Review - Dark Angel Gen 3 Pouch

 

A number of years ago I did a post about my personal Blow Out Kit and its contents. If I’m on the range, it’s clipped to my range bag. If I’m in the car it’s clipped to the headrest behind my head. Without fail. That said, it has always felt a bit bulky to carry and difficult to deploy single handed, so I have continued to search for a different pouch to carry my BOK in. Enter Dark Angel and their Gen 3 Pouch used in their D.A.R.K. Kit – Direct Action Response Kit. These kits were designed by military medics and work on the principles of :

“Life is hard – keep your med kit simple”

“Simplicity Under Stress”

While they offer fully stocked D.A.R.K. kits, the images you will see here is my kit transferred into their pouch. There are two omissions from their kit, an airway tube and a Mylar blanket. I will add the blanket; I will not add the airway tube to my kit since I have not been trained on its use.

This is a good sized pouch measuring 8”H x 3”W x 2.5” D. Here you see my shears on the left side of the pouch held in by a retention strap. An additional pouch in the front holds my SOFTT-W Tourniquet.

Seen from the front you can see it will take up little room on your belt, your battle belt or your chest rig. The primary concern is accessibility. Worst case where I can still deploy its components is that I have a badly damaged dominant arm which is now useless. I must deploy the tourniquet within 60 seconds if a major artery is hit. Thus, placement becomes an issue. If I am wearing a chest rig – anywhere on the front would be accessible by either hand. If I am wearing a battle belt or pistol belt on the range, the best place is the center of the back where, again, either hand can easily reach it.

A “pull tab” easily pulls the “cap” off the top of the pouch. Another long pull tab that is pushed down into the pouch when the med pack is inserted is used to easily extract the med pack.

My med pack was simply a heavy gauge Ziploc freezer bag with my two Halo seals, a pack of combat gauze with quick clot, an Israeli field dressing and two sets of gloves.

You’ll notice there are two molle straps to attach the pouch to a battle belt or chest rig or, you can use them as a belt loop on a gun belt at the center of your back.

This pouch is perfect for its designed use – rapid deployment of BOK gear in the event of a catastrophic wound on the range or in a fight for your life. The items I have within my BOK are fairly standard and will go a long way towards providing me or someone in my care a fighting chance to hang in there until the EMTs arrive.

So one other question then – why the emphasis on single handed implementation. Perhaps this image will help clarify things . . .

This is an image of me holding a Glock 36. I use it to build targets for my indoor SIRT range (that’s another post). THIS is what your threat will see if you engage them. You pointing a loaded weapon right at them. Notice where your eyes are naturally drawn. If I am the threat, and I am engaging this person, my body will naturally aim at the most demanding portion of the image – the barrel of the gun. What this means to you as a shooter is that there is a very large chance you will take wounds to your hands or arms. Knowing how to use your BOK single handed is simply a must – from initial deployment through the installation of a tourniquet – if you can’t get to and use your gear single handed, you may well be in a whole world of hurt.

Bottom line – after 2 years of searching the Dark Angel Gen 3 Pouch is the best pouch I have found to carry my BOK on my person on the range. I would encourage you all to give it – and their full kits – a very hard look.