Survival Gear & Equipment - Army Equipment Initiatives

Lets look towards the U.S. Army and their Rapid Fielding Initiative of equipment for lessons learned that can be considered for the kit of Survival Gear and Equipment for the Urban Survivalist.

Certain units of the U.S. Army have been the first to benefit from Asymmetric Warfare Group and Rapid Equipment Force's projection of the newest and best equipment.

No where is this more evident than the replacement of the Mountain Combat Boot in favor of the Merrill Chameleon light hiking boot which has been best described as a tennis shoe on steroids. The soldiers equipped with the Merrill Chameleon love them for their lightness and traction. At 2 lbs compared to 4 lbs for the issued Mountain Combat Boot, the reason is evident.





The Army Modular Sleeping System Patrol Bag (shown below) at 2.3 lbs was replaced by the Mountain Hardware Phantom 45 sleeping bag which weighs 1 lb.

The Modular Sleeping System Bivy, an outside gore-tex cover for the Modular Sleeping System Patrol Bag, weighing 2.2 lbs was replaced by the Memo GoGo LE Tent which weighs 1.9 lbs, not a lot of weight savings here, but every ounce helps and the Soldier's reported comfortable sleeping on exposed mountain tops.


UrbanSurvivalSkills.com will be reporting on more innovations in Army gear in the future as the Army lessons learned from hard living and harder fighting in the mountains of Afghanistan certainly provide good data on the quality and ruggedness of the equipment that Urban Survivalist's may be be considering for their Survival kit.

After Armageddon 2 of 9 - A History Channel Program and Lessons Learned

Continuing on with Chapter 2 of the excellent History Channel Program "After Armageddon" and Urban Survival lessons learned from the scenario they depict. As you watch this Chapter of the video, ask yourself if you would have done anything different and how you could have prevented the predicament that Chris found himself and his family in. Not all problems can be overcome with the latest and greatest in Survival Gear and Equipment. Sometimes you have to prepared with survival and decision making skills.

We find Chris on Day 17 after the pandemic hits L.A. Some people are leaving the city; medical care is waning with hospitals closing. Chris reports to work, sees how futile it is and ends up stealing some medical supplies which in the back of his mind he knows he might need. Even on Day 19 Chris still wants to stay put and that's because he thinks things may get better and it's more comfortable to sit tight when you don't have a Survival Bug Out plan in place.



Chris stopped going to work because the hospitals closed (he was an EMT). Are you prepared to take leave, take a unpaid leave of absence or just quit? What will trigger your decision? Day 21 finds Chris buying groceries, the ATM is not working but he manages to procure a small load of food. What will trigger you to double, triple or quadruple your weekly grocery buy? What if the stores won't take personal checks and the grid is down so credit cards and ATM machines won't work? Do you keep an adequate supply of cash on hand? If so, how much to you is adequate? How about gold or silver?

Did you notice Chris looking at the man with the shotgun in the store? I'll bet he was thinking "Jezz, I wish I had one of those." I did not see Chris buying extra fuel containers and gasoline, which would have been my priority, but then again I have a butt load of food on hand and about every other piece of Survival Gear or Equipment that I think I may need. Storing fuel, at least long term, is problematic.

After Armageddon 1 of 9 - A History Channel Program and Lessons Learned

UrbanSurvivalSkills.com is planning on posting the History Channel Program previously reviewed here, and will provide commentary after each of the nine clips. Follow Chris and his family and us as we look at a fictional scenario following a collapse from a pandemic.



Obviously Chris from the video was not in the least prepared. Little to no Survival Gear or Equipment, certainly no long arms or pre-packaged items ready to go like Survival Bug Out Bags or other grouping of organized equipment; Chris waited much too long to leave the city which would have been a different matter if he had been better prepared; he was making decisions on what material and property to take with him and his family - packing at the last moment; no task organized of Survival Groups - we feel like this is essential to Urban Survival; Chris did not adequate plan routes of egress (leaving) the city; and, he demonstrated an lack of ability to recognize legal or illegitimate authority which would be pretty common in our minds.

This part of the excellent History Channel program brings up several key points: What are you going to do in a society without law and order? What are you going to do when forced to leave your home for your own safety? Where would you go? What are you prepared to do?

Urban Survival Gear and Equipment - Product Review - Gerber Onyx 50 flashlight

Great little flashlight, small enough to put in any pocket and runs on our favorite battery a "AA" that we can recharge as opposed tot the expensive, but excellent and high lumen Surefire flashlights that run on a DL123 or CR123 type battery (not rechargeable).

We think one or two Surefire in medium lumen (60 or so) and high Lumen output (120+) are great and essential Survival Equipment to have, especially when combined with a firearm and used when lighting up a search area, but in a collapse you will rapidly run out of batteries unless you stockpile a butt load of them and even then the batteries can degrade. We have based on light, both flashlights and lanterns around AAA or AA batteries since they can easiy and quickly recharged through a 12 volt system.

The Gerber Oynx is small (see the scale photograph against a dollar bill); put outs acceptable light for most tasks (30 lumens); has a LED instead of a bulb which is breakable; in-expensive at around $20; works on one (1) AA battery; and, has a push button on/off tail cap.

The Gerber Onyx is well made in an aluminum housing and the housing barrel is flattened for a better grip Great piece of Survival Kit and well priced.