A pouch is where supplies live; a tourniquet is what stops a limb bleed. The Med Bundle covers gauze, a pressure wrap and chest seals — add the tourniquet yourself.
At a glance
10 things to know about the Side Pull pouch
How the side pull works, what is in the Med Bundle, and where the kit stops.
-
01
MED-TAC's own design
The Rapid Access Pouch — Side Pull is a MED-TAC International house product: an IFAK carrier built around a single lateral pull rather than a top or front opening.
-
02
Why a side pull
The contents deploy by a pull from the edge of the pouch, a faster, more controlled draw motion, particularly when the pouch rides low on a belt or at the side of a plate carrier.
-
03
MOLLE/PALS or belt
The pouch attaches to MOLLE/PALS webbing and is belt-mount compatible, so it mounts on a plate carrier, a battle belt or a duty belt. Pick the spot either hand can reach without looking.
-
04
Pouch Only is empty
The Pouch Only option is the carrier alone — nothing inside. Load it to your protocol and your training.
-
05
What is in the Med Bundle
One Battle Wrap, one Celox Rapid hemostatic gauze, one pre-lubricated nasal airway (28 Fr), one pair of trauma shears and two Sentinel chest seals.
-
06
There is no tourniquet in either option
Neither option includes a tourniquet. A limb bleed that a tourniquet can control gets the tourniquet first,1 so add a evidence-based standard tourniquet — C-A-T Gen 7, SAM XT or TMT — and stage it where you reach it before the pouch.
-
07
Celox Rapid does the packing
Celox Rapid is a 3 in. × 5 ft chitosan Z-fold gauze, NSN 6510-01-623-9903, and a evidence-based standard hemostatic dressing.3 Its label calls for 60 seconds of firm compression; the TCCC Guidelines set at least 3 minutes. Both are minimums — keep pressure on until the bleeding has stopped and the packing is secured.1,3
-
08
Two vented chest seals
Sentinel is a dual-vent seal, 6.5 × 6.5 in., with a 360° acrylate adhesive; each pouch holds one seal and a gauze wipe.4,5 The TCCC Guidelines call for a vented seal on an open chest wound, then close watch for a tension pneumothorax.1 In swine, Sentinel sealed in 6 of 6 hemopneumothorax trials,9 though a separate adhesion screen dropped it for poor adhesion.11
-
09
Battle Wrap holds the pressure
Battle Wrap is a clear, self-adhering compression wrap, 6 ft × 4 in., with no pad: it goes over gauze or packing and holds pressure so your hands are free.6,7 Check color, warmth, feeling and pulse below it.
-
10
Four jobs, three covered
A severe bleed can need a tourniquet, packing gauze, a pressure dressing and a chest seal. The Med Bundle covers gauze, pressure and chest seals; the tourniquet is the missing job. The nasal airway is for trained providers — the evidence-based list names no specific airway device.2
How to set it up and use it
Mount, add the tourniquet, then drill the pull.
-
1Mount it. Weave it onto PALS webbing or run it on the belt, low enough that a side pull comes naturally, and where either hand can reach it without looking.
-
2Add the tourniquet. Stage a evidence-based standard tourniquet where you reach it first — not buried in the pouch behind other items.
-
3Pull to open. Drag the side pull to open the pouch and take what the injury calls for.
-
4Tourniquet first for a limb bleed it can control. Under threat, or when you cannot see where the blood is coming from: hasty — high and tight, over clothing. When the source is found and time and safety allow: deliberate — on bare skin, 2–3 in. above the wound, never across a joint.1
-
5Pack a wound the tourniquet cannot reach. Celox Rapid: power ball on the bleeding vessel, fill every corner, hold firm pressure — at least the label's 60 seconds and at least 3 minutes under TCCC — until the bleeding has stopped. Never pack the chest or abdomen.1,3
-
6Wrap over the packing. Wrap the Battle Wrap over the packed wound so your hands are free for the next problem.6,7
-
7Seal an open chest wound. Apply a Sentinel vented seal on the chest wound, and watch for a tension pneumothorax.1,4
Where it fits
- A low-profile IFAK on a belt or the side of a plate carrier, opened one-handed
- Loading your own kit to your own protocol (Pouch Only)
- A ready hemostatic, pressure-wrap and chest-seal set (Pouch and Med Bundle)3,4,6
- Pairing with a separately carried evidence-based standard tourniquet
- Controlling a limb bleed — the bundle has no tourniquet1
- Packing the chest or abdomen — never
- Airway care beyond your training — the NPA is for trained providers
- Children's care — most pediatric limb bleeding needs firm direct pressure, not a tourniquet
The evidence
The pouch has no study of its own. The data below are for the Med Bundle's clinical items — what each study tested and how strong it is.
