Category: Field Gear

Grub and Gear–Lessons Learned from an Alaskan Trapper, by Old Dog

James, I enjoy your blog. I’m praying the Lord’s peace during your mourning. I greatly enjoyed the recent letter on Lessons-Learned from Alaska. I’d like to add: One way to deal with condensation on a rifle, or other piece of equipment, in cold climates is to bag it in plastic [such as a trash bag) outside, before entering a warm area. Once inside, the condensation will build up on the exterior of the bag. Once the rifle, or other equipment, comes up to the indoor temperature it may be removed from the plastic cover [and checked for condensation]. Lord Bless …


Tactical River Crossings–An Emergency Alternative to Bridges, by Jacob R.

Many of you could be faced with the unique challenge of crossing a river during any number of “The End Of The World As We Know It” (TEOTWAWKI) scenarios. I have pre-positioned a respectable stock of supplies at my primary “Get Out Of Dodge” (G.O.O.D.) retreat site, however have multiple caches at various locations to ensure my family has a fighting chance at survival.  While I hope and pray to be able to evacuate my family safely via vehicle just prior to any TEOTWAWKI scenario.  Murphy’s Law reminds us that, “What can go wrong, will go wrong.”  Hence any prudent …


Letter Re: Grub and Gear–Lessons Learned from an Alaskan Trapper

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James, Going through some old gear last month, I found my food supply lists and notes from 1976-79. I thought the old list might be of interest and the lessons I learned during the first three years in the remote Alaska bush may be helpful to a few of your readers. I do not recommend Alaska for a TEOTWAWKI retreat but the lessons I learned the hard way may be helpful to any one in a cold climate. I grew up in California listing to stories from my grandfather about Alaska and the Yukon. When I graduated from high school …


Bug Out and Refugee Considerations, by Brad T.

I’d like to shed some light on what it might be like to move across an unfamiliar area without money or adequate supplies. This might come in handy when you have to bug out following a natural disaster or other societal disruption. It might provide tips on how to avoid apprehension or detection while traveling. In addition, it might help you in determining a place for your retreat and anticipating refugees. Finally it might prepare you for some of the emotional and physical stresses you will face if you find yourself bugging out. I live on the US Mexico border …


Letter Re: Should I Buy Camouflage Web Gear?

Sir, I’m looking at various load bearing equipment (LBE), spurred by today’s writing contest entry and several pro-gun friends who have been harping on my lack of LBE. They make the same point as you do – if you can’t carry it, why have it? I see a lot of very nice, military or military-looking LBE equipment. Like a tactical vest with magazine pouches and hydration bladders and so forth. And I can get nice military or military-looking clothes (in [digital camouflage] ACU [pattern], for example). I drool over the cool looking gear. However, other than the magazine pouches, most …


Letter Re: Living in the Time After TEOTWAWKI

Dear Mr. Rawles, I think there is a blind spot in a lot of preparedness/survivalist writing that I would like to address. There are a number of sites which do a good to excellent job of getting the word out about the nuts-and-bolts of getting prepared to allow a family to get through a short term emergency, and there are sites which encourages us to get a retreat in farm country. However, I have not seen anyone talk about how we will boot strap ourselves to back towards some sort of village life and civil society[, in the event of …


Preparing for Uncertain Times–A Simple Guide to Getting Ready, by Mr. and Mrs. Joe Patriot

Introduction Imagine this situation: All of the media outlets have gone to commercial-free coverage. They are reporting that the Dow has dropped 2,000 points and trading has been suspended on Wall Street. The Chinese, along with other countries have transferred their reserves from the US Dollar. Oil futures climb $50 a barrel in hours. A national bank holiday shuts down the financial system on Main Street. Within 24 hours the grocery stores are cleared out of all food stocks. The gas pumps dry up in 12 hours. Trucks delivering goods are stuck at truck stops waiting on fuel that may …


