Eucerin Hand Cream

Submitted by Mike

All it (Bag Balm – ED) really is is lanolin in a carrier like mineral oil or petrolatum.

I used this stuff for years but have found Eucerin cream in the tub and in the tube a better product. The tube can be carried easily in the field and will be used more because you can carry it in your pocket.

ED -- Mike, I did a little dumpster diving and boy does Eucerin offer a lot of stuff.  I assume the product you're referencing is their "original" formula (pictured here.)  As you said, the Eucerin is a lanolin based product, though based on their product description it appears to be a more highly refined form of lanolin.  Eucerin is available at most drug stores and department storts.

Learn more about Eucerin here.

Pump it Up

Submitted by John

As an infrequent backpacker I've used the Katadyn Hiker, which I believe is similar to the MSR product. The "conventional wisdom" I've been exposed to is that in the US filtering with Hiker (or similar products) is usually sufficient (unless of course you're getting water from the pond described above). Katadyn has a purification tablet that is recommended for use in 3rd world areas (to deal with viruses) in addition to filtering with the Hiker.

ED – John, I dug some additional information up on the Hiker.  It uses a pleated figerglass charcoal cored filter capable of filtering up to 200 gallons of water down to the .3 micron level.  The unit itself weighs 11oz, is, 6.5 inches tall, and in looking at the images on the Katadyn website, it looks like the unit folds up nicely (the Hiker has a top mounted “plunger” type pumping handle whereas the MSR unit has a “lever” type pivoting handle.)  The hiker retails from Katadyn for $

In addition the Micropur MP1 purification tablets you’re referring to are chlorine dioxide based and are EPA certified effective against viruses, bacteria and micro-organisms (1 tablet per quart of water.)  Katadyn offers the MP1 tablets for $13.95 for a supply of 30 tablets.

Check out the Katadyn Hiker here.

Light my Fire

Submitted by Mike

I have been enamored of a little nylon thing with a spoon on one end and the fork on the other. Forget who made it but you can buy it at any Wal-mark or K-mart in the country for three bucks. Works like a spoon and a fork (even though I hate plastic forks this is close to acceptable to me.) Really, how many times to you use a spoon and a fork in the same meal anyway? If they would make a titanium model I would buy it and give it to all my little friends who think a spork is actually something to eat with......

ED – Mike, I’m assuming this is similar to the spoon/fork thing you’re referring to.  I got this off of Wal-Mart’s website, and it’s bundled with some other camp cookware, for a total cost of $14.98.  If you look closely at the fork portion, you notice that one edge has been shaped to serve as a cutter.

Check out the Light My Fire Meal kit here

Get the Bugs Out

Submitted by Eric Daniel

No one these days thinks much about potable water in the field.  When I was in Iraq in 04-05 we had a blivet farm on-site with 250,000 gallons of fresh water on hand, not to mention pallets of bottled water every 100 feet. 

Back in the “old” days though, drinking water was not a sure thing.  During the ’91 Gulf War, before the shooting started, our fresh water came in the form of a hyper chlorinated 400 gallon water buffalo delivered every week.  There was so much chlorine in the tank that you couldn’t consume the water until seven days past the fill date, to give the chemical a chance to evaporate.  Some days we’d get an early “drop” and have to stare at the buffalo for a couple of days while we waited for the born on date to expire before we could drink it (though before that time it was great as wash water.) Once the shooting started though, you were down to drinking out of your jerry cans.

Those days, however, are long gone.  Nowadays, folk drink their water out of a bottle, and before every mission they’ll toss a couple cases of the “good” stuff in their vehicle and head outside the wire (by the way, if your unit is one of those who opts for the 5-gallon jerry cans filled with bulk water, that’s great, and I’m not bagging on those units that did that.  All I’m saying is the units I worked with didn’t do it.)

Unfortunately, I think this is a bad practice to get into.  As soldiers, we can’t always rely on mountains of bottled water everywhere to meet our needs.  There may come a time when you’re going to be out and about and you’re going to have to make your own water, the old fashioned way.

To this end, I have taken to packing a portable water filtering pump.  My choice is the MSR Miniworks EX water filter.  Hand operated, the EX will filter 1 liter/min, and with a combination of charcoal/ceramic filter element, the EX can be cleaned and maintained for years of field service (there are no accessory parts to pack and it does not require tools for field stripping.)

The EX filter will strip out anything larger than .2 microns, which accounts for most bugs like crypto and giardia, as well as particulates (sand, rocks, etc…)

A word of caution though, the EX IS NOT a purification system.  It will not kill viruses, and it will not sterilize the water.  If you’re going to use the EX to filter drinking water, I’d also suggest you use a secondary means of actual purification, such as boiling or iodine (or their equivalent) pills.

Despite this limitation I still prefer the EX over total purification systems.  Purifiers typically require the addition of a chemical agent to purify the water, and are not designed to operate without it, so if you lose (or run out of) the chemical, the purifier becomes dead weight.  At 16 oz. the EX is also fairly light and easily packed.

Check out the MSR Miniworks EX here.

Have Coffee, Will Travel

Submitted by Eric Daniel

Ok, here’s the situation.  You’re a coffee junkie who happens to be a NASA astronaut, not to mention having a doctorate in chemical engineering, trapped in a weightless environment where the lack of gravity makes it impossible to enjoy that mandatory cup of joe in the morning.

Solution?  Fabricate yourself a zero-g coffee cup out of a piece of overhead plastic from your handy dandy shuttle flight data file book, which is exactly what NASA astronaut and engineer Dr. Donald Pettit did.

The problem in space is that, with a lack of gravity, there’s no way to draw the liquid out of the cup (if you think about it, one normally brings the cup up to the mouth and tilts it to either “pour” the liquid into the mouth, or in the case of hot fluids, such as coffee, bring the surface of the liquid close to the mouth where it can be sipped.)  In space, no matter how you tilt the cup, the liquid is not coming out.  This is why astronauts have traditionally consumed fluids from pouches, using straws to draw the liquid out.

Well, Dr. Pettit, having worked with Los Alamos labs on a variety of experiments, including reduced gravity fluid flow and problems in detonation physics (yes, he’s a rocket scientist) applied the same technological concepts to his coffee cup design that rocket designers do to their zero-g fuel tanks.  Zero-g fuel tanks are shaped like a traditional aircraft wing (airfoil), with a large rounded edge (the leading edge) and a sharp angle on the other (trailing) edge.  As Dr. Pettit explains in this video, “If the angle (of the trailing edge of the airfoil “cup”) is less than 2 x (90-contact wetting angle), then the fluid will be drawn up out of the coffee ( by wicking action created by the interaction between the fluid and the angled surface of the cup.)  This will allow you to sip, not suck, a fluid out of the cup as the wicking action will continue to draw more fluid up from the bottom of the cup.

Granted, this little discovery isn’t on the same order of criticality as the “Franken-filter” NASA engineers had to come up with for the lithium hydroxide CO2 scrubbers on the Apollo 13 lunar module, but it’s still pretty slick.

Nick's Hot Shots

Submitted by Ernie Wells

I have been doing wildland fire for 14 seasons and I have to agree that a quality pair of boots goes a long ways. I wear a pair made by a company called "Nicks" and will never buy another pair of boots off the shelf again. I am going to get a pair made to wear with the new Navy working uniform.

ED – Ernie, I assume the Nick’s you’re referring to come from Nick’s Custom Boots, out of Spokane, WA. 

The wildland boot they offer, the Hot Shot, is fully NFPA 1977 compliant.  It’s of all-leather construction, available in five “sizes” (8”, 10”, 12”, 14”, and 16” tops, though NFPA requires boots with at least 10” tops), features rebuildable welt construction, and can be ordered in two styles; traditional, and lace to toe.

In checking out their website I came across an interesting photo (the one shown above.)  One issue that many folk complain of with boots of this nature is the “bite” that occurs on your instep.  We referred to this as “white bite” and accepted it as the price you paid for wearing the boots.  Well, according to Nick’s, if you follow the lacing pattern featured here, which they describe as the 2-1-3 pattern, you will eliminate the bite issue.  In addition, they also offer an interesting take on boot break in, which I’ve never heard of, but I think I’ll give it a go with my next pair of boots.

Get a pair of Nick's here

Combat Information Management

Submitted by Eric Daniel

One of the side effects of my participation in the 1991 Canadian Army Trophy (CAT) tank gunnery competition was I became a voracious note taker.  Between logging boresight data, referencing range maps, and plotting positions, my gunner’s station became cluttered with paperwork. 

My solution to this was to employ an aviator’s kneeboard.  Used by pilots to keep vital information organized and close at hand, a kneeboard is essentially a small notebook strapped to your thigh.  Kneeboard styles run the full spectrum, from the simple, single panel clipboard, to the extravagant tri-fold design with built in fuel management calculator. 

The one I opted for was large and simple.  It was a tri-fold design, meaning it had a central panel with a rigid aluminum plate in it to serve as a writing surface, along with flap pockets on either side for storage.  The left hand flap was a zippered compartment which could hold note cards, casualty feeder cards, my artillery protractor and what not, while the right hand flap was faced with a piece of clear plastic, which allowed me to insert a folded section of map, as well as apply graphic overlays on.  The kneeboard attached to my leg via a single velcro strap, and was easily removed.

While I have since moved on to a custom built one (those crafty folk in Korea can make anything) in looking at what’s out there now, if I had to pick again, I’d go with something along the lines of either the ASA tri-fold, in either the standard or long board configuration.  Both are simple, rugged, have all the features I was interested in, and are cheap (the long board will run you about $32.)

