PIG Alpha and Delta gloves

PIG Alpha (old style) and Delta gloves.

  As usual, I've purchased these from www.tactical-kit.co.uk(http://www.tactical-kit.co.uk/pig-247-c.asp).

  As some of you may have noticed from my rant against Mechanix a while back, I've given up on the stalwart of tactical gloves and moved on to pastures new. My deployment to Kenya seemed like the perfect opportunity to kill two birds with one stone, and go for a look at a utility glove (Delta) and a more combat orientated one (Alpha). 

  I measured my hands with the guide provided and settled on a medium. Fitting with both pairs is quite snug, which is given as a warning on the website, but there is some stretch in them. If you did find yourself filling out medium Mechanix then I'd recommend going for a large in PIG. The stitching in the ends of the fingers promises " Wrap-Over Finger Tips- Provides additional comfort and protection for finger nails." which, I'm happy to report it does... I think. Which is to say I've not had any problems with my finger nails associated with the gloves. 

  Design wise, well PIG have gone against the current trend with manufacturers. There are no reinforced knuckles, no rubber bumpers on the fingers. Just gloves that fit well, allow you full dexterity and look understated and pretty sexy. The logo on the Deltas is a pretty beautiful touch, it's a shame they didn't stick it on all of their gloves. 

  The materials used in both sets are a hard wearing, quick wicking material that offers more than adequate protection from the day to day life of the bush. The Alphas come with 1000D nylon reinforced knuckles and finger tips, which is more of a durability feature than one that inspires you to breach a building with your fists. The stitching is bombproof, and the palms maintain grip even when your hands are dripping with sweat or a bit of spillage from the bowser. Both gloves are advertised as being touchscreen compatible, a claim that is true, but I don't find particularly useful. After all, we come to Kenya for the wildlife, not the wifi!

  Both sets of gloves have had 3 weeks each, and have been pretty rigorously put through their paces. Where possible I tried to mirror what I've done wearing them, and have as broadly as possible covered real world usage. Tasks have included setting up local defences (including razor wire, trip flares and TES IEDs), digging in, weapon handling on the majority of infantry weapon systems, patrolling, CQB, reports (think ammo/cas slate cards without removing the gloves), clearing trip flares from defended locations etc etc. I also tried to make sure I was wearing these gloves for as many hours as possible, with the Deltas managing around 70 hours constant wear at one point. I can honestly say that neither have let me down. Even when snagging constantly on the notorious 'Bastard Bushes' and the general day to day abuse that Kenya brings, the stitching, seams and general makeup of the gloves have withstood it all well, with only minor discolouration and loss of some of the more cosmetic logos (why you'd cover the palm of a glove in sticky logos for grip like on the Delta I'll never know).

  The Alpha glove: this one is the more tactical orientated, with a more robust construction and 1000D knuckle strips. The palms are ventilated, which works well, although does allow a lot of ingress of grit and dirt. No additional grip on the palms, although the faux leather/suede is more than up to the task. The look is understated and simple, something I've come to appreciate. Dexterity is good, with all but the most fiddly of tasks being achievable with them on. I did have to take them off to get the pin back in a trip flare, but in my defence it was extremely dark! The velcro fastening allows you to adjust the tightness around the wrists slightly, and is pretty secure, although in my opinion it could do with being slightly wider to allow more adjustment. 

  The Delta glove: advertised as a 'utility glove' which I suppose means the jack of all trades, master of none. No additional reinforcement or protection, these are the lightweight option for those that value dexterity over everything. Additional grip is provided by rubber stick on PIG logos, but almost all have peeled off. The palm is the same faux leather/suede as the Alpha and grips well without them. Dexterity is fantastic, I don't even bother taking them off to sit through full O-Groups now. Construction is much more robust than anticipated and they've survived multiple meetings with razor wire unscathed. My main complaint would be the lack of Velcro on the cuffs. Once your hands start to swell in the heat they can be a bit of a pain to get on and off. 