| Study | Evidence type | What was studied | What it found |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kunio et al., Am J Surg 2013 | Animal · randomized | Plain gauze vs Combat Gauze vs Celox Rapid, femoral artery injury, 36 swine, no pressure held after packing | Success not statistically different (10/12, 10/12, 12/12); median secondary blood loss 12.8 mL with Celox Rapid vs 31.9 mL Combat Gauze vs 44.7 mL plain gauze |
| Johnson & Johnson, Am J Disaster Med 2019 | Animal · randomized | Celox Rapid vs Combat Gauze, 6 mm femoral artery injury, 21 swine, 3-minute hold plus simulated pressure dressing | Initial hemostasis 70% Celox Rapid vs 100% Combat Gauze; 60% vs 100% at one hour |
| Kheirabadi et al., J Trauma Acute Care Surg 2013 | Animal · swine | Vented vs unvented seal on an open chest wound with ongoing air leak, 8 swine | The unvented seal led to tension pneumothorax; the vented seal prevented it |
| Kheirabadi et al., J Trauma Acute Care Surg 2017 | Animal · swine | Five vented seals on bleeding open chest wounds (hemopneumothorax), 26 swine, challenged with added blood and air | Success: Sentinel 6/6, Russell 6/6, HyFin 4/6, SAM 1/4, Bolin 0/4 |
| Arnaud et al., Injury 2016 | Animal · live swine skin | Adherence of eight vented seals on soiled swine skin; five down-selected for storage at −19.5 °C and 71.5 °C | Bolin, Russell, FastBreathe, HyFin and SAM advanced; the Sentinel was dropped in pretesting for poor adhesion (per Kuhlwilm 2021) |
| Charlton et al., Prehosp Emerg Care 2021 | Expert review · systematic review | 107 studies, 22,798 patients, of first-aid bleeding control; 8 studies of pressure dressings, bandages or devices | Direct manual pressure reached hemostasis faster than pressure dressings or devices; certainty of evidence very low |
Every device study here is an animal or review study; there is no human trial of any chest seal brand. The two Celox Rapid swine studies reached different conclusions because they tested different things — one with no pressure held after packing, one with a 3-minute hold and a pressure dressing.
How it compares
The two options beside MED-TAC's other Rapid Access pouch.
| Pouch Only | Pouch and Med Bundle | Rapid Access Tourniquet Pouch | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What you get | The pouch, empty | The pouch plus Battle Wrap, Celox Rapid, NPA, shears and two Sentinel chest seals | A tourniquet pouch, empty |
| Access | Side pull | Side pull | Quick-pull |
| Tourniquet | None | None | None |
| Hemostatic gauze | None | Celox Rapid | None |
| Chest seal | None | Two Sentinel seals | None |
| evidence-based standard | No — a pouch | Celox Rapid — yes; seals, wrap, NPA — no | No — a pouch |
The evidence-based list names limb tourniquets and hemostatic dressings; it names no pouch, chest seal, pressure wrap or airway device.2 Absence from the list does not by itself mean a product was tested and failed.
Build the system
The tourniquet the bundle lacks, the Med Bundle items on their own, and a trainer.
Questions buyers ask
Package & specifications
Available Options:
- Multicam / Pouch Only
- Multicam / Pouch and Med Bundle
- Black / Pouch Only
- Black / Pouch and Med Bundle
| Specification | Value |
|---|---|
| Width | 3 inches |
| Length | 7 inches |
| Height | 4.5 inches |
Domestic & Military Shipping
Free Standard Shipping: Automatically applied at checkout on all orders $200 and above within the 48 contiguous United States (CONUS).
APO/FPO Military Addresses: Unconditionally free standard shipping on every order, with no minimum purchase required.
Order Processing & Tracking
Fulfillment Timeline: In stock merchandise ships within 48-72 hours from Florida HQ.
Automated carrier tracking details are emailed immediately upon shipment dispatch.
30-Day Returns & Medical Safety
Returns: Unused, unopened equipment in original manufacturer packaging is eligible for return within 30 days of delivery.
Bio-Safety Notice: To ensure sterility and patient safety, medical consumables with opened or broken tamper-evident seals cannot be returned.
Return Facility: MED-TAC International Corp., 15757 Pines Blvd, Suite 154, Pembroke Pines, FL 33027.
Export Compliance
North American Rescue (NAR) products and rifle hard armor plates are strictly restricted to US and APO/FPO addresses and cannot be exported internationally.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Customer Reviews