Check out ASA kneeboards here

Sailing the Sandy Seas

Submitted by Eric Daniel

For those of you who were ever on the M60 series of tank, one of the nifty features it had was a built in compass.  While this might not seem like a big deal, it did offer you the ability to navigate on the fly (with a conventional compass you’d have to stop the tank, dismount, get away from all the metal, and shoot an azimuth, not exactly the most streamlined of processes.)

This feature, regrettably, was omitted from the M1 series, as well as not appearing on humvees (funny thing that, not giving scouts a built-in compass.)  Our solution to this dilemma was to install a “boat” style compass behind the GPS doghouse (right next to the weather station.)  The compass wasn’t fancy, it only ran us about $25, but it was illuminated, fluid stabilized, and weatherproof. 

The neat thing about boat compasses is they can be tuned.  Watercraft generate their own magnetic fields, which needs to be compensated for, not to mention the variations in the local magnetic field, and so by using one of these compasses we were able to zero out the magnetic influence of the tank, as well as compensate for the local variations.  The large viewing area of compass made it easy to read through the FUP (Forward Unity Periscope) and the fluid dampening prevented the compass ball from flailing about uncontrollably as we went cross country.

That was 15+ years ago.  I know there are all sorts of high speed navigation systems out there both military (Blue Force Tracker et. al.) and civilian (I own a GPS now) but I still like to carry a compass as a backup (the Earth has never let me down.)  Boat compasses, also have evolved greatly.  The top end ones now include GPS as well as other navigational features, but the base line model still does the trick for me.  The Ritchie D-55 Explorer, for example, is fluid stabilized, internally illuminated (the night light is low visibility green) and can be configured for either 12 or 24 volt operation (you can wire it into your dome light controls.)  It’s got internal dampers and field compensation controls for stability and accuracy, and a detachable base so you can remove it for storage (since the base is flat you can Velcro the unit to the top of the turret, the dash, where ever.)

Check out the Ritchie D-55 Explorer here

Ruck Up

Submitted by Eric Daniel

Next to boots, the most important piece of kit you have on the fireline is your pack.  Your line gear is literally your home away from home.  Everything you need to survive the next 24-72 hours, not to mention save your life, needs to be in that pack.  At the same time, your line gear needs to be durable (firefighting is a rough and dirty business after all) as well as bearable (you’re going to be wearing it, after all, pretty much full time so it can’t be a back breaker.)

Unfortunately, as a firefighter “draftee” (i.e. Guardsman turned firefighter) the line gear you get issued leaves a lot to be desired.  Like the Alice packs of old, the FSS issued gear is functional, just not very ergonomical.  When I was a professional firefighter, the best gear I ever used was from Eagle.  In addition to being solidly built (all Eagle products carry a lifetime warranty) the Eagle packs also distribute weight well.  In addition to large, and thick, shoulder straps, the Eagle packs have padded waist belts, which allow you to distribute the weight between your shoulders and your hips (this also makes for a more secure load; the last thing you want is a pack flopping about on your back as you move up and down the fire line.)

The pack I originally used was the Eagle Warrior.  This is a front-loading pack (by front loading it has a large zippered flap on the “face” of the pack which exposes the whole pack when opened) that has room on the belt for four 1-liter canteens as well as “fusee” (road flare) loops for 8 flares (for doing burnouts.)  The pack I have now is the Eagle Commissioner.  The Commissioner is a top load pack, in that it lacks the large main zipper, and instead, is accessed from the top of the pack (the top is covered by a fold-over flap that is held in place with adjustable fastex clips.)  The advantage I see in the top loading over the front-loading is your pack isn’t deadlined if the zipper fails (not that eagle won’t repair the zipper mind you, but you’d have to send the pack in to get that done.)  The Commissioner also allows you to pack a “hydration system” (camelback bladder) which saves you from having to pack canteens, though I still carry two simply because they’re easier to fill, stream-side, than the bladder is.  The Commissioner also features a detachable main pack, which allows you to walk the line with just your fire shelter and canteens.  Finally, as with the Warrior pack, the Commissioner is pretty indestructible and it too carries the Eagle lifetime warranty.

Combat Weather Forecasting

Submitted by Eric Daniel

“All stations this net, this is Charlie Niner-Two, stand by for air temp and pressure update, over.”

In Armor, weather updates are a critical element to the tank’s fire control system.  While the FCS can automatically sample some data, such as wind speed, inclination, and turret traverse rate, it can’t tell what the ammunition temperature, air temperature, and barometric pressure are.  In these cases it’s up to the crew to manually enter this data.  In the case of ammunition temp, this is simply a matter of reading the temp off the ammunition temp gauge, but getting air temp and baro pressure require outside assistance.  In peacetime, this data can be had from the tower (C92) or the TOC, both of whom get the information from Range Control.

What do you do, though, if you’re in combat, on the attack, and there is no tower, and there is no range control?  In 1991 we learned that you “just run with it.”  The Army has published “fleet” values published in the back of the tank’s TM (Technical Manual) for baro pressure and temperature for given months of the year and regions of the globe.  Unfortunately, these values can be wildly off base.

Our solution was to invest $50 in a wall mounted “weather station” from the PX.  The three instrument “station” had a clock, a thermometer, and a barometer, all bolted to a wood plaque which, conveniently, fit right behind the GPS “doghouse” and was visible through the TC’s (tank commander) FUP (Forward Unity Periscope, the big vision block in the front of the TC’s cupola.)  With our handy dandy weather station we were able to enter in relatively accurate (the barometer was analogue while the FCC accepts inputs to the hundredths so some guesstimation was required) values for the air temp and pressure.

Well, times have changed, but the need for weather data has not.  Fortunately, advances in technology have made portable weather stations cheaper, more accurate, more durable, and with a number of features ours didn’t have.

The Coghlan’s wireless weather station, for example is completely weather resistant, driven by a lithium battery, and is capable of sampling air temp, air pressure, humidity, heat index, and it can make local weather forecasts based on the previous 8 hours of sampling data. If you put the base unit in the ammunition compartment (hang the remote sensor outside) you can use it as a back up ammunition temp sensor as well.

Another option is the La Crosse Intelligent Forecast Station.  This unit, in addition to the features offered by the Coghlan unit, is also capable of predicting frost, fog, and snow, as well as “real-time” weather forecasts based on a 12-hour data sample.  The La Crosse unit also keeps time through an Atomic clock signal receiver, which makes it’s time keeping extremely accurate.

The Gun That Never Was

Submitted by Eric Daniel

Well, it looks as if the Army has again officially opened the can of worms that is the debate revolving around a replacement for the M16/M4.  With this go around however, the Army says all limitations are off.  They say they’re willing to consider any caliber, any operation system, and any configuration.

Given the Army’s track record with sticking with the M16/M4 through thick and thin, as well as the Army’s previous position that it would stick with the M4 until there was a “revolutionary” breakthrough in small arms technology (hand held death rays?) I’m taking this most recent statement with a salt lick, but in as much as they are soliciting ideas, I might as well offer up mine.

On its face, it would seem that there are only three real issues to consider; how big (in caliber) how many (bullets in the magazine) and how to crank it (what operating system do you go with.)  Once you settle on those, putting them together is packaging. While there are any number of cartridges and operating systems that offer obvious advantages over the M16’s feeble 5.56mm bullet and wretched gas carrier key operating system, if you wanted a truly revolutionary replacement for the M4, I would put my money on the H&K G11.

For those of you not in the know (not that I am, but I remember when it was developed) the H&K G11 rifle was developed as a replacement for the 7.62mm G3 battle rifle in the 1970s.  What the Germans wanted to develop was a weapon with a large ammunition capacity (50 rounds) low weight (< 10 pounds loaded) flat trajectory (no sight corrections at <300m) and a high degree of accuracy in 3-round burst mode.

To meet the burst accuracy requirement there were two ways to go, either fire projectiles simultaneously (shotgun shells or duplex rounds) or fire bullets very fast.  The shotgun shell method was dropped because the bullets which would do the job not only generated too much recoil to be effective, but their size put them outside the round capacity requirement, so H&K went with the “shoot really, really fast” approach.  This is where the G11 comes into its own as a revolutionary weapon.

H&K realized that the bigger the bullet, the more propellant it would require to drive it, and that propellant would be translated into not only recoil to be absorbed by the shooter but a loss of overall ammunition capacity in the magazine.  One solution was to use a smaller bullet.  The 4.73x33mm bullet developed for the G11 is smaller that the 5.56mm bullet currently used in the M16 but the high degree of accuracy with the G11 in burst mode makes the G11 as accurate firing 3 shots as the M16 firing one, so the combined effect on the target, with the G11, is greater.

The second issue was dealing with the recoil.  As has been documented since the invention of the first shoulder-fired automatic weapons, felt recoil will bring the weapon off target, thus rendering accurate, aimed automatic fire impossible at desirable ranges.  H&K’s solution was to eliminate the issue by having the weapon fire a 3-round burst so fast that the bullets were out of the barrel and going down range before the recoil reached the shooter.

Again, how H&K did this was pretty slick.  To speed up the firing process H&K eliminated several steps in the firing sequence, specifically locking, unlocking, extracting and ejecting, by going with a caseless ammunition, where the propellant, rather than held in a metal casing behind the bullet, is actually molded around it.  This eliminated the need for extracting and ejecting spent casings, as there were no cartridges to extract, since, when fired, the propellant body was consumed and the bullet launched out the barrel.  Using a caseless cartridge also enabled H&K to not only make lighter bullets (there was no weight wasted in metal casings) but also allowed them to pack more of the bullets into a given space (since the bullets are square, there’s no wasted space in the magazine.)  The net result was a cyclic ROF of 2,000 RPM in 3-round burst mode (in single shot and full auto, the ROF is only 460 RPM.) An additional benefit with going with caseless ammunition was the elimination of additional openings for contamination.  Lacking an ejection port, the G11’s chamber remains relatively sterile.

