CRAP that really matters.......................
 

in our never ending quest to be stylish/functional/and tac-ti-KOOL.................we are always looking for better mouseytraps and configuring so so designs to our needs. now as most of you know i would rather have the sky as a roof, instead of being crammed into some lil poo box cubicle in front of a dum azzd puter screen and daily(hourly) dream of the outdoors.


over the years we have used bought borrowed numerous different backpacking rigs for various activities. be it deer hunts,elk hunts, backpacking,varmint hunting, or just traveling/camping. along with being a scuba diver for 34 years ya kind of learn how to HUMP YER CRAP from point A to point B. and ya get the pleasure of broken parts/straps/belts/baggage handlers/falling down cliffs/getting totally soaked in water crossings etc.

well with the advent of afghan and iwreck(iraq) alot of GOOD has come from this. 1st the u.s. military has finally realized that the m-16 is a weak POS, and the m-14 has gone thru major upgrades and mods. and we like that cuz we have (3). and we have implemented some of the ideas into ours for our various diabolical deer/elk/praire dawg/varmint hunts at long range.

2nd the defense dept has finally figured out that a fully equipped GI with a 120# of crap on his back makes for a very slow moving target for bad guys wearing a towel and an ak-47.


back in 2005 DARPA and the defense dept embarked on a new program to seek vendors from outside to solve this problem. out went the mil-specs and private companies such as gregory/bianchi/arcteryx designed backpacks for the miltary. some of the parameters were max load up to 120+#, but normally for a grunt 65# full of absolute needed CRAP!

read the specs if ya want so i dont bore you. anyway i have frame packs for humping elk 1/4's out, i have soft packs,small packs,alice packs,med. packs and very large expedition mtn climbing packs.


one day while upgrading my hunting gear over from ALICE to MOLLE to save weight, i came across some info on the new ILBE system. it is a MODULAR SYSTEM. and thats key becuz our missions always change. elk hunts we bring (3) KITCHEN SINKS AND THE DISHWASHER! deer hunts not so much, baja even less, camping fishing so-so,dirty biking this and that. you get the picture. each and every expedition is different.


so with that in mind i began looking at the ILBE system for the USMC. individual load bearing equip. well very fast i found its very spendy(look on e-bay) they are NOT CHEAP! and they are NOT avail. to the public on the open market.


so after scrounging around like the WEASEL i am, i found a surplus store, and was buying some hunting goodies. got to know them, they loved me cuz i was dropping ser-i-ass bucks and we started a friendship. they liked my money and i liked their crap.


so one day i asked them about ILBE packs, and they said they are RARE! gave them my number a 3 weeks later they called me, as they found one. oh boy off i go across town.


well heres what being a WEASEL can get ya for a meezly azz $129 bucks.



so now i can carry MORE CRAP INTO BFE and NEVAR LACK NOTHING TO SURVIVE ANYTHING!


p.s. if ya have a 81mm mortar..............well i can carry a coupla rounds very easily as its designed for them.



made by ARCTERYX! and they make damn good backpacking stuff to haul yer crap!http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1305986332.jpg

p.s. the center attached bag is a USMC IFAK(individual 1st aid kit) that i also scammed a deal on. with both wars going defense dept suddenly realized GI's loaded with armoured vests were dying due to blood loss from extremities. ie. arterial bleeding. they have come up with a new tourniquet, and a new powder granule that you pour into a wound to stem the flow of blood.


yeah yeah i know i aint in the sand box, but cha know what???? ya aint lived until some clown yer hunting with cuts himself with a knife or an axe or crashes his quad or dirty bike or falls down a cliff! and thats when the FUN(?) starts. and as much as i hate DRAMA...............well i was a boy scout(life-almost eagle) and BE PREPARED IS STILL OUR MOTTO!

TL;DR: he spent the afternoon at the army-navy surplus store

no widebody i actually spent a hell of alot of time robbing info from the DOD and DARPA.



the amount of money spent on these is astounding.



and i KNOW MY GEAR like the back of my hand and whats good and whats crap.



take a look at the arcteryx website for civilians and also the gregory site for civilian QUALITY gear. you will crap yer pants at what GOOD gear costs nowadays.



these aint no POS alice ruck sack, that chew into yer shoulders until raw.



and if ya ever carried 1/4's of elk out, or humped the grand canyon or havasupai, or the cascades or the rockies or anywhere beyond yer lokal qwickie mart with anything beyond 2-12 paks.........................well ya kind of learn what humping gear is ALL ABOUT!



this time the military got it right.


my old alice ruck is relegated to either a garage sale or the poo can!



if you havent had yer gear fail in the middle of BFE...............you aint lived!


by the way my last 10 day hike i humped 70 pounds.



its ALL ABOUT DA GEAR!

