This has been a weird time for those of us in the medical training community. The training community as a whole is in a down turn currently, but the medical training community has had some real challenges lately. Everyone KNOWS that they need medical training, but the desire to actually GET it, is somewhere off the actual, “TO DO,” list. The assassination of Charlie Kirk posed a number of questions to those of us who work in the field about, “WHAT SHOULD YOU DO?” And, “HOW DO YOU PREPARE FOR THAT?” There isn’t a simple answer however I can say that Charlie’s security team did everything right…unfortunately, when you have a gunshot wound victim who has been shot with a long gun, the BEST thing you can do for them is get them to a surgeon as quickly as possible. No amount of hemostatic gauze, direct pressure, or limb tourniquet application is going to slow the catastrophic blood loss that a long gun GSW (gunshot wound) victim is going to experience. They need emergency medicine and surgery just as quickly as you can.

Pistol wounds? Pistol wounds are another thing entirely.

You’ve probably heard people like Tom Givens say, “Pistols are pop guns. They are relatively low power.” And my colleague and fellow Hospital Dentist (look it up…there are literally dozens of us) Dr. Gary Roberts AKA DocGKR says, “Pistol rounds punch holes. Larger caliber pistol bullets punch larger holes.” The relatively low velocity projectiles that are(under 2200 feet per second) launched from pistols exercise the elastic nature of human tissue which means that the bullet simply cuts a hole, and there is no large scale, fluid upset and tissue damage seen like there is in rifle wounds. Even, “powerful,” pistol rounds with large amounts of kinetic energy behind them, simply create a pressure wave through the elastic tissue that causes it to stretch momentarily, then snap back to its near original shape, save for a tunnel (or hole, as DocGKR says) where the pistol bullet passed through. Even with well designed hollow points, the wounds from pistol bullets can be largely underwhelming.

So what can we carry on our person, daily, to help treat victims of penetrating trauma? Most people immediately think of a tourniquet, and while they’re great, they only work on the extremities…the arms and the legs. People have a torso, a pelvis, a head and in most people, the torso and the pelvis are the biggest anatomical areas of the body. And in some folks, especially here in America, the torso and the pelvis can be absolutely voluminous. If they experience a gunshot wound or other penetrating trauma to those largest areas, a tourniquet, while it does look cool in your instagram photos or worn proudly on your training rig, does NOTHING to help you, help them. However, possessing the right equipment to cover or plug holes in the thorax is important. And my friend Jonathan Willis has come up with a solid and budget friendly system that allows someone to accomplish this in the smallest space possible, whilst still being effective.

THE NEED

I have had the unique experience of having TWO people, on separate occasions, wander into my dental practice seeking medical attention. One had been shot in the face (read about that here) and the other had been shot in the subclavicular (upper chest), bicep and inguinal canal (space between the groin and the upper thigh). The first one was relatively stable, and while the wound was disfiguring, he wasn’t in acute distress. The other patient wasn’t as lucky, as he was suffering from arterial bleeding in the arm, diminished breath sounds from the chest wall injury (most likely he had air and/or blood trapped inside his chest…displacing his lung and hindering its function) and he had some bleeding from his groin injury, although it was not arterial in nature that I could determine. I used a version of the above pictured kit, along with a pair of SOF-T wide tourniquets to treat that man until the police and fire department arrived. I’ve used similar interventions in my years of hospital, reserve law enforcement, and pre-hospital care during my years of service as a fireman and EMT. Of all of those injuries I have treated, you can do a lot with direct pressure and wound packing! But to do either of those interventions, you need to have something to apply direct pressure with (other than your hands) and also something you can pack into the wound(s). Jonathan’s RWT kit accomplishes this with a relatively small and highly portable kit. I’m solidly in, “Dad,” dress mode, which means I can get away with wearing cargo pants or shorts, and this kit fits in either with great ease. It will ALSO fit into the back pocket of blue jeans.

THE NEED FOR MEDICAL TRAINING

I taught one of the first, “Civilian Accessible,” medical classes called, “IMMEDIATE ACTION MEDICAL,” back in 2007 for Tactical Response, when the only widely available medical training for civilians was CPR, Red Cross Basic First Aid, or MAYBE EMT/Rescue Squad training, but you had to be a volunteer or professional first responder to get that. I actually trained at Tactical Response with Dr. Spencer Guinn, an orthopedic surgeon who started the STOP THE BLEED curriculum and organization, nationally. The need was there for civilian trauma treatment training. James Yeager requested for me to create curriculum that was vocationally generic, that would work for anyone, from cops to kindergarten teachers, and for people ranging from teenagers to the elderly. The course needed to teach the student how to treat catastrophic blood loss, airway obstruction, and penetrating chest trauma that can lead to a tension pneumothorax. I did as he requested, and over the past twenty years and around 200 classes that I have taught for both Tactical Response and under the CIVILIAN DEFENDER brand, I have heard of about fifty different instances where my instruction helped someone save a life. Those stories make me happy…I am trying to leave this world better than I found it. Now, like many of you, my most precious commodity is my time, and I simply don’t have the time with my busy practice/on-call schedule nor the desire to convince people that they need medical training. They have to come to that realization on their own, and people like Jonathan have FAR MORE patience than I do to convince people that medical training is more crucial than them taking yet ANOTHER carbine course. Carbine courses are fun, I get it, and medical courses (while I try and make them fun) are information heavy. Do you know what isn’t fun? Watching your family or friends die in front of you because they needed bleeding stopped, choke to death on a pork chop, or have a heart attack at the Christmas party! I have seen all of these things happen in my EMS, Fire, LEO, and Hospital Dentist careers, over the past three decades. It is always tragic…you wouldn’t wait for the police to come and solve your existential crisis when someone is trying to kill you with an axe, would you? So why wait for the government to come and save your from a medical emergency? Start the process early! I have used my medical skills literally THOUSANDS of times…as John Farnam is fond of saying, “When it’s least expected, you’re elected.” I seem to get elected several times a year! Sometimes several times a month!