  Are PIG gloves Mechanix killers? Well, from a purely functional point of view? Yes. Will they achieve it? Depends on getting the message out to the kids about the quality and durability of PIG products. So long as PIG maintain the levels of quality with regards to materials and construction, I won't be buying anything else for the foreseeable future, and judging by how well these two pairs have taken Kenya I doubt I'll have to replace them any time soon.  

This Kit Pest Review was written by Samlongshankswatt. Hopefully you enjoyed it and if you have any thoughts or comments related to this article then leave a comment! 

 If you'd like to visit Cooper's Kit Corner, you can find it here.

 If you'd like to visit Gen Kit Exchange, you can find it here.

Terrorist Attack

What to Do in a Terrorist Attack

  Recent events have shown us that we are still a risk of terror attacks inspired by extremist ideology.  Given how well the Security Services are doing in disrupting the major internationally inspired terror plots it is the lone-wolf attacker that presents us with the most danger.  There is still the risk of a large attack slipping through the net though.  Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, has been much criticised for his comments that terrorist attacks are part and parcel of living in a major city, but to ignore this comment would be a great disservice to ourselves.  If we live in a major city, or plan on travelling to one we should be prepared to have to react to a terror attack.

  We have seen 9/11, 7/7, the Madrid and Boston bombings, the Mumbai shootings, the Charlie Hebdo shootings and Bataclan Theatre attacks in Paris; the Brussels and Berlin attacks; as well as the recent attack in London.  Although there was a great loss of life there were also a great many survivors.  

  So, what can you do to survive?

  Avoidance is always the best tactic.  The first thing you need to do is to think like a terrorist.

  To do this we are going to play the “so what?” game.  

  Ok, let’s start.  If I am going to conduct a terrorist attack I want it to have the largest impact I can. So what?  So, I need there to be a large number of available targets.  So what? I’ll conduct my attack during rush hour or during a significant event.

  So I have a time of day, where exactly am I going to do this.  I need to kill as many as people as I possibly can as I’ve either only got one chance (suicide bomber) or I have a limited time before law enforcement can respond (active shooter).  So what?  I need people to be concentrated together. So what?  I need to identify natural choke points (public transport, crowds of spectators).

  I also want to make a statement. So What? I could attack something iconic. So What? I need to consider iconic buildings, museums or organisations which have spoken out against my ideology.

  Now we have our first set of data from the terrorist’s point of view.  He will be looking to conduct his attack most likely at rush hour (7/7 and Madrid) or during a significant event which will draw large crowds (Paris).  He will also be looking to maximise his capability by identifying places where people will be concentrated such as train carriages, buses or events like carnivals or on the finish line of public sporting events (Boston Bombing).  He may also be looking to attack a building or organisation (British Houses of Parliament and Charlie Hebdo).

  What can you do to keep safe?

  Firstly, try to avoid travelling at peak times.  If you can adjust your working pattern to avoid travelling when there are more people about, so much the better.  If you cannot do this, then be intelligent about how you travel.  When I was working in London I had to use Public Transport every day during rush hour.  I reduced my risk by not taking buses in the city centre and by only using carriages at the extreme ends of trains.

Try to avoid likely choke points.  For example, I won’t walk along Oxford Street at peak times as it is very busy.  I will instead use less busy roads which run parallel to it.  If I am attending an event, I will also try not avoid the largest concentration of people.  If I were viewing the London Marathon, for example, I would avoid the start and finish lines and anywhere the race passes an iconic monument such as Tower Bridge, St Paul’s Cathedral or Buckingham Palace.  

  If you can avoid iconic locations, especially ones which are representative of the nation such as Parliamentary and Government buildings.  

  What about if you get caught up in an attack?

  The official mantra is RUN HIDE TELL.  This is the strategy backed by British Counter Terrorism Police and the British Government. 

  Run

  This is great advice.  If you can just get away.  Make a beeline ( run away, but not in a straight line) in the opposite direction of the attack and don’t look back.  This is not cowardice it is actually going to help the emergency services.  

