Riley Bowman: And welcome to the Concealed Carry
Riley Bowman: Podcast, part of the ConcealedCarry.com network, brought to you by HK.
Riley Bowman: Today is Thursday, May 21st, 2026, as of the live recording of this episode.
Riley Bowman: And I am your host, Riley Bowman, and I'm joined today by an old friend who
Riley Bowman: has come back, Brian McLaughlin.
Brian McLaughlin: Thanks for having me, Riley.
Riley Bowman: Glad to have you, my man. It's been too long.
Brian McLaughlin: It has been a little while. Feels good to be back.
Riley Bowman: Yeah. As many of you probably have figured out, Brian's gone on to some other
Riley Bowman: opportunities these last couple of years. We've missed him dearly.
Riley Bowman: It was good times back in the day when we had you on the podcast pretty regularly.
Riley Bowman: And of course, you, you know, producing a bunch of content and stuff for Mountain
Riley Bowman: Man Medical YouTube channel and different things.
Riley Bowman: And so we have a lot to thank Brian for, for all the work he put in here for years. it's
Brian McLaughlin: My pleasure it's fun hanging out with you guys having a blast.
Riley Bowman: Yeah uh today uh
Riley Bowman: one of the reasons i i called you up or
Riley Bowman: i texted you and i was like hey man i'd like you to come on uh it's
Riley Bowman: stop the bleed month stop the bleed day in
Riley Bowman: fact is today um thursday may 21st stop the bleed day so this this whole week
Riley Bowman: we're celebrating a stop the bleed week and the month is like i said stop the
Riley Bowman: bleed month uh so we got big promotion going on right now you could save a pretty
Riley Bowman: good chunk I think it's 15% off at mountainmanmedical.com.
Riley Bowman: Go to mountainmanmedical.com forward slash STB for stop the bleed,
Riley Bowman: mountainmanmedical.com forward slash STB.
Riley Bowman: And stock up on and save big on trauma kits and gear.
Riley Bowman: I think it's all components, all the kits. So even if you just want to get a
Riley Bowman: refill kit or just buy a few components that you need to refresh some things
Riley Bowman: with or put together your own kit. And we have very competitive pricing on all
Riley Bowman: the different components.
Riley Bowman: And all the kits, of course, are also very competitively priced.
Riley Bowman: Sometimes people ask the question, Brian, you know, why should I buy one of
Riley Bowman: you all's kits versus just make my own kit?
Riley Bowman: I don't know. Do you have any thoughts on that?
Brian McLaughlin: Well, I mean, we get it wholesale, so we get it cheaper. So you'll spend less
Brian McLaughlin: money if we put it together for you.
Brian McLaughlin: And I'm pretty proud of the kits that I put together. They've got all of the major components.
Brian McLaughlin: You're not going to make a better kit. What I would recommend is if there's
Brian McLaughlin: extra things that you want to add in there,
Brian McLaughlin: there's extra space that we designed into the kit
Brian McLaughlin: so that you can add your own products in to kind
Brian McLaughlin: of make it your own because everybody has their own style their own things that
Brian McLaughlin: they are going to encounter their own uh jobs and that kind of stuff so having
Brian McLaughlin: your own kit set up with the things that you need in it are important but our
Brian McLaughlin: kits are set up with all the essential items so you just buy one of our kits
Brian McLaughlin: and then add in what are little extras you got so yeah yeah.
Riley Bowman: Yeah, and actually something that's really exciting is that recently we just
Riley Bowman: got our own branded Mountain Man Medical branded compression bandages.
Riley Bowman: They're called the Bridger Compression Bandage, and they're an awesome bandage.
Riley Bowman: They've got a great, highly absorbent gauze pad on them.
Riley Bowman: The elastic that helps wrap and then compress that bandage to help control bleeding
Riley Bowman: or keep things in place on a wound or whatever.
Riley Bowman: It's a nice upgraded material. We tested our own bandage.
Riley Bowman: When I say we tested, we tested a couple of iterations and kept going back to
Riley Bowman: the drawing board and getting some revisions from the manufacturer until we
Riley Bowman: got it dialed in just the way we wanted it.
Riley Bowman: So check out the new Bridger Compression Bandage. It's now
Riley Bowman: what's used in place of some of
Riley Bowman: the other products we had in the past that filled that that product category
Riley Bowman: kind of a small uh you know sort of
Riley Bowman: a mini compression bandage i mean like you have things like an israeli bandage
Riley Bowman: or an elias bandage those are bigger bandages and they do basically the same
Riley Bowman: thing this is really a good product for some of those more compact needs you
Riley Bowman: got an ankle kit or some of the smaller IFACs.
Riley Bowman: It fits really well in those kits.
Riley Bowman: And some of the other products, since they discontinued the H&H mini compression
Riley Bowman: bandage, which was the thing that we really liked several years ago,
Riley Bowman: but they discontinued it, we have not been happy with a lot of the other products
Riley Bowman: since then until we could get our own made.
Riley Bowman: So we're very excited about the new Bridger compression bandage from Mountain Medical.
Riley Bowman: Anyway, mountainmedical.com to help celebrate this
Riley Bowman: month of stop the bleed and pick up some products at a pretty good discount.
Brian McLaughlin: Absolutely. That Bridger, I would want to say I was playing around with that
Brian McLaughlin: Bridger pressure dressing right before we were talking here.
Brian McLaughlin: And I was impressed with the quality of the elastic band.
Brian McLaughlin: And part of the concept here is you've got something that's very compact,
Brian McLaughlin: means it's more likely that you're going to carry it, right?
Brian McLaughlin: The bigger that an item gets when it comes to the personal kit that you're going
Brian McLaughlin: to carry, the less likely you're going to take it with you.
Brian McLaughlin: These are the same basic concepts behind a concealed carry gun.
Brian McLaughlin: You want to have something that's concealable that you're going to wear.
Brian McLaughlin: That's why you don't wear a Desert Eagle because it's going to be uncomfortable. It's sustainable.
Brian McLaughlin: So having something that's kind of small and in your kit all the time means
Brian McLaughlin: that you're going to have that product on hand for when you absolutely need it.
Brian McLaughlin: And that's one of those essential items. You can't get away from having a good
Brian McLaughlin: trauma kit if you don't have pressure dressings in it.
Brian McLaughlin: Along with those pressure dressings you have to have
Brian McLaughlin: wound packing material because that's what's stopping
Brian McLaughlin: all of your bleeding right so you're going to pack wounds
Brian McLaughlin: you're going to pack all of the junctions all the areas that
Brian McLaughlin: you can't get a tourniquet on and you're going to pack that wound packing down
Brian McLaughlin: into it and then you're going to apply that pressure dressing and that's going
Brian McLaughlin: to keep that wound packing down in place and clamping off that artery that's
Brian McLaughlin: why we're going to get our bleeding control so and it's an essential item it's
Brian McLaughlin: a great piece of kit if you don't have any in your own personal trauma kids
Brian McLaughlin: highly highly recommend yeah.
Riley Bowman: Awesome thanks for that info brian hey eddie on facebook says hello guys my
Riley Bowman: favorite podcast oh eddie
Brian McLaughlin: Thank you yes.
Riley Bowman: And we eddie we recognize you of course you've been a long time listener slash
Riley Bowman: watcher uh here on facebook thank you for joining us and others uh joining us as well on youtube today
Riley Bowman: Today's episode is also sponsored by the 2026 Guardian Conference.
Riley Bowman: And last year, you weren't able to join us, Brian, but Brian's going to be back
Riley Bowman: this year for the Guardian Conference teaching some awesome trauma courses.
Riley Bowman: We'll probably talk about that some more later in the episode. But guys,
Riley Bowman: if you want to get some awesome training and not just in shooting,
Riley Bowman: but in medical and kind of tactical casualty care type stuff,
Riley Bowman: you're going to want to be at the 2026 Guardian Conference in Oklahoma City
Riley Bowman: in September of this year.
Riley Bowman: You're also going to get opportunities to train with some world-class trainers
Riley Bowman: on combatives and legal courses and all kinds of things to help make you a better,
Riley Bowman: more well-rounded, more prepared person,
Riley Bowman: father, mother, daughter, son, brother, sister, whatever your role is,
Riley Bowman: co-worker, or just some dude or dudette driving down the highway needing to respond to an accident.
Riley Bowman: Whatever it is, of any kind. It could be not even just a medical accident,
Riley Bowman: but any kind of incident, you wanna have the smarts, you wanna have the training,
Riley Bowman: you wanna have the gear to take care of yourself and the people you care about
Riley Bowman: most in whatever situation you find yourself in.