TRAINWITHWILLIS.COM is where you can find Jonathan’s schedule, and his products. Jonathan also stocks flat packed tourniquets, which make carrying them actually on your person, easier.

Check out trainwithwillis.com and see what Jonathan can offer you in terms of training and gear. Tell him that Dr. House sent you!

Like most of you, I got about 74 million emails in the days around Black Friday, Cyber Monday and all the other sales that occur around the holiday season. I deleted most of these EXCEPT for the websites and vendors that were selling some things that I have had on my mind for a time. I had planned on purchasing a number of XS products to upgrade the iron sighting systems on several of my pistols. You will see a number of these write ups. I don’t normally write about products without talking about the accompanying, WHY I like or use that product. You’ll also notice that I don’t write about products I don’t like, because I’m just a dude. Someone else might love what I don’t, and that’s ok. I’d rather be a congratulator than a hater, and since I BUY with my own money, everything that I write about, I am beholden to nobody to provide a quid pro quo, sponsorship, or discount codes.

I have used XS Sights products since 2006, when I first met my friend, the late James Yeager of Tactical Response. I became an instructor for Tactical Response in 2007, and the XS Big Dot was the preferred sighting system of James and thus it was required that his instructors knew about the system, why it existed, and how to teach students (mostly beginners or novice students) to use it. It is a simple system; you put the BIG DOT on what you want to hit, press the trigger cleanly, and deliver the shot. They weren’t target sights; they were not designed for that. They were made for fighting up close, and in force on force training, it was very apparent that many students who were mentally collected could easily focus on the front sight and get hits, while others could remain target focused and STILL see the front sight outline outside of their hard focus and get hits. It was an, “analog,” version of a pistol mounted optic, which in the early 00’s, except for Kelly McCann and a few others (and may surprise you to know, one of them was the late Dr. William Aprill!) were not popular until well after 2015.

XS SIGHTS has continued to evolve and develop more products that work great for everyone, but especially those with aging eyes OR less than perfect vision. If you’ve known me for awhile, you may have noticed that in the past few years, I am rarely seen in public without eyeglasses on. When I was 47 years old, I started to have issues seeing up close and reading without corrective lenses (cheaters or my magnification loupes I wear for performing surgery) on. I went to an optometrist and was prescribed progressive lenses. Luckily, my distance vision is still slightly better than 20/20, but up close, everything is fuzzy. Including iron sights. I am lucky though, because if I close one eye, I can still see enough of the outline of the sights that I can make good hits out to 25 yards on a B8 target. Some sights are more visible than others, and a prominent front sight paired with a rear sight that has visible light around it work best for MY eyes. You MAY have the same visual issues I have. Or you MAY have something else going on entirely. As the old saying goes, “The customer is always right, in matters of TASTE.” What my taste is may not be yours. For personal choices like weapons, holsters, sights, shoes, etc. everyone likes what they like. I figured out early on when as a teenager as I became enamored with the music of AEROSMITH, and I bought their back catalog previous to the album, “Permanent Vacation,” that they didn’t make a solid history of just bangers; some were far better than others. So it goes with guns, holsters, sights, and probably every other choice in the world. I have found a holster that I loved for an M&P say, and then I bought the same model for a Glock 19, and it sucked. It appeared similar in ride height, carriage and weight distribution, but it just didn’t work. Most of us who have been in this industry or hobby for a time have a, “sin bin,” in their garage or storage closet filled with holsters that didn’t work for them, or sights off of guns that just didn’t hit the mark…literally.

I used the site coupon to purchase a number of XS products but I will talk here about two versions of sights for the full size, S&W M&P 2.0 Optic Ready versions. These both are on guns that I have carried, and also used in training classes or tactical competition. They came with the aforementioned, “tall,” OEM sights or these lower profile sights:

I don’t change much on my pistols. In fact, I leave everything alone except for changing the sights or adding an optic (but not always!). I would rather acquire skill through repetition and practice than try and buy it…I spend the money on ammo! In my experience, nothing wears a pistol’s trigger pull and operation in better than lots of rounds downrange. I really loved the OEM trigger on this basic M&P, and I had a well worn carry gun, another M&P 2.0 Metal that I purchased because that is what my mentor, Tom Givens was using. Both have served me well, and thus I thought it was time to improve the sights with products from XS. So apologies for the long-winded intro, but I like you to know the, “why,” of where I am coming from and not just some BS product, “review.”

I have always had outstanding experience with XS SIGHTS. I have used their gear for nearly 20 years now, and I have used their warranty service as well. I use my guns, far more than the average gun owner, and they break! I have lost the, “BIG DOT,” off of the front sights, twice; once on a Glock 19 with about 24k rounds through it, and another set on a S&W Shield (Generation 1) and both were readily replaced by XS with just a phone call. They are good people who like to help other good people! Tell them the Doctor sent you!

Just a reminder, so nobody gets confused, but I paid for these myself, with my own money! I did use the Christmas Season discount that was applied to my cart at checkout. This was all written by me, Dr. Sherman A. House, and NOT AI generated. Thank you for reading and please like, share on social media (I am still and will remain, free from all social media platforms) and subscribe to my feed! Thank you for reading!