• Category Pimp My Kit
• Views 33,300

"Pimp My Kit"...this started after drinking some beer, getting some emails, and trying to help some friends "tweak" their gear for better operation utilization.  Whether you are a civilian on a mountain rescue team, an EMT or Medic, on a SWAT team, a Firefighter, on a DoD climbing element, or an avid back country hiker... we all tweak our gear thru modification or maybe just the way we pack and carry kit.  What works for one group may or may not work for another.  During this series we are going to show some different kit we carry, ways we do modifications, and different way to pack and/or carry it.  We will also try to put into the context of why we do it, and why the environmental pathology may dictate the technique.  We get the opportunity to work with a bunch of incredible specialists in their respective discipline, and see some pretty cool "kit pimping"...so we will also share some of the innovative techniques we come across.

The first three episodes will focus on hoistable evacuation platforms, downsizing and adding casualty movement capabilities to small IFAK's, and looking at latest evolution in a lightweight, full-spectrum adaptive rescue system...oh and we also talk coffee / Aeropress, mustache wax, halligan bar bottle openers, midget Viking beverage deliverers, Off Grid magazine, Rescue Response (the company), and the list goes on...and on.  Due to the wide variety of topics and non-subtle advertisement of companies / kit we dig...we issue the following disclaimer -

Element Rescue Disclaimer

The videos within the series of “Pimp My Kit” are intended to highlight new kit on the market, new ways to use common kit, various packing / carrying options, and general “hero” stuff.  We will do our best to explain the environment or context in which we utilize certain “kit” configurations, but please practice and rehearse new techniques in a non-vertical environment prior to playing for “realsies”.  Element Rescue also reserves the right to participate in creative product placement both overtly and covertly of various businesses and/or products of our friends, business partners, or just bad-ass crap throughout the video...kind of like an operational “Where’s Waldo”.

This first episode looks at the Phantom Hoist from Rescue Craft by Tactical Medical Solutions.  Many of us for the past...well... I guess decades have found ourselves carrying a hoist litter for urban, mountain, and helicopter operations, that somewhat resembles a golf bag.  No one ever really wants to be the person responsible for carrying this thing whether fast roping, hiking, crawling, or whatever your insertion method of choice may be.  We started messing with the Phantom Hoist a few years ago, and did a few blogs on it (on our old website), the only thing we really couldn't do with the Phantom Hoist compared to the traditional product was dragging.  So...we introduced the Phantom Hoist to the Foxtrot litter over dinner and drinks to see what the result would be the next morning...add a quad fold, a 6 mil bag and vacuum sealer, and you have 50 Shades of Rescue...and a bad ass, much smaller and manageable low profile kit capability. 

"Black on Black on Black, with a Ski Mask... that is my crook look" - Run The Jewels