Riley Bowman: And that's what the Guardian Conference is really all about is to give you those tools.
Riley Bowman: Low light training, that's another one you'll have an opportunity to do.
Riley Bowman: So guys, come join us at the 2026 Guardian Conference in Oklahoma City this
Riley Bowman: year, September 18th to the 20th.
Riley Bowman: And you can go to guardianconference.com. You'll see the full lineup of instructors
Riley Bowman: that will be there this year.
Riley Bowman: You'll see information about the conference. We try to make it as easy as possible
Riley Bowman: to know what to expect. There's some great videos you can watch on there that
Riley Bowman: kind of explain it if you've never been before.
Riley Bowman: And you can see behind the scenes a little bit.
Riley Bowman: And, you know, tickets, actually the best way to save is to become a Guardian
Riley Bowman: Nation member. you'll save well beyond the cost of a monthly membership just
Riley Bowman: by the discount you'll get off the tuition at Guardian Conference.
Brian McLaughlin: Now, I highly recommend the Guardian Conference. I have been multiple years.
Brian McLaughlin: I didn't go this last year, but the amount of experience that's going to be there is fantastic.
Brian McLaughlin: Not only that, but it is a chance to
Brian McLaughlin: learn from a big group of highly
Brian McLaughlin: experienced instructors all at once and
Brian McLaughlin: it's like camp i think it's like summer camp for
Brian McLaughlin: adults you get to hang out with all your friends and see all your other people while
Brian McLaughlin: you're out there and then do a lot of stuff a lot of fun
Brian McLaughlin: things and the training is always stuff
Brian McLaughlin: that you're not going to get at your local gun range you know you're going to
Brian McLaughlin: have way different way cooler things like you could treat this as like your
Brian McLaughlin: one yearly training block you know and pair that with your range time for practice
Brian McLaughlin: and you can have a very solid base for hitting.
Brian McLaughlin: All the wickets that come to defensive handgun.
Brian McLaughlin: So I think the, the event is fantastic. Highly recommend it.
Brian McLaughlin: We're going to have, um, my, um, trauma class out there where I'm going to be
Brian McLaughlin: teaching the concealed carry tactics for medical carry.
Brian McLaughlin: Um, and this, the last year that we did it, we had an event where, um, it was live fire.
Brian McLaughlin: So you had to engage targets while you're putting on tourniquets,
Brian McLaughlin: um, while someone's hosing you down with blood.
Brian McLaughlin: Um, and, uh, it was, uh, it was a lot of fun. Everybody really enjoyed it.
Brian McLaughlin: We're going to do a little upgrade this year and make it a little more realistic
Brian McLaughlin: and add a couple of different elements that's going to make it a lot more fun
Brian McLaughlin: and a lot more educational.
Brian McLaughlin: Because the basic concept here is we want to be able to do these types of things under pressure.
Brian McLaughlin: We don't want to be doing it all for the first time when bullets are flying.
Brian McLaughlin: We want to try to get that stress inoculation working a little bit more quickly,
Brian McLaughlin: get you into an environment where it's controlled and safe, where you can start
Brian McLaughlin: practicing these things in a very more intense environment so that when it push comes to shove,
Brian McLaughlin: you can throw these skills out there without having to think about it too much. For sure.
Riley Bowman: So come join us at Tactical Bandcamp.
Brian McLaughlin: Tactical Bandcamp.
Riley Bowman: The 2026 Guardian Conference. It's a lot of fun. Go to guardianconference.com.
Riley Bowman: Brian, let's get into, we've already kind of touched on some things already
Riley Bowman: as it is, but let's get into the topic.
Riley Bowman: Let's get it. You know, what are some of the more common mistakes that you see?
Riley Bowman: Let's start with the gear, actually.
Riley Bowman: Let's address the gear question. And we just talked about, you know,
Riley Bowman: people getting some quality components and trauma kits and IFACs and gear from Mountain Medical.
Riley Bowman: What are some of the more common mistakes you see people make with respect to their trauma gear?
Brian McLaughlin: Tampons.
Riley Bowman: Tampons, yes.
Brian McLaughlin: Don't be putting tampons in your trauma kits. Yeah.
Brian McLaughlin: Okay, guys, that's a dumb idea. I know your cousin is special forces in Nam,
Brian McLaughlin: and he says that he does it, but it's not,
Brian McLaughlin: a good idea.
Riley Bowman: Do you think that uh i i
Riley Bowman: do think that there were some legit instances of
Riley Bowman: people in vietnam for instance you said you mentioned it may very well have
Riley Bowman: used uh tampons uh in certain situations on the battlefield but do you suppose
Riley Bowman: that we've learned a thing or two since 1969 versus you know g watt 2000 2009 things
Brian McLaughlin: Are a little different now yeah science has progressed quite a bit you know
Brian McLaughlin: we understand things a little bit differently,
Brian McLaughlin: The main reason why is because we don't want to improvise when we don't have to, right?
Brian McLaughlin: So tampons are purpose-built items for a particular purpose,
Brian McLaughlin: and trauma is not that purpose.
Brian McLaughlin: They don't absorb enough of the moisture for it to matter.
Brian McLaughlin: They don't absorb enough blood for it to actually count, and you're not likely
Brian McLaughlin: to get the mechanical advantage of compression on that artery.
Brian McLaughlin: That's our main concept here, right? So our goal is to take wound packing material,
Brian McLaughlin: long pieces of gauze, and we pack it down into the wound as tightly as possible.
Brian McLaughlin: And then we take our pressure dressing.
Brian McLaughlin: We wrap that around so that it provides that mechanical compression down on
Brian McLaughlin: that artery, which is what clamps it off. That's what we're after here.
Riley Bowman: Clamping and also to help clots start to form. Yes.
Riley Bowman: Which is going to, like when you have a fire hose going, which is what an artery
Riley Bowman: is doing, it's not going to allow clots to form.
Brian McLaughlin: Exactly. Yeah, that clot is going to act like a seal. It's going to plug up
Brian McLaughlin: the end of that pipe and prevent extra bleeding and that kind of thing.
Brian McLaughlin: So exactly, that's exactly right.
Brian McLaughlin: So we have wound packing material that is designed for that.
Brian McLaughlin: It's cheap. It's plentiful. It's easy to carry.
Brian McLaughlin: So there's no reason to put tampons in your trauma kit when we already have
Brian McLaughlin: awesome things that are work far better.
Brian McLaughlin: Now, if it came down to it and I don't have any wound packing material around
Brian McLaughlin: me, but I got a whole case of tampons.
Brian McLaughlin: Am I going to use them? Yeah, absolutely.
Riley Bowman: That's all you got.
Brian McLaughlin: Situation dictates. If I need to, I'll pack 20 of them into that wound and try
Brian McLaughlin: to get compression that way.
Riley Bowman: That might be how many you need because I don't remember exactly the ratio,
Riley Bowman: but there was somebody, I think it might even have been Caleb Giddings.
Riley Bowman: I might be remembering, misquoting, but I know a friend of mine,
Riley Bowman: somebody in the industry several years ago did a video where they compared how
Riley Bowman: much, like they basically took like cups of water or whatever, or liquid of some kind,
Riley Bowman: And they were comparing how much liquid would a tampon absorb compared to just
Riley Bowman: a standard pack of, you know, compressed gauze, right? Wound packing material.
Riley Bowman: And it would shock you how much of a difference there is as far as like,
Riley Bowman: it was like dip your compressed gauze in this cup of water here, pull it out.
Riley Bowman: Dip your tampon over here, pull that out. and
Riley Bowman: like this made like no difference in the
Riley Bowman: level of the water in the cup whereas your compressed gauze
Riley Bowman: you know soaked up a noticeable amount of
Riley Bowman: that of that fluid um and so the point is like i know people like also think
Riley Bowman: like a tampon is well it's it's cylindrical in shape it's about like a bullet
Riley Bowman: hole you know we'll just stuff it in there that's just not how these things
Riley Bowman: work You don't just have a bullet hole and then just fill the hole with,
Riley Bowman: even if it was gauze, you don't just fill the hole.
Riley Bowman: Like what you're talking about, Brian, is really key for people to understand
Riley Bowman: is ideally we want to get that gauze or whatever the wound packing material is.
Riley Bowman: I mean, it could be hemostatic gauze. We want to get that down as close as we
Riley Bowman: can to the actual bleed itself,
Riley Bowman: Get pressure directly on that if we can, and start packing, packing,
Riley Bowman: packing, packing, packing, packing, packing, packing, you know,
Riley Bowman: to get that absorbent material, not only, it's not just about absorbing, but it's absorbing.
