Category: Field Gear

Letter Re: Clothing and Shoes, Post-TEOTWAWKI

James, Okay, a year or three goes by, [after TEOTWAWKI]. My wife can sew, but where do you get cloth and thread? I love Goretex (since I live in Western Oregon), but where do I replace those great Hi-Tec boots? No one seems to be discussing what happens when a shoelace brakes after Schumer is in session. You can hardly find them now. Cloth – one will make a spinning wheel and loom after “the fan” has become clogged! All that I can recall is an anecdote about the early Oregon Trail, when the newly arrived – skinny and starving …


A Brief Critique of the Movie “The Road”

Introductory Note: I recently wrote this critique for British newspaper. For the benefit of my readers in the US, I’m posting it to my blog. – JWR The recently released movie The Road, based on the same-titled novel by award-winning writer Cormac McCarthy illustrated some classic blunders in bushcraft and tactical movement. Doubtless, many of these gaffes were intentional–I suspect for the sake of drama, or to provide enough light for the night scenes. Here is a short list: 1.) Following main arterial roads.  In a post-collapse environment, major roads will become linear ambush zones.  To avoid trouble, “The Man” …


Letter Re: Marksmanship Training

Sir: My name is Kent, I’m an 11 year veteran of the Active Army and National Guard, and I’m currently serving my third overseas tour, in Iraq. I have been in the Infantry for the entire time in the military, and I’ve taken it upon myself to seek outside training where available. I have been reading your blog off and on for the past year. One of the things that firearms proponents and enthusiast fail to mention a lot of is alternate shooting positions. Something I learned in Sniper school (even though I did not pass the course) is that …


Letter Re: Suggestions on LED Flashlights

Mr. Rawles, Just a suggestion about something you and your readers might be interested in. I’m not affiliated with the vendor in any way, just a very satisfied customer. 4Sevens‘ 2-AA Quark light is good for 30 days continuous on low, and a couple of hours at 200 lumens. These are by far the best LED lights on the market at this time. I hang around the flashlight-nerd subculture, and have 4Sevens lights in all my survival packs. Obviously, you can recharge LSD AA lights with solar chargers, and they’ll run off of regular AA and lithium AA batteries too. …


Six Survival Necessities That Don’t Fit in Your Kit, by BOB in S.A.

So it’s the end of the world.  No problem.  Don’t panic.  Just grab your handy bug-out kit, sit back with some popcorn, and try to make the most of Armageddon.  I just have one question for you: what in the world did you put in that bag that makes you so confident you’ll do any better than the unprepared masses around you?  (Don’t answer that… it’s a trick question!) Do you remember that old cartoon “Felix the Cat”?  There was a line in the theme song that went, “…whenever he gets in a fix, he reaches into his bag of …


Four Letters Re: Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TC3) for the Survivalist

JWR, I’ve just done First Responder training because the school I go to, a good one, won’t let me jump right into EMT training without taking First Responder first. A gold-digging measure? You decide! I think it may be, but it’s a good policy too. I urge your readers to take a First Responder, a.k.a. CPR + Advanced First Aid. My course was $300. A cheapie way to do this would be to go on Amazon and get the book, but I highly urge a course. I plan to do EMT-1 then EMT-P and don’t expect to get paid for …


Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TC3) for the Survivalist, by Cowpuncher

The SurvivalBlog thread on wound-clotting agents got me thinking about this subject and its apparent lack of dissemination amongst the “survivalist” community. I decided I would write about it. I know the recent military vets will probably have heard about it, and some (most) will have practiced it. Many will have used it in action. For the record, I received Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC or TC3) training in the beginning of the program, so any new information I have gleaned since 2002 is based on studying the protocols as presented in the SOF Medical Handbook and the Ranger Medics …


Letter Re: The Bosnian Experience, Part 2

Sir: The next thing that I would like to cover is mode of transportation. When the society collapses more likely you will have to leave your home. Having a 4×4 vehicle that is equipped with everything that you need to survive would be everyone’s choice for travel but that sometimes might not be possible. In the broken society there is no law. Everyone and everybody is a target. Traveling in the vehicle on the road or off the road is extremely risky. First, vehicles make noise and everyone can hear you. Second, vehicles are big and they can be seen. …