To eliminate the recoil issue H&K “floated” the barrel and action on a secondary recoil mechanism.  The effect here was that when the burst was fired, the body of the rifle would remain stationary against the firer’s shoulder, while the action and barrel recoiled down the secondary rail; by the time the action came completely out of battery, where the recoil would be felt by the shooter, the burst cycle would be complete (a recoil spring pushes the action back into battery for the next burst.)

The end result was a weapon that was light, with a high ammunition capacity, and which was capable of firing accurate 3-rounds bursts.

So what happened to the G11?  Well, as luck would have it, as the G11 was nearing production capability, peace broke out all over the world and with all the lions-and-lambs group hugging going on, the West German government decided it had more important things to do than buy a bunch of new wunder rifles, (like look for jobs for all it’s new citizens from the East “zone”) so the program was shelved. 

Well, if the Army is looking for revolutionary, I don’t think you can get any more revolutionary than this.  I just don’t expect the Army to explore it.

Check out the G11 here.

The Last Boots You’ll Ever Buy

Submitted by Eric Daniel

An interesting thing happened this year.  As a National Guardsman I was activated on three separate occasions for firefighting related activities.  What made this unusual was the fact that it was actually the first time I’ve been activated and I wasn’t already fighting fire with the USFS. 

Fortunately, those three activations were for support and security roles, and didn’t actually involve firefighting duties (this was because in order to go on the line you have to go through mandatory, annual, fire fighting training, and we didn’t have time to get the class in; we’ve scheduled one for next year.) 

I say fortunately because when I got the call, I suddenly realized how ill prepared I was for cutting line.  The neat new uniforms the Army issued us might make us excellent soldiers (or is it strong soldiers now, I can never keep up with the marketing adjectives) but they make for poor firefighting duds.  The biggest issue is boots.  According to NFPA (National Fire Protection Agency) 1977, Standard on Protective Clothing and Equipment for Wildland Fire Fighting, 2005 Edition guidelines, firefighting boots must be all leather construction with ten-inch tops.  Those high speed GORTEX lined cordura mesh issue boots are a big NOGO.  Unfortunatly, I still see troops on the line wearing them.  The common answers are, “They told us they were ok”, “These are all I’ve got”, “We’re just doing mop up, so I’m fine” or, my personal favorites, “We’re not authorized to wear the old black speed-lace boots with ACUs” or, “Not everyone has black boots and we all need to be uniform.” Being a slave to fashion (or Army uniformity in this case) is one thing, but having a nylon boot melt around your foot because you stepped into a smouldering stump hole is a whole new world of pain.

When I started firefighting in 1993 I was wearing my old speed-lace issue boots.  Unfortunately, they just weren’t up to the challenges and abuses that wildland firefighting places on footwear.  In a four month period I destroyed (and by destroyed I mean rendered unrepairable and completely unservicable) three pairs of boots.  At the end of the season my Engine Boss told me, “You’ve got some money now. Get your self some White’s.  They’ll be the last pair of boots you ever buy.”

So I did, and I have to agree, they were the last firefighting boots I ever bought (ok, that’s technically not true; I bought a second pair of White’s in 1998 and had cork soles put on my original pair for logging and spring/fall burning operations.)

White’s Smokejumpers (the ones I have) are of all leather construction, with some serious arch support.  You can purchase them either “skin out” or “rough out” which refers to either the smooth side of the leather or the rough side of the leather on the surface.  Me, I prefer skin out as I believe the rough interior helps grip my foot better, and the smooth exterior surface is easier to clean.  They can be purchased in standard 8” or 10” tops, in black or brown leather.  They come standard with leather laces (I’ve seen some folk use 550 cord but I’d counsel against that; the leather is more fire resistant, but I’d recommend packing two pair of extra laces in your redbag as well) and are completely rebuildable.  As long as there’s some leather left to stich them back together, you’ll get your boots back (after 8 years of annual rebuilds my second pair of White’s finally gave up the ghost and they couldn’t be rebuilt, which is why I was worried when I got the call this year.  I have since ordered new boots.)

It used to be that you could just call White’s and order boots.  Things have gotten a little more complicated and now they ask for physical measurements (to the point of asking you to trace your foot on a piece of paper) but that’s probably a good thing because the end result is a thing of beauty.

Get a pair of White's here.

Sterling Carbide Pocket Sharpener

Submitted by Lewis Perdue

I swear by the Sterling sharpener. Pricier, but it's served me for years and years.

ED – Some additional information.  The Sterling sharpener features a pair of tungsten carbide sharpening “teeth” set into a 20 degree “V” notch, just like the ceramic rods on the Fiskars sharpener.  The carbide teeth are mounted on an A32 aluminum body, which can be custom colored (the stock sharpener is red.)  Sterling warranties the carbide teeth and construction for life, but does not warranty the custom coating (i.e. they warranty the teeth forever but not the grizzly bear painted on the body.)

The stock sharpener retails for $19.95

One thing to note.  The company says that you can clip this sharpener to your key chain, making it a “go anywhere” sharpener.  In this post 9/11 world though I’d ask first before you try to take it on the plane.  Yes, I know it’s just a sharpener, and it’s got no sharp, “weapon-like” edges, but I’d hate to see someone have to DX theirs at the X-ray machine because the TSA employee at the security checkpoint thought it was a weapon.

Get a Sterling Pocket Sharpener here.

A Real Personal First Aid Kit

Submitted by Eric Daniel

In every unit that I’ve ever been in, one common part of the field uniform has always been the field dressing.  Normally carried at the left hand shoulder, this is the item we’re supposed to reach for in the event we injure ourselves on the battlefield.  Well, that’s all good and well if that wound happens to be from a gunshot, or a bayonet, or artillery fragments, but what if it’s a cut from a small piece of glass, or a skinned knee?  I’ve always been impressed by the portable hospitals the medics in my units carried.  They all take great pride in their work and almost to a man they are medical pack rats.  One of everything is the absolute minimum, and they’d carry three if they could get away with it.  Unfortunately, the end result is, when all I need is a band-aid, it becomes a major evolution just to dig one up out of their pack.  This isn’t a knock on the medic’s preparedness, but rather an observation that, for the most part, they are focused on the “big picture” that being the treatment of large, multiple battle related injuries – not the “play ground” stuff.

A couple years back I started carrying a USFS personal first aid kit with me in the field.  It’s small, about the size of a canteen cup, and is filled with a good assortment of personal first aid items.  In addition, it comes in a nice, durable, plastic case that was fairly crush resistant.  Unfortunately, I even found that to be too large for what I was looking for.

What I eventually settled on was using an empty mint tin (Altoids, Fishermen’s Friend, etc..)  It was the perfect size.  In it I carry a couple assorted sized band-aids, a couple alcohol pads, a couple iodine pads, a small patch of moleskin, a couple aspirin, Motrin and Imodium, and that’s about it.  The tin is small enough that it can go into any of my ACU pockets (I put mine in the right hand ankle pocket to keep it out of the way and since I don’t use those pockets for anything else) and is robust enough that it keeps the contents in good shape (especially the pills.)  More over, the size absolutely limits how much I can carry.  The purpose of the kit is to treat truly minor boo-boos without having to break open the CLS footlocker; it doesn’t have to get me through a 1-year tour, just the end of the day.

P.S. – As an added bonus, it fits inside that “hot beverage bag” (aka the Ziploc) that comes with MREs now so if you want to waterproof it, you can.

Pocket Rock

Submitted by Eric Daniel

Making beer one day I was rooting around my buddy’s garage looking for a razor blade to cut open a bag of hops when I came across an old folding blade pocket knife in his tool box.  Opening up the main blade, I could see that it was dull as hell, but, being too lazy to go into the kitchen for shears, I figured I’d just blunt force the bag open with the knife.

“Hold up”, my buddy said, “Gimmie that knife.” 

So I did, and he pulled a tiny orange square out of the box and proceeded to pass the knife blade through it a couple of times before passing the knife back to me.

“There you go, good as new.”

Sure enough, the knife functioned as advertised and the reinforced mylar vacuum bag opened with ease.

The tool he had used was a Fiskars Pocket Sharpener.  The FPS is a square of plastic maybe 1 x 2 inches, with a pair of pre-set of ceramic sharpening stones.  One pair is for coarse work, while the other pair is for fine finishing.  I was amazed at the number this tiny little sharpener did on that knife.  To be sure, I would imagine there are stones and sharpening systems out there that could put this little gem to shame, but not for the price ($3) and the size (less than an ounce and you could carry a dozen in your pocket.) This thing is just the ticket for a quick touch up out in the field.

For some odd reason, Fiskars doesn’t mention this sharpener on their website, and they are no longer orange, but they are still available.

P.S. -- Apparently Gerber also sells a version of this sharpener, so they are also available from Gerber in both ceramic and diamond versions.

Get a Fiskars Pocket Sharpener here.

