Mountain Guerrilla shares some thoughts on first line gear.
This is the stuff that should never, ever leave the guerrilla/citizen soldier/domestic terrorist's person in the field. Which one you fall into depends on who's looking at you. Some people give this stuff a fancy acronym- EDC.
I find nothing at all to disagree with, and would add that in the winter, sunglasses can mean all the difference between seeing and being semi blind for days and days, feeling like someone has thrown sand, salt, and bleach in your eyes. At the same time. Welders, it's like bad flash burn- same thing...once you get it, you'll do anything to prevent it again.
And cordage? I agree 100%. This is often placed in the ruck, but experience says keep some on you, even when everything else must be quickly ditched (MG knows about this, I'm sure, through "drownproofing"). Soldiers are experts at using 550 cord and 100 mph tape to fix just about anything...and to tie young privates up to Humvee brushguards as a "birthday present". Long story though. Happened to me on my 18th birthday. Good times.
Anyway, go read it, and plan accordingly.
I'll second the sunglasses recommendation.
ReplyDeleteLong ago I had the dubious duty of assisting to shovel snow off Minuteman missile silos in Montana. One AF staff sgt, one sgt (me), and three airmen all took off before dawn with our shovels and went to the first silo. By this time, the sun was up on pristine snow and not a cloud in the sky. At the end of the day I had sun burn under my chin, inside my ears, places where I'd never been burned before. Fortunately, for me, I grabbed a pair of sunglasses as I left my room, in addition to my usual cold weather gear. Turned out the glasses and the cold weather boots were all I needed, the work warmed me up enough to shed my parka and extra shirt.
The others were not so lucky, all had watering eyes four silos into our day, we quit at that point, about 1630.
Sunglasses are survival equipment, even if you're not in snow country.
If you ever find ypur self with out your favorite pare of sunglasses.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ehow.com/how_5630415_make-eskimo-snow-goggles.html
:-)
Up to this point the 550 cord has lived in my ruck and my compass has been hooked to my kit. Needless to say after seeing the error of my ways I plan to rectify these things.
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