Pack 2: Stop the Bleed

When help is minutes away, bleeding control is the most time-critical skill you can own. Pack 2 assumes you already have water covered from Pack 1 and builds the medical layer.

First Aid Only 298-Piece All-Purpose Kit is the household baseline. 298 pieces, organized by injury type, with enough gauze and dressings to handle a bad cut without improvising from the kitchen drawer.

QuikClot Kaolin Clotting Gauze and North American Rescue C-A-T Tourniquet (Gen 7) are the life-threat layer. Pack the wound with hemostatic gauze and hold pressure; if bleeding will not stop from an arm or leg, the tourniquet is the tool designed for it. Both ship with instructions — read them now, not during an emergency.

Adventure Medical Kits Mountain Series Hiker lives in the go-bag. Same first-aid depth as the household kit but packed for a daypack, so you are covered away from home too.

Budget note: the household kit alone is a solid start at about $18. Add the tourniquet and hemostatic gauze next paycheck to complete the bleed-control layer.

Next step: Pack 3 — See and Start.