  Firstly, you have given them one less casualty to deal with.  A mass casualty situation puts a huge strain on the available resources.  On 7/7 every high dependency hospital bed in central London was full.  There were even adults in children’s ICU beds at Great Ormand Street.  The survival rate from the latest attack was as high as it was because medical specialists were able to be on scene almost immediately as there is St Thomas’ Hospital lies on the opposite side of Westminster Bridge from where the attacks took place.  Credit must be given to these people.  They were not the specially trained team that the London Ambulance Service has to deal with these types of situations.  Not the ones who have specialist training, body armour and helmets.  These were A&E and ward staff who ran to help with what they could carry.

  Secondly, you will make it easier for the Police to identify the attackers and neutralise them.  They will be responding into a very confused situation in which they will need to identify those who are a threat from those who are a danger.  The fewer people there are there the easier it will be for them.  Terrorists don’t wear uniforms; they look just like you and me.  

  Thirdly, you are preventing the terrorists from having a hostage.  The Charlie Hebdo attackers made their final stand in a supermarket where they took hostages to make an assault by emergency responders much more difficult.  The terrorists at the Bataclan Theatre also took hostages, as did the Sydney Café attacker.  Some terrorists will deliberately seek to take hostages such as at Beslan, the Darbouka Theatre in Moscow and even going as far back as the Iranian Embassy.

  Finally, you are carrying valuable information that the Police can use to resolve the threart.

Don’t stop to collect belongings.  You can come back for them later.  The more you carry the slower you will be.  Drop those bags of shopping, your new shoes aren’t worth your life.

  Hide

  Where should you hide?  Well we have a shopping list that we are looking for:

• Lockable – We want to be able to prevent anyone from getting inside with us.  You must assess the strength of the door itself.  Many builders save money by buying cheap doors that are very thin and filled with cardboard.  If you can look for either a security door or a fire door.  You can prevent anyone from entering by using the door lock if it has one, barricading it with furniture or, a personal favourite, using the humble rubber door wedge.  Those of you who have read previous articles of mine will know about the bag I keep at work; the rubber door wedge is one of the articles I routinely keep in there.

• Hard Cover – Many internal walls in buildings are stud walls.  This means that they are plasterboard over a wooden frame.  This is a very quick and cheap means of constructing internal walls.  These will not stop bullets!  If you find that your only available sanctuary has these types of walls the safest place to be is lying on the floor as close to most vulnerable wall as you can.  This is because should a terrorist decide to fire through the wall they will have their weapon in their shoulder which will naturally cause them to fire down at an angle.  If you are outside look for things like concrete planters or brick walls.  Cars, fences and plants are not bulletproof.  Just because you can’t be seen don’t think you can’t be hit!

• Cover from View – If the terrorist cannot see you they will not know you are there.  Or if they suspect you are there they will not know exactly where you are and it will be much harder for them to hurt you.  Avoid rooms on the ground floor with windows to the outside.  Also, avoid rooms where there are windows in the door.

• Not Obvious – Don’t go and lock yourself in the toilet or crawl under your desk, unless you have no other choice.  Make it hard for them to find you.

  Other things to consider are to turn off any noises on your phone.  This includes turning off any vibrating alerts as they will make a buzzing sound which a terrorist could hear

Tell

  When it is safe to do so call the emergency services.  Make sure you give them as much information as you can.  Tell them where you are.  They will need to know so they can come and get you.  Tell them who else is with you, they will be keeping a database of who is safe that families will be able to search.  Tell them what you have seen.  Keep it simple:

