Platypus Hydration Bladders

Submitted by Everett Mobley

Camelbak packs are high quality, but I hate their hydration bladder. It collapses flat and is difficult to clean and dry.

The Platypus bladders expand like an envelope, and they can be free-standing. They are easy to fill and to drain and dry. They have screw-on caps for use as water-bottles if you're not using the sipper tube.

ED -- Everett, which Platypus system do you use?  In looking over the selection, it seems that the best bladder to use would be the Big Zip SL, with its slid lock closure system located at the top of the bladder, which makes for easy filling.  The other bladder system, the Hoser, has a screw cap, and while the loop at the top makes a convenient hanging point for the bag, the small cap opening would appear to be a drawback (most modern Camelbak bladders have a large diameter opening which allows for you to add ice or what ever easily.)  Also, at 2L. (70 Oz.) the Big Zip is still 1L. shy of the biggest Camelbak bladders.

Check out the Platypus Line of Hydration Bladders here.

Supply Captain Hydration/ASIP Pouch

 

Submitted by Devilfox

There are couple other options I found.

One is on a website called Supply Captain, they have a 'DUAL HYDRATION SYSTEM/PRC 119F RADIO CARRYING POUCH' that can carry an ASIP. Price is tad steep however, $129 or so. But can carry few other things too.

Second option in on the website, Kifaru.net. They carry a 'Radio Pouch' that hangs internally for the older 119s. I am sure if you contact them and ask, they can adjust the width. Price is a lot more reasonable around $29. Only catch is, it’s an internal mount-on backpack. Which, honestly, in the course of things ain't too bad.

ED – Devil, I like the look of the SC dual hydration system, especially the fact that you can wear it as a stand alone pack or you can lace it in to something else (another pack, the back of your IBA, what ever is MOLLE compatable.)  I’d consider it for that feature alone, and just lace the thing to my IBA, but I haven’t ever served in a unit yet that let you take your IBA off (except when you were asleep) and packing a radio and ammo into the porta-john gets old, so all my kit is still on the RACK. On the down side, though, as you said, it is a little pricy, and for that amount of money I could get a full blown assault pack.  I would certainly consider this over the S.T.R.I.K.E. ASIP pouch though, even though it is more expensive.

As for the Kifaru radio pouch, as you said, the pouch they offer is basically an internal radio hanger for ruck sack sized packs.  I already have an assault pack that both the full sized radio, or a pair of ASIPs will fit into, and my ruck (a CFP-90) comes with a built in radio bag.  Again, of the two, even though the Kifaru is cheaper, I’d go with the Supply captain bag.

Over the Shoulder Radio Holder

 
Submitted by barber13f

The S.T.R.I.K.E. ASIP pouch sucks. It digs into your arms and doesn’t fit over PPE very well. They tear up very fast and while the MOLLE pouches are a great thing to be able to put on you end up with a monster that is a bitch to carry around by the time you get done throwing mission essential items on the thing.

Look into the Camelbak Transformer, it is a very comfortable pack and has room for extra batteries, hand mic's, and whips along with any other crap you put in there. My RTO was able to keep 2 batteries, a soft or hard whip, an IZLD and an extra hand mic. The outside pouch has enough room to shove in extra maps, 3x5 cards and map markers.

I would recommend this pack to anyone that has to carry an ASIP for an extended period of time. It's a little more expensive but it lasted my team 15 months of humping through the Euphrates River Valley.

ED – barber, I’m beginning to think that this is going to be my only real option.  Currently I’ve got the Camelback Motherlode, and as an assault pack it has done just fine.  There’s enough room in there for water, snacks, a poncho and liner, a radio or two, as well as NODs and batteries.  The pack even has a couple of openings for the radio.  On the plus side, it looks like the TransFormer is even cheaper than the Motherlode.  Does it come in any color other than black though?

Check out the Camelbak TransFormer here.

Taking a Load Off

 

Submitted by Eric Daniel

You never know how much you miss having someplace to sit until they take your tank away.  For the first part of my career I was in Armor, and our motto was “death before dismount.”  Sure, we’ll complete the mission, but on the tank.  Then I went to the Scouts and we had trucks.  Granted, they were draftier, the heater didn’t work as well, and they leaked (well, ok, so did the tank) but, at least, there was someplace to sit.  Now, I’m a hapless leg, and all I’ve got to keep my butt out of the mud, or snow, or wet, is my k-pot.

No more.  After a little bit of research and a little trial and error, I have found Nirvana.  The Walkstool Comfort 22. 

