E-Mail 'Gear System: Philosophy, Set Up, Use, Fitness & Mindset- Part 2, by Max' To A Friend

13 Comments

1. Where would you use this? Any particular environment?

2. Great article, thanks!

   Best way to figure this stuff out is not endless “research” but to get out with your gear regularly and see how it works in field conditions. Max gave you some great ideas for testing it. Then be willing to change and adapt it as need be. My field gear has been constantly changing for the 30 years I’ve been going out training. There is rarely a “do it once and forever” solution with this sort of thing.

   Most people figure out after attending class what needs to change with their gear setup.

3. Depending on the weather you anticipate encountering, a camo poncho and poncho liner make a lightweight sleeping bag/shelter for your Day/Patrol pack. Back in the 70s, before Gore-Tex, we used that combination regularly.

4. Thanks for your service and expertise. However, not to practical for today’s threats. Yes, if there is a 2nd Amendment military action to quell tyranny or defending your private property, then extremely practical.

   I carry a .380 handgun as it conceals nicely. I wear mine in my inside pants holster and wear it everywhere legal (even in the Board of Director meetings as a CPA), my wife fits hers in her purse. I have two extra magazines on the other side of my hip inside my pants to supplement my 6 rounds in the gun magazine (that’s 18 rounds total). I do not recommend a 7th round by chambering a round in the gun as every bullet fired either by mistake or intent comes with an attorney. From time to time I do wear a police bulletproof vest and fits nicely under a dress shirt and tie (noticeable only by close colleagues who know my weight – then I say it is a weight vest used for cardio vascular – as it could be). So I’m all geared up at work, public, church, and government areas were permitted –without drawing attention. Had I worn camouflage and body armor to the grocery store you had bet your bottom line I would be answering to law enforcement.

   Lastly, for those of us that travel for work, sometimes airplanes, I drive to clients within an 8 hour driving radius (you figure with a connecting flight and TSA groping that is 8 hours off your watch). By driving, I can now carry an AR-15 with 5 fully loaded 30 round magazines plus one suppressor and another 30 round magazine with subsonic ammunition (this is the highest caliber I’ve seen used where the only noise you hear is the clicking mechanism of the trigger coupled with the suppressor—however it doesn’t recycle to the next round and you must cock each time)—you decide what you need at the time of need (I have both needs covered). This rifle and ammo is stored in and outside gun vault welded on my vehicle’s chassis. This allows you to say “No” in traffic stops when the Office asks, “Do you have any weapons inside the vehicle.” [They are outside the vehicle].

   We must be vigilant and ready for a reasonable response to a [current] public threat. I believe I would encounter a terrorist or gunman in the public square before being called upon by my peers in a military action against tyranny. You decide! But be ready!

   Hope this helps!
   JH

5. How do you plan to carry those magazines and use that ar-15 when you have to use that rifle to defend you and yours? Why would you wear camo and body armor to a grocery? Obviously it depends on the situation and Max is not advocating going around dressed like a militia colonel. If you carry a rifle with you, you should certainly be training to use it and the support gear necessary to fight with it.

6. “His class is geared towards being anti .Gov and fighting forces like the Guard/Reserve…”

   That is like saying James Wesley, Rawles Patriots series is geared towards the anti-government crowd because they depict a collapse and resistance to tyranny.

   1. “I’m speaking of his service…”

      It is unclear to me what you are saying.

      You wrote: “He should know what he’s fighting because he was it.”

      I wasn’t aware of any fighting in CONUS at this time, perhaps you could elaborate?

7. These steel plates are only $90 cheaper than a reputable hybrid plate that weighs 2.2 pounds less. When you sacrifice your mobility by being overloaded and slow you will likely need that multishot capability. Sounds like you are just shilling for the company that sells those plates.

   Judging by your comments obviously haven’t trained with Max. Small unit tactics are extremely well suited towards SHTF situations. A lot of his curriculum is geared toward being prepared to defend your loved ones in the event of a collapse.

8. There is an important theme in this two part series about realistic expectations regarding weight carried and your tested level of fitness.

   You need to base this on your own current ability, not what you did 15 years ago.

   Think you can run around with a full ruck over your steel plates with every conceivable gizmo playing “Batman in the boondocks?”

