SAR Pack

Frisco

Frisco

Weapons free
Member
Joined
Feb 8, 2008
Messages
89
Location
Tennessee
Good Afternoon guys (and ladies),

As you may, (or may not know) I'm a civilian SAR tech. Historically I've been mostly into water rescue/recovery, mostly diving, but I'm moving up in the land based SAR world, and it's time to upgrade the pack.

Basically getting down to it. I don't have alot of experience with pack's, aside from backpacking packs which subscribe to the "dump bag" philosophy which doesn't work well in SAR, and I was wondering if anyone could make any recommendations as most, if not all of you have experience with assault style packs/medic bags.

My Thoughts:
The pack must be able to hold enough gear to sustain me, and the victim for 24 hours. I need quick access to what I need when I need it, without having to dump stuff out and re-pack. I'm not a team medic, but I do have First Responder training, so a basic BLS kit/personal medic kit is all I'll pack as far as that goes at this point. Don't worry about technical gear, that's taken care of.

I was looking at the Eberlestock X1E because it has the main compartment seperated in half with a "shelf" and each resulting compartment has a "barn door" opening for easy access inside. (Plus I get a discount on eberlestock) http://eberlestock.com/X1E Euro.htm Sorry, I tried to link pictures, but it didn't work.. My only concern is that this may be a little small when "call out" packed..

I'm open to any, and all suggestions, or advice on what I should or should not be looking for.

Thanks
 
I was going to suggest the Eagle 3 Day Assault Pack or whatever it's called now but it's basically the same as what X posted up thar. I have a Chinese knockoff of it (real one is too expensive for me) and I really like it.
 
Frisco said:
The pack must be able to hold enough gear to sustain me, and the victim for 24 hours.
Click to expand...

Bam! First consideration right there: how much are you taking? What is the weight and packed mass of said items? Do you need a fudge factor for different terrain or seasons?

You might as well ask us to recommend a car because you need to "carry people places."
 
Basically like your standard survival/day pack, plus decent rain gear, clothing layers, a bigger first aid kit, and a tarp shelter, water, and food for two. . We do get sent all over TN, in any conditions, so adaptability is pretty important..

The big issue I'm having is that pack needs to handle a little bulk, (layers of clothing, rain gear, tarp shelter) but still be organized and carry the weight well, because the majority of my actual weight will be the water/gear. Maybe somewhere around 3000 Cubic Inches bulk wise, and maybe 20-25 lbs, roughly. I could pack all the non bulk gear in a good sized day pack, but it wouldn't handle the bulk, or the weight comfortably.
 
Mystery ranch has the best packs on the market IMO. They are a little pricey sometimes but well worth it. Another thing to consider for organization is stuff sacks inside your pack. That solves your problem for "dump bag" stlye packs. Alice Packs would fall into that catergory and PJ's have used them for SAR for years.
 
I actually hadn't even thought about stuff sacks..
eek.png


Yes. I'll consider any pack..
 
Frisco said:
I actually hadn't even thought about stuff sacks.. :eek:

Yes. I'll consider any pack..
Click to expand...

In addition to the Ruck thread posted earlier....

For civvie packs I'd look at North Face, Osprey, Gregory, and Kelty.

Military: I find Kifaru to be horribly overpriced, same as Mystery Ranch, but both are well built. CSM Gear and High Speed Gear both make nice rucks which aren't nearly as expensive as Kifaru and MR. I like my Tactical Tailor Malice 3, but the hardware on it leaves something to be desired. TT has an Extended Range Operator (everything is for an Operator, but I digress.....) Pack which is pretty close to what you're describing.

A final option is to buy a used but in good shape old school large ALICE pack and send it off to have pouches added as needed to suit your requirements. I'm sure there are places near Ft. Campbell which do that, plus a number of solid companies will allow you to send them your ruck and they'll do the mods. Buy a new set of good, aftermarket kidney and shoulder straps with a frame (MR makes the NICE frame which is awesome but expensive) and you are in business.

You have options.
 
One mod I've often wondered about is a reversable top flap on your ruck. A VS-17 piece on one side and the outer color of the ruck on the other side, maybe even incorporate some reflective and IR tape on the VS-17 side? Maybe an entire cover like that for a civilian application?

Just a random thought I've had, I have no idea if it could be used practically.
 
