM) surrounded by similarly crazy people. We are setting out to hike 62.14 miles in less than 24 hours. I think that’s crazy.

0300 – A Dark Start

After a brief chat about safety and more on what to expect, we were off. My start is fast but I’m feeling good. I’m cranking out 13-15 minute miles and listening to music. Some songs get me feeling pumped and allow an even faster pace. But the miles don’t exactly fly by and even with a slower than running pace, I’m starting to get hungry.

I keep moving as I swing my backpack around and pull out some snacks. I plan on eating as much as I need but I also don’t want to burn through all of my food before I reach the first food station. Something I noticed was that when people around me had to get something out of their bag or maybe pick a new song on their iPod, their pace slowed down. I made an effort to speed up during those times I was distracted.

Arriving at the first station I decided to adjust some things and only stay for a minute. I was good on water and feeling fresh so I wanted to get moving to the next checkpoint. Breakfast was waiting for me there and it was about 10 miles away.

Breakfast is Served

I rolled into the breakfast station at mile 22 in just over six hours. To be honest, I kind of was expecting eggs and sausage but happily scarfed down the bagels, muffins, oranges, and yogurt they laid out. I also took time to get some blisters drained by the first aid crew. The volunteers at this event are downright saints. One person will pop your blisters and bandage you up while the other is asking what they can get you from the food table, all while being as chipper as can be. Saints.

I started off slow as I left the breakfast stop but soon picked up pace. I decided to use my trekking poles and push like I was skiing and they really helped a ton. Somehow I snuck a 14 minute mile in there but eventually had to slow down as my legs began to tighten up. Also, my feet were feeling incredibly tender. Almost as if I were stepping on thumb tacks.

I blew through the next aid station at mile 30 to save time and preserve my feet. Stopping seemed to make it worse. After all, it’s only 5.6 miles to the next station which is the lunch stop.

I eventually slowed down as I neared the next station. Things are starting to get worse. I arrived at Whites Ferry (mile 35.6) at 2:05 PM. Sat for a minute until I could muster up the strength to rise and hobble to the food table. I downed a PB&J and took another as well as some trail mix for later. I left the station at 2:23 PM because it closes at 3:10 PM and I didn’t want to be out of the running just yet.

Painful Truths

About a half mile down the trail, I was by myself as I started to realize the gravity of it all. Things were hurting too bad. My pace was deteriorating. My body was shutting down. At this realization, alone on the trail, leaning on my trekking poles for support, I broke down.

I did the math and realized I wasn’t going to make the next cutoff. My goal was to finish and certainly not quit. I won’t be able to finish but at least I’m not quitting. I gave it everything I could. It was extremely difficult for me to reach that conclusion but soon I was ok with it.

It started to rain and lasted for my last 2 miles. I arrived at what was to be my final station at mile 42.5, 20 minutes beyond the cutoff. I was forced to end my hike there. To be honest, if allowed to go on, my pace would have been so slow that I wouldn’t have made the finish in 24 hours anyway.

I didn’t earn a patch but that doesn’t mean I won’t go back. I’ll return to hike the full distance and I’m still proud of myself for covering 42.5 miles in just over 14 and a half hours.

A Look Back

Now that I’ve had time to rest and reflect, I realized a few things I did wrong and what I need to do for next time. I forgot about this event up until a few weeks before I could sign up. That didn’t leave a lot of time for training and honestly, you really have to train for this. I did one hike that was about 18 miles but they highly recommend you do at least a 35 mile hike if attempting the 100K.

Looking over the OneDayHike.org website, it’s full of great advice that I’ll follow to the letter for next time. Building up your feet and legs during long days of walking will go a long way when you do the real thing. I was ill prepared and thought that a general level of decent fitness would get me through. It did not. This wasn’t something I could muscle through even though I tried.

Even though I failed to reach my goal, do I recommend others attempt this hike? Yes. It’s an amazing adventure that you should try if you have even the slightest interest. Visit the ODH site and follow their training program. You know I will.

I want to say a huge thank you to everyone that volunteered and manned the aid stations. Being greeted by a complete stranger who is more than excited to get food for me or pop my blisters while I rested did wonders for morale. The volunteers make this event what it is and I plan to reciprocate and become one sometime.

We’re excited to release our Every Day Carry Trauma Kit today and feel it’s truly something you’ll never leave home without. No longer will you have the excuse of not being able to carry lifesaving equipment with you wherever you go!

We wanted to design a minimum bare-bones trauma kit, smaller than our ETA Trauma Kits, that would not only be comfortable enough to throw in a back pocket, but also be capable of treating the number one preventable cause of death in the field according to the TCCC; extremity hemorrhage AKA bleeding out.

