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- May 19, 2005
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A thread over on Practical Tactical just put this thought in mind, for those of you into putting together PSKs and such. It's something I've never seen come up here before.
I've never thought of it as such, but I never leave the house without ID on me and so it is in effect a part of my level one PSK. While I MIGHT leave home without a driver's license, I still make sure there's some kind of identification on my person. Usually this is in the form of a "Road ID." (This is a product; google it if you're curious.) You can do the same thing for less money by purchasing "dog tags" from any number of online sellers.
The issue is that if you're ever injured, the faster the medical response team can identify you, the faster they can get critical questions answered about you. In my case, I frequently bicycle long distances (centuries, etc) and when I do that I don't have my driver's license on my body. It's in my bicycle seat bag, but the EMTs WON'T look for ID in there if I go down and am unconcious. They will, however, look for ID attached to my body.
Included on my Road ID are my name, my home address (including nation, USA, in case I'm traveling abroad) and emergency phone numbers for contact purposes. Mine also indicates that I have no known allergies so the EMTs don't have to worry about what meds they can give me. If I knew my blood type, I'd list that too (need to pay for the lab work to find out, dang it, if I ever remember to get around to it -- if I donate blood, will the American Red Cross tell me my bloodtype?).
Having rapid access to this kind of information might save your life. And if you should get yourself killed while out and about, it could save your family some amount of time wondering and dreading what has happened to you.
Just thought I'd throw that out there as a good thing to add to your level one kit.
I've never thought of it as such, but I never leave the house without ID on me and so it is in effect a part of my level one PSK. While I MIGHT leave home without a driver's license, I still make sure there's some kind of identification on my person. Usually this is in the form of a "Road ID." (This is a product; google it if you're curious.) You can do the same thing for less money by purchasing "dog tags" from any number of online sellers.
The issue is that if you're ever injured, the faster the medical response team can identify you, the faster they can get critical questions answered about you. In my case, I frequently bicycle long distances (centuries, etc) and when I do that I don't have my driver's license on my body. It's in my bicycle seat bag, but the EMTs WON'T look for ID in there if I go down and am unconcious. They will, however, look for ID attached to my body.
Included on my Road ID are my name, my home address (including nation, USA, in case I'm traveling abroad) and emergency phone numbers for contact purposes. Mine also indicates that I have no known allergies so the EMTs don't have to worry about what meds they can give me. If I knew my blood type, I'd list that too (need to pay for the lab work to find out, dang it, if I ever remember to get around to it -- if I donate blood, will the American Red Cross tell me my bloodtype?).
Having rapid access to this kind of information might save your life. And if you should get yourself killed while out and about, it could save your family some amount of time wondering and dreading what has happened to you.
Just thought I'd throw that out there as a good thing to add to your level one kit.
), as well as a shoe tag that attaches to your shoe strings.
is placed on the card and antibodies (on the card or in a solution in an eyedropper bottle added to the card) bind to what ever antigens that are present in your sample identifying your blood type. They use to be cheap but the kit I found on craigmedical cost $18 for 2 sample cards! Yikes. Google "Eldoncard" to get a good summary of the process. 