Here's a thought (to use the dreaded A word): on some of the airsoft gear sites you can buy cheap Chinese knockoffs of many military pack designs. They're often around 1/3rd the price. You could always buy one of those, see if you like the thing, the size inside (MOLLE straps are usually sown wonky though), the features, how they feel etc.Then if you like it you can buy the real thing. Some of the quality control can be quite good too, from some makers.

This is the pack design I have...not from that maker though I hear Flyye stuff is supposed to be quite good quality.
http://shop.ehobbyasia.com/combat-gears/bags-cases/backpack/flyye-molle-aiii-3-day-backpack.html


Just an idea.
 
Freefalling said:
One mod I've often wondered about is a reversable top flap on your ruck. A VS-17 piece on one side and the outer color of the ruck on the other side, maybe even incorporate some reflective and IR tape on the VS-17 side? Maybe an entire cover like that for a civilian application?

Just a random thought I've had, I have no idea if it could be used practically.
Click to expand...

Interesting idea..

I was on a call not too long ago where we had to call in THP to fly over in a helo to help us find an Autistic boy who had wondered off from home. Obviously we're clearly marked with vests, but the issue was all the volunteers that showed up were not. Apparently his church got the call before we did.

We don't really like to use volunteers because of the liability, they aren't trained, and if we say an area's clear it better be clear, plus they have a tendency to get hurt, or mess up the trail. Due to the situation we basically had to use them; (The boy didn't have a shirt or shoes on{it was still fall}, it was getting dark, he was in a pretty rough area{sink holes and dried up ravines filled with rusty landfill}, his father was deployed, and he refused to talk to any male's except his father, and would only answer women he knew. Plus it's hard to explain liability in a situation like that.)

It would have simplified things a lot if we all had clearly marked packs. We could have given our vests up to the volunteers and let them search while the helo was overhead. (obviously the helo doesn't do much good if there are unmarked people wondering around the area) We ended up working around it by putting one of our guys as leader of each volunteer team, (which would be SOG for the situation) but if I remember correctly the THP requested we maintain position while they were in our area so there wouldn't be confusion with the unmarked people.. Thankfully we found the boy pretty quickly so that never became an issue, but in that situation holding up the ground search could have turned out bad..
 
Freefalling said:
One mod I've often wondered about is a reversable top flap on your ruck. A VS-17 piece on one side and the outer color of the ruck on the other side, maybe even incorporate some reflective and IR tape on the VS-17 side? Maybe an entire cover like that for a civilian application?

Just a random thought I've had, I have no idea if it could be used practically.
Click to expand...

On selection we got given hi viz pack lid covers that fitted on our Alice packs so the DS could see us walking in places we were meant from a distance. Any sew shop would be able to make one.

The other option is a pack cover which has a marker panel on the reverse. Like this: http://www.rvops.co.uk/bergen-cover-uk-dpm-1014.html

Oddly enough a TC bloke has me making 5 of a similar design but CB one side and signal orange the other.
 
Or.... use the old SF trick... One VS-17 can be cut down to a series of highly visible strips that can be carried in your cargo pocket, with both sides (orange and whateverthehell they call the reverse color) available for use as needed.... sew 2 foot pieces of 550 cord onto the corners and they're great for long marking trails or signaling aircraft... or tying to the top flap of your ruck.... One VS-17 will make 6 2'x1' panels ( the whole panel is 2' wide by 6' long...)

much more functional to have it in your cargo pocket than the flap of your ruck.
 
x SF med said:
Or.... use the old SF trick... One VS-17 can be cut down to a series of highly visible strips that can be carried in your cargo pocket, with both sides (orange and whateverthehell they call the reverse color) available for use as needed.... sew 2 foot pieces of 550 cord onto the corners and they're great for long marking trails or signaling aircraft... or tying to the top flap of your ruck.... One VS-17 will make 6 2'x1' panels ( the whole panel is 2' wide by 6' long...)

much more functional to have it in your cargo pocket than the flap of your ruck.
Click to expand...

Cerise! The pink side is cerise! Finally i get to use that "useless" knowledge one of my old team leaders taught me.
 

Similar threads

C
SEAL Officer
2
Replies
32
Views
2K
Azrael-x1-
Azrael-x1-
AWP
Computer Help
Replies
4
Views
82
RackMaster
RackMaster
D
68W/Combat Medic Refresh TCCC Training
Replies
1
Views
730
dlmjohnson
D
AWP
Hobby Therapy
2 3
Replies
48
Views
1K
AWP
AWP
Echo1zero
30-Rack In Hand
Replies
12
Views
4K
Echo1zero
Echo1zero
Back
Top