The EDC Trauma Kit is literally the size of an average wallet and even smaller in some instances, especially if you carry a Costanza. It can be stuffed in a back pocket and only weights 6 ounces with the included pouch!

EDC Trauma Kit

The EDC Trauma Kit contains (1) Combat Gauze LE, (1) SWAT-T Tourniquet / Pressure Bandage, (1) Pair of OD Nitrile Gloves and your choice of a Coyote Brown or Black EDC Trauma Kit Pouch. The kit is also vacuum sealed and completely latex-free. Our EDC Trauma Kit Pouch is nothing more than a lightweight slip cover to protect your EDC Kit against damage and puncturing the vacuum seal while being carried in your pocket or bag.

Included with every EDC Trauma Kit is our insert card which lists the contents on the front and includes the directions for using the SWAT-T on the reverse. These directions come directly from the manufacturer and are also printed on the bag that we’ve left on each SWAT-T we seal in a kit. We’ve also taken the time to cut a large slit on the bottom of each wrapped SWAT-T we use so that it’s easier to open when seconds count!

Please keep in mind that while the SWAT-T is described as a Tourniquet and Pressure Bandage, we’ve found its use better for a pressure dressing to wrap over a packed wound then for a dedicated tourniquet. Can it be used as a field expedient TQ? Absolutely, but if you have the option to carry a dedicated tourniquet like the SOFTT-W, we highly recommend it. The purpose of this kit is every day carry and the components in the EDC Trauma Kit are certainly suited for that.

Click here to purchase your EDC Trauma Kit!

Manufacturing

The pouches for our EDC Trauma Kits are sewn in Chicago by Zulu Nylon Gear, making them completely made in the USA. The EDC Trauma Kits are hand assembled by ITS Tactical in Fort Worth, TX using nearly all made in the USA components.

The Combat Gauze, SWAT-T, glove wraps, vacuum seal bags and insert cards are all made in the USA. The gloves are the only component made overseas, which we’re working to change.

Pick up your EDC Trauma Kit today and don’t let the excuse of not having the room to carry life-saving equipment ever happen again!

We’ve had our new EDC Trauma Kit in development for quite awhile now and we thought it was time to unveil what we’ve been working on.

The EDC Trauma Kit is a vacuum sealed trauma kit with the essentials to stop life threatening injuries. We wanted to develop a smaller version of our ETA Trauma Kits that would still contain the essentials, yet fit just about anywhere.

It’s literally the size of a wallet, can be stuffed in a back pocket and only weights 5 ounces! 

EDC Trauma Kit

The EDC Trauma Kit contains (1) Combat Gauze LE, (1) SWAT-T Tourniquet / Pressure Bandage and (1) Pair of OD Nitrile Gloves. The kit is also vacuum sealed and completely latex-free. Another added benefit of the EDC Trauma Kit is that it’s able to be carried on a plane without any trouble from TSA.

More details to follow on these kits and they’ll be available soon in the ITS Tactical Store. For now here’s some photos to check out.

We just received an email this morning about our ETA Trauma Kits being used out in the field to save a life. Here’s the account of the incident from the first responder. As he states, certain details have been left off, including his name and location.

I’d like to apologize first for the lack of proper medical terminology as I’m only trained minimally and anything beyond that is self taught. Due to OPSEC I have to be brief on my story, sorry.

None the less, we were under fire, seconds felt like minutes and minutes felt like hours. Making use of rubble as cover during a rain of fire, I noticed my buddy next to me hit the ground, getting hit with what looked like two ricochet rounds. Making sure all the targets were neutralized and covered, I then rushed to my buddy to assess his injuries.

He was bleeding from two areas, the first area was where he was holding his left side of his abdominal, which was a quarter sized hole about three inches above his pelvis. His second wound was to his left leg. Falling back on my training, I was taught that 90% of leg wounds need of a Tourniquet. At that point I made the decision to address his leg wound first, as it was bleeding a lot faster than his abdominal wound. Due to the location on his leg where he was hit, I was worried it might have been a major artery.

I grabbed my “blow out bag” which had one of your ETA Trauma Kits in it, as well as a SOF Tactical Tourniquet. I quickly put on the tourniquet to help stop the bleeding as much as possible. I then cut open his BDU’s and the blood came rushing out, in my mind I was saying “OH F**K” but the words that came out my mouth to my buddy were “Piece of cake buddy… your gonna be ok… stay with me.”

