Traditionally, portable litters/stretchers are constructed for durability, rigidity and containment of the patient. These characteristics allow the litter to be used in environments such as lifting an individual by wench or airlift, for example, a hiker after a mountain climbing fall, a homeowner from a flooded neighborhood, or a soldier from the battlefield. However, these same characteristics also cause the litter to be bulky and weighty, and can also cause delays in lifesaving extraction.
Traditional portable stretchers are made of heavy-duty material to protect the injured person from contact with the ground and other objects during extraction. Heavier, thicker, and wider construction of the litter base keeps the individual from bruising or sustaining additional minor injuries from terrain over which he or she might be dragged. The use of heavier materials also keeps the patient rigid, better supported, and provides a certain amount of splinting. However, the weight and bulk of typical portable stretchers can be a burden to a soldier or first responder carrying the litter on their person.
Some portable stretchers have side and bottom flaps which extend from the base. While useful for some applications, the flaps take time to engage, and they can interfere with speedy extraction and medical treatment. For example, foot flaps are unnecessary in most manual-lifting circumstances in which a drag litter is used. However, most roll-up litters/stretchers are provided with foot flaps regardless of whether they are designed for airlifting thereby adding additional bulk and weight to the litter.
Some stretchers use heavy and complicated equipment. For example, a half-body stretcher provides protection only to the top half of the individual and requires an additional half-body stretcher to secure the lower half of the patient's body. The second half-body stretcher must be carried on the back of a second soldier or first responder, causing delays in deployment and possible deficiency if a second half-body stretcher is not available. Some stretchers use large durable buckles or wide heavy straps to retain the patient. The large bulk and weight of traditional portable stretchers/litters sometimes require separate bags for storage and transport.
While these devices might be useful in some scenarios to securely encase a patient prior to, for example, vertical movement (airlift), they add weight and bulk to the stretcher, making it harder to carry on backpacks in a mobile military unit. Weight and bulk are not desirable characteristics in certain circumstances. For example, army soldiers and frontline medics are generally more intent on quick extraction than keeping a wounded soldier fully splinted or protected from minor bruises and cuts. Traditional devices require time to deploy to provide vertical movement to a casualty. Time is an expensive luxury for those engaged in an emergency situation.
Some stretchers have been designed to compact into a cylindrical roll for storage and transportation. This configuration allows soldiers to carry the litter, on a backpack for example. However, common designs of the roll-up stretcher are typically relatively heavy and bulky. These roll-up litters are also wide in dimension, 2 feet (24 inches) or more, and as long as eight (8) feet in length, some having additional length to create a flap for covering the patient's feet.
While larger dimensions and heavier materials typically add strength to a stretcher device, the unnecessary weight and bulk tends to complicate packaging and makes seamless integration into existing combat or safety equipment unlikely. This bulk becomes a significant problem since a major consideration for packaging and fielding collapsible litter designs is to afford a broader distribution of evacuation platforms. Ideally, each operator in a theatre of action would carry at least one litter that can quickly be deployed to assist in a casualty's evacuation, or to assist in his or her own evacuation if injured.
A somewhat recent attempt to address the problems associated with the broad distributing portable litter devices where among combatants or first responders has been to incorporate the litter device into an article of clothing, for example a vest or a waist pack. This approach typically requires the litter to be attached to the article of clothing as in U.S. Pat. No. 7,607,184. A significant drawback of this approach is that a new article of clothing, for example a vest incorporating the litter device necessarily replaces existing vests. This is expensive and necessarily inefficient, particularly in a military context since logistically, a quartermaster or equipment supplier must collect the previously issued vests and issue a new ones. The old articles of clothing are modified or discarded, making this approach expensive, complicated and generally inefficient to employ. In addition since the litter is attached to an article of clothing, the litter can only be used to evacuate the individual who happens to be wearing the article of clothing.
Another approach suggested by U.S. Pat. No. 7,607,184 is to use a waist pack with the litter attached thereto from which the litter is deployed. However, the waist pack approach also requires the issuance of a new and independent piece of equipment that must be worn around the operator, soldier or first responder and/or the casualty's waist for deployment. First, if the casualty doesn't happen to be wearing the waist pack, the waist pack must be removed from the wearer's waist and placed on the casualty's waist before the litter is deployed. Secondly, adding another piece of equipment to a user's waist, in addition to the existing equipment, weapons, canteen, ammunition, radio, ALICE pack, hoist, harnesses, MOLLE-system or other existing modular system or equipment carried by an operator, soldier or first responder is also problematic. Due to the added bulk and restrictive placement on the waist, incorporation of such a system with existing equipment is cumbersome at best. Conceivably, a first responder may have to pick and choose what equipment he can carry on his waist, based on mobility, space, mission and packaging requirements.
There also exists a need for an easily carried and easily deployed duffel bag to store and/or transport equipment. For example, in view of the non-linear warfare and often sensitive equipment carried by an operator or soldier, it is often necessary to carry the casualty's equipment with him. Also insurgents use discarded equipment as booby trap enticements or for other purposes. In the case of head trauma or injury, access to the casualty's head gear or helmet, can provide a doctor or other care giver a quick means to evaluate the type of trauma the evacuee\casualty likely suffered. In the past, a duffel bag or equipment bag has been a separate piece of equipment. Typically, this type of equipment is not carried by an operator, combatant or first responder and certainly is not carried by a casualty. Thus an easily accessible bag or container to secure, transport or store a wounded solder's equipment and keep that equipment with him during his evacuation is also needed.