   I challenge you to test that theory out and let us know the results. Learn this know while it doesn’t matter.

   “…to remain alert and agile enough and not give in to the temptations of complacency…”

   Do not underestimate this warning!

   Many have died due to poor judgment brought on by fatigue.

   1. I am glad to hear you are so active at a young 52.

      However my comments were directed to the general readership on the dire consequences to ones judgment when overburdened with too much weight.

9. When I turned 60 I put on my BOB ( 38 lb backpack ) and wanted to see if I could hump it 10 miles without even stopping or sitting down. I did it, took 3 hrs 20 minutes. It was on roads but some inclines and slopes, not all level ground. I have to say those last 2 miles were a killer. Running at that point would have been pretty difficult, if not impossible. For weapons I had a KelTec PF-9 pistol and a folding stock AK stashed in the bag with 2 loaded mags. Test out your stuff. I dearly hope I never have to bug out with a pack.

10. When you live in SW Texas where daytime highs are consistently over 100 and there is no such thing, in the boonies, such as real shade, every ounce you can shave off is worth several ounces (if not more) of water. You WILL have to carry, or access, more water than in other areas just to survive, never mind actually fight.

11. The Law Enforcement Problem
    Posted: 08 Feb 2013 08:42 AM PST
    There is a lot going back and forth on the ‘interweb’ lately about where law enforcement personnel may or may not stand on issues of encroaching tyranny, the Second Amendment and related issues. Everyone knows someone who is a cop and a ‘real stand up guy’ who maybe has stated that he will not enforce any unconstitutional laws.

    That’s not the point.

    The point is the way law enforcement has evolved in this country and where we are with it today. Yes, I’m going to generalize and make assumptions. No, I’m not going to produce statistics or witness testimony. This is my opinion, as an observer.

    We have reached a point where we don’t really have any rights. By the time we get to exercise them, maybe if we get to court, it’s too late. There is such an amount of law out there (separate from justice) that any one of us will be doing something unlawful on any given day, and if law enforcement wants to put pressure on you there is not doubt they will find a way. We have reached a point also where it is not so much that we may be acting unlawfully, but that law enforcement will take unlawful actions themselves, in a sort of ‘possession (i.e. arrest/confiscation) is nine tenths of the law’ approach where even though in the end of it we may be found innocent and subsequently released, our lives are ruined and we have an arrest record.

    Often, prosecution is driven by policy or ideology and not the pursuit of Justice The courts system is a corrupt game and the average ‘Joe’ has no chance without sufficient financial resources to hire the lawyers to protect himself.

    So where does law enforcement fit in? At the Federal and local level, these guys are the enforcers These are the guys who will arrest or kill you. These are the guys who are trained to follow ‘departmental procedures’ and are atavistic about ‘officer safety’. The bottom line is that they are not there to ‘serve and protect’ but rather to ensure their own safety while looking for ways to arrest, coerce, wound, humiliate or kill you and screw up your life.

    A ‘contact’ between law enforcement personnel and the public, at perhaps at traffic stop or elsewhere, is like an encounter with a boa constrictor. The cop may be a nice guy, I’ve experienced that, there is no black and white to this post. It happens, for example I’ve been let off after being stopped for speeding. But back to the point: its not about the individual, but about the organization as a whole and how they operate.

    The cop is not looking to help you out, to ‘serve’ or ‘protect’ you. He stopped you because he had a reason whether or not he had ‘reasonable suspicion’ or ‘probable cause’. Once you are detained, you are being looked at, your ID run, while the cop looks for other reasons to ruin your day. If you argue or in any way confront his ego, he will start to constrict This is when you realize that you have no rights. The cop will begin to squeeze and escalate through the non-lethal to lethal force continuum. If he over-steps it, beats you down or shoots you, he will get together with his buddies and lie about it so he gets away with it, so long as ‘department procedures’ are followed and ‘officer safety’ was the primary concern. What happened to public or Citizen safety? Aren’t these guys supposed to be putting it on the line for us, like firefighters or soldiers?