I ripped open the ETA Trauma Kit, grabbed the QuikClot Combat Gauze and packed it into his wound. Once I was done with that, I grabbed the Z-Pak Dressing and placed it on the top to make a seal; ensuring the QuikClot stayed in the wound. I then wrapped his leg with the Israeli Bandage to finish treating it, before moving on to his second wound.

As I was treating his leg, I was telling him to keep pressure on his other wound to his abdominal area. Maybe I should of put some gauze on it, but at the time I was worried about his leg and had to make a quick decision; I couldn’t waste time.

His abominable wound was a clean through shot and by the time I started to treat it the bleeding had pretty much stopped. I grabbed another ETA Trauma Kit out of my buddy’s backpack, placed some gauze on the exit wound and a HALO Seal over it. I then put some gauze and the other HALO over the entry wound. He was stable enough for our 75 mile ride to the nearest medical facility in our given area.

We made it to the medical facility where he was treated by higher echelon care and survived his wounds. Because of your ETA Trauma Kits I had what I needed to help my buddy survive. Even someone not as highly trained as myself was able to save a life! Your kits had everything and more that I needed for that particular scenario.

Thanks a lot guys, I didn’t personally buy your kits but I had the chance to use them in the field. I did just pick up your ETA Trauma Kit Pouch though, as we always need a good quickly accessible pouch.

I hope this info was helpful and I’ll be buying more from your company in the future!

Thanks,
***Name Withheld***

The suspense that’s been killing some of you is finally lifted! We’re stoked today to announce our ETA Trauma Kit Pouch made exclusively for us by Zulu Nylon Gear!

The ITS Tactical ETA Trauma Kit Pouch was born out of the necessity in developing both a pouch that could hold our Vacuum Sealed ETA Trauma Kit, as well as the individual components of the kit if the end user needs to break the seal, or wants faster access to certain items.

We worked with Zulu Nylon Gear for nearly a year to design what we feel is one of the best medical pouches on the market today. With a simple pull on the red handle, the pouch quickly filets open to provide immediate access to your medical components without delay.

ETA Trauma Kit Pouch

The main rear-most pocket of the ETA Trauma Kit Pouch provides space large enough to fit our Vacuum Sealed ETA Trauma Kit or a complement of other medical items. The two rear wing pockets are large enough to store Decompression Needles and NPAs or other Airway devices. The main flap panel design comes from our ITS Med Insert that’s included with our Discreet Messenger Bags and allows you to custom configure the shock cord loops to hold whatever you need it to.

In the video shown below, we’ll show you exactly how we configure the individual components from out ETA Kits and show you the kit in action!

The ETA Trauma Kit Pouch can also be expediently secured by simply pulling back up on the red handle and affixing the velcro when you have to quickly move out. Trauma shears can be tucked behind the PALS/MOLLE mounting at the rear of the pouch or attached to the single channel of PALS/MOLLE that run on either side of the exterior of the wings. This channel can also be used to secure a tourniquet, tourniquet pouch, or rescue hook pouches.

Something that we wanted when we designed this pouch was for all the items prone to wear to be user replaceable in the field. Rather than use elastic webbing, which is prone to stretching out, we used shock cord so that if for some reason it becomes worn or stretched out it can simply be replaced and not have to be sent back in to get elastic webbing retention re-sewn.

We’re also not only using MALICE Clips from Tactical Tailor as a means to secure the pouch to PALS/MOLLE, but we include two of them with every pouch unlike some of the other gear you might have purchased. MALICE Clips are dependable and Tactical Tailor recently stated in a shop tour video that they’d only had 2-3 come back for warranty in the years they’ve been making them.

Everything in this pouch from the materials, craftsmanship, labor and MALICE Clips is 100% Made in the USA by Americans and Berry Amendment Compliant.

Features

• Lightweight 500d Cordura Construction with 420d Pack Cloth Interior
• Mil-Spec 550 Type III Paracord Zipper Pulls
• Color-Matched Velcro and Webbing, Including MultiCam Webbing and MultiCam Velcro
• All Edges Feature Binding Tape for Quality Construction
• Exterior Single Side Channels of PALS/MOLLE for Mounting Tourniquets, Tourniquet Pouches, Shear Pouches, or Rescue Hook Pouches
• 1″ Red Webbing Pull Handle Denoting Medical Supplies
• Reverse Zippers to Keep the Dirt and Grunge Out
• Exterior Loop Velcro Field for Medical, Blood Type or Unit Identifier Patches (2″ Tall x 4″ Wide)
• User Replaceable Shock Cord and ITW Nexus CordLoc
• Weight: 4.2 oz.
• Measurements: 7″ Tall x 5.25″ Wide x  2.5″ Deep
• Includes (2) Coyote Brown MALICE Clips for Mounting to PALS/MOLLE (3 Columns x 5 Channels PALS/MOLLE on Rear)
• Available in Coyote Brown and MultiCam with Color Matched Webbing and Velcro.
• Made in the USA (Berry Amendment Compliant)

Also check out the Haley Strategic Partners ETA Trauma Kit Pouch Sneak Peek Review and YouTube Video! Thanks for the great review guys!

