The quest for the holy grail

Submitted by Eric Daniel

Me and favorite things don’t get along. Seems every time I decide I like something and incorporate it into my routine, the manufacturer decides that it’s time to move on, leaving me in the unenviable position of having to scour the world (or at least eBay) looking for a replacement for my most recently discontinued favorite thing.

One of my more recent "quests" has been for a replacement coffee cup. While, in the great scheme of things, a good coffee cup might seem a trivial thing, for me, coffee is one of those touchstone rituals that makes all the insanity that goes with combat survivable.

My long time favorite cup of choice was a short, fat 16 oz. cup made for Starbucks. This cup was of double walled aluminum construction, with a foam non-skid pad on the bottom (I supplement the pad with a square of Velcro for absolute stability.) It was absolutely brilliant, so quite naturally, Starbuck quit distributing them years ago (you can literally only find them on eBay now.) Unfortunately for me, when I last rotated out of Iraq, my veteran Starbucks cup decided not to come with me (some lucky sod is going to get an early Christmas present when they find that cup in a humvee) so I’ve been questing ever since for a replacement.

My new cup of choice is the Thermos-Nissan JMF502 drink/food mug. While taller than my old Starbucks cup (Velcro on the bottom of this thing is a must), one nifty feature this cup has that my old mug didn’t have is a second lid to completely seal in the contents of the mug (the lid on the Starbucks was a press-in lid, the lids on the Thermos mug are screw on with rubber gasket seals.) This means that you can put anything in the mug, close it up, and toss it in your CVC bag without having to worry about the contents spilling everywhere.

Be forewarned however, once word gets out that I like this thing, Thermos is likely to get out of the vacuum bottle business all together. Get yours now while supplies last.

Buy a Thermos travel mug here

Caution - low flying liquids

Submitted by Dan Smith

This might seem trivial but here goes. While part of a Security Alert Team "SAT" we often had to eat lunch in the vehicle and seems like during that time we would have to respond and our drink cups would spill and fly all over.  Solution= short sections of plactic pipe,screws and a phillips screwdriver scrounged from Civil Engineers.  Caught some flak from some captain for putting holes in the vehicle but was worth it.

ED- Here's another option - use velcro.  For those of you who spend a lot of time in vehicles (mounted patrols, MSR security, convoy escort, etc.) get yourself some velcro (it can be purchased in 2" wide rolls) and put a "square" of velcro somewhere handy and tack some to the bottom of your favorite travel cup.  This will not only stabilize the cup, but it will also give you a place to stow the cup when not in use.

Buy some velcro here

I am the Greatest

Submitted by Eric Daniel

The first multi-tool I started using was the Swiss Army Champ. It was big and it was expensive and I did not need 90% of the tools that it came standard with, but what it did have, and what made it simply indispensable for me as an M1A1 gunner was a tiny jeweler’s screwdriver.

For those of you in the armor community, you know a jeweler’s screwdriver is an absolute must for adjusting emergency mode drift (yes yes, adjusting emergency mode drift is a organizational-level maintenance function (which is why tank BII doesn’t come with a jeweler’s screwdriver) but when was the last time a mechanic actually came out to the gun line to adjust your drift??)

You could always carry one in the pen pocket of your CVC coveralls, where it would tear a hole in the sleeve, or you could put it in the TC’s oddment box under his armrest, where it was a pain in the butt to get to, or you could stick it into the foam pad on the spent brass box, where you’d bend it getting in and out of the gunner’s station.

OR…. you could go out and get a Champ and do your E-mode drift in style.

By today’s multi-tool standards the Champ, though a precision piece of equipment, is a bit spendy and not as stout, it is still indispensable for that one job, which is why I still have mine, 15 years later.

Buy a Swiss Army Champ here

Gerber Multiplier 600

Submitted by Jeff Hamilton

One of the first items I ever purchased out of pocket, I have used it every day on the job. The first was a blunt-nose, but from experience I highly recommend the needlenose. For those who need to avoid light glint, they do come in flat black. The nylon carry case will wear out pretty quickly with rough use, but is easily replaced. Gerber customer service is excellent - they lifetime guarantee their products; I broke the saw blade on my Multiplier on the job once and it was promptly and cheerfully replaced.

Buy a Gerber 600 here

Build it and they will fill it

Submitted by Eric Daniel

When I finally said goodbye to my ancient LBE and started wearing the RACK, I needed a bail-out bag to carry all the stuff I used to carry in my butt pack, but couldn’t anymore (namely because there’s no “butt” on the RACK to put anything.)