Drano Drops

Submitted by Eric Daniel

I like breathing.  Call me a wimp, but the fact is, I’m not worth a flip during the day if I can’t breathe.  Well, one day, when I was feeling particularly sickly and stuffed up on a trip to The Netherlands I was introduced to Fisherman’s Friend lozenges.  The Dutch girl I was dating at the time said they were, “strong, drop strong.”  Now, for those of you uninitiated to the concept of “Drop”, the uncrowned national candy of Holland, Drop are a cross between black licorice and Clorox, with an emphasis on the Clorox part.  Never in my life have I experienced anything more foul and disgusting than drop, but if she said these FF things were strong, maybe they’d unplug my nose and let me breathe normally again.

The effect was instant and immediate.  Sucking on one of those little brown Drano drops cleared my nose right up and got me breathing again.

That was 1989 and Fisherman’s Friend drops are still a standard part of my field gear.  I’m told they come in a variety of flavors, but the ones I keep using are the originals, which still do the trick.  If you are looking to take them to the field, I’d suggest you hit up a drug store and get the tin and then buy packs in bulk and just refill the tin as you go.  Be forewarned though, they are NOT yummie (unless you like Drop that is…)

Get yourself some Fisherman's Friends here

Why Not?

Submitted by Eric Daniel

Jason posted this comment a while back on my “What is a Combat Handgun?” entry.

When I got out I worked personal security for individuals.  I had to take 3 levels of firearms qualification classes.  Even with my experience several of my instructors asked me to try the revolver (yes I am going there)

I was skeptical.  But in their opinions (all were similar), if I got the **** scared out of me I would be more accurate with a revolver.  I went to a gun shop after doing some research and picked up a S&W Model 66.  Stainless steel, .357 Magnum, and adjustable sights.  Night sights too.

I started practicing with it every night for about an hour during my courses and would shoot both types of firearms.  No question I could get two in the chest and a head shot (had to unlearn that per my instructors, though...) even when worked up (we did push ups, sit ups and ran in place and then went into shooting scenarios and drills at the sound of a whistle).

In my very few engagements I felt 100% better with the revolver.  Stainless steel doesn't rust and conceals nicely when not in use.  Speed loaders are exceptionally fast to load when taught the right technique.  And a .357+P hollow point round will mess the BG up.

Besides aren't almost all of these engagements where you switched to a pistol for whatever reason CQB.  You are going to end up stabbing the BG in the head or chest anyway when the gun is empty, so reloading is unlikely.

I know the instructors who taught me had rarely seen statistics that involved a successful engagement between two combatants where the winner (good or bad) had fired many more than 3-6 rounds.  Anything with more shots than that fired usually involved one or more of the combatants retreating and looking for cover with someone or both wounded.  All instructors (to my best recollection) had fired their handguns successfully as I remember.  That is what made me pay such good attention.

Jason’s comment got me to thinking.

“Why not?” 

Fine, revolvers, as battlefield weapons went out of style in the American army a century ago (surviving until recently as aircrew holdout weapons) and they don’t carry as many bullets as modern automatics go (6 v. 15) but is the revolver really that bad as a defensive firearm when compared with an automatic?

I would think, from a purely layman perspective, that revolvers would have a number of things going for them, as a mass-produced, mass-issued defensive firearm. 

Firstly, they are reliable.  Yes, I know that most properly maintained military-grade weapons are reliable, but I would think that a revolver would have an advantage over an automatic in that it has fewer moving parts and it’s operation isn’t dependent upon the effective transfer of energy (be the slide gas or recoil operated.)  There’s no energy to be lost, no slide to bind, no failures to extract, eject, or feed.  In short, if you can get the hammer to fall, the weapon should function as advertised.  Hell, even if you get a misfire, there’s no SPORTS to perform, you just pull the trigger again. 

Secondly, they are durable.  Again, I’m not saying that automatics are not durable, but I would think, especially when compared with a polymer-slided auto, the all-metal revolver has a longer working life.  Now, to clarify further, when I mean durable, I mean 30-50 years durable.  My issue .45 was 40 years old for Pete’s sake.  Yes, I think modern firearms are, for the most part, well built and will provide years of service, but I do believe there’s a difference between a sportsman who uses the same handgun for target practice for 10 years and a weapon that gets issued to soldiers for field duty over a 30 year period; in general the Army pistol will see more abuse and have a poorer maintenance program, so “soldier-proof” weapons are a big plus (now before all you out there bag on me about dissing “your” weapon maintenance habits, you’ll notice I didn’t mention you by name, so I wasn’t talking about you.)  How many police officers us hand me down weapons that old, or stick with the dame duty weapon for that period of time?  Durability would also translate to maintenance costs as well.  With fewer moving parts, there would be fewer parts to replace over the life of the weapon, though this might be negated by the cost of having to replace a barrel (I’ve never replaced a revolver barrel, mind you, but it’s got to be harder to do than swapping out one in an automatic) but then, on the flip side, there are no magazines or magazine springs to replace either. 

Finally, there are the politics and training considerations.  Revolvers are double action only weapons (okay, sure, if we brought back the Colt SAA, we’d have a cool single-action handgun in .45 Colt, but I don’t see that happening) which means that they are politically more palatable than are SA weapons (which also dovetails well with the fact that a revolver only has 6 bullets rather than 15.)  Mind you, I’m not saying that this is a good thing, or that it is even appropriate to entertain such considerations when selecting a piece of life saving equipment, but nonetheless, the fact remains that it does happen, and so it would be a consideration.  In addition, in the one-size-fits-all category, a revolver would have the advantage over all the double stacked autos out there, and with the case of the .38 special/.357 magnum combination, you’d even have the added bonus of issuing different rounds if you wanted to (yes the same could be said of automatics, but to get an automatic to function reliably with either a different cartridge or lower powered cartridge you’d need to swap out some parts to account for the change in slide operating recoil.)  Also in the ammunition realm is the discussion of anything other than ball type ammunition.  Since we are never going to use anything other than ball ammunition (at least until personal linear accelerators come out) in the rank-and-file military, comparing .357 JHP to .45 WC to .460 Nitro Express is pointless and non-productive.  Again, I’m not saying this is a good thing, but it is something that those in power seem to focus on, so it’s worth mentioning.

All this having been said, however, there are a number of huge, real world, realities that a revolver would have to overcome in order to get selected. 

First, there is the dearth of revolver ammunition in the military supply system, which is to say there’s none at all.  Before we all started shooting our new wheel guns, we’d need some bullets to shoot first (no, I don’t see the Army adopting a 9x19mm revolver, though given how things have been going of late in procurement, I wouldn’t be surprised if they did.)  I also realize that there’d be the issue of overall effectiveness. 

Second, all those revolvers would have to be purchased, and those purchases mean money.  This issue is further compounded by the fact that revolvers, at least on the free market, appear to be more expensive than automatics (I came to this conclusion by looking at the MSRP for a variety of “stock” handguns, so it is more an anecdotal conclusion than a scientific one) and that there wouldn’t be any commonality offsets associated with the new purchase, meaning a S&W Model 60 and a Beretta 92 FS are not going to have anything in common.  This means that all those Berettas still on the books would need to find a home in someone else’s army.

Thirdly, there is the fact that revolvers are, well… old.  While this has absolutely no bearing on the actual merits of the item in question (you’ll notice farriers still use an anvil and hammer for shaping horseshoes, devices introduced in the early Bronze Age (3300 BC)) in today’s, “it’s gotta be digital, carbon fiber, and Land Warrior compatible” world, revolvers are looked down upon as being less advanced than automatics, and therefore less effective and ultimately less desirable.  Also, as mentioned, while there are very few things that can go wrong with or wear out on a revolver, the things that do wear out, like the barrel, are big-ticket maintenance items.  Given the Army’s tolerances for equipment wear, and the relative ease of replacing worn parts on an automatic, the revolver, over the long haul, might be the less effective of the two options.  There is also the issue of weight.  Hands down, revolvers, especially when compared with polymer automatics, are significantly heavier than automatics.  Is that weight difference a deal breaker though?

That all having been said, where are we now?  Personally I would want a weapon that was firstly reliable (if it doesn’t work, what good is it) secondly effective (the purpose of the weapon is to kill or disable the target, not piss it off) and thirdly is everything else; size (smaller is better) capacity (6 v. 15.) and ergonomics (how well does it fit in my hand (allowing for custom grips would be a nice touch) with political considerations last of all.  Would I personally select a revolver over an automatic?  I don’t know, but I certainly not opposed to the idea and wouldn’t frown upon a good .357 S&W if that were what the Army issued me.

Gym in a Bag

Submitted by Eric Daniel

In 1991, when we shipped our tanks to Saudi Arabia from Germany, in addition to the 40 main gun rounds, 25,000 rounds of 7.62, a case or two of 5.56 and a couple boxes of mines, we packed something personal; a curl bar and 50 pounds of free weights. 

That was it.  Our entire fitness center.  It wasn’t so much a case of that was all we wanted to bring, but more an issue of we didn’t have room for anything else.  A real bench?  A bench bar? 45 lb. plates?  Where would we stow them (it’s not like our tanks didn’t look like gypsy wagons already, but weights and their accessories take up a LOT of space.  So we worked with what we had.

Fast-forward 17 years to today.  Now I’m using the TRX suspension trainer.  I admit it, I didn’t know about this thing until I saw it on our website and my first impression was, “damn, I wish we had one of those in ’91.”  Nonetheless I was intrigued enough that I actually got one, just to try it out.

Bottom line up front, I’m impressed.  The TRX system is essentially a long strap with handles that you configure in a variety of positions to conduct your exercises.  The beauty of the TRX system is that you use your own body weight as the resistance force; there’s literally no need for “free” weights since you’re packing all the weight you’ll ever need.