Riley Bowman: Compressing, allowing clots start to form, et cetera. Okay.
Riley Bowman: And then of course, you know, if one, we've done as much as we can,
Riley Bowman: we're going to use a compression bandage, wrap that all up, seal it up,
Riley Bowman: get a little more compression on there.
Riley Bowman: Hopefully, you know, I mean that we do what we can, but a tampon just doesn't cut it out.
Brian McLaughlin: Right. Yeah. Our goal is the compression. So that means that if we are,
Brian McLaughlin: um, if we are absorbing any extra blood, that means we're not getting good compression on that artery.
Brian McLaughlin: So our goal is not absorption of blood. We, we don't want to be absorbing any blood.
Brian McLaughlin: We want that blood to stay in the body where it's transporting oxygen where it needs to be.
Brian McLaughlin: So, yeah. So that's one of those key components.
Brian McLaughlin: A good medic knows how to improvise when they need to, but he also knows you
Brian McLaughlin: don't improvise unless you have to.
Brian McLaughlin: So make sure that you've got the products on hand. Don't be improvising.
Brian McLaughlin: If push comes to shove, sure.
Brian McLaughlin: Grab a t-shirt, pack that down into the wound if you need to,
Brian McLaughlin: you know, whatever the case is, but don't improvise unless you have to.
Riley Bowman: Yeah, and there's additional risks that come from improvising.
Riley Bowman: Like you just mentioned a t-shirt.
Riley Bowman: That's not very sterile. But, I mean, if it's the last thing I had,
Riley Bowman: like, okay, better alive than dead. Yeah.
Brian McLaughlin: I'd rather them have an.
Riley Bowman: Infection of some kind than be dead. We'll throw some antibioxia.
Brian McLaughlin: At least they're alive.
Riley Bowman: Right?
Brian McLaughlin: That's beyond my pay grade. That's not my worries.
Riley Bowman: So, all right. Tampons. Yeah, we've ruled that out, I hope.
Riley Bowman: Uh i i see that proliferated on the interwebs less frequently now than i did
Riley Bowman: five years ten years ago for sure um i know it's still out there as being like
Riley Bowman: a thing that people some you know people still think is viable but hopefully
Riley Bowman: we continue to get that one behind us words
Brian McLaughlin: Getting out people are starting to hear that you know yeah they're starting
Brian McLaughlin: to say a lot of this stuff is uh um you know you're 10 years ago this a lot
Brian McLaughlin: of these concepts were totally foreign to people But I run into people a lot
Brian McLaughlin: more who are better educated, who are, you know, they know their stuff when
Brian McLaughlin: it comes to, you know, bleeding control stuff.
Riley Bowman: Yeah. All right. What's another gear mistake?
Brian McLaughlin: Another gear mistake is not having the gear.
Brian McLaughlin: There is not a lot that you can do if you don't have the proper gear.
Brian McLaughlin: Now, the most important thing that you can possibly learn for all of bleeding
Brian McLaughlin: control is direct pressure. If you have no medical kit whatsoever,
Brian McLaughlin: a lot of lives have been saved with just direct pressure.
Brian McLaughlin: Direct pressure means pressure directly on top of the wound.
Brian McLaughlin: I like to use the heel of my hand.
Riley Bowman: What about an elbow?
Brian McLaughlin: Yep. And a lot of like you're about to do chest compressions on somebody,
Brian McLaughlin: get your weight on top of them so that you get as much pressure down onto that
Brian McLaughlin: wound. And does that hurt the patient?
Brian McLaughlin: Yes. Will they complain about it? Absolutely.
Brian McLaughlin: But it's going to save their lives too. So having a brief understanding about
Brian McLaughlin: how to do direct pressure is very important.
Brian McLaughlin: And then having a trauma kit nearby that can help you is going to be even more
Brian McLaughlin: important. It's not going to do you any good.
Brian McLaughlin: If you don't have the materials on you, I know one of the things that we get
Brian McLaughlin: told pretty often here at Mount Man Medical is that people are using our trauma
Brian McLaughlin: kits and the citizen will be the one that responds to the vehicle crash.
Brian McLaughlin: And then the EMTs or paramedics who are off duty, maybe a nurse or a doctor
Brian McLaughlin: might be passing. They stop to help. They don't even have their own trauma kit.
Brian McLaughlin: And so the citizen will be, hey, I got equipment for you.
Brian McLaughlin: Here's everything you need to take care of this person. And that's a huge benefit
Brian McLaughlin: all in itself. Just having that in your vehicle.
Brian McLaughlin: I like to treat my vehicle like it's my own little staging COC.
Brian McLaughlin: I've got everything in it. If I get back to my car, my truck,
Brian McLaughlin: I know I've got everything in it to take care of more people and take care of
Brian McLaughlin: whatever kind of situation.
Brian McLaughlin: So having something like that underneath of the passenger seat in your vehicle,
Brian McLaughlin: kind of like one of those vital things.
Brian McLaughlin: So having have some equipment near you, then know how to use it.
Brian McLaughlin: Yeah. You can check out YouTube on all that, the tons of videos on how to apply
Brian McLaughlin: tourniquets and chest seals and all that kind of stuff.
Riley Bowman: I've got in my center console a small, just a basic IFAC.
Riley Bowman: But it's right there because it's like, oh, I need something right now.
Riley Bowman: Open up center console, grab, go. And the back of the vehicle is something more
Riley Bowman: comprehensive, a larger kit that's got more, including more serious perhaps items as well. it.
Riley Bowman: I'm glad you mentioned the concept of, you know, a citizen responding on the
Riley Bowman: scene of an accident, let's say, and paramedics, EMTs, firefighters,
Riley Bowman: whomever responding as well or stopping.
Riley Bowman: And they're like, hey, I'm here to help. And they certainly have the knowledge
Riley Bowman: or the skills to help. They don't have the kit.
Riley Bowman: That exact scenario happened to me a couple years ago.
Riley Bowman: You know the story. I'm sure I'll refresh your memory.
Riley Bowman: But I was in Alabama had just traveled there to
Riley Bowman: teach a two-day pistol class was going
Riley Bowman: to scope out the range the day before so this is like 4
Riley Bowman: 30 p.m on a Friday and me
Riley Bowman: and my my friend Chris Chris Bean some of you probably
Riley Bowman: know Chris were driving together and we
Riley Bowman: witnessed an accident happen right you know just
Riley Bowman: a few cars in front of us at an intersection older lady
Riley Bowman: in a pickup was basically t-boned
Riley Bowman: she she was it's her fault she turned across traffic
Riley Bowman: just not enough time for the car that hit her to react in time I ran up there
Riley Bowman: grabbed a kit was ready and willing and able to I think you know help with that
Riley Bowman: just fine but a off-duty I think it was a firefighter EMT
Riley Bowman: Also came running over. I had the kit ready to go.
Riley Bowman: And he's like, I'm an off-duty firefighter EMT. I'm like, cool.
Riley Bowman: I'm like, I'm trained, but you take the lead. This is your thing, man. I've got a kit.
Riley Bowman: He's like, awesome. I don't, right?
Riley Bowman: So this exact scenario played out right there. And so at that point, I checked on the...
Riley Bowman: The other occupant, uh, in the other vehicle. And he was okay.
Riley Bowman: Uh, at least, you know, enough that I was like, I'll come back here.
Riley Bowman: You know, there's nothing, you know, majorly traumatic, at least obvious.
Riley Bowman: I go back over to the pickup and, uh, I just tell the firefighter,
Riley Bowman: I'm like, Hey bro, just, you know, here's the kit.
Riley Bowman: I'm like, just tell me what you need. He's like, uh, you know,
Riley Bowman: you have, you have gloves. I'm like, yes. In fact, I have two pairs.
Riley Bowman: Right. Why? Because every one One of our kits we sell has at least two pairs.
Riley Bowman: Why? Because of situations like this. And also because it sometimes happens,
Riley Bowman: especially in the heat and the stress of a moment.
Riley Bowman: You go to put on a pair of nitrile gloves and you tear a hole or something in them, right?
Riley Bowman: So we want to make sure you have at least a backup pair, right?
Riley Bowman: So yeah, I'm like, yeah, gloves. Here you go, dude. He puts his gloves on, right?
Riley Bowman: And actually, all we ended up really using was a compression bandage on this
Riley Bowman: lady. She had a pretty good wound on her head where she struck the side of the
Riley Bowman: window of the truck she was driving.
