Phokus Research Group produced this great video that covers the SONS Trauma Kit and how to deploy it.
phokusresearch.com/phokus-products/sons_trauma_kit
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I should have one of these soon thanks to winning a FB giveaway for me and one for my agency.
Hoping to get a review of it up after I’ve carried it for a while.
I would like to hear “Pocket Doc’s” wisdom on this.
Wow! An informative video and without the typical heavy metal soundtrack. Thanx.
Almost a full year carrying one of the first models in the laptop sleeve of my backpack, always available, takes minimal space, didn’t weight a dime… can’t be more satisfied with Phokus Consulting, great ideas made products by a great company.
I don’t want to be Captain obvious here…but, what if your buddy is laying on his stomach and not his back? Do you put one medical kit in the front and one in the back? Or do you immediately deploy your own kit? I see the potential in the medical kit and believe it has some strong potential, but stating that it is easier to acquire and use being positioned behind the front ballistic plate doesn’t seem any easier to deploy to me. Especially if the individual is in the sitting position. “Reseremb” brings up a great point of placing it in a backpack / go bag if needed. I think that would be a better option than a regular pouch med kit.
Still an interesting concept, and I am glad to see individuals thinking outside the box.
Actual medics, please correct me if I am off base here but…
Unless his back is shreded or something it should not be an issue. You will probably want him face up or on his side at some point anyway for airway purposes. Even if there is something that keeps you from putting him on his back or side you can just roll them a little bit and yank the package out. If you are using a trauma kit you are probably not as worried about C-spine as you are about stopping bleeding or more importantly incoming fire.
The video did mention carrying two, one behind each of your main plates. I can see that being an option for some folks.
My understanging of trauma kits, like ATTNA injectors are yours and yours first. If a guy goes down he gets treated with his own kit. If you use your kit on someone else and then take a round yourself then what?
You are correct bloke . . . on all counts
I have met the owner, and creating individual of the above product at shot show 2012. Great kit, and I truly did not understand the concept until speaking with him on how the product is used. Most often in IED, downed helicopter landings, etc. a modern ifak, just like any other kit, can be blown off the individual, or shot/burned. By putting the ifak behind the plate that issue’s effectiveness lessens significantly. The SONS Trauma systems are also more thin than an ifak, and being internal, leave space on molle eliminating the issue the inventor briefed me on at Shot Show, which is that his experience on the Teams’ operators are “literally cutting off molle to cut weight”. Bloke_from_ohio is correct, eventually an airway, or inspection of c-spine/buds/step-off will need to be inspected, thus flipping the patient onto their side or back if applicable.
I commented about this kit on another site and I’ll repeat my concerns here.
Not all plate carriers / body armor have plate pockets that allow easy access to something behind the plates. For example, I use a HSGI plate carrier and the plate pockets have a top opening flap. On my rig, it would be difficult if not impossible to remove this packet without taking the carrier off.
Of more concern is how would anyone else know it was there (behind the plate)? If it is being carried IAW a unit SOP then great – if your unit is operating “pure”. But what about attachments or people from another unit that might be nearby and be called on to perform buddy aid?
If there is no visible (day / night) indicator how will those people know where the kit is located? That’s not to say I don’t think the idea has merit. I would just want those issues I have raised to be addressed before I would run with this.
I was thinking the same thing about access inside the rig. I run a LBT 6094 and the only way to access behind the plate is a velcro flap. Opening the flap drops the plates and it’s not easy to open. I really do like the concept, I just see it as a really niche solution. You must have the right carrier.
You could solve the issue of no vis with some kind of patch or marker on the front of your kit.
You could always RipShear the pocket open 😉
Jokes aside, I feel like most carriers have this issue of velcro pouches holding the plate. It’s not perfect, but the kit is protected and accessible and you can simply re-seat the plate without too much drama.
I’m wondering if there’s a way to sandwich the SONS between the carrier and a CORTAC CTAV to get the standoff/padding/cooling happening and create easier access to the supplies.
The same could be said for any pouch placement. Having to locate a guys aid kit will always be a hokey pokey of sorts, Like most of Mattbock/Phokus items I’ve seen these are aimed at a specialty market. No need to fret if you’re not part of the intended market. I understand that wave caps are still useful items even though they do nothing for my hair! Luckily there are a hundred other kits to choose from that you could run without addressing the concerns.
mike,
I wasn’t trying to imply that this had to be necessarily tailored to my needs / likes / personal preference. But I’m always for lowering the profile of our gear as much as possible to enhance agility and mobility for the individual. So, in short, I like the idea.
But I have been in situations where locating a wounded individuals IFAK took longer than necessary – even with traditional external IFAK pouches. This is already a significant concern in routinely “mixed” units with multiple attachments.
But at least traditional pouches are visible and fairly easy to identify – no matter where the individual mounts it. This Phokus kit is essentially hidden. Not just behind the plate but also behind any other mag or utility pouches on the front of the carrier. Again, not a problem for members of a similarly kitted out unit.
The bottom line is I’d like to use this but I would want to have it set up in such a way that I can be assured that someone else could readily find, deploy and employ it even if I were injured and unable to tell them where it is.
A list of plate carriers that are fully compatible and which aren’t would be great for this product. In addition maybe some quick DIY guides to lightly modify existing gear to accommodate this product for the folks who want to use it.
I’m thinking that putting some adhesive/superglue backed velcro on the face of the kit and sewing some on to the body side of the carrier could be a reasonably “fix” in some cases.
I was able to talk to the owner as well at SHOT 2012.
As stated above it was explained to me that it was intended to protect
medical gear from IED’s and such. Also by putting it behind a plate it saves weight because you no longer need a pouch to carry it. He stated they cut off all molle and anything else to save weight. The last thing the owner told me was, he designe it to cut some weight out of the teams medic. By filling the bags with more medical gear NOT found in IFAK’s, there by distributing the weight around the lowering the over all weight for the team’s medic.
I can dig the concept for low pro applications. Suit and tie or hajiflage type concealment. I think it would work well with a soft armor vest as well. But really, for Care Under Fire, all you are looking for is massive TQ-able extremity hemmorhage (which the TQ would still be best accessed if it was external to pouches), direct pressure and simple airway mgmt. The rest of the gear in that kit should be coming out when things slow down a bit in Tactical Field Care. Meaning plenty of time to get the SONS out. Plus, you’re going to have to flip the armor to do a good respiratory assessment anyway.