ACR Hot Shot Signal Mirror

 
Submitted by scottmurphy

I have 3 different signal mirrors.  The one I like the most is the ACR Electronics Hot Shot Signal Mirror.  It puts a "red dot" site on the target you're trying to signal.  This helps you line up the sun, mirror and target.  I've used it to signal overflying aircraft with a lot of success.

ED -- SM, I can't fault you on your choice of mirrors.  The ACR is an excelent mirror, and as you said, it has the "red dot" feature to assist you in aiming.  One other thing I like about this particular lash up is that it comes with a whistle and a float, so you can take it on the water with you.

Check out the ACR Hot Shot here.

Byrd Multitool

 
Submitted by Redleg Geek

The original SpyderRench was made in Japan, but was so expensive to make, Spyderco discontinued production for about five years. Now it's made in China by their Byrd Knife subsidiary. Byrd makes the same thing under its own brand name, differing only in the shape of the thumb hole on the blade. Street price for the Spyderco is about $102, while the Byrd is about $87. The two Chinese versions are actually slightly better than the original Japanese one, but that is a quality tool, too. I keep the Spydercos in my collection, but the ByrdRench in my go bag.

Check out the ByrdRench here.

Field Munchies

 

Submitted by Eric Daniel

I had an epiphany about butter the other day. Back when I was stationed in Germany we had an opportunity to train with some German tankers.  Now I’d heard all the jokes about why we were, at the time, patrolling the German borders instead of the German army (“the only nation that doesn’t respect Germany’s borders is Germany,” or “German tanks don’t come with breaks,” or “The problem is, once the German Army gets to the border, it tends to keep on going…”) but I tell you, those guys were flat out aggressive.  When they went on the attack, they took it to you.  There was no creepy-crawling in those Leo IIs.  They were on the move all the time, and by on the move I mean moving flat out.

Anyway, adding insult to injury was the apparent fact that these panzer guys did all this on a diet of black bread and butter.  Any time we were laagered up together for an AAR there they’d be, sitting on their little efficient field stools with a tin of butter and a square of black bread, having a snack while the O/C explained to us how they just handed us our asses.  At the time, what I really found intriguing was the little aluminum tin they had for keeping the butter.  It was about 1.5” tall, 3” in diameter, and has a three lug locking lid.  Inside was a plastic liner, and the lid itself had a rubber gasket to seal it.  I glommed on to one of those tins in an attempt to emulate them (black bread and butter is quite tasty, actually) but maintaining a supply of bread and butter was always an issue (they got theirs delivered with LOGPAC.) 

Anyway, the years go by and there I am, sitting on a hill looking at a bunch of Seabees go about their business (we were doing recon and surveillance training) when several thoughts went through my head.  First, the wheat snack bread they put in the MREs now isn’t half bad, and second, when it get’s really really hot, the issue cheese spread isn’t very appetizing.  That’s when I had my epiphany.  “What if I broke out my old West German butter tin?”  That would be nice, except that it gets a whole hell of a lot hotter in the Mojave than it does in Bavaria and the idea of carrying a tin of butter soup around to dip my bread in didn’t sound all that appealing. That’s when brainwave #2 occurred.  Use that European wunderfood, nutella.  For those of you who’ve never had it, nutella is a chocolate-hazelnut spread that goes very well with bread.  It’s tasty, and unlike butter, it will soften, but not melt completely, in the heat, so even on the hottest of days, it’ll keep it’s form well enough to spread, and used sparingly, a tin full of nutella will last me several weeks. 

Now if I can just get one of those Leo IIs…

Get a German Army butter tin here.

Flashing your Friends

 

Submitted by Eric Daniel

A couple years back, I was sitting in on a training meeting at NTC with an active duty 1SG and his subordinates.  The topic of the meeting was the First Sergeant’s concern over troop dependency on technology for mission accomplishment, specifically navigation and communication.  He was worried that the joes were becoming too dependent on gadgets to figure out where they were and communicating between teams on the ground, as well as with supporting aircraft (helicopters mostly) in the air, and that they were losing core soldier skills.  At one point, seeing as how I was the only guardsman in attendance, he asked me, since we lacked all the modern high speed gear that the AC had, how we managed to get from point A to point B.  I replied, “With a sextant and a rutter, just like everyone else…”

Seriously though, this got me to thinking about non-verbal communication.  One of the stock tools we used extensively in the forest service for communicating, or at least getting the attention of, aircraft was a signal mirror.  It wasn’t so much an issue that we couldn’t communicate with the aircraft, generally we could, it was just that it was usually pretty difficult to rapidly orient them and get them to our location (“Yeah, look for the guy next to the tree…”) By using a signal mirror, we could flash them from ten miles out and steer them right to us with little fuss or cluttering up the net with useless traffic. 

The mirror I’ve had and used for the last 20 years is a laminate mil-spec glass mirror.  I’ve had several additional mirrors over the years, mostly plastic or metal, but these have never stood the test of time and abuse that my glass one has (to be fair, I view the plastic ones as truly emergency use.  The mirror itself is covered by a protective sticker which you peel off to use the mirror.  Once the sticker comes off, the plastic is really easy to scratch and dull, so the mirror ought to be replaced with a new "covered" one as soon as possible.)

In looking up a source for my 20 year old mirror online, I discovered there’s quite the controversy going on about these mirrors.  The one I have is a Vector 1 style, manufactured in Japan.  Another style available is made by the S.I. Howard glass company.  Both of these mirrors are made from tempered laminate glass, and feature a “retro-reflective” sighting hole in the center of the glass.  This retro-reflective sight provides you with a “fireball” aiming point to help you accurately flash your target (if you put the spot on the target, then the sun is being reflected properly.)  Other glass signaling mirrors may resemble the Vector and Howard mirrors, but only these two have the retro reflective finish in the center for aiming.

Having a signal mirror goes way beyond martial and firefighting applications.  There’s no reason what so ever for someone going abroad out of doors to not carry one of these for emergency purposes (for you maritime adventurers, either get a USCG approved lexan mirror that floats, or get a glass one and run a float through the lanyard loop.)  They don’t take up a lot of space, they’ll last you forever, and it might just save your life some day.