Riley Bowman: Everything else looked okay. I think she had a broken arm or elbow or something
Riley Bowman: here on the arm, but no lacerations. But up here, she was bleeding pretty good.
Riley Bowman: We just took a compression bandage, wrapped it around her head,
Riley Bowman: got her all dressed up, kept it so it stopped pouring down the side of her face.
Riley Bowman: And she was going to definitely be evaluated for a concussion or something to
Riley Bowman: that effect. But we did what needed to be done. And fire truck and an ambulance
Riley Bowman: responded and the way we went.
Riley Bowman: So anyway, along with your answer, Brian, of the second kind of major mistake
Riley Bowman: with gear is that people don't have it with them.
Riley Bowman: They just don't have the gear, right? I would add to that, and we've just addressed
Riley Bowman: it, is that the other mistake there is people thinking, well,
Riley Bowman: I'm not particularly well trained. Therefore, I probably shouldn't have a trauma kit.
Riley Bowman: Right. And I would say, and I'll let you expound upon this if you'd like to
Riley Bowman: as well, that, hey, even if here's what I would say,
Riley Bowman: even if you have zero training, which, by the way, it doesn't take a whole lot,
Riley Bowman: you can go get a stop to bleed class a few hours, and you'll learn a lot.
Riley Bowman: But even if you have zero training.
Riley Bowman: If you have a trauma kit with you, like this one right over here hanging behind me here on the screen,
Riley Bowman: okay, if you've got that with you and you're like, I know nothing to do with
Riley Bowman: this, there's a good chance somebody responding to the scene of that same accident
Riley Bowman: will have at least some knowledge of some kind.
Riley Bowman: And they'll find that useful. And they probably don't have one themselves.
Riley Bowman: Yeah. So have a kit. Yep.
Brian McLaughlin: Yeah. And all of the stuff that's in these kits are very, very basic, very easy to use items.
Brian McLaughlin: They're considered to be something that anybody can use so
Brian McLaughlin: you're not going to get into trouble for using them on somebody you
Brian McLaughlin: know it's not like you're doing a crike on
Brian McLaughlin: somebody right that would be a very invasive procedure that you
Brian McLaughlin: would need a lot of credentialing and training in order to do whereas
Brian McLaughlin: these types of things that doesn't require nearly as
Brian McLaughlin: much training there's a lot of online material at
Brian McLaughlin: mount man medical we've got our online class yep which
Brian McLaughlin: is a it'll walk you through how to use every single
Brian McLaughlin: one of these items we're working on doing another one of those we're
Brian McLaughlin: going to do an upgraded version of that class at some point
Brian McLaughlin: yeah but that's an easy way for you
Brian McLaughlin: to like walk through all of the items that are in and that's
Brian McLaughlin: the type of thing no matter what situation
Brian McLaughlin: that you're in medical is going to be an issue so if you are preparing for any
Brian McLaughlin: kind of a catastrophe you know defensive pistol is a you know catastrophe of
Brian McLaughlin: some kind in my mind at least an emergency you're probably going to need emergency
Brian McLaughlin: medical to deal with it so that's a very important training and gear i.
Riley Bowman: Wish i had uh the attitude and the training that i have now
Riley Bowman: 20 30 years ago uh 20 20 plus let's see 25 years ago i was a young construction
Riley Bowman: worker on a construction site and i watched a young laborer um trying to open
Riley Bowman: up a package of some kind of construction material and he, with a utility knife,
Riley Bowman: Slices right down through the materials trying to cut and open up a laceration on his thigh
Riley Bowman: that was you know probably good six seven inches
Riley Bowman: long and the depth of that blade
Riley Bowman: and you know at that time it was oh crap you know wrap that with something quick
Riley Bowman: get him in the truck get him to the hospital kind of thing unfortunately he
Riley Bowman: didn't you know manage to hit his femoral or anything like that but he could
Riley Bowman: have right and that would have been really bad and we would have been very poorly prepared for that.
Riley Bowman: But, you know, just having some basic understanding of medical,
Riley Bowman: you know, principles, if you will, like you just said, Brian,
Riley Bowman: direct pressure is really, really key.
Riley Bowman: Like even if you don't have a tourniquet, it's amazing what you can do with
Riley Bowman: direct pressure on a wound or on an artery that's supplying that wound.
Riley Bowman: Like if you know where those are, if you can get pressure right down in here
Riley Bowman: in the inguinal crease area,
Riley Bowman: right against that femoral right i mean stick your elbow in there if you have
Riley Bowman: to the person's not gonna like it nope but what's the alternative you know keep
Riley Bowman: blood in them or or or out of them right and so um anyway um yeah just wish
Riley Bowman: i had the understanding then that i that i do now
Riley Bowman: Hey, so we've got Renato checking in on Facebook. Hey, guys,
Riley Bowman: thank you for checking in.
Riley Bowman: And also a nice comment here from Brian on YouTube.
Riley Bowman: He says, I was born in 53 into a military family and lived through the Vietnam era.
Riley Bowman: I came of age and went through the draft lottery at the start of the drawdown
Riley Bowman: stage, but my brother and sister went.
Riley Bowman: Anyway, thank you, Brian, very much. Thank you for being here,
Riley Bowman: and thank you for your own willingness and your family's willingness to serve
Riley Bowman: and to actually serve our nation.
Riley Bowman: Of course, Brian here with me is a veteran as well, and the things we're talking
Riley Bowman: about. I guess you don't know, Brian.
Riley Bowman: I assume we did this podcast, and I assume people know, but maybe they're new to the podcast.
Riley Bowman: Brian has spent time overseas, specifically in Afghanistan. I know you spent
Riley Bowman: some time patching up people over there, Marines, as well as civilians, Afghani civilians.
Brian McLaughlin: Yeah.
Riley Bowman: Yeah.
Brian McLaughlin: Yep. Spent some time over there. Did some combat trauma management,
Brian McLaughlin: some field medicine, and some hospital medicine.
Brian McLaughlin: Yeah. Did a lot of like ER work and EMT and all that kind of stuff.
Brian McLaughlin: And then since I've been out, been going back to school for all sorts of medical
Brian McLaughlin: things and been enjoying that. And the process has been fun. Yeah.
Riley Bowman: All right. Any other gear-related mistakes you'd like to talk about?
Brian McLaughlin: Gear-related mistakes. Not being trained with the things that are in your gear.
Brian McLaughlin: I know you guys are going to hear a lot of the same reoccurring.
Riley Bowman: Which I'm going to put the brakes on just a little bit because that's kind of
Riley Bowman: like contrasting what we just covered, which was, hey, even if you don't have
Riley Bowman: any training, have a kit.
Riley Bowman: But I think where you're going is, okay, maybe understand what you do and don't
Riley Bowman: know, especially as it relates to stuff in your kit, so that you're not trying
Riley Bowman: to use things that you don't know how to use.
Riley Bowman: I spoke to the virtues of have a kit in case somebody else on scene needs that
Riley Bowman: kit. Now let's hear what you have to say about…
Riley Bowman: you know, having things in your kit or maybe trying to use things that you don't understand.
Brian McLaughlin: Right. Well, so a lot of all of these things, a lot of times people think it's
Brian McLaughlin: very, very, very simple.
Brian McLaughlin: So you've got two different categories of people. You got one who's like,
Brian McLaughlin: wow, this is so complex and intense.
Brian McLaughlin: I don't want to approach it because of how big it seems. It's overwhelming.
Brian McLaughlin: So that's why, you know, very simple videos are fantastic for learning a lot
Brian McLaughlin: of these things in a very low intensity environment.
Brian McLaughlin: You just hang out in your living room and practice this stuff on your family
Brian McLaughlin: members kind of a thing. Very low impact and very easy.
Brian McLaughlin: And then you have the other category of people who are like,
Brian McLaughlin: oh, this is so simple. I don't need to learn how to use every single one of the items.
Brian McLaughlin: The training aspect is important because you need to know specifically how to
Brian McLaughlin: use the tourniquet so it's as effective as possible.
Brian McLaughlin: We don't have a lot of time and that person might not have a lot of blood in them.
Brian McLaughlin: So knowing how to use that tourniquet in the best possible way,
Brian McLaughlin: it's going to be essential for minimizing that impact to the patient.
Brian McLaughlin: So the more you learn those key little details for how to use each one of those
Brian McLaughlin: items in your trauma kit, the more effective you're going to be.
Brian McLaughlin: I know a lot of people who will buy the trauma kit. They're like,
Brian McLaughlin: oh, good. You know, I'll buy it. It's like a fire extinguisher, right?