One of the most useful things to come out of the wars in Iraq / Afghanistan are these field dressings. They're available for civilian use, and I think a couple of these lifesavers should be de'rigueur in any first-aid kit.

(No affiliation to the manufacturer)

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1306006017.jpg

All good info here...I no longer backpack, but the first aid kit would be nice to have...

Can't fault you for having a first aid kit. I keep a full CM bag pretty close by, just like I keep a gun close by. Everything from AC seals, Cricothyrotomy supplies, IV supplies, Quickclot, atropine, etc.

Very cool!

i have read into these and they are the shizz ninny as far as 1st aid, which about 99.8% of the population hasnt a CLUE about.


i have read an upgrade to the coagulation powder, is an entire dressing permeated with the coagulant. has been a LIFESAVER for many a GI nailed by IED's or gunfire.



latest greatest battle dress uniform(BDU's) have a tourniquet system IN the uniform at both arms and both legs to stem massive arterial bleeding from extremities. basically a cinch strap sewn in.


and all fibers for GI's and armoured personal CLOTHING are NOW FIRE PROOF, due to fuel exploding so often in humvees and various other vehicles.


and due to massive head injuries from IED's and extreme pressures from explosions, the helmets have all been upgraded with new harness systems to prevent whiplash and various other neck injuries. also the MICH helmet is the state of the art present helmet due to comms(communication) and the problem with the kevlar "fritz" PASGT helmets being difficult to site a rifle in the prone position. they slimmed down the rear because of prone position shooting and the sides for hearing. yes a lil less protection from shrapnel but better all around.


some of the GI's have been hit dead azz center and side of helmet with various rifle rounds from insurgents and were not killed and the bullet never entered the helmet. all complained of a hell of a headache after, but they survived.



so as with any war, technology ramps up like a mo-fo and there are benefits found.

man 1st aid kits in all vehicles and packs. fire ext. EVERYWHERE and upgraded/checked each year.


ya never know when a plane will crash, a car crash, a header down the stairs, a dirty bike quad crash a freeking ACCIDENT!



and they SUCK GIANT DONKEY DONGS!



and the fun ends real fast.


cant count how many times im the only one who has anything 1st aid or fire when the poo goes down.


seen so much blood(my own) and others....................its like another day at the office.


it really pays to take 1st aid courses. i thank the coast guard and the boy scouts and ON THE JOB DIRTY BIKE ACCIDENT/OFF ROAD RACING ACCIDENT TRAINING!

another thing with this MOLLE GEAR....................



i can remove any all, and use it elsewhere or NOT!



there are so many MOLLE pouches out there now to hold anything yer lil heart desires.



my faves are the new canteen MOLLE pouches with the new nalgene canteens. whats so cool is they take m-14 /hk-91 mags in place of the canteen. and having a pair of them = 8 MAGS OF .308. or (4) canteen pouches = 16 mags of .308 and NOBODY EVAR RAPED A .308!

These were being trialed when I was a medic 20 years ago. Being foam they are light and conform well to what your bandaging.
I used to carry about 20 of them in my pack and the total weight was negligible.

Absorbent Foam Bandage | Wound Care Dressing | Andover CoFlex AFD

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http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1306042774.jpg

If you really want to get serious about first aid you could also carry sterile saline solution. If someone gets hurt and become unconscious you can infuse fluid rectally.

Each of the British soldiers on the ground in the Falklands carried one liter of fluid in their packs. When a soldier got shot they would dress the wound then insert a plastic tube into the soldier rectum and open up the valve.
It worked extremely well. Their survival rate was the highest ever for British soldiers.

now theres a damn good idea on the saline!

how did the brits carry the saline?

does it have to be refrigerated at any time?


can it withstand high temps here ? obviously it can take low temps of the falklands in a pack.


whats the shelf life?



i hate to admit it, but we have had many a campfire chat about "WHAT IFS???" and during hunting season in our state (AZ), you DO NOT have to wear orange while hunting, other states like colorado you do have to wear orange vest and orange hat. deer season here i wear orange. elk season i may or may not due to hunting pressure around us. lot of people = ORANGE. a gunshot wound of any kind is bad ju ju. a belted magnum round is really bad ju ju . and ya just never know when you may come upon something like this. same as rattlesnakes, ya never know where when it CAN HAPPEN!

