Notetaking in the 21st century

Submitted by Eric Daniel

Back in the day I never went anywhere without a 3x5 green “Memoranda” book and pen in my uniform pocket (NSN 7530-00-222-0078 by the way.)  In fact, I still have all my old ones collecting dust in a box in my closet somewhere, waiting for that day that I have nothing better to do than go through them all to decide what phone numbers to keep and which to burn.

Well, just recently, a couple of things happened, which caused me to rethink my little green notebook and upgrade to something different.  First, the ACUs came out, and as fortune would have it, the breast pockets are just large enough to accommodate the notebook if I stuff nothing in it, which is certainly not the case with mine (“pregnant” would probably be the best description I could give my current notebook) so squeezing that sucker in and out of that dinky pocket has rapidly become a chore.  Second, my wife came home one day sporting a shiny new Palm E2 PDA.  Now I’ve never been into organizers, day planners, or portable filing cabinets in general (this is probably due to the mental scaring I received while being pushed, kicking and screaming, through all those SGT Morales boards in Germany) but I had to admit, with the advent of micro processors and portable memory chips, a device like that E2 would certainly make my life easier.

So I am officially now a PDA convert.  I have no idea if the Palm E2 is the best out there or the cheapest (at $199.00 I can guarantee that it isn’t the cheapest, and it most definitely does not have all the bells and whistles) but it does everything I ask of it.  Roster information, classroom PPT presentations, photos, you name it, I can load it up on that thing.  The E2 has an internal lithium-ion battery that can be charged either through an AC wall unit or by plugging into your computer.  The memory chip is also removable, so you can swap them out with other chip using devices such as digital cameras or cell phones, or use a data cable to link the two devices and transfer data that way.

If only they came in green…

Get the Palm E2 here

Dremel to the rescue

Submitted by Eric Daniel

For those of you who have never fired it, the M-240 series machine guns are solid performers.  Reliable, and possessing a high ROF, they are a great weapon to have in your bag.  The only downside I’ve ever had with it though is the difficulty in cleaning the carbon buildup off of the gas piston cup.  Powder residue is constantly deposited in that cup and on the operating rod behind it, and after a couple of thousand rounds, stripping all that fouling off can be a real chore.

While the Army does field a couple of tools that will help remove some of that buildup, traditionally, it has required a lot of elbow grease and a couple of blunt instruments.

Well, being the avid hobbyist that I am, I have a number of Dremel tools at the house, and one day I decided to bring my battery powered portable to Graf with me to see how it would work on that carbon.  Long story short, it was brilliant.  With a bristle wire wheel attached, the Dremel strips off the buildup but leaves the cup and rod undamaged (the steel in the operating rod is harder than the wire in the brush.)

My Dremel, purchased in the 80’s, ran off of four AA batteries, which would provide power for about an half an hour of continuous use.  Dremel now makes their 4.8v cordless with a built in, rechargeable battery pack, which is replaceable, so you can purchase multiple packs.

If you’re looking for a “garrison” model, with a dedicated power source, I’d recommend any of their stock models (I have the multi-speed) with the flex shaft extension, so all you have to hold on to is the tool tip.

Buy a Dremel tool here

Happiness is not suffering a -2 for moving in the open

Submitted by Eric Daniel

In 1980, for the colossal sum of $25, I acquired the Holy Grail of board games –

Squad Leader.

For those not in the know, SL, developed by the now defunct Avalon Hill Game Company, came out in 1977 as a turn-based WWII infantry board game played on geomorphic boards with cardboard counters representing individual squads, tanks, leaders, and support weapons.

SL, and its successor Advanced Squad Leader, set the standard for accuracy and detail.  Weather, morale, seasons, troop quality, equipment reliability, fatigue, all are addressed.  There was mud, there were hills and cliffs, there was smoke, white phosphorus, barbed wire, snipers, paratroopers, foxholes and trenches, there were even donkeys and reindeer.  If it was in the war, it was in the game.

Squad Leader wasn’t a game you played, it was a game you lived.  To this day, I still get panic attacks waiting for Turn 1 of “The Tractor Works.”  Darth Vader and his Stormtroopers had nothing on that 10-3 harbinger of doom, Oberst Grup and his platoon of flamethrower and demo-charge packing 8-3-8 engineers.

The original SL evolved, through three expansion games, to encompass all of the major Axis and Allied powers as well as most of the terrain types.  What SL didn’t address Advanced Squad Leader did when it came out in 1985.  With ASL the rules got more advanced, the counters got more accurate, and the style of play completely changed (the only things that transferred from SL to ASL were the boards and the dice 9though you now needed four dice instead of two.)  ASL literally addresses everything.  ALL Axis and Allied major and minor powers (Finns, Gurkhas, Bulgarians and Belgians, Vichy and Free French, as well as conscripts, guerrillas, Marquis and the Home Guard, and finally, the Japanese and Chinese and U.S. Marines (though not a different race, per se., they were missing from the original SL.))

