Tallboy Trauma Kit Pouch from ITS Tactical

Bryan Black of ITS Tactical, Travis Haley of Haley Strategic, and Joel Zaruba of Zulu Nylon Gear team up on development of Tallboy Trauma Pouch.

Designing and developing a trauma kit requires a team of experienced and creative people. At a minimum, the pouch needs to be easily accessible under extreme stress, able to secure needed items, and not take up a lot space. Bryan Black of ITS Tactical, Travis Haley of Haley Strategic, and Joel Zaruba of Zulu Nylon Gear teamed up to develop and design such a pouch, which they call the Tallboy Trauma Pouch. While Bryan and Travis are fairly well known, Joel of Zulu Nylon Gear operates behind the scenes. Joel is based out of Chicago, IL, and is essentially a one-man show. He started his venture in 2007 and shortly after began collaborating with Bryan. Joel takes his designs seriously and it shows. The contents of the kit are handpicked by Bryan and designed around the three leading preventable causes of death in the field: extremity hemorrhage, tension pneumothorax, and airway obstruction. Specific application of each item is beyond the scope of this review, and it’s encouraged that you get the proper training that addresses each of these.

The pouch is constructed with 500d Cordura with 420d Pack Cloth Interior. Shaped similar to a double mag pouch, it is 9” tall, 3.5” wide, and 2.5” deep. Joel’s design experience shows by choosing the reverse zippers. This feature helps keep the elements out and allows better zipper durability. On the back, PALS/MOLLE webbing is expertly sewn to allow either vertical or horizontal mounting, using the long and short MALICE clips that are provided with the kit. The pouch features a Velcro top with a full clamshell opening. These design features allow quick access during stressful events by pulling the large loop handle and allow hasty closure without worrying about losing critical medical items. There is one main interior pocket. You’ll find shock cord and ITW Nexus CordLoc smartly placed along the tongue. Operators also have the option to attach the pouch using Molly Stix. The Stix allow a user to lock pouches to their MOLLE gear, but allow a quick release.

My experience with this application has been very positive. It’s one of if the best medical pouches I’ve used over my career. I say this mainly based on ease of accessibility during stressful events and the ability to mount horizontally and vertically. Additionally the construction of the pouch is the best I’ve seen. I found the shock cord a bit confusing and didn’t really have the patience to figure it out completely; I found the main interior pocket more useful. I’d like to see the main interior pocket split into two pockets stacked vertically with about an inch of separation between them. I say this because I felt vulnerable digging for items that prioritize lower in the pocket. I think if the pouch had two interior open top pockets the user could gain access to multiple items even quicker. During my T/E experience I became very attached to Molly Stix. These are an optional item but in my opinion one of the best (inexpensive) applications I’ve used in recent times. This is the second-generation med-kit from ITS Tactical and I expect other great designs to come. You can still get the first generation pouch called the Fatboy. Optional content configurations include removing the Decompression Needle and NPA (ETA Kit Basic) or upgrading the QuikClot Z-Fold Combat Gauze LE to Z-Fold Combat Gauze (w/ X-Ray Detectable Strip – Green Package) for MIL/LE ONLY.

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