In addition to the exercise strap, the TRX system comes with a demonstration video (DVD actually) a workout DVD, and a waterproof (i.e. sweat-proof) military oriented fitness guide.  The strap even comes in a mesh bag that makes it easy to launder.  The demonstration video is a must see.  There are so many things you can do with the TRX that you will literally spend the first couple of hours (I did) learning how to actually get yourself into the required positions to do the drills.  Once you figure out the positioning though, the routines are a snap and, because you’re using your own weight and body angle, it’s easy enough to adjust in mid set (certainly much easier than swapping 45 lb. plates for 35 lb. plates on a bench.) 

The only limitation to the TRX system is that it requires an elevated attachment point.  This point can be a door (the system even comes with a placard you put on the other side of the door to warn folks you’re using the door to exercise with so no one opens it and hurts you) a tree, a wall, a fence, a buried pipe, you name it.  As long as you can hang the strap, you can get in a workout (a word of caution – on the cover of the force training DVD is a picture of a soldier using the TRX strap apparently suspended off the elevated gun tube of an M1 series tank (M1A1 I’m thinking…). DO NOT do this without permission of the tank commander.  As an old school TC (I’m still afraid of c-rat apricots) the only thing that ever touched my gun tube was the bore brush, the MBD, and the bore evacuator spanner wrench.  If you want to do suspension exercises on a tank, put the turret over the side and do them off the bustle rack.)

Now I take the TRX everywhere I go.  To the field, on vacation (worked great in Hawaii on a coconut palm until the damn coconuts started falling on me…) even on business trips (why waste time looking for a local gym when you’ve got one in your bag.)  Not bad for a personal gym that weighs 2 pounds and fits in a 1 gallon Ziploc bag.

Pick up the TRX Force Training Kit here

In the Bag

Submitted by Leo

Nice camera you got there. But when you take it to war you probably need something to protect it? A travel friend I used to go to Egypt with had this great neoprene cover for his digital canon camera and he never had a scratch on his brand new camera.

ED -- The item in question is the Zing Designs wraparound neoprene camera case.  The one-piece case is made from 5mm closed cell neoprene.  By design the case does not require snaps or buckles to work, so it’s quick and easy to put on and take off.  Something to keep in mind with this product though; while the neoprene itself is waterproof, the case is not water tight, so if you jump in a lake with it, your camera will get wet.  Also, I don’t know how well the neoprene will hold up to prolonged exposure to the high temperatures in the desert (my neoprene experience is limited diving in the North Sea and off the Northern CA coast.)  I would hate to see this case melt around someone’s camera.

Check out the Zing Designs camera case here.

Fighting Knives 101

Submitted by C.O. Jones

Gerber knives are very sturdy and well-made. That having been said, they have also always been too gimmicky for my taste and most, if not all, have typically been considered wannabe knives by real professionals who use knives. There are only two killing knives I'd consider:

1. The old Army fighting knife with a blade that's just like the issue Colt M-16 bayonet without the rifle hook-up. This knife has a sturdy, curved, dagger point, and it's very smooth with a sure-grip handle in both the old leather rings and the newer rubber rings from Ontario Knife. It doesn't jam between the ribs and is a perfect ear-canal knife. If you are a pro, you'll know what I mean.

2. Is the Tanto; although the Tanto is more geared for outright fighting, it's also a great rib-stabbing and cutting knife, and also an excellent ear-canal knife. I probably shouldn't say this, but these knives also cut through bullet-proof vests like they were butter, as long as they don't hit the ceramic plate. Even then, if they slide off of it while you are still pushing on it, they can still do some terrible damage.

The Ka-Bar of Marine fame requires too much brute force to make it work in too many circumstances, but it might be something I'd consider if I was forced to do so. That's it for killing knives.

For working knives, there is nothing like the bulky and heavy Victorinox Swiss Army Champ. Not Wenger, but specifically Victorinox. It's worth many times its weight in gold, if you have ever needed a really great working knife while out in the bush. One of my sons once cut a piece of tool steel with the hacksaw in one of my old Swiss Champs and didn't damage the knife!

Gerber knives, with all those candy-ass serrations and gimmicks are more geared for the fire-rescue unit than the fighting man. I'd like to see anyone stick one into someone else's ribs without getting the serrations stuck in between them. Yes, you can do it, if you turn it horizontally going in and coming out, but in a fight for life and limb, who the hell knows how they are sticking a knife into someone else? Sideways, upside down, it's all the same when the chips are down. A real professional, chock-full of adrenalin, with a knife stuck three inches deep between ribs will still easily kill you without a second thought while you determine how you'll get your knife back. (To free it, you have to violently pull it up or down to break a rib. By the time you decide to do this, you might be dead. Having tremendously injured the other guy is immaterial to your being dead.)

The guy who said that the aluminum handle would be bad for both cold weather and not to be left in the sun was absolutely correct. In very cold weather it will freeze to your hand and having been in the tropical sun for any length of time, you wouldn't be able to hold it in your bare hand. The guy who talked about wrapping a handle with 550 cord (parachute cord) was absolutely correct too, except that before you wrap the handle, you take out the guts, so the cord lays flatter and ties better over the handle. If you want to make it better, twist the empty cord as you tie it and create a greater gripping surface. It's not about making it stick to your hand, but about creating friction so that under any and all circumstances, including blood, gore and slime, you will be able to maintain a secure grip on your weapon. I gave my wife a Cold Steel Tanto with a 550 cord-wrapped handle some years ago and she loves it. She says it's a 'pretty' knife, as opposed to my old U.S. Army fighting knife, which she says is a 'nothing killer and a pirate knife.' I love it. My children all say they'd rather meet me at night in a dark alley than to do the same with their mother. I'm very proud of the way I trained her, especially having taught her how to overcome female deficiencies in fighting men, something a majority of women have not been taught, consequently, when the chips are down they lose. It's a shame. Me

ED – The only reference to an old, “bayonet-style” fighting knife offered by the Ontario Knife Company was the SP3-M7 knife (I’ve included the picture above) which features a 6 ¾” blade (11 1/8” overall.)  I hope this is what you were referring to.  If not, let me know and I’ll update this posting.

Regarding your comments about the utility of the “skull crusher” point you see on many knives (the Gerber Yari II or the SP3, for example) I agree with you that a pointed “crusher” will be much more effective in a fighting situation, than would a flat basher like the Ka-bar.  For me though, as the poster child for the “non-knife fighter” community, if push ever came to shove, I’d probably reach for a cinder block as a means of self-defense rather than a “professional” fighting knife (I’ll never hit the ear canal, but I’ll probably get the guy’s head with my brick.)

Regarding the use of the 550 cord, I agree, you need to strip the handle down to create a smooth wrapping surface.  With my kukri I sanded down the handle, with the Yari II I wrapped the forged aluminum handle with athletic tape to “fill in” the holes, and then wrapped it.  For me, I like to leave the core threads in the OD sheath, to give the material better absorbency.  One thing I found that worked real well was leather bootlaces.  They wrap well and they grip well.  Unfortunately, they are also porous and I was concerned about how to clean the knife up after getting it “contaminated.”  So I went with the 550 cord.

A Knife for Every Season

Submitted by Dave

I have always owned and swore by Randall (#1) or Cold Steel (Wilderness Master). They got me through a lot of hairy situations and are tough choppers, hackers, and both slice Spam very well!

ED – Some additional info.

The Randall #1 all-purpose fighting knife is handmade by Randall Made Knives.  It is available in 5”, 6”, 7”, and 8” blade lengths, and all blades are constructed of .25” thick high carbon tool steel and feature a leather handle, brass double hilt and duralumin butt cap.  The current list price for the Model 1 is $330 and there is a 58 (yes, five eight) month back order on any knives ordered, so don’t expect to get yours until 2013.

I wasn’t able to find any Cold Steel knife listed as the Wilderness Master, but I did find a knife similar to the Randall, listed as the Trail Master.

The Trail Master is 9.5” long (14.5” overall), 5/16” thick, and weighs 17.5 oz.  It features a 5” non-slip checkered Krayton handle, and the blade itself is manufactured from Cold Steel’s own San Mai III steel.  The list price for this knife is $458.00.

Nikon D40x Digital Camera

Submitted by Marcello

Just to add a little "free market competition" here ;) The Nikon D40X is as good as the Canon above, costs more or less the same and, while being a little bigger, has the advantage that you can use almost any lens Nikon made since the 50's with it.

If you're buying everything from scratch they're pretty much the same. If you already own some lenses (EOS lenses with the canon) stick with the brand.

Check out the Nikon D40x here

Cool Tool: Spyderco SpydeRench T01

Submitted by Brizmo

Gotta talk about the Spyderco SpydeRench T01. Expensive as hell, but all the tools are actually usable: lockback knife, crescent wrench, pliers and real screwdriver bits that lock in to a full size handle. All folds to the size of a flip cell phone.

ED -- Taken from Spyderco’s website, the T01 has the following features.

· Made of investment-cast 17-4ph corrosion resistant stainless steel.
· An adjustable crescent wrench with an opening capacity of 9/16”.
· A 2-setting slip joint plier.
· A set of four screwdriver bits, including: a #2 and #3 Phillips-head and #1 and #2 flat-head. (The SpydeRench also accepts any standard 1/4" sized bit, including Allen and Torx®.)
· A diamond-coated file with concave, convex and flat sharpening surfaces with a small Phillips head on one side and a hole starter on the other end. A unique pivot pin allows the tool to rotate into an extended position that locks open creating a full-sized easy to grip screwdriver and crescent wrench. By releasing the pivot, the screwdriver and knife portion of the tool can separate from the crescent wrench allowing both tools to be used independently and/or simultaneously.
· AUS-8 premium stainless steel full-sized locking knife blade.