ASL was not a game for the timid or the faint of heart.  Its rules were lengthy and complex and you had to understand THEM ALL in order to play the game effectively.  Once mastered though, these rules made for a very exciting and challenging game (to date, my favorite scenario is “Climax at Nijmegen Bridge.”  Though one of the original GI. Anvil of Victory scenarios, it has always been a nail-biting bloodbath and I never pass up an opportunity to play it.)

Unfortunately, like all good things, SL went out of production when Avalon Hill was bought out by Hasbro in the late 90’s.  ASL’s death was short lived, however, as production rights for all things Squad Leader were acquired by Major League pitcher and ASL fanatic, Curt Schilling, who began reintroducing old material and publishing new under his production company, Multi-Man Publishing.

Get Advanced Squad Leader here

Ancient Chinese secret

Submitted by Eric Daniel

Now, for the first time ever, as seen on TV, you too can experience the Far East secret to a good night’s sleep…

Ok, I don’t know about all of that, or its hypoallergenic qualities, or its chakra centering, aroma therapeutic, or healing benefits, but if you’re looking for a good pillow, buckwheat hulls are hard to beat.

I’ve known about these pillows for a number of years, but my favorite pillow, 25+ years running, has been a feather filled pillow I picked up in an Army-Navy surplus store.  Well, good as that feather pillow has been to me, it is an absolute albatross for taking to the field.  It’s heavy, it doesn’t work worth a flip when wet, its difficult to clean, and it takes up a lot of space in my kit bag.  Consequently, when in the field I have traditionally resorted to a wadded up poncho liner, gortex jacket, or even my BDUs to serve as a means of keeping my head out of the mud.

With this last trip to Iraq, though, I’d finally had enough.  I was going to get me a real pillow (having my ole “favorite” shipped over was not an option.)  The one I settled on was a small sized buckwheat hull filled pillow.  Disregarding all of the metaphysical qualities listed, I opted for one of these simply as a trial and error experiment.  What I ended up with, however, was a new traveling companion.

As you may or may not know, buckwheat hull pillows are filled with, well… buckwheat hulls.  These “nutshells” don’t compact like feathers, so the pillow breathes well, and they’re very conductive thermally, so they don’t get really hot when you sleep with them.  Furthermore, they absorb moisture well, so they don’t get slimy like poncho liners do when you sweat, which is nice for places like Iraq, and they absorb vibrations well, so they are nice to have when flying first class courtesy Military Airlift Command (yes yes, I know, MAC, SAC, and TAC are gone, but I do love the classic names.)

The pillow I got was a small "travel" sized one (12x16 inches or there about.)  This was big enough to work, yet small enough to fit into my CVC bag or to wedge under my neck while riding in a C-130.  For 8 months, I packed that sucker with me everywhere I went, only to have to throw it away when I rotated home (the navy Chief running the customs inspection station determined that the organic filler (which was grown and processed in the United States) was considered an agricultural product, and was not allowed back into the country.  Next time I’ll just ship it home in the CONEX.

Get a Buckwheat hull pillow here

Cooking, Bessemer style

Submitted by Eric Daniel

Over the years, I’ve used a number of cooking stoves in the field, ranging from the “ancient” 1880’s design SVEA 123, to the sterno fired Swedish army mountain set, to the MSR XGK multi-fuel.  The one thing they all have in common is they run off of some form of liquid fuel.  Run out of fuel and all you’re left with is a high tech paperweight.

I have also used trioxane tabs as well, and while they’re the best thing to use for cooking in a truly tactical environment (their blue flame is not a dead giveaway) they are bulky to carry in mass and as such, you need to be very careful not to burn through them if you’re going to be in the field for any length of time.

This got me to thinking.  “Is there a stove out there (other than those that run off cartridges like the Gaz or the Jetboil) that run off of something other than liquid fuel?”

The zip stove.

This is the first camping stove I ever owned.  I picked this stove up as a card-carrying Boy Scout back in the 80’s and until I replaced it with my XGK, it was my constant outdoor companion.  The Sierra “zip” stove is basically a man-portable blast furnace that uses a forced ventilation system to burn any combustible material.  Sticks, twigs, bark, pinecones, they all go into the stove.  The complete stove weighs less than a pound and the fan/stove stand fits into the burner chamber for low volume storage.  The standard zip stove is powered by a single AA battery, which will provide power for six hours of operation (the 18,000 btu burner will boil a quart of water in under four minutes.)

Since I purchased mine, there have been a number of upgrades and modifications made to the baseline unit.  Sierra now has a number of accessories available, to include a spark arrestor, grilling box, D cell converter (35 hours of cook time off the D cell battery) and heat shield.

The zip stove is definitely not tactical.  When operational it produces a bright yellow flame, and depending on the quality of your fuel it may smoke a bit (if you’re going to use wet or damp fuel try to “pre-heat” it by piling it next to the stove once you get a good fire running.  The fuel will dry out quickly and reduce the amount of smoke created.)  Its use (in non-combat situations) may be restricted if you are in a no natural fire, or no wood gathering area, but in those situations where fuel is readily available, a pack of 8 AA batteries will last you a lot longer than a gallon of white gas, and they aren’t nearly as flammable.

Get a zip stove here