Letter Re: New British Camouflage Pattern Uniforms

James, It appears the Brits are upgrading to a new camouflage uniform to replace the venerable Disruptive Pattern, Marine (DPM) and in some instances, the #5 Desert Combat. Dubbed the Multi-Terrain Pattern (MTP), it was developed by Crye Precision and bears a striking resemblance to their “MultiCam” camo. It looks like their will be a flood of the old DPMs on the surplus market in the near future. [JWR Adds: This release of surplus uniforms will undoubtedly be a boon to preppers. Be prepared to stock up when the prices drop at vendors like CheaperThanDirt.com.] Take care and God bless, …


Two Letters Re: Prepping for Fishing in TEOTWAWKI

James: This is in response to the articles on fishing. Depending on where you are, I would assume that everyone and his relations will be sitting on the bank and hoping for a fish to bite. Fishing is hit or miss, unless you have a boat and have spent a great deal of time on the water, you will starve to death waiting for a fish to bite. You will be sitting exposed and probably looking over your shoulder. I have a better solution and it is one that will work every time it is tried. Assuming you are operating …


Letter Re: Stow Your Gear Securely in Your Vehicle

JWR, I didn’t know how to post this, so I thought I’d email it. [JWR Adds: Email is the preferred method for submitting letters or articles to the blog, at james@rawles.to.] A couple of Sundays ago, we lost our “getaway” car. My wife and I had our 2004 V-10 Ford Excursion tricked out for anything, including an emergency kit with everything from soup to nuts in the back. And best of all, it was paid for! We could grab the grandkids and go. Might even take the kids, too! Anyway, a little road rage from some miscreant in a Toyota …


Survival Tools, by SJH

I’ve read many articles regarding “survival “ and “preparedness” topics, my conclusion is that an important area has been missed. Lots of planning seems to focus on food storage, water, supplies, and so on, yet I have not seen or read anything about “survival tools — how to be prepared for anything mechanically”. So after considering this topic for several years, I’ve decided to introduce my own topic as far as tools for the self-reliant individual. My background includes 30 years of mechanical equipment repair on automobiles and trucks/trailers to heavy construction equipment including dozers and cranes. Having been exposed …


Lessons Leaned from a Wildfire Evacuation, by Daniel in Montana

It was a gorgeous Saturday night, Sept. in Montana’s mountains the weather was hanging onto summer’s 70 degree temperatures, warm and dry. Working all day at the hospital and finishing some of my home preparedness projects gave me a satisfaction and sense of accomplishment. Time to relax, I sat down, put my feet up and was sipping my week’s end treat, a cold beer. I phoned my friend, “Brett” to finalize our plans to butcher a few of his farm animals tomorrow. He was finishing a Bible reading with his boys and was putting them to bed, and would call …


Letter Re: An Overwhelmed Newbie, Catching Up at Prepping

Mr. Rawles, I’m fairly new to your blog (three months), and still feeling a tad bit overwhelmed. I’m a 5th grade school teacher, and my husband is a former truck driver, now a truck dispatcher/supervisor. Not just am I realizing that I have a lot of catching up to do to get my family prepared for the rough times ahead, but I’m realizing how much my husband and I have to learn, to be truly ready! I’ve taken your advice and have asked my mother to teach me how to do pressure cooker canning. That was something that I had …


Letter Re: Some Advise of Starting Wood and Charcoal Fires

Hello Mr. Rawles; Recently I have seen lists recommending the storage of charcoal lighter fluid. I would like to suggest the use of a charcoal starter chimney. You will not need to use and store the lighter fluid and worry about running out of it. With the chimney all you need to store is a supply of newspaper. It takes just a sheet or two of newspaper wadded up to start the charcoal and in short order your charcoal will be ready to use. You can find the chimneys on eBay or go to the Internet and find instructions for …