Order your ETA Trauma Kit Pouch here TODAY!

To quote the late comedian Mitch Hedberg, “You know that Pepperidge Farm bread, that stuff is fancy. That stuff is wrapped twice. You open it, and it still ain’t open. That’s why I don’t buy it, I don’t need another step between me and toast.”

Well that’s exactly how an Israeli Bandage is wrapped. You may asking yourself why this is important, so allow me to elaborate and to also explain the new changes in the 4″ Israeli Bandages.

History

The Emergency Bandage, AKA Trauma Wound Dressing, AKA Hemorrhage Control Bandage, AKA Israeli Bandage, has quite a few names. It was invented by Bernard Bar-Natan, a Holocaust survivor, who immigrated to Israel in 1979 and was drafted into the military there in 1983. During his service he saw a need for a dressing that didn’t exist.

What he envisioned, was for medics like himself, to not have to create field expedient pressure dressings and for bandages to evolve like everything else in the military had been. With a loan from the government in the 90s, he turned his idea into a reality and The Emergency Bandage was born.

Bar-Natan’s company, First Care, introduced the bandages to the U.S. Military in 2000 at Ft. Sam Houston in San Antonio. It wasn’t much longer after that before elite units quickly adopted them for standard use. They were also know to have played a part in saving lives during the recent Tucson Tragedy in Arizona.

Israeli Bandage

While the technical name is The Emergency Bandage, it’s a bit of a misnomer, as the Israeli is really a pressure dressing. It combines a sterile dressing, elastic bandage and pressure applicator capable of exerting up to 30 lbs. of pressure on a wound. The closure bar, which secures the bandage at the end of wrapping, can also be used to exert additional pressure.

The Israeli is truly a multi-purpose bandage and can be used as a make-shift tourniquet, ACE Wrap, or even a sling to immobilize an appendage. It’s truly a versatile item to include in your trauma kit or first aid kit. It can also be self-applied, even one-handed.

Usage and Application

We’ve always thought highly of Israeli Bandages, which is why they’re included in every ETA Trauma Kit we make. The only downside to them is that they’re wrapped twice like that pesky Pepperidge Farm Bread!

Truthfully, this isn’t really a downside, as the double packaging ensures their sterility. Although, if you haven’t been trained on using an Israeli and opening it from the package, you can be setting yourself up for failure and wasting precious seconds in a life-threatening situation.

Hopefully you’ve all heard the phrase “seconds count,” this is no joke when you’re talking about stopping a severe hemorrhage and having to open a pressure dressing like the Israeli Bandage twice isn’t practical.

I’ll let the video explain the instructions for applying the bandage and just what the packaging looks like when they’re opened. We’ve also got step-by-step photos below.

Storage

We recommend storing them out of the outer vacuum sealed wrapper (still wrapped in the inner vacuum sealed wrapper).

The outer wrapper is clearly marked on the new Israelis with tear marks, but if you don’t know what you’re looking for on the interior wrapper you may waste precious time. With the added potential of having gloves on and slippery hands, this is no time to be wildly tearing at a plastic wrapper to get to the bandage.

The inner wrapper is clear and has a small pre-cut tear mark on the very top of the bandage, but both the top and bottom of the bandage’s long side look the same. You’ll have to pull on it slightly to loosen up the side with the slack (top) to find the pre-cut tear mark to open it.

Additions

Something new on the Israeli is the addition of a small tied string that runs throughout the bandage called the “Stop and Go Release.” One of the issues with the past version of the Israeli was that if you dropped them while wrapping, the bandage could potentially hit the dirt and lose it’s sterility. You certainly don’t want to be wrapping dirt into an open wound, that’s just asking for an infection.

We’ve also noticed that the entire Israeli is now vacuum packed even smaller in the 4″ size. They’re also available in a 6″ size if desired.

Another thing to note is that you should save the packaging from the dressing. A large piece of plastic can be used as a make-shift occlusive dressing to treat a pneumothorax aka sucking chest wound. For more on this, check out our article on Developing a Blow Out Kit.

Hopefully this article has given you a glimpse of how effective and versatile the Israeli Bandages can be. It’s definitely a must to have in your kits and keep in your vehicle and the office. They’re available here on Amazon and at many medical distributors as well.