    But I know all about this. Cops are trained to focus in, bite down like an attack dog, and not be deterred Once they are on you, that’s it. I’ve never been a cop, but I have been in similar situations where I have had to employ the force continuum, either in military deployed situations, as a security contractor, or even part timing doing bar security. In such situations you will always have some variation of a ‘rules for the use of force’ continuum and you act on it, not really caring about the individual you encounter but only that they comply This leads to the “step away from the cookie jar/you have five seconds to comply” school of law enforcement. The vital thing to remember when carrying out security duties within a community, even if you are bouncing at a bar, or the cop on the street outside, is to behave reasonably and try to defuse situations and build relationships. Not just blindly follow down a force continuum: “He was not complying, so I pepper sprayed him, tazered him, beat him, knelt on his neck, and then he finally struggled free (in fear of his life and in massive pain!) so I shot him as he was escaping. He threatened my officer safety.”

    Well, that’s the retard school of cop behavior, which we see so much of in today’s ‘merica. pew, pew, pew, pew.

    So we have arrived at a point where we have a paramilitary police force, many of whom are not too bright, blindly following procedures that are designed to coerce citizens and leave them little or no avenue once the path is started down. How dare you argue with a cop! I saw a video about NYPD shake-downs with the cops calling the guy a ‘mutt’ and trying to start a fight. Guaranteed, I would be rolling around with that retard, trying to punch the crap out of him before his partner manages to tazer me. I always joke that given the disrespect shown by cops to the public, and the willingness to use force to coerce, it’s only a matter of time before I end up tazered with a fat guy kneeling on my neck!

    So, Cops: Cut the crap! You are either part of the problem or part of the solution. If your department is behaving like this to the public, and enforcing unconstitutional laws and practices, even simply degrading citizens with your everyday activities, then you are either with the bad guys or you quit. There is no middle ground Don’t expect to play both sides. For all the good guys who are cops, stand up and be counted. Don’t allow your department to behave in this way. If its a problem, get out, quit. You can’t have your cake and eat it!

    I’ve got news for you: You may be in uniform, and you may have an unassailable ego, and you may well be an alpha male. But there are many more alpha males out there who don’t tolerate the bullying. We may put up with it temporarily ‘for the greater good’ so we can be on our way, but there will come a point where enough is enough.

    We The People are free Citizens protected by the Constitution, which is the last light of liberty in the civilized world and we will not tolerate a police bully state. If the police will not enforce the Constitution that they are oath bound to protect, then it will be up to the People to do so, and Cops will be sidelined as a bullying irrelevance.

    It was once put to me that cops and criminals are very similar psychologically, they just choose the side they want to be on. That may explain the tribe like behavior and the corruption exhibited by police departments, at direct odds with the interests of the public.

    And here’s another thing! One final thing! Retired cops running tactical training schools. I call Bullsh*t. Some cops may be experts on firearms and they may even be in a tactical SWAT team. But they are not soldiers, and their experiences are in law enforcement. They may have been in gunfights, and there is a limited utility to what they teach if it’s basic firearms stuff, limited CQB. However, don’t go to them for tactics. Don’t go to them for the kind of tactics that will be useful to you post-collapse, or in a civil war. Too much of what I see on these type of ranges will just get you killed I see a lot coming from SWAT CQB. I see square ranges with people standing up and walking towards the targets stood up. It looks cool and Hollywood, but has limited utility. You know the bit in the movies when the heroes all stand up in a line and advance towards the enemy firing as they go? Looks cool. Usually happens after the enemy started running away. It’s not Fire and Movement! No movement without a point of fire, period.

    If you take one thing away from this post, take the need to “TAKE COVER!” as soon as you come under fire. Get on your belly and crawl. Learn light infantry tactics, not cop tactics.

    Finally: despite the increasing unconstitutionality of what we see in the country today, the Regime would like nothing more than for people to take up an armed resistance. Don’t do it! You will be isolated, killed and simply written off as ‘right wing patriot constitutionalist gun-nut crazy domestic terrorists.’ DHS, have fun when the software picks those keywords up! Keep your powder dry, prepare, train, resist by standing up for Constitutional rights in any and all encounters with Regime guards. At some point, the idiots running this show will be forced to make a move, and then you will be ready when they come for you. At that point, the line will have been crossed and it will be ‘weapons free’, with you simply acting in self-defense.

    RESTORE! (my version of RESIST!)

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