The MSRP for the T01 is $149 so as multi-tools go, it is on the pricer side (about twice as much as most other tools) but it does have the advantage of offering some real tools, as opposed to a bunch of awls and things you’ll hardly use.

Get The Spyderco SpydeRench T01 here

KLAAS Federal Armed Forces Pocket Knife

Submitted by Bruce Lancaster

I vote a different way. Multitools are clumsy when used as knives or screwdrivers, have pliers that are weak because of cast jaws and hinged handle, and generally have problems because most either lack blade locks or have blade locks that are difficult to unlock.

My solution I think gives you better tooling on all fronts, and is really about as compact. Get a pocketknife whose array of blades and screwdrivers suits you. My personal choice is a Bundeswehr pocketknife that is fairly common in surplus. Then get a small set of pliers, the Channelock general type with jaws tilted to size. Small for use in respectable society will differ from small for field use with big pockets...smallest will be sold as ignition pliers, next step up for capacious pockets is a couple of inches longer and capable of fairly heavy use. Good pliers, capable of use as wrench within their size range, and tip contact area usually serves as a powerful wirecutter. Real forged pliers that are almost unbreakable, if you get a respectable brand. Soup'em up a bit by grinding a handle tip to screwdriver, too.

ED – Bruce, I assume this is the style of pocketknife you are referring to (this one comes from KLAAS.)  With respect to the other tools you mention, do you have any brand recommendations?  Also, what to you use to secure the tools?  I would think a small leather or canvas tool roll might do the trick, but I was curious if you used anything in particular?

Check out the German Army pocketknife here.

Going Pro With Your Camera

Submitted by Nicholas

If you want to bump one step up and get "pro-level" photos with an idiot proof camera, Canon digital rebels are a good deal: I've done a lot of photography at the NTC (I'm a civilian photo dork/soon to be war photographer--long story) and that's camera I use. I can take around 1000 pictures on the memory card, and extra rechargeable batteries are relatively cheap. Plus, when you get back to the States you can enlarge those suckers up to at least 20x30" if you want.

ED -- Nicholas, what model Canon Rebel do you use? In looking over the offerings, it seems the "lowest" grade of digital Rebel runs about $450.00 (for the Digital Rebel XT.)  Are these cameras reverse compatible with standard SLR  (Single Lens Reflex) lenses or do you need to use new EOS auto focus lenses?  (I ask because while I do want to upgrade my current pocket digital to a 'real" 35mm digital, I also want to be able to use the SLR lenses I have for my manual Canon AE-1 camera.)

Also, something to bear in mind, especially from a tactical point of view, is that while the 35mm digital cameras take significantly better pictures than the smaller pocket cameras, they don't, especially with lenses attached, exactly fit in your pockets.  In the field I keep my little pocket camera in a Ziploc bag in my thigh pocket where I use it primarily for photographing evidence, documents, and persons of interest.

  Check out the Canon Digital Rebel here

Library of Alexandria

Submitted by Eric Daniel

In 1991 when I deployed to Saudi Arabia as part of Desert Storm, I was completely analog; my camera was a Canon AE-1 35mm SLR and all my letters were written on paper (or MRE box lids if I was feeling particularly “Sahara-ish”.)  What I didn’t pack was a walkman, or any sort of radio for that matter, books or literature, cassette tapes, CDs (DVDs hadn’t been invented yet) or anything else of the sort since all that stuff not only took up space, but it wasn’t very durable and it was expensive.

In 2004 I took a digital camera (I shipped my laptop over once I got established) and a 50Mb “stick” to store stuff on temporarily.  My line of thought here was I’d use the stick to move files around or to store pictures on.

Well, the reality is, that stick wasn’t quite big enough for all the pictures I was taking and so I had to start burning data to CDs, which was a rather scary proposition as I was hoping that my disks would survive the transport and storage process, not to mention exposure to the ever present and all invasive dust and sand of the desert.

Next time I go, though I’m taking the Library of Alexandria – a 250Gb Iomega eGo portable drive. 

This sucker literally holds everything.  Music, movies, games, photos, and even the odd operations order you have to crank out.  I’ve downloaded and run movies off of it (In this case I was using the Netflix “view instantly” feature.  In addition to needing the software loaded onto the hard drive, you’ll also need a high speed internet connection and a computer with a decent graphics card, but you can use the drive to ‘store” the movie) as well as computer games which saves you from having to lug disks around (though you’ll still need a boot up disk if the game requires it.)

Yet, I think the biggest benefit this drive has to offer is the ability to store and run specialized software.  Having dabbled in GIS (Geographic Information Systems) I’ve taken quite an interest in producing geo-referenced overhead images to supplant the more conventional maps we are given for conducting missions.  Unfortunately, the software for doing this is somewhat specialized, so it was originally loaded on laptop, which meant I had to lug the laptop with me when ever I went someplace to upload new data (the data files were way to big to fit on my “stick”.)  Now all my GIS tools are on the portable drive and I just plug it into a local computer and transfer and manipulate the data directly.  Or, if time is short, I just get the data and go back to my hooch to work with it.

In addition to storing a lot of data, the eGo drive is durable as hell.  Made from extruded aluminum the case is most resistant to crushing damage (I’ve sat on it, stepped on it, and kicked it) and it’s purpose built to survive a drop from 60 inches (the industry standard is 30 inches – I checked) and its operational temperature range is from –4 to +140 degrees, so it should function anywhere you can.  Also, when not in use, you might to keep the drive in a Ziploc bag.  Though the drive only has two openings (one for an optional external power supply and the one for the usb data/power link) they do not have covers, so to keep the dust out you’ll want to keep the drive in a bag or get yourself some Glad press-and-seal to cover the openings when not in use.

One thing though.  Don’t get it in camouflage.  Mine is and I nearly forgot it sitting on a pile of gear.  Get it in some day-glo color like red or orange.

Check out the eGo drive here

Blackhawk Nightwing

Submitted by Brenton

I imagine that knife would make an excellent survival knife. For general purposes and possibly knife fighting, I have been curiously eying the BLACKHAWK Nightwing, but I can't seem to find any reviews or comparisons on it. Would anyone like to help?

ED – Brenton, I’ve never used the Nightwing, but I’ll throw my two pfenning out.  Looking at the video in the link you provided, and looking at the construction of the blade (3V steel, multiple cutting surfaces, the option of one or two serrated edges) seem to make it a superior fighting knife.  However, in my 18+ years of military service, I’ve never, ever gotten into a knife fight but I have done a lot of hacking, chopping, cutting, probing, prying, and bashing, so when I look for a knife, utility and durability are at the top of my list.  I’m not a professional knife fighter and I never will be, so all those features the Nightwing offers for such professionals would be wasted on me (not to mention I would be truly terrified to have a serrated double edged utility knife) and while the construction of the Nightwing (with the 3V steel) makes the blade thin, quick, and light, I would think those impediments in the utility realm.

For me, if I had to choose, just looking at construction, features, and price, I’d take the Bark River Bravo-1 over the Nightwing.

Thoughts?

Bark River Bravo-1

Submitted by FNF165

I am a big fan of knives and just recently discovered Bark River Knife & Tool.  Located in the UP (Michigan’s Upper Peninsula - ED), they make fantastic, very tough knives at reasonable prices.

The 1st Force Recon Training Unit was looking for a "bushcraft" knife, not a fighter, and spent $5,000 of their own money buying numerous different knives from many different companies to test. None of these companies knew about this test, it was not a "government" test, just a bunch of the Recons looking for the best bushcraft blade. A year later the winner was the ONLY knife that was still in one piece and useable - a Bark River Gamekeeper.

These Marines contacted the owner, Mike Stewart, and requested some changes be made to the Gamekeeper and the result was the Bark River Bravo-1. It's made out of A2 tool steel and comes with a no-questions asked lifetime warranty - you break it or damage it and they will replace it, period. You can also send it back for reconditioning and all it will cost you is postage.

Here is a link to a Knife Website / Forum that explains the development history of this knife: It comes in numerous different handle types that you can choose from basic black Micarta (a resin impregnated fiber compound - ED) to exotic burl woods and can be found on the Net for $120 - $150. The knife comes with a Kydex sheath designed by the Marines with all kinds of attachment options.  In addition, a smaller "companion knife" can also be attached to the sheath along with a firesteel holder.

The real secret to this knife is the heat-treatment that Mike does to them, second to none and you know if Marines could not tear it up it MUST be sturdy!

Semper Fi bros!

Check out the Bark River Bravo-1 here

Not Your Grandfather’s Wire Cutters

Submitted by Eric Daniel

Not to long ago, while rooting through our supply room, I happened across a pair of wire cutters.  Not only were the cutters new (in the box new) but they clearly were not GI issue (at least they didn’t look like the cutter’s I’d always seen in the tank’s BII tool bag.)

These were put out by Gerber, and as they were clearly not seeing much use in the supply room, I decided to “secure” them and take them out into the field with me.  I’ve never though much about wire cutters beyond, “do they cut wire?” and so I really didn’t know what I might do to put them through a shakedown, so what I ended up doing was chopping up loose bits of what ever we had lying about the motor pool.  This included WD-1 commo wire, concertina wire, razor tape, galvanized nails and cyclone fence, and commercial copper and steel insulated electrical wire.  The bottom line here was, unless it was aircraft cable, if you could fit it in the jaws, these cutters would cut it.