Ummm, I'm much more comfortable with giving fluids IV. I try to refrain from sticking things up unconscious peoples butts.........

Do some reading about the wound cauterizing bandages... Often found to do more harm than good. Israeli Battle Dressings (IBD's) are the schiznit and I keep them anywhere potential trauma can be found. Always carry to the range, etc...

The saline is the same as used in a hospital. You may have problems buying it but it's only purified water with salt added so I can't imagine it being too difficult.
Each bag normally comes with a tube set and clamp valve.

The Brits had outer covers made to protect their bags and these were stored in an external pocket in the same location in their back packs. They wrote an SOP for this so that they could be found in a hurray.
The actually bag is quite tough and is made of thick soft plastic... To burst one you'd have to jump on it.

Refrigeration is not required. There's nothing in it that can go off but it they should be protected and kept as clean as possible.

They do have a shelf life of about 24 months from manufacture but this isn't an issue if you're buying some just before a big trip.

-----------------------------------------------------

It's actually simple to do. There is a plastic barb designed to pierce the bag when inserted at one end of the plastic tubing.
You insert this barb into the bag and this self seals. Be careful not to stab your own hand when doing this. Just push it in straight and your done. Hang the bag about 1.5 meters above the casualty. A tree branch will do.
You then open the valve on the tubing until saline is runs all the way through. You need to cut the end off the tube because there's a thick and expanded section on the end designed for an intravenous needle.
Insert GENTLY. Not too much. About 4 to 6 inches should be plenty. Open the valve and squeeze the bag a little to make sure it's flowing.

Your large bowel absorbs water so this is just an effective way of hydrating someone while they are unconscious or in extreme pain or they have a facial wound that prevents them from drinking.

Let's say you have a hunting party of 5 or 6 men. I would take a full first aid kit and three 1 liter saline bags plus tubing.
It can also be used for wound cleaning and irrigation.

Giving fluids intravenously is the best way but it's not something I would not recommend doing unless you had proper training. Just inserting the cannula in place is difficult enough.
Even a registered nurse would not feel comfortable about doing this without doctors orders.

Note the plastic tubing (cannula) outside of the steel needle. The steel needle is withdrawn once inserted leaving the plastic cannula in place. Imagine doing this in a not so clean or ideal environment. Stress doesn't help either.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1306110745.jpg

EDIT: The steel needle is partially withdrawn in this photo. Normally the steel needle protrudes past the plastic (usually Teflon) cannula.
The steel needle is used to penetrate the skin and side of the vein your trying to get into. Once in you push the plastic cannula in place then fully withdraw the needle and insert the plastic tubing from the saline bag.
Once this is done then you need to dress the area and immobilize the arm, or wrist. Then you need to regulate the flow of fluid and monitor the casualties vital signs, blood pressure and pulse. And adjust the flow accordingly.
All of this is easy for a doctor, RN or a trained medic. It's not something to be attempted by a person with advanced first aid training only IMHO.

OJU, check out chinook medical for supplies, they'll sell saline to anyone.
SC, while not the most comprehensive training, USA Combat Lifesaver training ensures a fair level of proficiency in placing an IV. It's not a particularly difficult task given a little training and lots of practice, that was the least fun part of the entire course...

I would expect a trained battle field medic to be able to dot this but it's not something I would recommend a civilian try unless they had advanced paramedic training.
EDIT: Ideally you'd have a doctor at the other end of a radio telling you what to do.

I have actually done this in the field many times. I served in Africa with the UN. It's not hard with the right training but as I said you need to be trained properly.
A doctor can show you how but you need a person to practice on. We did it to each other on our Army medics course.

well as with any accident, time is always your enemy. be it hunting or combat either way a hospital is a long distance usually.


this is some damn good info, for ser-i-ass injuries. hey............WHATEVAR IT TAKES!


no im not too kool with shoving something ANYTHING UP someones keester..........but when push comes to shove............i'll do anything if its going to make a difference.


my hunting peudner of many many years and hunts had a bad stroke a while back. hes back to work, doing well, even riding his ancient bmw bike around. but we have both discussed "WHAT IFS" and what in feeks name i should do or he should do in the event of an emergency.


let me give ya example years ago. putting along maybe 2-3 mph w/g-friend on my yam 600 grizzily quad in 4wd. had helmets on. we are in the bradshaw mtns. we were a good 25 miles from anyone or anything. as we are putting along we come onto this off camber steep azz drainage. quad is loaded with kitchen sink. as i am turning left, we start to really have an angle, its all shale/granite loose crap, tell chick to lean up into hill, im leaning up into hill. only had about 20 yds to traverse until flat again. well next thing we know we are going azz over tee kettle with a 600 pound quad crushing the living crap out of both of us. and I MEAN CRUSHING THE CRAP OUT OF US!

