An IFAK is used to treat traumas in the Air Force. The thing that will be used first and foremost is the canteen and the water in it.
Ceralyte IFAKs are used to treat trauma. Use your canteen and the water in it to treat a heat emergency. The item you will most definitely use is the airman's water supply. If the guy is in heat exhaustion or heat cramps you have him drink the water and pour some on him. If he's in heat stroke you need to put him on IV fluid replacement and pour water on him but, if he's capable of drinking, you can have him drink too. To treat a heat emergency you treat for shock and get the troop's body temperature down. There's nothing in an IFAK (which is made to treat bleeding and no-breathing problems, not heat emergencies) that will do either, but if you were to pour the contents of your 2-quart canteen over the troop, you'd reduce his body temperature.
IFAK stands for Individual First Aid Kit
No, the SAM Splint is not one of the 6 items in the Improved First Aid Kit. The IFAK does, however, contain a tourniquet and elastic bandage for various applications in lieu of a SAM Splint.
True
== == Generally, the contents of a medic or "aid man"s bag would have been as follows. Pressure dressings with long ties to be applied to wounds on the body, head , or limbs. Triangular bandages that were used to make slings, or to secure pressure dressings. Cotton wool to be used as absorbent to slow bleeding. Large abdominal pads that were about 18 inches square with three layers of absorbent material. Small styretts of injectable morphine for pain relief, but only if the man was conscious and talking to you. Rubber bands for limb compression, to control arterial bleeding. Small metal tweezers to take out metal splinters and wood bits. Steel scissors to cut clothing, and clamps for closing artery bleeding points. Cardboard casualty treatment tags that were attached to the wounded man's jacket that showed what treatment he has been given, and at what time he got any drugs. Small wooden splints for broken arms or legs, and a couple of water canteens. All of the above would be in the first aid bag, or a haversack on the mans back. Once the man was at the aid station he would get more advanced care from the unit's Medical Officer and his assistants, to stabilize his condition, and he would be assessed and " TRIAGED ". Triage is the process of deciding what he needs and how fast he should get it. Group one will die immediately without surgical intervention. Group two will die in 12 hours with out advanced care, and group three are those with minor injury or wounds, and can wait to be treated. Group four are those who are all ready dead, who are put aside to be picked up by the graves registration unit, and buried after being identified. Remember that in WW two nobody came home dead, they were buried where they died. After the aid station, the man goes by ambulance to the field hospital where he is again triaged, and sent to the appropriate part of the hospital, for further treatment, and surgery. Recovery may require that he goes further back to a group hospital where he gets help to recuperate. If he is blind or has had an amputation, he will go home by hospital ship, for further care and treatment. Those with minor wounds are sent back to their unit after they have healed.