Compared to the issue cutters, the Gerber cutters had a number of advantages.  The edges were harder and the tolerances tighter, which translated to easier cuts and a lot less binding, and the Gerber unit has two cutting edges (opposite each other on the cutting head) so you could cut “up” or “down.”)  The Gerber also has a pair of “horns” which makes it useful for extracting and leveraging staples or clips, and is can serve passably well as a pair of fencing pliers if you haven’t got a real set to do the job (the Gerber cutters have no crimping capability and they don’t have a flat pounding surface.)

On the downside, the Gerber cutters are spring loaded – they have a spring in the unit that pushes the handles apart.  While this does make it easier to use the cutters one-handed, I was so unused to it that every time I pulled the cutters out of their little carrying bag, if I forgot to firmly grab both handles, which was often, the cutter handles would snap out with such force that I would drop them.  Not a deal breaker, to be sure, but annoying when it happens in the dark (a locking “bail” on the back of the handles would be a nice addition.)  In addition, if you weren’t carrying them in their little carrying pouch, the deployed cutter handles take up a lot of space in the tool bag, to the point that they’re something of an albatross.  Also, given the layout of the cutting surface, there is an absolute max diameter to the wire you can cut; if the wire won’t fit in the groove, you can cut it (while the issue cutters have significantly less cutting force than the Gerber cutters do, the issue cutters do have a larger maximum opening.) Finally, there is no way to sharpen or replace the cutting edges.  While this was also true of the issue ones, for what you pay for the Gerber’s, it would be nice if they had replaceable carbide cutting surfaces (which you see on a number of their multi-tools.)

All in all though, I have to say I’m impressed by them and I think I’ll be keeping this pair.

Oh, and yes, they do come with an NSN (5110-01-539-6851.)

P.S. - In looking over the cutters, it looks like you might be able to replace the cutting portion of the tool, though you might need to do some grinding to get a cople of rivents out to remove the cutting head from the handle assembly.  I'll give gerber a call and see what they say. ED

Check out the Gerber Concertina Cutters here

Going One Better

Submitted by Ernunnos

Second the recommendation on the H-series Garmins. The new GPS chipsets in them are 100x more sensitive, and can even get a lock on the satellites from inside a building. They also lock on much more quickly after powering up.

I have a non-H Legend, and while it works ok out in the desert, when I took it to the forests of Michigan on a hunting trip, it couldn't get a lock through the trees AT ALL. I actually can't believe they're still selling the non-H models. While it's better than nothing, I would never rely on it again. I consider them dangerous for anything other than recreation on open land or water. For any serious use, I would highly recommend returning it while you can and upgrading to the H model.

ED – I had contemplated getting The Garmin eTrex Vista HCx GPS, which has all the features I described, as well as the antenna sensitivity you described, plus a whole host of additional and really cool features, but for $299 it’s almost twice as much as the unit I got.  While I’ve no issue with dropping $300 on a GPS, the question I could not answer to my satisfaction was, is it worth it? 

As I saw it, the most significant feature was the increased sensitivity.  The color screen is nice but not a requirement in my eyes, as is the removable SD card, but I wasn’t looking to navigate across the globe with my GPS, just tell me where I was in it.  So, is that increased sensitivity worth an additional $150?

What do you think?

New Age Navigation

Submitted by Eric Daniel

Well, it only took 10 years, but I’ve finally given in to the inevitable and purchased myself a hand-held GPS unit.  While I’m not about to give up my compass (the magnetic field hasn’t failed me yet) I have come to believe that, all things being equal, navigating with a GPS (where they’ll work) is faster and less technical than navigating with a compass (as a firefighter we often parked the trucks and hoofed it to the fire as quick as we could, and then used a GPS to plot a direct route back to the trucks after the fact.)

Anyhow, after much looking and reading and thinking, the unit I settled on was the Garmin  eTrex-Vista.  No it isn’t in color, it can “only” store 20 routs and 1,000 waypoints (not that I’ll ever come close to using all of them, mind you) and its power consumption is a little on the high side, comparatively (12 hours of continuous operations as opposed to 30-50 out of some models.)  What it does do however, is support lat/long, UTM, MGRS, it comes with an electronic compass, is backlit for nighttime ops, and has an altimeter as a back up elevation instrument.  It also provides me with all that atmospheric data that you need for paragraph one of your OPORD (ever wonder where the TOC finds out when BMNT, EMNT, BENT and EENT, moonrise and percent illumination come from?  This unit will tell you.)

As a “first” GPS I am quite happy with it.  I know it’s not the biggest, the best, or the most complicated, but for only $150 it does everything I ask it to.

Check out the Garmin eTrex-Vista here.

Kelly Kettle, a Touch o' the Irish

Submitted by Gus

"..First used over a century ago by Irish gypsies and Irish fishermen, a Kelly Kettle will boil water in just a few minutes, depending on the fuel.

Made from aluminum, it is essentially a double-walled chimney with the water contained in the chimney's double wall.

ED – This stove is a somewhat different take on the others featured here in that it is strictly a solid fuel burner (even to the point of using camel dung) though I suppose you could use fuel tabs such as hexamine or trioxane, or sterno cans in the burn pan.  In addition, for the most part, this stove is strictly for boiling water.  While there is an attachment for the 2.5-pint model which allows you to “stack” a pot on the kettle’s chimney for additional cooking space, boiling water is what it does best.

This having been said though, if solid fuel availability is not an issue the 1-pint version might be a viable option for personal use in the field, where packing liquid fuel is impractical and or dangerous, where re-supply might be spotty, or if you’re traveling by air, where the transportation of liquid fuel is prohibited.

Check out the Kelly Kettle here.

K-light Solar-Powered Lantern

Submitted by Carrie Lee

I'm not sure who this needs to go to, but I found a really neat camp light.  It’s a solar powered LED light the size of a soda can - small enough for military to pack.

ED – The PiSat K-light is a battery-powered multi LED light that can be recharged using a supplied solar panel.  The light is equipped with a pair of brackets for positioning and stability.  The K-light has two power settings, low and high power.  The low power setting uses half the light’s sixteen LEDs to provide 180 degrees of illumination, while the high power setting uses all sixteen lights to provide 360 degrees of light.  At low power, the battery will last 20 hours.  Battery life at high power is 10 hours.  The recharge rate for the K-light is 1:1 at low power (you get one hour of light for every hour spent charging.

The unit weighs 22oz. (1 lb. 6 oz. or .6 kg.) and the nickel metal hydride battery has a lifespan of 3,000 cycles, which equates to 10 years of daily use.  Once charged, the light will hold its charge without decay for 8 months.  The light and solar panel are both water resistant and the light itself floats which makes recovery easier if it should go overboard.

On the downside, the K-light can only be charged with the solar panel (there is no wall plug in) and it appears to be white light only, though this could be corrected by covering the lenses with some opaque colored tape available at most automotive parts stores.

Check out the K-light here.

What would Patton do?

Submitted by Tim Brown

There are also a couple of "what if" add on programs available - one of which titled " Doomsday" , which is basically an extension of the scenerio out to '63 and examines nuclear conflict. Germany nukes NY, that sort of thing. The other program is a alternate reality type scenerio in which for instance the US Civil War ended with both sides in a stalemate and WWII breaks out. Both are great additions and add playability.

ED -- The add-ons are HoI2: Doomsday (pictured above) and HoI2: Doomsday-Armageddon.  As Tim says, HoI2:DD picks up where HoI2 leaves of, including an expanded tech tree as well as improvements to game play and system mechanics.  Both have the same low system requirements as the original HoI2.

Check out HoI2: Doomsday and Doomsday-Armageddon here.

King of the World

Submitted by Eric Daniel

You know you’ve got some down time in your combat tour when you start thinking about computer games, but as luck and fortune would have it I did and so I did.  One of the games I wiled away my down time with was a game put out by Paradox Interactive called Hearts of Iron 2.

HoI2 is a grand strategy game set in the Second World War (specifically, the timeline runs from January 1st, 1936 through December 30th, 1947.)  In HoI2 you are the leader of one of the 175 or so nations or political factions (as is the case with China.)  Truly, if you want to declare yourself the Maximum Presidente for Life of Cuba and try your hand at becoming the world’s first nuclear super power, go for it.  In a very broad sense the goal of the game (other than not getting your country occupied by another sovereign nation) is to be on the winning team. The game recognizes three political entities; the Allies, the Axis, and the Communists, though they could just as easily be called factions A, B, and C.  The “victor” is that faction which has the most victory points at the end of the game (or when you literally take over the world, which ever comes first.)  You are not required to be a member of any one of these factions, however, and indeed you can go it alone just to see if you can survive (my personal favorite was playing Finland and trying to keep back the Red Horde.)

In HoI2, as the Head of State you manage everything; the production of military assets, the development of your country’s industrial and transportation infrastructure, as well as the development of new technologies and the commencement of international trade so that you can get the things you need to feed your military-industrial machine.  Moreover, you are responsible for the political climate of your country (different government styles have different effects on your nation’s productivity) as well as deciding what “entangling” alliances you will enter into and what priorities you will set to your industry (in HoI2 you only have a fixed number of resources to devote to a myriad of tasks so concentrating your energy in one area will force you to make sacrifices in others.)