finally after we run out of room and rocks to nail us and momentum turns to dead silence..................we are HURTING BAD! no broken bones but a hell of alot of lacerations to both of us despite wearing jeans and long sleeve shirts.


now are problem was 1st moving ...OUCH! as we literally tumbled some distance with the damn quad tagging the snot out of us on top and nice comfy granite boulders for pillows.

well adrenalin kicked in and i managed to get the damn quad out of this rock strewn gully, bandage her up, bandage myself, and straighten all our crushed wasted mangled crap on the quad.

1) we had water

2) we had 1st aid

3) we were wearing helmets


i am sure as hell the only thing that saved us was the helmets. mine was toasted hers wasnt in too good of shape.


so my point being going for a simple azz afternoon, can easily lead to disaster. and once again had we been injured any worse.............well time could have been our enemy.


now heres another thing we learned from years of dinking around offroad racing and hunting and generally screwing off in a big way, in the wilds of the great SW. ever try and shoot a rifle with a full face bell moto helmet?????



well i can promise it aint gonna happen and we have tried. design will not allow it. scoped or iron sighted. so since we always wear seatbelts and helmets(see above), we decided to get some surplus PASGT kevlar helmets. work like a charm for hunting for obvious reasons, and since not all of our hunts are when its chamber of commerce weather....................its damn nice to have a set of googles and a baclava on yer face when whipping along at 50 mph and the ambient temp is below freezing. yeah wind chill baby.................mmmmmm LOVE MY HELMET/GOGGLES/BACLAVA for hunting.


yeah we may look like dorks, yeah we may look like combat wombat mall ninjas...........but every last SOB we have run into out in the middle of BFE, and has checked out our gear, says the same thing. "if i see a elk/deer, by the time i get my helmet off hes in the next damn county!" and we just start laughing. cuz the letter of the law here in az. is if you see game(few and far btwn), you must stop and get out of or off of vehicle and step OFF THE ROADWAY/TRAIL/FREEWAY/HIGHWAY and you can legally shoot. so its the little things like that, that have put game on the table after 7-8-9-10-14 days of very BLEEK hunting areas, where you aint seeing any game.


and yes we hike, we ride on the quads, we sit on our azz and glass until the binos are surgically inserted into our skulls. but what we dont do...............is KILL THE LIVING HELL out of our trucks. and thats why we use quads cuz i dont need to drive my wasted to hell quad on monday morning to get to work.


if yer gonna ride a quad or a dirty bike....................WEAR A HELMET! ask me how i know. head wounds really really are messy and really really BLEED ALOT!http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1306113527.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1306113541.jpg

Cool backpack. Sounds expensive though... I'll probably keep on using my old one (Peak?) for a while until more of those hit the market. Is there a rain cover, or would a generic larger one take it?

since i have embarked on the MOLLE gig w/all my gear and scamming the ILBE pack i am giving my younger son my zoomy mega big expedition pack. i did a search a few years back when i bought that pack for good rain covers. looked at mtn. smith, granite gear, gregory, lowa, etc. actually ended up with a REI x-large rain cover that works perfect and keeps everything dry as a bone. have a couple other rain covers mfg'd from very thin nylon and the problem with those is they tear very easily from tree limbs, rock abrasion etc.

the last time i went into the grande canon(grand canyon) , i decided to invest in a 4 season tent. already had one of will steigers north face antarctic expedition 6 man tents. great in a group, holds 6, can withstand 140knot winds, goretex floor, blah blah. but.............weighs in at 19 pounds with the bombproof thick as yer thumb easton poles. and i aint carrying 19 pounds period.


so once again started searching for 4 season bombproof tents that were LIGHT!


ended up with a north face mtn 25. i think it weighs like 6# w/rain fly. actually a very roomy 2 man 4 season tent, w/a vestibule to stow yer gear and muddy boots.


had it for quite some time now and not 1 complaint.



we use the antarctic hotel(himilayian hotel on steroids), for when we go places where its used as a base camp. 2 people in it , ya would think you had died and gone to heaven. 4 people in it, its still comfy. if ya go w/6 people as rated..........well your gonna get to know each other real well if the weather is crappy and your crammed in it for a day or 2.


both of these north face 4 seasons have been used in the middle of the winter w/no problems, and both have had running rivers of rain water flow under them while in it and the goretex floors work perfect. never any seams coming apart, never any poles taking a crap(easton) and never a problem.


i also have a 4 season eureka one man tent, and so does my younger son. have only used these in 3 seasons so cant tell ya how they work in a heavy snow. both of us have had the heavens open up and dump on us and never got wet.


if ya ever get by a north face outlet store...................jump on it. some screaming mimi deals to be had.



i like TNF lifetime warranty. its pretty hard to BOO-GAR their stuff up. i also like marmot and patagonia products for durability.