This quest actually turned out to be more difficult than my original quest for an LBE replacement.  There are a lot of “assault” style packs out there, with a lot of features, and they all come with price tags, so I wasn’t about to go out and buy the whole lot and try them all.

After much observation, questioning, pulling, prodding, and stomping, the bag I settled on was the Camelbak Motherlode.  The Motherlode is not the biggest bag out there, but that isn’t what I wanted.  Over the years I have seen folk walking around with some truly enormous “assault” packs.  We’re talking packs that would rival the CFP-90 infantry dumpster for shear portage capacity.  But size wasn’t what I wanted.  I’d learned long ago that soldiers will expand to fill every nook and cranny of any allotted space.  I wanted a pack that would carry some rations, some ammunition, some socks, and some water, in the event I had to run away to fight another day.  The Motherlode is big enough that I can carry what I need, yet small enough that you can actually carry it.  Since I’d quit carrying canteens (on my person that is) the 3-liter bladder in the Motherlode is nice (coupled with a 1 liter canteen (with cup and cooking stand) for cooking) and it is capable of accepting an additional bladder if you really want to load up on water.

One of the other nice features about the Motherlode is it collapses; there are side compression straps on it, which allow you to cinch down the pack so that it doesn’t rattle or flop when it’s not packed to the gills.

Finally, the pack comes equipped with cut outs for radio antennae.  The pack will accept two transmitters (if you’re using ASIP sized radios) or a single, full blown SINCGARS, in addition to the odds and ends I put in it.

The Motherlode may not be the best (and it’s certainly not the biggest or the most expensive) but it does the trick for me.

P.S.  For all you drink tube hydration system users – Suggest you get a length of 1.5” tubular nylon webbing of a suitable color and line your drink tubes with it.  The nylon is not only more durable than the plastic tube (or its neoprene insulation sleeve) but it can also be easily replaced as it becomes worn over time.

Buy the Motherlode here

Getting yer RACK on

Submitted by Eric Daniel

I have a love-hate relationship with my web-gear.  Back in the day (the late 80’s for me) the only thing available was the LBE (Y-harness) and pistol belt.  While the LBE itself wasn’t good for much, it did help take the weight of the loaded pistol belt off your hips, and my pistol belt was loaded.  I carried 5 three-mag pouches, 2 canteens, and a butt pack (in addition to the regulation bent neck flashlight, compass, NOD bag and first aid pouch.)  In the pack went an MRE, socks, NBF powder and small toilet kit, alcohol pens and tape for maps and such, and trioxane tabs for cooking water. For years this arrangement worked because all of the dismounted stuff I did was truly dismounted.  We might get delivered somewhere in a deuce and a half or hummer, but we didn’t patrol in one; all that we did on the ground.

Then came “modern” times, where everything you do is “mounted”, even getting to the point that you can’t go 50 feet without having to get back into the truck.  That, coupled with the fact that “uniformity” was now our primary focus (meaning you had to have your kit on when ever you got more than 5 feet from your vehicle) meant that a change in how I carried my equipment was in order.  As much as I liked the canteens (with their attendant cooking stand and cup) and the butt pack, they both had to go.  There was simply no way I could ride in a humvee wearing my LBE with those canteens sticking out of my back like 2 cancerous tumors, and going through the chore of donning, removing, and stowing the LBE every time I got in and out of the vehicle was not only a waste of time and a big pain in the ass, but it was tactically unsound; you ought to dismount the vehicle in a fighting condition.

So I started looking for an LBE replacement.  The one I settled on was the RACK (Ranger Assault Carrying Kit.)  Developed by Specialty Defense, I’m told that it was developed specifically to meet the Ranger’s requirements for “assault” oriented gear.  The RACK, in effect, is a MOLLE apron.  All it is is a wrap around vest with MOLLE loops on it for you to attach bags and pouches too.  What you attach, where you attach, and how much you attach is completely up to you.  In addition, everything on the RACK is in your front plane, meaning you can see it and get to it without having to grope behind you, and with nothing behind you, you can wear it while in a vehicle without any discomfort or loss of mobility.

As great as I think the RACK is, it isn’t without limitations.  While the RACK is easy to wear in a vehicle because there’s nothing behind you, that does limit the amount of stuff you can carry.  I could carry more with my old LBE-pistol belt rig than I can with the RACK, but I couldn’t carry it all the time, so the trade off is now, if I go on walkabout, I need a bail-out bag as well (Camelbak in my case) to carry a few additional essentials.  The RACK, by today’s standards, is also relatively old technology – there are systems out there that are much more advanced than my lash up, made of more exotic materials and what not, but mine’s bought and paid for, and I’m disinclined to spend modern money to upgrade something that currently still meets my mission requirements.

Buy the RACK here