Do me a favor for the next 5 minutes. Try to forget everything you know about a TAMPON. I know, it’s hard. But pretend that this is the first time you have ever seen or heard of them and it is a new survival product on the market: the Tactical Adventure Medical Preparedness Outdoors Necessity (T.A.M.P.O.N.) All kidding aside, a TAMPON really does have a ton of uses to a survivor. One could even argue to include a couple in your survival kit. Ultimately, I’ll let you be the judge. Before I get into the details of this post, a brief history of the tampon might surprise you. The tampon is actually regulated in the US by the Food & Drug Administration as a Class II Medical Device. The word ‘tampon’ is a derivative of the French word tampon which means “a piece of cloth to stop a hole”. My research indicates that tampons were used as early as the 19th century as battle dressings to plug bullet holes. It wasn’t until later that they were used as a feminine product. There are even accounts of tampons being used as wound plugs in modern warfare. A friend of mine told me that it’s not uncommon for Army Medics to carry tampons in their med kits. Tampons are sterile and come very well packaged in their own water proof container. This only adds to their survival utility. I’ve high-lighted a few survival uses below: TAMPON Survival Use # 1: Medical Bandage Not only are these little tactical bandages packaged in a waterproof sleeve, but they are designed to be ultra absorbent – making them the perfect first aid bandage. They can be taped or tied over a wound as an improvised dressing. And, as I’ve already mentioned, they can be used to plug a bullet hole until more detailed medical attention can be administered. Accounts of this use date back to World War I. Many items in modern society were first developed as a facet of military research – tampons being a prime example. The internet being another. The list goes on and on. TAMPON Survival Use # 2: Crude Water Filter Another excellent tampon survival use is as a Crude Water Filter. While it will not filter out biological, chemical or heavy metal threats, it can certainly be used to filter out sediments and floating particulates. This would be considered a 1st Phase Filter and can drastically increase the life and efficacy of your main water filter. You can also use a filter like this before boiling to filter out larger particulates. In this example, just push a tampon into the neck of an empty water bottle. then poke a small hole in the cap and then pour in dirty water to filter through the tampon and into the container below. The water will drip out nearly crystal clear. TAMPON Survival Use # 3: Fire Tinder Nearly everyone knows that cotton makes an excellent fire tinder. When the dry cotton fibers of a tampon are pulled apart and hit with a spark or flame it will burst into a nice steady fire. If you’ve done the right amount of fire prep-work you can easily split 1 tampon into 3 or 4 fire starting tinder bundles. Add in some chap-stick or petroleum jelly and you’ve got an even better fire starting tinder. TAMPON Survival Use # 4: Crude Survival Straw Filter Yes, I am suggesting you put a tampon in your mouth – don’t laugh. As a last ditch water filter, you can make an improvised Survival Straw from the plastic housing and cotton from a tampon. Just tear off a bit of the cotton and stuff it into the plastic housing. I find it better to leave a little bit sticking out to make the housing pieces wedge tightly together. Again, this filter will not PURIFY your water by removing biological, chemical or heavy metal threats but it will filter out sediments and particulates. This would be a last ditch effort if no methods of water purification were available. TAMPON Survival use # 5: Wick for Improvised Candle Just use the string on a tampon as a wick in an improvised candle which you can make from rendered animal fat and a fresh water mussel shell you can find by some fresh water sources. After the string soaked up some of the fat, this candle can burn solid for 20 minutes. Pine sap would also work as a fuel.-Doug
Posted on: Wed, 18 Sep 2013 17:02:06 +0000
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