Words and Pics: Rich Norman

I don’t actually need a new IFAK pouch, but the opportunity arose and I do like different and well designed kit.

For many of my friends the Blue Force Gear Trauma Kit Now is the legit choice, but you can often pick up lesser known one-off gems like the Mayflower Low-Vis Blow-Out Kit (LVBOK) from sellers on eBay who specialise in UKSF kit.

The big advantage of the LVBOK is that it can also be used as a tearaway utility pouch. You can fill it with whatever you like, and open it without shit falling out all over the place.

It’s basically a clamshell-opening medium horizontal utility pouch, held with Velcro inside a softshell wrapper; the latter featuring a Helium Whisper backer, for MOLLE or belt mounting.

The pouch is retrieved from the softshell wrapper using side pulls. These are length-adjustable and constructed of nylon cord sheathed in plastic tubing. The side pulls are present on right and left sides, making retrieval ambidextrous.

The softshell wrapper is, of course, stretchy; but it also features stiffening inserts top and bottom – creating an excellent structure for pouch insertion.

Spatchcocked open, the pouch features elastic keepers on both walls and Velocity Systems provides an example of how they can be used:

As you’d expect from Velocity Systems, the quality of this item is excellent and it uses easy to open, free running YKK zips.

As for price, it’s not cheap – and unless you’re lucky enough to pick one up from one of the many UKSF-related eBay sellers, I don’t know of a UK retail source; although a phone call to Edgar Bros may yield results. Velocity Systems does ship to the U.K. however, if you can handle the shipping cost.

As a cheaper alternative you could consider Ronin Tactics‘ ‘homage’ to the Mayflower. Aside from the lack of Helium Whisper backing, it’s a full on doppelgänger.