Brian McLaughlin: It's not like a fire extinguisher, right? Fire extinguisher is a little more simple.
Brian McLaughlin: They got the directions like on it if you know if you know how to
Brian McLaughlin: read it as long as you pay attention you follow that no
Brian McLaughlin: big deal same as like an aed tourniquets and
Brian McLaughlin: pressure dressings and chest seals are a little bit different
Brian McLaughlin: you need to know some technique for each one kind of know the process of why
Brian McLaughlin: we're doing things so that you can do it a little more efficiently so getting
Brian McLaughlin: yourself that education is going to be an essential part of that equipment so
Brian McLaughlin: don't forget you know buy the kit good but also get the training on each one of the little things.
Riley Bowman: Yeah.
Riley Bowman: Um, yeah, for sure. For sure. I was thinking along with that,
Riley Bowman: I'm going to throw at you another kind of gear related mistake and it's,
Riley Bowman: it's related and that's why I'm bringing it up would be, you know, thinking you need, uh,
Riley Bowman: what I would call high speed gear.
Riley Bowman: And what I mean by that is like stuff like.
Riley Bowman: You know, a chest decompression needle or, you know, that kind of thing.
Riley Bowman: Or a crike. Yeah, you know, right, a crike kit.
Riley Bowman: Like, so, I mean, what are your thoughts on that? I mean, because I've seen that attitude before.
Riley Bowman: We've even fielded questions from people that have wanted to buy, you know, stuff from us.
Riley Bowman: They're like, yeah, you know, I just really feel like I need a crike kit or,
Riley Bowman: you know, something to be able to do a, you know, decompression thoracostomy or whatever, right?
Riley Bowman: Like so uh what do you think about that kind of stuff i mean as far as gear
Riley Bowman: like do we need all those kinds of things in our kit or what do we really need in our
Brian McLaughlin: Kits yeah what do we really need in our kits are what's in the mountain man
Brian McLaughlin: medical kits those are that's what you really need i did a lot of effort you
Brian McLaughlin: know to go through pick out all the best items brian designed the kits they're
Brian McLaughlin: all yeah they're they're pretty flawless when it comes to uh purpose and philosophy Yeah.
Brian McLaughlin: But when it comes to those higher speed things, you know, everybody likes the cooler stuff, you know.
Brian McLaughlin: And so gear is not always the end all be all. You got to, you know,
Brian McLaughlin: there's a lot of other things that come in play.
Brian McLaughlin: And a lot of it is making sure that you're not going outside of your scope of practice. Right.
Brian McLaughlin: We get into the Good Samaritan's law here where you can get into trouble by
Brian McLaughlin: helping somebody. you're opening yourself up to lawsuits because you're doing
Brian McLaughlin: stuff that you are not credentialed to do.
Brian McLaughlin: That's being outside of your scope of practice, right?
Brian McLaughlin: So if you as a citizen are applying a tourniquet or doing wound packing,
Brian McLaughlin: that is something that the U.S.
Brian McLaughlin: Government, our justice system, recognizes that anyone can do to save somebody's
Brian McLaughlin: life. So that is not an issue.
Brian McLaughlin: What becomes an issue is when you start to do things like needle decompressions or crikes, right?
Brian McLaughlin: So a crike would be cutting open someone's throat and putting in a tube so that
Brian McLaughlin: they can breathe because they have facial trauma.
Brian McLaughlin: So, um, by doing those types of things, you have to be credentialed.
Brian McLaughlin: You got to get training on how to do it, or you can kill your patient or at
Brian McLaughlin: the very least cause them great, serious bodily harm.
Brian McLaughlin: Like we're trying to make the situation better, not worse. Right?
Brian McLaughlin: So you need to have the proper training. So if you start to do those types of
Brian McLaughlin: things, even if you save their life, you're opening yourself up to a lot of
Brian McLaughlin: problems when it comes to that.
Brian McLaughlin: So make sure that you're not getting anything that is overly invasive.
Brian McLaughlin: Um, the stuff that's in our trauma kits, anyone can use it. You're not going
Brian McLaughlin: to get in trouble for putting on a tourniquet on somebody and they didn't actually need it.
Brian McLaughlin: So that's kind of where you're at with that.
Riley Bowman: Yeah. Speaking of, and actually this, this isn't even a complete kit here.
Riley Bowman: This is just hanging here for display.
Riley Bowman: But I was just thinking, you know, let's just talk real quick about some,
Riley Bowman: some things in our typical, like Yellowstone would be our most popular IFAC.
Riley Bowman: But in there you have a tourniquet of some kind and you have the options.
Riley Bowman: You've got a cat tourniquet.
Riley Bowman: You can have the Yellowstone outfitted with.
Riley Bowman: You can have a soft T tourniquet or soft tourniquet, SOF tourniquet.
Riley Bowman: You could have just a SWAT T tourniquet in there. Not my preference for,
Riley Bowman: you know, if I got just one tourniquet, you know, I'd rather have like a cat,
Riley Bowman: but you know, it's, it is one that can be used effectively, especially if you do it correctly.
Riley Bowman: So you get one of those three tourniquets outfitted in your Yellowstone kit.
Riley Bowman: You're going to have a compression bandage or pressure dressing of some kind.
Riley Bowman: As you see in here, this has got a different brand one than our Bridger.
Riley Bowman: Again, this is one of the reasons why we're so excited to have the Bridger because
Riley Bowman: it's a lot more compact than this one I just pulled out of this kit here.
Riley Bowman: Our Yellowstones also have hemostatic
Riley Bowman: gauze, chyto gauze specifically is what's specced for these now.
Riley Bowman: So that's good to have because it's for wound packing, but it's also got hemostatic agent in it.
Riley Bowman: That's going to help even more effectively form those clots that we need.
Riley Bowman: We've got an elastic bandage, which in addition to things like the pressure
Riley Bowman: dressing, You know, this can be used very well to apply some compression and
Riley Bowman: wrap around a bandage that's already been applied.
Riley Bowman: We've got some additional wound packing. This is gauze right here,
Riley Bowman: compressed gauze. So that's a part of this as well.
Riley Bowman: And you can see how some of these things can be paired. You've got a pressure
Riley Bowman: dressing. I just pulled out the compression bandage.
Riley Bowman: If you needed another, you know, bandage of some kind and you use this other
Riley Bowman: compression bandage, You could pack somebody's wound or wrap it with this gauze
Riley Bowman: here and then follow that up with this elastic bandage.
Riley Bowman: There's going to be some chest seals in here as well, which is good for penetrating chest trauma.
Riley Bowman: And, of course, we've got shears because you've got to get, you know,
Riley Bowman: if you need to work on somebody, you'd rather not have clothes and things in the way.
Riley Bowman: The two pairs of gloves I mentioned, they're right there ready to go.
Riley Bowman: And you've got a little marker in case you need to make notes,
Riley Bowman: write things down. might make note of the time a tourniquet was applied, those kinds of things.
Riley Bowman: I think that's everything that's in our standard Yellowstone kit.
Riley Bowman: Um, but that's, that's the sort of thing we're talking about here.
Riley Bowman: So you get an idea of what's in a typical IFAC, especially like one that,
Riley Bowman: uh, Brian here has, uh, spec'd, spec'd out. Yep.
Brian McLaughlin: All the key components, everything you need to keep blood in somebody's body.
Brian McLaughlin: So I handle quite a few different, uh, things and then extra,
Brian McLaughlin: uh, extra room for you to put in your extra things.
Brian McLaughlin: I always love band-aids cause that's the thing that gets used the most.
Brian McLaughlin: Lots and lots of band-aids for my boys yep.
Riley Bowman: We have some kits that come with band-aids and
Riley Bowman: things like our larger kits uh the uh the
Riley Bowman: wind river for instance is one the um so what i'm thinking of uh wind river
Riley Bowman: is one of the more popular ones and it's got it comes with band-aids and it's
Riley Bowman: got uh tylenol and ibuprofen and uh you know benadryl basic you know generic
Riley Bowman: benadryl and things like that,
Riley Bowman: burn and stain cream, and some of those more first aid type items.
Riley Bowman: So it's kind of nice to have some of those things. That comes in some of the larger kits. Yeah.
Brian McLaughlin: First aid things are, that's what you're gonna be using first.
Brian McLaughlin: Obviously you're not gonna be using your trauma kit every day, hopefully.
Brian McLaughlin: You know you might be in a job like you were in construction.
