Looking a gift horse (FAK) in the mouth.

[Oranger]

Hello, I was graciously given a FAK as a gift and have a few questions regarding it. First off is the overall size of it. Having a 2 door JK means space is already at a premium. Secondly is to me there seems to be some rather odd inclusions like the stethoscope and exclusions like the lack of a real tourniquet. As someone who only has basic CPR and first aid training, would I be better suited with a smaller kit? Or should I embrace the extra space and supplement it? I mostly do hiking at state parks/forests and vehicle based camping (not so much this year.) More remote trails and adventures are the direction I am wanting to go.

 

[M Rose]

Hello, I was graciously given a FAK as a gift and have a few questions regarding it. First off is the overall size of it. Having a 2 door JK means space is already at a premium. Secondly is to me there seems to be some rather odd inclusions like the stethoscope and exclusions like the lack of a real tourniquet. As someone who only has basic CPR and first aid training, would I be better suited with a smaller kit? Or should I embrace the extra space and supplement it? I mostly do hiking at state parks/forests and vehicle based camping (not so much this year.) More remote trails and adventures are the direction I am wanting to go.

That’s one nice kit... I love the bag...
I would inventory the bag, find out what you actually need from it and remove everything else... then reorganize the locations of things inside the bag. Add some servival stuff to it like flashlight, HT, antenna, Raspberry Pi loafed with digital ham shack software, batteries for the flashlight, a couple of battery banks to run the pi and HT with, a compass, maps, emergency shelter, and what ever else you normally have for emergency gear that can fit.
So essentially turn the FAK into an all in one go-bag that stays in the rig.