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15 Comments

  1. Great article, my only comment would be to avoid tactical looking bags at all costs. As many articles on SB, have mentioned, in this politically correct world, anything tactical ius going to stand out and drawvcattention. Think gray man here and OPOSEC.

    Although i have some good tactical bags, (5.11, Maxpedition, etc) if i fly or even go on a day trip I use a “Swiss” backpack, it lacks molly attachments, but has many compartments,as well as room for laptop and water bladder, and most importantly, looks like a backpack you may see on the street or on college campus.

    Just Some thoughts.

    1. While I realize that molle in general is viewed as being military, I’ve found that the gray pack seems to illicit less attention than a brown or OD one does. When I used to carry the larger coyote brown pack I would frequently get asked about my military service or get invited to the USO lounge in the airport – that hasn’t happened once since I switched to gray. Your mileage may vary, of course.

  2. Now that I am getting older and slower and experiencing the return of pain from injuries sustained in my youth, I find that I really want a pack (carry on or otherwise) with a padded hip strap and some form of rigid frame. My neck and shoulders just won’t take the load of a 20 lb pack for more than brief periods without instigating an extended episode of pain and diminished function.

    Ergonomically, a hip strap and a frame is much more suitable for human transport than a shoulder bag. The hip strap puts the load down on the pelvis, where our bodies are more suited for it. The frame keeps the load from sagging, thus keeping the weight and stress from transferring back to the shoulders. If you look at the Osprey line of packs, some of them are quite ergonomic without being conspicuous.

    Last year I finally gave up my old “go bag” Camelbak Motherlode pack from my time in Baghdad a decade ago. I was endeared to that pack, but it just won’t work for me anymore. It was like pulling out a sore tooth. Now my packs either have wheels, or they have hip straps and frames.

  3. “Travel in general, and air travel in particular, has become much more dangerous.”
    You left out the most dangerous threat to air travel, the TSA (apologies for language, I couldn’t link back to the original source):

    https://antzinpantz.wordpress.com/2017/08/24/tsa-pervs-announce-new-grab-ass-rules/

    This is the gubberment group that gobbles more geld in order to enable their ever more intrusive groping.
    It used to be that you had “options”; image screenings, metal detectors, pat-downs. Now apparently it’s just pat downs (HAH! Were the image screens and metal detectors really gotten rid of?)

    1. Ironically, as much as I travel, I have never had any serious problems with the TSA folks. I’m polite, smile and joke with them, and they always seem to reciprocate. I agree that the agency overall has some serious issues, but the individuals working at the security checkpoints tend to be just regular people.

  4. I feel much safer flying than driving, in almost all circumstances I have experienced. I agree, flying is getting more troublesome, but statistically I think flying is still one of the safest modes of transportation. Good ideas, but the general pack configuration still looks pretty military to me; I’m opting for something much less obvious.

    1. Yes, the WFA course with SOLO is the way to go. It covers so much information from standpoint of not having EMS to depend on. And that is the situation to plan for, that you’re basically on your own and you are you own support system.

  5. Good article,through I also prefer a more grey man approach to packs. I currently use a camelback Rim Runner 22. They do have a few larger ones if need be.

  6. An LED glow stick with replaceable batteries might be a good addition to the medkit. Mine is red and is by NiteIze. It’s light, water-resistant, and it floats. It could be used to mark someone you treated in a mass casualty, while you moved on to someone else. It could also be a self marker. If you treat yourself, you could lose consciousness, and the light raises your chances of being found.

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