Riley Bowman: Yep like
Brian McLaughlin: If you're just working in an office job every day you need a trauma kit yeah
Brian McLaughlin: but if you're working a job like construction or you're logging or you're a
Brian McLaughlin: farmer or yeah whatever it is you're doing something a little extra sketchy
Brian McLaughlin: you need a trauma kit yeah a couple yeah probably.
Riley Bowman: Yeah logging like you mentioned that's that's a really yeah how
Riley Bowman: many dudes have uh run the chainsaw into their you know or through their leg
Riley Bowman: uh my wife was trained as an emt in the 70s everyone should have at least basic
Riley Bowman: training and gear for trauma care this is brian again on youtube commenting
Riley Bowman: thanks man appreciate you tuning in um all right let's shift gears a little
Riley Bowman: bit brian uh other brian now brian on the podcast
Riley Bowman: uh let's talk about common mistakes people make with respect to their training
Brian McLaughlin: Hmm. Hmm. Uh, common training mistakes.
Brian McLaughlin: Yeah. Um, okay. I would say, uh, training scars are one of those things that
Brian McLaughlin: you need to make sure you're getting your training from reputable people.
Brian McLaughlin: Yeah. Uh, people with a lot of experience and they actually know what they're
Brian McLaughlin: doing. I know there's a lot of TikTok channels out there and a lot of different things.
Brian McLaughlin: Um, but getting that training in person from somebody that is reputable,
Brian McLaughlin: who can teach you all of the correct things and why to do it is very important.
Brian McLaughlin: Yeah. Um, and make sure that you're understanding, you know,
Brian McLaughlin: uh, the basics of, of, you know, why you're using all of that stuff.
Brian McLaughlin: And I think also getting a lot of training from different instructors is one
Brian McLaughlin: of the most important things.
Brian McLaughlin: I've been doing this for a long time. I'm pretty well trained.
Brian McLaughlin: I've, I've, I've studied this for quite a while, but every time I get a chance
Brian McLaughlin: to take a basic medical class, like I always pick up some sort of new cool thing
Brian McLaughlin: from the other instructor.
Brian McLaughlin: You know, they just approach the medicine in a little bit different way and
Brian McLaughlin: their procedures are a little bit different and I can pick up,
Brian McLaughlin: you know, key little components of that.
Brian McLaughlin: Now, one of the benefits is, is that I can kind of decide what it,
Brian McLaughlin: um, you know, what to take and what to leave.
Brian McLaughlin: Um, you might be a little more limited at that, um, you know,
Brian McLaughlin: um, where you're going to the classes and things, but the more instructors that
Brian McLaughlin: you get to take classes from, just like with gun training, the more you're going
Brian McLaughlin: to pick up key and important details for, um, for the trauma medicine.
Brian McLaughlin: So it's kind of hard because medical is not one of those sexy things.
Brian McLaughlin: You know, everybody wants gun training, you know, not as many people want the,
Brian McLaughlin: uh, the medical training. I get that.
Brian McLaughlin: Um, but it's going to be one of the more valuable skills that you're going to
Brian McLaughlin: learn, you know, when you're studying these crafts, this is one of those key components.
Riley Bowman: Yeah, that's good stuff. So you basically answered the question by saying what people should do.
Riley Bowman: So to, to, for me to kind of contrast that and say, what would be a mistake would be, uh, okay.
Riley Bowman: So obviously not getting training at all. That'd be an obvious one.
Riley Bowman: But beyond that, like you said, it's good to get training and exposure to multiple
Riley Bowman: other trainers, maybe training schools and things.
Riley Bowman: So what not to do then would be, and I say this too,
Riley Bowman: also about shooting or pistol or firearm related training as well,
Riley Bowman: is people that tend to just take training from that one instructor over and
Riley Bowman: over and over again. And here's the thing.
Riley Bowman: Even if that one instructor that is your kind of trusted guy or gal is a good instructor,
Riley Bowman: the problem is that they will do a great job, but you're still going to have
Riley Bowman: a relatively limited perspective, including about certain things.
Riley Bowman: I recognize even about myself as an instructor, I have certain blind spots,
Riley Bowman: certain things that, like, if you went and trained with my friend Chris Bean
Riley Bowman: or with Brian Hill or with Chuck Haggard or with Brian McLaughlin,
Riley Bowman: like, each time you train with somebody different, they have a different perspective,
Riley Bowman: a different, you know, they got different experiences they bring to the table.
Riley Bowman: And that's life experience, different world experience, different professional
Riley Bowman: experience. And so that helps you...
Riley Bowman: Have fewer and fewer blind spots yourself because you're just getting exposed
Riley Bowman: to more varying degrees of perspectives on things.
Riley Bowman: And this, again, is true with any kind of training, I think, you get.
Riley Bowman: So I know that it's fairly common, particularly for folks that maybe live in
Riley Bowman: a more metropolitan area.
Riley Bowman: You've got a lot more of these kind of like indoor ranges and a lot,
Riley Bowman: And I bless their hearts, like truly, legitimately, some of these indoor ranges
Riley Bowman: take it very seriously to have a robust training program with a bunch of different classes.
Riley Bowman: And they have a certain, you know, training staff on hand to teach those classes.
Riley Bowman: And it's great and wonderful they can create that culture of training within their facility.
Riley Bowman: But even then, like if all you do is go to your local range and,
Riley Bowman: well, I'm going to take their next class.
Riley Bowman: Okay, now I'm going to take their next class. Oh, I'm going to take their other class here.
Riley Bowman: It's still good to expand yourself out beyond that.
Riley Bowman: I wouldn't trade for anything the fact that I've had the opportunity to train
Riley Bowman: with so many different people over the years in so many different locations, too.
Riley Bowman: Not everyone's as easily able to travel around the country, let's say,
Riley Bowman: and take training courses.
Riley Bowman: But that's another thing that's kind of an interesting thing I'll just point
Riley Bowman: out, Brian, that, you know, I've taken classes for myself, not traveled to teach
Riley Bowman: classes, but although I've done that.
Riley Bowman: But I have traveled to places like New Hampshire, Texas, Iowa,
Riley Bowman: I'm trying to think where else, Wyoming, of course, here in Colorado.
Riley Bowman: I know I'm missing places, but
Riley Bowman: I've just already listed stuff all over the country. Oh, Portland, Oregon.
Riley Bowman: I've traveled there to take a class. And you don't just expose yourself to different
Riley Bowman: instructors by going to these different
Riley Bowman: courses, but you're also exposing yourself to different cultures.
Riley Bowman: And you get exposed to – and part of that is getting exposed to different,
Riley Bowman: like, classmates in these classes.
Riley Bowman: And even some of the lessons I've learned has come from my fellow students because
Riley Bowman: you meet some really fascinating people with fascinating backgrounds.
Riley Bowman: And you're like, wow, I would have never thought of that before,
Riley Bowman: except for that I traveled to, you know, Iowa and took this class,
Riley Bowman: you know, with such instructor.
Riley Bowman: And right next to me on the firing line was this really awesome,
Riley Bowman: you know, super duper, you know, highly experienced guy.
Riley Bowman: Like I remember, I can think specifically of a guy I trained alongside with in Iowa.
Riley Bowman: It was actually a Scott Didlinski class, but a fellow student on the line was
Riley Bowman: a highly experienced SWAT officer, SWAT cop, had a world, a wealth of experience.
Riley Bowman: And it was just really cool to spend the weekend with a quality person like
Riley Bowman: that and to also learn from him.
Brian McLaughlin: Yeah, I see it a lot like, it seems a little bit like the gun community is kind
Brian McLaughlin: of like those old Kung Fu movies where the schools get together and fight each other.
Brian McLaughlin: They both do Kung Fu, but this Kung Fu is different from this Kung Fu.
Brian McLaughlin: We don't like each other.
Brian McLaughlin: So I love what you said about the different cultures because each one of the
Brian McLaughlin: instructors brings their own culture.
Brian McLaughlin: And some of the cultures might rub you a little bit differently.
Brian McLaughlin: Absolutely. you know and some of them might be awesome and some of them might
Brian McLaughlin: not you know and that's just all part of the fun of getting out there and getting
Brian McLaughlin: the experience you know the different people in the gun community and getting
Brian McLaughlin: to learn from different experts in different various crafts you know in this
Brian McLaughlin: particular uh field i think it's amazing yeah.
Riley Bowman: Any other training related mistakes that you that comes to mind
Brian McLaughlin: Oh training not guys stakes um,
Brian McLaughlin: I think one of the things that I've noticed a lot is not working hard enough on the repetitions.