Manufactured in Sweden, the Walkstool line of lightweight chairs is really quite impressive.  Made from a trio of aluminum tubes topped by a heavy duty mesh seat, the walkstool has two settings; collapsed and fully extended.  The one I opted for was the 22” model, where 22 refers to the chair’s fully extended height.  The feet on the stool’s three legs are large diameter and made from textured rubber so they provide not only low ground pressure, but good traction on unstable surfaces.  The stool is black in color, though the leg extensions are silver (may get around to painting them so it’s more “tactical”) and in the case of this particular model, the weight rating is 495 pounds.  Now, I have to admit, when I was looking for a combat chair, most of the ones I say that even listed a weight rating, were all in the 175-250 range, so if ever I was going to use the thing, I was going to have to strip all my gear off, so when I saw the stool’s was rated to nearly 500 pounds, that pretty much closed the deal – I could take this thing anywhere and it was never going to break on me.  Naturally, Walkstool makes a number of “ultra light” models, with lower weight ratings, but given that this “monster” only weighs 33 ounces and collapses to the size of my Thermos, I concluded it was money, and weight, well spent.

Check out the Walkstool field chairs here.

Smith’s 3 in 1 Sharpener

 

Submitted by Eric Daniel

I have come to the conclusion that serrated pocket knives are a fact of life.  Don’t get me wrong, I think serrated blades are a definite plus, especially when it comes to cutting things like cord, rope, cardboard and the like, but sharpening them can be a pain.  A couple of the Joes in my unit are knife magnets and they carry a number of tools to sharpen their field blade collections, but I was wanting something more universal.  What I came across was a device from Smith’s. 

Technically, I believe the sharpener is called the Smith’s Carbide, Ceramic and Diamond sharpener (though REI refers to it as the Pocket Pal.)  The carbide parts are for gross sharpening and resetting the edge, while the ceramic ‘stones’ are for finishing.  Both the ceramic and carbide stones are reversible and replaceable.  What really turned me on to the Smith’s sharpener, however, was the tapered diamond rod. The tapered diamond rod allows me to sharpen the serrations on my pocket knives that feature them, and because it’s tapered, it “scales” well with the different sized serrations (Spyderco knives, for example, were ‘notorious’ for having different radii serrations in their blades).  To sharpen the serrations, you just need to run the rod up the middle of the serration and the expanding diameter of the rod will sharpen the entire curved surface.

To be sure, this is not the best or finest sharpener out there, and I probably will not be using it to sharpen my fillet knife, but it certainly does a number on my field knives, as well as the blades on my Gerber-tool, and at $10, it’s doesn’t break the bank and I won’t cry too much if I lose it.

Check out the Smith's Sharpener here.

BlastMatch 1-Handed Fire Starter

 
Submitted by Scott F Murphy

Here I go again - throwing in my 2 cents.

I have both of these units: StrikeForce Fire Starter and the BlastMatch Fire Starter

I used to have the standard magnesium fire starter - while it works well, it basically ruins what would otherwise be a perfectly good knife.  The Blastmatch unit is amazing - I have even been able to get damp tinder started using this thing - the sparks are really hot.  The main differences between the two units are the ability to use the Blastmatch with one hand, but both produce a lot of sparks.

(No, I don't work for REI, they just ROCK.)

ED – Last time I was in REI I didn’t see the BlastMatch (though I might not have recognized it) but I did see the other striker you mention.  As you say, the only downside to the magnesium bar/flint combination is you tear up a perfectly good knife using it.  Now granted, in my case, I have been using a small pocket knife for all my fire starting dirty work, and that’s all I use the knife for, not needing to carry a separate knife to get the fire going would be nice.  I especially like the one handed set up on the BlastMatch.  I assume the flint is spring loaded in the handle and when you push the release it “shoots out” along the steel striker to make sparks.  To reload it all you do is push the flint back in (I assume this can be done just by pushing the unit against a solid surface)?

Rocket Fuel

 
Submitted by Amtho

Also try the waterless hand cleaner gel that every grunt should be carrying.  I love playing with that stuff.  It puts out a blue/clear flame (read extremely hot) and it is a gel, so handles well.  Put that in the middle of your tinder and you are good to go. 

ED – Amtho, you are a genius.  I gave this a go, and as you described, it functioned as advertised.  In experimenting I found that trying to ignite a blob of this stuff is a bit problematic; while you could light it with a match, it didn’t light very well with my sparker.  Once I soaked a cotton ball with it though, it sparked right up.  In fact, when used in conjunction with my old WWII-era ration heater, all I have to do is repack the tin and keep it saturated with Purell, which, as you say, can be found everywhere.  In fact, this has become my new tactical fuel of choice (I’ll use the trioxane until my supply is exhausted, but I don’t see myself buying any more.)

Officially, the only Purell product I tested this with was their "stock" sanitizer, which listed Ethyl Alcohol as the only active ingredient (62%).  While I'm sure their other products might work just as well (except for maybe the foaming stuff) when in doubt I'd recommend you read the label first to see what you're burning.  Purell is available at most convenience and drug stores.

Check out Purell hand sanitizer here.