So, this probably sounds like a non-issue to many folks, or it might just be an oversight for others, but especially for those of you who carry a basic medical kit (hopefully all of you… I’ll get in to that later), or if you have a particular item or medicine you might need in a hurry like, say, an EpiPen, you’ve probably considered how you can get to it quickly.
Have you considered how you can direct a friend, family member, or worst case, bystander, who may be unfamiliar with your bag to grab your item(s)?
In my line of work, the individual pouches in our bags are usually pretty well-defined:
If I tell you to grab me something from the “main compartment” or the “top compartment”, you’re pretty likely to be able to figure it out, even if you’re unfamiliar with the bag.
Most general use backpack compartments are not quite so clearly defined:
There are several compartments in line with one another and not particularly distinct, preventing any rapid identification like “left compartment” or “top compartment”.
So here’s what I did:
Now if I tell you to open the compartment with the red pulls, I’m confident you could do that for me. I even went a step further and marked the bags inside with red pulls, to make them easy to differentiate if they ever end up somewhere else:
How to:
First, get some paracord (whatever color you decide on) and cut a short length and gut it (remove the inner cord, usually some white strands)
Now, take a lighter and carefully brush the ends of this small length with the flame – you need to be careful not to set anything on fire, but also careful to prevent the ends of the cord from getting too hot, or they’ll actually shrink and start to close up, making it difficult or impossible to pass the pull through.
Then, pull the, uh, pull, through the cord like so:
Now just reattach your pull to your bag and you’re all set!
You may not be able to fit every zipper pull out there through a length of paracord, so be sure to check that before you start – if you’re careful, you may find it easier to melt the ends once it’s already installed, but be cautious to avoid melting the pull itself.
If your pulls don’t fit through, you may want to consider leaving them in place (if they’re the last remaining unmarked compartment, for instance), or just completely replacing the pulls with paracord if you prefer.
I’ll go over the contents of my gray medical bag another time, but I did cover the little coyote tan bag in a previous post.
That’s all, folks!
-T