Brian McLaughlin: One of the things that people will do is kind of try to go too fast when they're
Brian McLaughlin: applying the tourniquets and everything, when they're in training.
Brian McLaughlin: Even when you are in an actual emergency, you don't want to go as fast as you
Brian McLaughlin: can because if you do, you make mistakes. Yeah.
Brian McLaughlin: So one of the most important things that you can do in training is to slow yourself down.
Brian McLaughlin: You know, um, I've seen great effect for myself in trying to achieve a 70% rule.
Brian McLaughlin: You know, I, I try not to go full max 100% because that's where all your mistakes are made.
Brian McLaughlin: You know, you're just going to, um, get your tourniquet twisted,
Brian McLaughlin: or maybe you don't get your, um, um, uh, pressure bandage applied appropriately.
Brian McLaughlin: And those little simple mistakes, because you're just trying to go so fast because
Brian McLaughlin: you're like, oh my gosh, this person is in trouble. They're bleeding so quickly.
Brian McLaughlin: You know, you got to go fast. So that's something that you can kind of help
Brian McLaughlin: to train yourself out of in the middle of the training that you're trying to
Brian McLaughlin: do is try to slow yourself down a little bit, you know, so that you are applying
Brian McLaughlin: and doing everything correctly.
Brian McLaughlin: This is all just training, you know, so we don't have to, you know,
Brian McLaughlin: we don't have to panic so much.
Brian McLaughlin: So use that as an opportunity to practice doing that 70% speed and that'll help
Brian McLaughlin: you out in the long run, I think.
Riley Bowman: Yeah. Related to that, this would be something I would add to that is when we
Riley Bowman: go through training and we, you know.
Riley Bowman: Well, let me back up just a little bit. So there's two words I would offer to
Riley Bowman: what you just described, Brian, and it would be methodical and intentional. Yeah.
Riley Bowman: Right? That you're intentional with everything you do and that you're methodical
Riley Bowman: and that you just, you know, step by step by step.
Riley Bowman: You just kind of basically follow the fundamentals, if you will,
Riley Bowman: whatever it is you're trying to do.
Riley Bowman: I think this is true in shooting or combatives or trauma-related stuff, right?
Riley Bowman: That, you know, okay, these are the fundamentals. I follow and stick with those
Riley Bowman: fundamentals, and I'm intentional with everything that I do so that I do it
Riley Bowman: right and I do it correctly.
Riley Bowman: Because you're exactly right. When we go at 100%, this is, I think, true of anything we do.
Riley Bowman: If we try to go max speed all the time, it's really easy to make mistakes along the way.
Riley Bowman: And so something that came to my mind as you were talking was one of my first
Riley Bowman: CPR, AED, first aid courses I took years ago.
Riley Bowman: Uh so actually i think it was my first ever
Riley Bowman: course uh so i didn't really know
Riley Bowman: a whole lot then and you know this whole world was kind of new to
Riley Bowman: me and so i'm going through that course and we got to the practical portion
Riley Bowman: right and so we got the dummies and you know we're supposed to go through everything
Riley Bowman: and um you know we're supposed to tap them on the shoulder and talk to them
Riley Bowman: and it felt kind of silly you know to like do all these things because like
Riley Bowman: you're acting it out basically like Like, hey,
Riley Bowman: I'm responding to someone who's unconscious on the ground and,
Riley Bowman: you know, I'm going through,
Riley Bowman: hey, like, are they responsive? Okay.
Riley Bowman: Yes or no. Are they breathing? Yes or no. You know, let's check,
Riley Bowman: you know, like, and what I noticed with some of my fellow attendees or students was,
Riley Bowman: was they were just going through motions, you know, and whether it's because,
Riley Bowman: and I think this happens because you have, in some cases, people are there just
Riley Bowman: to fulfill an assignment,
Riley Bowman: meaning that for their job, their employer, whatever, sent them to this first
Riley Bowman: aid CPR AED course to just, because they, they're required to be certified and
Riley Bowman: they've done it, you know, three, four, five times before.
Riley Bowman: And so it's like, Hey, I'm just here to collect my card, man,
Riley Bowman: to get my certificate or whatever, right?
Riley Bowman: And I'm required to be here because of my job and therefore my heart's not in it.
Riley Bowman: And so the instructors up here, maybe the instructors are even distracted for
Riley Bowman: a minute, you know, watching this group over here do their thing.
Riley Bowman: And so over here, my fellow student is just not really, you know,
Riley Bowman: going through intentionally.
Riley Bowman: They're just going through the
Riley Bowman: motions. So they're not really applying themselves fully and completely.
Riley Bowman: So when I started to try to, you know, follow through on the steps very methodically
Riley Bowman: and intentionally, I felt a little bit embarrassed, you know,
Riley Bowman: with my little group of like two or three other people.
Riley Bowman: Because, you know, they're just kind of like, whatever, you know,
Riley Bowman: not taking it that seriously. And here I was trying to take it seriously.
Riley Bowman: And so now I'm like, oh, do I, you know, you're in that little,
Riley Bowman: uh, social situation of, well, I don't want to look dumb in front of these people.
Riley Bowman: And they're obviously too cool to, you know, do everything correctly.
Riley Bowman: You know, so it's like trying to, I just felt really out of place in that kind of situation.
Riley Bowman: And the next time I went through, you know, for recertification,
Riley Bowman: um, I was like, I don't care what these other people do or what they think, I'm here for me.
Riley Bowman: And I'm making sure I do everything the way it's supposed to be done so that
Riley Bowman: I know I can respond correctly when it really counts and the stress is on.
Brian McLaughlin: Yeah. I love the idea of step-by-step. This stuff is really not that hard.
Brian McLaughlin: Taking care of somebody in an emergency, keeping blood in their body is really pretty simple.
Brian McLaughlin: And like you said, it's just a step-by-step process. They call it the March algorithm. them.
Brian McLaughlin: It's really easy. You just kind of start at the beginning and you just work your way down.
Brian McLaughlin: And by the time that you're at the end, if help hasn't shown up,
Brian McLaughlin: you just start at the beginning again and work your way down.
Brian McLaughlin: And if you have multiple casualties, you just do that to everybody.
Brian McLaughlin: It's not that difficult, but you got to know the process first. And that helps a lot.
Brian McLaughlin: Once you understand each one of those steps, you practice each one of those steps,
Brian McLaughlin: repetitive, right? And, and doing this like once a year, at least I think is
Brian McLaughlin: important for keeping this in the back of your head. These are all perishable skills.
Brian McLaughlin: If you don't continue to do these on a regular basis, you're going to forget all of these things.
Brian McLaughlin: You know, it's not quite like, you know, a holster work, you know,
Brian McLaughlin: where you are working on your presentation of your weapon that takes consistent
Brian McLaughlin: effort for you to constantly keep those skills nice and sharp.
Brian McLaughlin: But these basic medical skills, it doesn't really require that much extra effort
Brian McLaughlin: to kind of maintain them, you know, once or twice a year,
Brian McLaughlin: checking out the Mountain Man Medical online trauma course or getting some other
Brian McLaughlin: type of education where you are just keeping these skills in the back of your
Brian McLaughlin: mind so that they're nice and fresh and sharp for when you need them.
Riley Bowman: What are some of the different options for training that you're familiar with
Riley Bowman: that exist out there, whether that's organizational,
Riley Bowman: different organizations, or different classes that you think people should be
Riley Bowman: aware of that they should look into perhaps attending?
Brian McLaughlin: That's a hard one. I know there's a lot of BLS classes for using the AEDs and things.
Riley Bowman: And BLS being basic life saving, right? I just want to make sure in case I don't
Riley Bowman: want to assume that people don't know. So what qualifies as a BLS course? What does that cover?
Brian McLaughlin: That's how to use the AED. So if somebody drops down and they've got cardiac
Brian McLaughlin: rest or whatever, it's how to place all of the various components and stuff.
Brian McLaughlin: And so a lot of people will need that for their various jobs for wherever you're doing.
Brian McLaughlin: So that's one of the most common ones. But when it comes to emergency medical
Brian McLaughlin: classes, like if you're trying to do a trauma class, that's much more difficult
Brian McLaughlin: to get. But there's not very many people that are providing those.
Riley Bowman: So what comes to my mind is, you know, like, and I would encourage this,
Riley Bowman: you know, feel free to disagree with me, but I don't think you will.
Riley Bowman: But I would just encourage people to, hey, a good place to start because they
Riley Bowman: are readily, like you can get on, like, say, American Heart Association's website,
Riley Bowman: for instance, and you can find a first aid CPR AED course near you, probably.