• Direction from which you might have heard explosions, gunfire, screaming etc.
• Any firearms or weapons.  Don’t say something unless you are sure.  Don’t say machine gun or AK47 unless you actually saw one.  Keep it simple say long gun, short gun, knife or machete.
• Give a description of any attackers you have actually seen.  Remember only say anything if you have actually seen it.  That dark-skinned man with the shemagh could have been running away too.  If you give a description use the A-H method to help.
• A – Age
• B – Build (skinny, fat, muscly)
• C – Clothing (what they are wearing and colours of clothes)
• D – Distinguishing marks (scars, tattoos)
• E – Elevation (height)
• F – Face (skin colour, big nose, beard, moustache, piercings)
• G – Gait How they walk (limp, rude-boy swagger)
• H – Hair (style colour)
• Any injuries.  Tell them if you or anyone else is injured.  Use the MIST method.
• M – Mechanism of injury (shot, fell over, stabbed)
• I – Injuries sustained (stab wound, gunshot wound, cuts, burns)
• S – Signs (are they breathing and how, are they responsive, what can you see?)
• T – Treatment given.

  Other things to think about

  When the emergency services find you, or come to your location do not expect them to treat you with kid gloves.  They will treat you as a threat until they are sure otherwise.  Especially in a hostage situation.  This is for both your and their safety.  During the Iranian Embassy siege, some of the attackers tried to escape by pretending they were hostages.  The last thing they want is to rescue you only to have you killed by a suicide bomber.

You are very likely to have guns pointed at you, to be handcuffed or otherwise restrained and to be made to lie on the floor.  If you hear the emergency services coming sit on the floor away from any doors or windows, they may break them open.  Take off any jackets or coats so they can see you do not have a suicide vest, cross your legs so they can see you will not run at them, and put your hands on your head so they can see you are not holding anything.

  If you find yourself in a situation where you feel you must do something, make sure you know what you are doing.  I have studied and taught martial arts and combatives for several years, but I would think twice about trying to take down someone with a machete.  Equally I carry a first aid kit, but I would not try to help with casualty treatment unless I had received training in what to do.  You could make things worse if you get it wrong.

  I would also encourage you to get the excellent citizenAID app and to check out the citizenAID website.  CitizenAID is an initiative created by four outstanding clinical practicioners designed to give people advice on what to do in the event of a terrorist incident, including giving life-saving first aid, and giving advice on how you can be better prepared should the worst happen.

  This Kit Pest Review article was written by Ben OToole. Hopefully you enjoyed it and if you have any thoughts or comments related to this article then leave a comment! 

 If you'd like to visit Cooper's Kit Corner, you can find it here.

 If you'd like to visit Gen Kit Exchange, you can find it here.

Platatac Peacekeeper

PLATATAC PEACEKEEPER CHEST RIG - Multicam

Get it here from The Hereford Kit Company! 

As an army, we have long favoured belt kit over chest webbing. With some exceptions – Northern Ireland, some periods of Herrick, some units issued with Virtus – kit carried on the chest is generally frowned upon. Part of this has to do with IED threat mitigation, part with practicality (trying to remove magazines in the prone can be problematic), but much, like many things within the British Army, has to do with habit and experience. As we attempt to shift our focus towards the Fight Light/Project Payne mentality and more battalions convert from Light Role to Protected Mobility, Armoured or Mechanised Infantry, chest rigs and battle vests have enjoyed something of a resurgence.

For those of us who are vehicle mounted – as I was when I purchased the Platatac Peacekeeper – a chest rig makes a lot of sense. It is more practical to wear within the tight confines of a mastiff, and (and this is true for all roles), it keeps you honest. If there’s no physical room to pack Jetboils, Jack Flasks, spare headtorches, six carabiners, three different types of knife, two sticks of double As, 48 hours’ rations, a puffer jacket and four spare pairs of socks, then you have to reassess what you actually need to carry in order to fight.