Letter Re: Some Travel and Bug Out Gear Recommendations

Sir, First, as promised earlier I wanted to follow up and describe the kit I take with me on my trips. As I have mentioned in the past my job takes me overseas all the time, so for the past decade I have spent 80-90% of my time in third and second world countries. As a result the type of kit I take with me becomes important – it has to be packable and lightweight (especially now that the airlines are limiting you to 50 lbs. per bag versus the old 75 lbs. per bag). I have built up a …


Letter Re: Advice on Camouflage Covers for LP/OPs

JWR, The arrival of my Cabela’s catalog today reminded me of how useful a layout blind might be for observation post (OP) duty. Your advice? Regards, ,- K. in Texas JWR Replies: Semi-permanent OPs should be custom-built, to as closely match the local vegetation, as possible. Any store-bought camouflage is a compromise, at best. Ideally, you should grow local vegetation over the top of an excavated position, for the ultimate in undetectable camouflage. Nothing mimics nature like nature itself. (Anything else that you use won’t look quite right, and of course it won’t gradually change colors to match, seasonally.) See …


Letter Re: Bug Out Contingency Planning

[Introductory note from JWR: I normally send detailed letter replies only to their intended recipients, but in this case, I thought that this letter was a great example of terrain and obstacle analysis,a s well as “outside the box” planning, so I’m positing it for the entire SurvivalBlog readership to ponder. Do you have similar plans for off-road mobility, and contingency plans, folks?] Mr. Rawles, A note for Diane about her relative living on-post at Fort Riley, Kansas: First thing to obtain if you want to bug out of Ft. Riley is to get a Kansas Atlas & Gazetteer map …


Basic Survival Skills for Children, by M.L.

Children play a part in many of our lives. Protecting them becomes an important issue in daily life as well as in an end of the world as you know it moment. However, what happens when adults can’t be there to protect them? What happens when they may need to protect us?             Our government and even many schools across the country, as well as parents and other adults, often do not see the potential in children. I am not talking about the educated potential one might find in the youth of a suburban school, but the potential to rise …


Letter Re: Laser Protective Goggles

Sir: When I was a young Marine in the first gulf war I heard that it was quite common for tank crews to blind the enemy with the tanks laser. Do you know of any protective glasses/goggles that would prevent retina damage from lasers? Thanks, – Keith JWR Replies: The problem is that you need a separate filter for each ranges of wavelengths (measured in nanometers). By the time that you stack enough filters to stop all of the non-eye safe laser threats, you end up with something about as opaque as welder’s goggles. I guess this explains why the …


Camouflage: The Art of the “Liar”, by T.W.P.

Human Perception – from an artist’s point of view. Have you ever sat down and watched a movie? Sure you have. But did you ever stop to realize that everything you were watching was a lie? Most likely not, even though you do understand that intellectually. Most movies cash in on the concept of “suspension of disbelief” which means “you know that what you are watching is not real or true, but you are willing to pretend, accept that it is real or true, for sake of entertainment.” It is an implied contract between you, and the makers of that …


Preparedness Beginnings, by “Two Dogs”

I am a retired Marine Corps officer and Naval Aviator (jets and helicopters), commercial airplane and helicopter pilot, and most recently, an aircraft operations manager for a Federal agency. I graduated from numerous military schools, including the U.S. Army Airborne (“jump”) School, U.S. Navy Divers School, Army helicopter, and Navy advanced jet schools. In addition, I have attended military “survival” courses whose primary focus was generally short-term survival off the land, escape from capture, and recovery from remote areas.  Like most Marine officers, I attended The Basic School, an 8-month school (only five during the Vietnam era – my case), …


Three Letters Re: Here Comes Winter!

Hello JWR, In reply to LRM in Perth on winter gear, I agree with the idea of layering, and using the outer layers to create a waterproof and windproof shell. I disagree that cotton is the fabric of choice to do it. If your activities are mostly sedentary, I think the cotton might work alright, as it is breathable, and you’re not perspiring much. However, if you are engaged in a physical activity, such as patrolling, doing chores, etc, you will need to both shed outer layers, and have a good hydrophobic fabric to pass the moisture created by perspiration. …