Sounds like you've got pretty good stuff... Mine was great for what was on the market around 1994-1997 so that's probably terrible by today's standards. My Eureka Timberline 2 has held up great over the years with no rips or leaks. I carry a ground cover cut from a thick plastic drop cloth to keep rain from coming in from below. Never had any problems with wind/rain/snow/bears/mountain lions or other big cats that come around camp at night.

i can BLAME IT ALL on my parents/my insane scoutmaster/ and THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA!



spent a hell of alot of my youth in the 1/2 horsey town of pinetop,az. not alot to do except hunt fish camp.


i have used 1/2 azzd gear and regretted every damn moment when it has failed. ya get what ya pay for. saw alot of crap go down in the grande canon(grand canyon) and the superstition wilderness. broken legs/ankles mainly. and you aint lived until ya gotta get someone out of that big azz hole in the ground w/a broken leg or ankle.


then throw in dirty bikes/quads/off road race vehicles and its a non stop cluster of accidents.


a good two incidents to mention:


1) riding the countryside high and wide over the 14 eeners in colorado. buddy hits water diverter berm on his yamm-a-ha, does a high speed header and breaks leg...........BAD! have pics of this stunt. now it wasnt a compound fracture but he busted both bones in his right leg and his mx boot held it together. along with a roll of duck(quack) tape and an hour sitting there listening to him moan and groan we started his bike for him and he sucked it up and rode down to telluride, and then in my surburban to the hospital.



2) our outlaw dirty biker club SUN MC decided to have a festivus in june one summer up in the bradshaw mtns. did our due dilligence and rented the group campground in horsethief basin. pine trees oaks water campsites blah blah.


since this was one ser-i-ass ride we opted for the BUDDY SYSTEM and a TECH of all bikes prior to taking off at o-dark thirty. had around 80 guys. all the wifeys and g/friends drove up with fuel booze food in the crash trucks on the forest service road. had people staged with crash trucks and fuel over a good portion of the mtn.


prior to launch we sent everyone a list of crap to bring and not bring. to the nats ass survival/spare parts list. spare gas in prestone bottles in backpacks.



so we take off in a cloud of dust with 4 strokes and 2 strokes. about 2 hrs in headed uphill on the trail, im on my 85 XR-350RF from hell, a friend of ours from garrett goes wailing by us like we were standing still on his KTM 495 from hell and.................you guessed it................hit a water diverter(dirt berm) wrong and launched into low lunar orbit and did a mega header at mega warp speed and compound fractured his leg.



and when i say BLOOD.................i mean the BLOOD was spilling out of his BOOT!



we are now MEGA MEGA FEEKED ROYALLY!



thank god we had our rezident nutcase dr. with us. we cut his boot open, applied tournaquit, splinted the leg with a palo verde branch, duck(quack) taped the boot back together along with the palo verde branch, and started searching for ANYBODY! now we had calculated our fuel to the nats azz and we were scrimping on fuel. so us 4 strokes(better mileage) starting combing the bradshaws for anyone with a vehicle. finally after an hour or so found 2 ol boys in a jeep. they opted to help. actually at this point due to the DIRE CIRCUMSTANCES of our friends health, we were FULLY COMMITTED to hijacking their vehicle had they decided not to help us, if ya catch my drift.


when we got back with the jeep, we lifted him into the back for the long bumpy ride down the senator highway(dirt road) into prescott, he was WHITE AS A SHEET FROM BLOOD LOSS!


you talk about a major BUZZKILL on that trip. well to make a long story short, they left the wound open for a week, then did surgery and added some plates, and he didnt make it back to work at garrett for 6 months.



so as i said before. being cheap, being a 1/2 azz, being an airhead, being a moron, can get ya killed real fast and real dead faster than ya can spit off road.


i cant emphasize the importance of being prepared, having quality gear, watching the 10 day weather forecast. sweat the small and big stuff and everything else comes easy.



or the story about my friend ripping across the dezert on his dirty bike and catching some barbed wire with his neck! yeah once again.................more fun than we can stand. he did live , but had a scar for the rest of his life, just like clint eastwood in hang 'em high!