Riley Bowman: And even in a lot of like little towns, there's typically may not be like as
Riley Bowman: frequently, you know, available, but there's going to be an option relatively
Riley Bowman: near you for a course like that, a BLS type course.
Riley Bowman: And I say American Heart Association because they're one of the primary providers, that kind of thing.
Riley Bowman: You can just go on their website, look it up and go take one of those courses.
Riley Bowman: And that's going to train you up on some basic first aid. It's not gonna be
Riley Bowman: on the level of even like probably a stop the bleed course in terms of like
Riley Bowman: trauma, dealing with massive hemorrhage for instance.
Riley Bowman: But you're going to get some CPR training, which is key, and AED training, which is good.
Riley Bowman: Okay, yeah, you can say I've got an AED or access to an AED,
Riley Bowman: and yes, it's going to walk me through it step by step.
Riley Bowman: But I think it's good to go through the actual training and just get the certification.
Riley Bowman: It's easy to do, and it's really low cost.
Brian McLaughlin: Stop the bleed is a great option.
Riley Bowman: And then the next step, I would say, would be stop the bleed,
Riley Bowman: which again is readily available.
Brian McLaughlin: You got to go to an in-person class so that they can walk you through how to
Brian McLaughlin: apply the tourniquets and the boom packing and things like that.
Brian McLaughlin: But ultimately that's your best option google stop the bleed instructors in
Brian McLaughlin: your area and they'll get you set up with a course yeah.
Riley Bowman: It's like you can just go to stop the bleed.org i think right yeah and and find
Riley Bowman: a course near you so go do that so then i'm kind of next thing above that um
Riley Bowman: you got a lot i think that's where it gets a little bit messier and i think
Riley Bowman: that's probably where your mind was that was you know because there's a lot
Riley Bowman: of different options a lot of different schools.
Riley Bowman: But you do have some, you know, actual like TCCC type courses that are built
Riley Bowman: around the curriculum developed by the committee on TCCC, tactical casualty or tactical care.
Riley Bowman: Jeez. What does it stand for again? Tactical Combat Casualty Care.
Riley Bowman: There we go. There it is. Struggling to get all the C words out of my mouth. Okay.
Riley Bowman: And so there's a lot of different uh, T triple C courses that you could find
Riley Bowman: from different instructors.
Riley Bowman: And that's where I think you'll find some varying degrees of quality amongst
Riley Bowman: instructors probably cause you got, you know, different guys teaching that. Um, but, uh,
Riley Bowman: And that's obviously true about any of those courses we just mentioned.
Riley Bowman: But you start getting into those a little bit more advanced trauma-type courses,
Riley Bowman: I think it becomes a little bit more important that you really get with a quality trainer.
Riley Bowman: You have some training conferences you can attend. And I'm not just talking
Riley Bowman: about the Guardian Conference, but of course I am talking about the Guardian Conference.
Riley Bowman: But there are some courses available, things like the Girl and a Gun National Conference.
Riley Bowman: Conference um there's some stuff at tac con um active self-protections national
Riley Bowman: conference they've got some training there typically right and so there's some
Riley Bowman: different training conferences you could go to where you could find some medical
Riley Bowman: uh you know trauma courses um and so remind folks again what you're teaching
Riley Bowman: this year at the guardian conference uh
Brian McLaughlin: It's going to be defensive combat casualty care so if you have a pistol and
Brian McLaughlin: you get into a gunfight like what are some of the things that you're going to need to do medically.
Brian McLaughlin: You know, it's a standard. If you're getting into a fight, you're probably going
Brian McLaughlin: to get hurt or other people around the area are going to get hurt and you got
Brian McLaughlin: to know how to take care of that.
Brian McLaughlin: And so we got a live fire component where you get to practice all that stuff
Brian McLaughlin: while you get to shoot targets, um, and, uh, um, and get a little like real
Brian McLaughlin: life experience kind of thing.
Riley Bowman: I saw it too long ago, an officer involved shooting where officer,
Riley Bowman: like the, the incident starts off with officer basically getting stabbed,
Riley Bowman: except he doesn't even realize he's been stabbed yet like
Riley Bowman: he just knows oh threats in my face um i
Riley Bowman: just got punched or something and i see a knife in
Riley Bowman: the guy's hand so of course you know he draws his gun he burns the guy down
Riley Bowman: situation's over and it's like after the situation's over guy is dead on the
Riley Bowman: ground cuffed um that the other responding officer is like hey buddy you're you're bleeding.
Riley Bowman: So like this officer had no idea he got stabbed, like right up here in the neck
Riley Bowman: area, you know, and that could have been very, it probably was still serious,
Riley Bowman: but I mean, it could have been like really serious.
Riley Bowman: Like he could have been already dead by that point. Fortunately he wasn't and
Riley Bowman: he got care and he turned out. Okay.
Riley Bowman: But like, that's how fast this kind of stuff can happen.
Riley Bowman: And it can happen and be done and over with. And you're like,
Riley Bowman: oh, man, that was crazy, but I got through it.
Riley Bowman: And yet maybe you're not quite through it.
Riley Bowman: And see, that's the kind of thing you're talking about, Brian,
Riley Bowman: is like people get hurt in these kind of situations.
Riley Bowman: And sometimes they don't even know they're hurt because adrenaline is going on.
Riley Bowman: And, and, uh, I can't tell you how many times I've heard or read the statement, uh,
Riley Bowman: and heard from other trainers that have talked about this very thing where somebody
Riley Bowman: gets stabbed and they don't know they're stabbed and they would describe it
Riley Bowman: to you as, well, I got punched in the chest because it's so quick and it's in and out and it's clean.
Riley Bowman: And, uh, it's not until minutes later that you're like, there's something wrong here.
Brian McLaughlin: Yeah. That's a stab wounds are very notorious for that.
Riley Bowman: So anyway, yeah, know what to do after the aftermath of any defensive kind of
Riley Bowman: situation that that's when we got to be concerned with.
Riley Bowman: Patching holes, patching holes. Yeah. Keeping blood in people. Yeah. Potentially.
Riley Bowman: Yeah. This has been good, Brian. Uh, unfortunately we're out of time.
Riley Bowman: Uh, but, uh, thank you for coming on to talk with us about, uh,
Riley Bowman: voiding common trauma gear and training mistakes.
Riley Bowman: Uh, folks, a reminder of the, today's episode sponsors were first it stopped
Riley Bowman: the bleed day, stopped the bleed week, stopped the bleed month,
Riley Bowman: go save big on stocking up on kits and gear at mountain man medical.com.
Riley Bowman: And as you've heard multiple times, this is a guy right here,
Riley Bowman: the guy sitting next to me that, that spec'd out, that put together these kits
Riley Bowman: that we sell at mountainmedical.com.
Riley Bowman: And so get a good quality kit at mountainmedical.com forward slash STB and save
Riley Bowman: during stop the bleed week.
Riley Bowman: Cause I think that sale runs all this week.
Riley Bowman: Also go to guardianconference.com and sign up for this year's conference.
Riley Bowman: We hope to see you there and see you in one of Brian's courses and see you in
Riley Bowman: one of my courses and Chuck Haggard's and Cecil Birch will be teaching combatives
Riley Bowman: and Don West will be back teaching.
Riley Bowman: I mean, if you don't know him, he's one of the brightest legal minds in use
Riley Bowman: of force defense cases in the country,
Riley Bowman: teaching use of force and trial defense law and stuff like that. Okay.
Riley Bowman: So come to the Guardian Conference this year, guardianconference.com.
Riley Bowman: Sign up today. we hope to see you there that's it for me anything you got you
Riley Bowman: want to leave people with i
Brian McLaughlin: Hate uh stay safe out there get yourself a trauma kit get the training um and be prepared.
Riley Bowman: Awesome guys until next time a reminder to train right train often and train
Riley Bowman: safe so you can fight hard fight fast and fight true take care
Riley Bowman: A reminder that laws vary from place to place, and we encourage listeners to
Riley Bowman: seek local legal advice to understand applicable laws.
Riley Bowman: Concealed Carry, Inc., its brands and properties, and the Concealed Carry podcast
Riley Bowman: is not a legal service, nor are we attorneys at law.
Riley Bowman: We make our best faith effort to share Concealed Carry-related insights and
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Riley Bowman: time you listen to this. We cannot be held liable for your actions based on
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Riley Bowman: Please exercise care with all things pertaining to firearm use,
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Riley Bowman: More information about safety can be found at concealedcarry.com forward slash safety.