To say that the relationships between production and research, trade and industry, building and maintaining a fighting force are complex and interwoven is a bit of an understatement; the decisions you make in 1936 can make or break you come 1945.  You can build a big infantry based army early in the game, but understand that your legions will be rendered obsolete by more technologically advanced forces later on and while it is possible to upgrade your units this not only requires time (which means they need to be out of combat) and resources, which takes away from building new formations, and all of this is a moot point if you’re an island nation like England or Japan (or Australia or Madagascar for that matter) and you haven’t got a Navy.

In addition to being the HoS, you are also the CiC and there’s a lot of fighting in this game.  Ground troops are represented as divisions with attached brigades, while aircraft are represented as squadrons and ships, with the exception of submarines and destroyers, which are represented as flotillas, are depicted as individual vessels.  The quality and effectiveness of your military id dependent upon their level of technology, both in terms of hardware, as well as fighting style and doctrine.  Moreover, leaders play a significant role in combat, a good leader can make or break a fighting force, as can thrusting an in experienced leader in “over his head” (leaders can influence a number of units based upon their rank.  Stacking a leader with more units than he can manage not only has a severe negative effect on the units over the limit, it also impacts the units he can lead.)  Finally, HoI2 takes into account such things as terrain, time of day, supply availability, as well as local weather.

In any event, what really sold me on the game was not it’s accuracy, though it is quite accurate, or it’s playability, it’s an immensely enjoyable game, but rather the really low computer requirements it has.  This game is no Halo 3, but then it doesn’t have a fraction of the CPU and graphics card requirements either, which means you can play it on anything.  I’d seen quite a few folk drop thousands of dollars into top end gaming laptops in Iraq only to watch them get eaten alive by dust and sandstorms.  HoI2, on the other hand, ran just fine on the POS laptop I brought with me which I ended up recycling at the end of my deployment rather than bother to clean it up.  Simply put, it will run on any machine over there.

System requirements

• Windows 98SE / 2000 / XP
• Pentium III 800 MHz 128 Mb RAM
• 600 MB Free Hard Drive Space
• 4 MB Video Card DirectX Compatible
• DirectX compatible Sound Card
• DirectX 9.0 or higher

Check out Hearts of Iron here

Cold Steel Kobun

Submitted by MC Lordsson

I have used many different types, but found my favorite to be a Cold Steel Kobun. I would also like to recommend an M8. KBAR makes good knives as well which are combat tested better than any other manufacturer.

The Kobun by Cold Steel really fits most of my needs for a Combat/Utility knife. There is really only one thing wrong with it and that's the finish which is a bright, polished steel finish. As with any combat knife though, I would powder coat it after sharpening and before taking it with me anywhere. This tends to eliminate any rust, contamination, scratching, etc., and also takes care of any light reflection. Otherwise, this is a very light, very easy to handle blade with excellent killing properties.  It has held up to some serious abuse through the years and I have yet to replace it.

Many call me a minimalist when it comes to knives because I prefer knife with no features other than a good blade and a great grip. I also prefer a Tanto. This may not be your type of knife, but for the work I've done, and continue to do, there has yet to be a good replacement.

Check out the Kobun here

DMT Diafold tactical sharpener

Submitted by Matt

Another product I constantly use for keepin knives sharp is the Diafold by DMT. It is a diamond impregnated steel mesh mounted to a plastic plate. It has handles that fold around it like a butterfly knife. Comes in multiple grits. Weights about 1.5 oz. Very handy and effective, lasts a very long time. I've always used mine dry, and get around 10 years of use out of them. They are handy enough to carry in a pocket or tuck into a tool pouch etc. I use the blue, medium grit for sharpening everything.

ED -- Matt, funny you should bring up DMT.  My first sharpener was a 6" DMT bench whetstone (blue, med. grit.)  Unfortunately as soon as my mother found out about it she decided it was just the thing for her kitchen knives so I always ended having to wait in line behind her.

In addition to the standard rectangular stone, DMT offers Diafolds for serrated blades, fishooks, pruners and shears, and chainsaw chain as well as double sided stones (combination grits.)

Check out the Diafold sharpener here.

Goncz Hi Tech Tactical Lights

Submitted by Oz

There is another American-made flashlight that rivals Surefire (I own one of each), both from Goncz Hi-Tech.

The Goncz is smaller and lighter in weight, but has very similar output characteristics, is made of similar aircraft-alloy aluminum, has a similar array of accessories, and generally stacks up pretty well. It is also a lot cheaper...

ED -- Oz, In looking over the Goncz website, I assume you're refering to either the "M" series tactical lights, or the E-1 lithium LED light, as the remainder of their line is rather large (10+ inches.)  All of these lights use either 6v or 9v lithium batteries, and burn times range from 20 to 120 depending on model and output setting.

Check out the Goncz lights here

Sharpest Tool in the Box

Submitted by Eric Daniel

All this talk of knives got me to thinking.  “Sure, all knives come plenty sharp from the factory, but what do you do when they get dull?”

Just like small arms, I freely admit I am not a knife person.  I use them, and when they get dull I flail about and sharpen them to the best of my ability.  Hell, I’ve more experience sharpening hand tools with a Nicholson mill bastard file than I do sharpening knives. 

Prior to my last deployment I made the decision to remedy this defect.  I had purchased a sharpening kit for my brother a number of years ago for his kitchen knives (he BBQs a lot and likes having sharp cutlery for carving.)  He was pleased with the kit I’d gotten him so I figured if it were good enough for him, it’d be good enough for me.

What I’d gotten was the Spyderco Sharpmaker (model 204.)  The kit comes with two pair of stones; two medium grit stones for initial sharpening, and two fine grit stones for finishing up.  By varying the angle you set the stones into the sharpener base you can quite literally sharpen anything from darts and fish hooks to pocketknives and pruning shears.  The kit itself comes with a comprehensive guide to sharpening, describing which stones to use and what angle to set them, based on the type of instrument being sharpened and what kind of edge you want on it.  In addition, the stones themselves are meant to be used dry, which is great for field applications, as there’s no need to pack special oil or other fluids just for use with the stones.  Finally, in addition to the fine and medium grit stones included with the kit, a diamond coated “stone” (made of steel actually) and an ultra fine grit stone are also available for the Sharpmaker, in the event you need to either do some heavy duty or very fine grinding.

Get the Sharpmaker here

Gerber Yari II Knife

Submitted by Eric Daniel

For the longest time I’ve been wanting to try out a “tanto” style knife but I never got around to it.  Given the chisel-like point, I figured that they would be good for prying as well as brute force penetrating things like sheet metal, wood and masonry.  The Cold Steel entry rekindled that interest, but I didn’t want a knife that big; I already had a big tool, what I was looking for was something small, yet strong, that I could use for probing and digging.

Providence smiled on me in the form of the Gerber Yari II.  The Yari II, with a blade length of 4.25”, is small enough to get into confined spaces easily, yet has enough mass behind it that it “punches” well.  Made from CPM S30V stainless steel, the Yari II is tough as hell.  I’m not a metallurgist but the literature on S30V says it’s tougher, more corrosion resistant, and more wear resistant than either 440C or 154HC steel, yet easier to work with than S60V/S90V steel; in practical terms I have experienced no issue whatsoever with using the knife in both freshwater and saltwater environments (the knife performed well hacking up salmon heads for crab pots on a concrete bench) and cleaned up nicely, with no hint of corrosion.  To test the point and flexibility of the knife I used it to extract nails from a section of my back yard fence (it’d been blown down in a storm and I was wanting to carve up the planks for use as kindling.)  The knife held up well under the process with no obvious chipping or cracking of the edge, and the point was more than equal to the task of prying out the nails (yes yes a hammer would have been a more appropriate tool, but I was experimenting.)

In addition to being impressed with the quality of the knife’s construction, I was also quite impressed with the quality and construction of the sheath as well as the "attachment” options that come with the knife.  In addition to the now standard MOLLE attachment straps, the sheath also comes with a belt loop, as well as a screw-in clip for attaching the knife to a molded plastic drop leg pistol holster such as the Safariland Model 6004.  While the knife is held securely in the sheath by a pair of “grippers” molded into the sheath (which is how I currently have it configured) an optional thumb release strap is included with the knife for additional retention piece of mind.

All in all, the only real complaints I have about the knife are the tang and the grip, and those certainly weren't dealbreakers.  The grip, constructed of machined aluminum, is grooved for increased grip in most conditions, and I found that it was easy to hold onto wet or dry, with gloves on or off, and being metal it is non-porous and so won’t absorb any contaminants, but it does get slick when greasy (remember the fish heads??)  While I don’t anticipate getting attacked by a prime rib in my foreseeable military future, the metal grip was at a decided disadvantage when oily (in this situation the knife seemed to grip best while wearing gloves and the ridges molded into the exposed dorsal and ventral surfaces of the tang were a big help in gripping the knife.)  On the issue of the tang, I only wish it had been squared off rather than pointed.  While the pointed tang allows for a lanyard, a squared off tang would have improved (in my opinion) the knife’s utility as a bashing instrument (the tang hole could have just as easily been drilled through the metal grip a bit further forward.

Get the Yari II here.

Fenix P3D Q5 Tactical Light

Submitted by Ben

Fenix makes some real quality lights, that are about as good on batteries as I have seen, and cost quite a bit less than SureFires.  I just picked up a P3D Q5 from one of their distributors for about 85 dollars. The P3D Q5 has variable output modes to help save on battery life when you don't need a lot of light to a maximum output of 215 lumens. 

Only downside for my use is that the push button is recesseded into the tailcap so you can use it as a lamp on a tabletop with the diffuser adapter... which means it isn't perfect if you are using it as an off-hand light for shooting... but as an all around light I would have to say it is a steal at the price for its performance.

Get a P3D Q5 Here