The Peacekeeper is an incredibly robust piece of kit which has weathered a 6 week TX and two long-range patrol competitions without a single issue. It is incredibly lightweight and packable, and could easily be stuck in the bottom of a Bergen or side pouch for a transition into OBUA. In terms of sizing, I’m 6 foot 5 and have a 46 inch chest but the Peacekeeper fits me well with or without armour. It has an elastic with a very slight amount of give in it on its horizontal retaining strap, which means you can don it with ECBA or Osprey without readjusting it.  The rig itself is retained by means of two shoulder straps about two inches wide (I wear mine crossed) and a horizontal strap. Although there is no padding on these they are surprisingly comfortable, and only the horizontal strap needs to be unclipped to remove it.

Where the Peacekeeper really excels, though, is in pouch design and placement. It can actually fit a remarkable amount of kit for something so small and light. On the front it has a triple magazine pouch (similar in design to Crye’s). Because the pouches have elastic around them and a fair amount of give, they retain anything from one to three mags each snugly, so you could carry anything from three mags to nine. The pouches are also handy for a variety of objects because they are so adaptable – they can take LUCIE, HMNVS, binos or other bits of kit quite easily, although they aren’t padded so I wouldn’t start clambering through high windows with fragile items in there. In addition to this, the Peacekeeper has a large map/notebook sleeve in the rear, which can also be fitted with Platatac’s triple magazine insert (for even MORE ammo!).

Below the ammo pouches the Peacekeeper mounts a horizontal “fanny pack” type pouch, which is big enough to take 2x smoke grenades and can fit a variety of handy bits and bobs. On the sides, it has two strips of molle PALS, which allow for a degree of customisability. On my own rig, I had a slimline dump pouch, a knife pouch, a small admin pouch and a smoke grenade pouch. Finally, on the sides, the Peacekeeper has two medium zipped utility pouches, with interior retaining loops, which have two smaller pouches mounted to their front which close over with a Velcro flap. Again, Platatac has thoughtfully provided an interior slimline pocket on the inside of the rig behind each of these pouches. You’ll be wanting a daysack/jacksack for water, warm/waterproof kit and radio, or you can look into the Platatac back panel. You may be able to fit a water bottle into the side pouches, depending on type, or you could mount a Blackhawk type 2x PALS pouch for a Nalgene on the available MOLLE.

To put things into perspective, here is what I was able to fit in the Peacekeeper:

• 4-6x Magazines (on one occasion, 4x 7.62 G3 mags)
• LUCIE + Spare batteries
• Lightweight Binos
• Garmin 301 + Spare Batteries
• IFAK
• Smoke grenade
• Headtorch + spare batteries
• Leatherman
• Cam Cream
• Ear Defs + Spare
• Map
• Notepad + pens
• Crib Cards
• Snacks
• Gloves (on grimloc)
• RCK

In summary, the Platatac Peacekeeper is a great piece of kit, and for around £80 it’s pretty spectacular value too. My one complaint is the printed multicam straps have started to fade – it would be good to see a woven version. It’s lightweight, very robust, and remarkably spacious for its size. 

Build Quality: 4/5

Value for Money: 5/5

Practicality: 4/5

Allyness: 5/5

This Kit Pest Review article was written by Tom Lagana. Hopefully you enjoyed it and if you have any thoughts or comments related to this article then leave a comment! 

 If you'd like to visit Cooper's Kit Corner, you can find it here.

 If you'd like to visit Gen Kit Exchange, you can find it here.

Resilience!

What can you do to be more resilient? 

Foreword from Alex - The definition of resilience - Adjective - 

a :  capable of withstanding shock without permanent deformation or ruptureb :  tending to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change
 

These are all important qualities in life, especially the line of work the majority of our readers are in. Good practice of being a resilient person can also develop a fluid mindset that allows us to handle tasks or problems as something to solve rather than being the end of the line. Anyway, here's Ben's thoughts on resilience:

Step 1 – Identify the Risks:

What can you do?

The first step is to look at what are the risks to you personally. This is going to require some analysis of your day to day activities and a bit of investigating elsewhere. Don’t panic there is nothing too onerous here.

Ok, so let’s look at your day to day routine. The best way to do this is to write down a time table of your day. For example:

0700 Wake up, get washed and dressed.

0715 Have breakfast

0730 Leave for work, walk to bus stop

0735 Get bus to station

0745 Take train to London

0815 Take bus from station to office

0830 Start work

1230 Go for lunch

1630 Leave office and take bus to station

1645 Take train home

1715 Take bus from station to house

1730 Arrive home cook supper

Now we get to play the “So What” game!

At each stage of your timetable look at what you are doing and ask yourself “So What”? For example; get washed. So what? I need hot water. So what? I need gas for my boiler. So what? If the gas goes off I won’t be able to have hot water. So what? I need a way to get hot water if the gas goes off.

Once you’ve done this analysis of your routine you will have generated a list of requirements.

Step 2 – Analyise the Risks

The next stage is to look at other more general threats to you. This isn’t rocket science.

Start off by going biblical. Fire, Famine, Flood, Pestilence. You get the picture. If you’re really keen you can download a copy of your Local Authority’s Risk Register and look at the risks there.

Ultimately what you are looking for is those risks which have the greatest disruption on your personal life. You will also need to temper this with how likely an event is. A comet hitting the Earth and creating a global winter would have a significant impact (pun totally intended!) on your life, but is very unlikely. However, unannounced industrial action by Public Transport Staff is more within the realms of probability.

Time for another round of the “So What?” game! You will now have generated another list of requirements.

Step 3 – Manage the Risk

Congratulations, you are now most of the way to being a resilient person!

You have by now generated a long list of requirements. But what to do with all of this?

You now need to start putting them together into groups. Keep your groupings broad, transport, work, accommodation, food etc.

Once you’ve got them grouped you can identify requirements which have a common resolution. For example, a home flood, fire or extensive storm damage would all need another place to stay as a solution. So where will you go? Once you’ve answered this question you have made a contingency plan!

You have now analysed your risk, you have managed it and you have prepared contingency plans for the most likely scenarios. Congratulations, you are now a resilient person. Don’t rest on your laurels though. Keep scanning the horizon for anything new which may affect you and factor it into your plans.

This informative Kit Pest Review article was written by Ben OToole. Hopefully you enjoyed it and if you have any thoughts or comments related to this article then leave a comment! 

 If you'd like to visit Cooper's Kit Corner, you can find it here.
 If you'd like to visit Gen Kit Exchange, you can find it here.

How/Why GKE Exists...

Why GKE exists

 I'm not too sure how to start a thought piece or any other form of writing for that matter but I hope this will do. This is just me, putting into words, how I developed GKE from an idea and concept to give the great community/people that have followed it from the beginning (and more recent followers) an understanding of the process' and mindset that took place. 

 The first time I thought about some kind of a new way (or more of a specific place to do so that's more professional than FB Buy and Sell groups anyway) to buy and sell, new and used, personally owned military items was on a three hour drive to my parents house from work. I decided that I spend   fair amount of time driving around the country for various reasons and that should use this time more effectively. Although I enjoyed The Ricky Gervais show Podcast, i'd used up all my data allowance for the month, so fuck it, what else was I going to do? After having that initial thought somewhere along the A1 near Catterick, the next time I spoke of it was the following day in a conversation to my mum. It went something like this:

 Me: 'I've had an idea for a marketplace for military kit, or something similar'

 Jane: "That's nice. Would you like a brew?'

  So that was the first inkling of the project. It didn't get another good thought until a good six months later.

 The next real thoughts the idea had came on a broken down coach at Durham services on the way to Leeds-Bradford Airport. My Battery was on it's way to a joint live firing exercise with our Reservist counterparts in Denmark. We were all pretty excited about this one as we were told we'd be mentoring them in individual job roles but the truth was that we were filling in the blank spaces they had in their detachments. Not as fun but it wasn't Otterburn, and it wasn't January. Our C-130 had decided not to fly for three days so they were spent traveling to and from Leeds-Bradford, on the second day we stopped via Durham services and the coach packed it in as well. That left us on that fucking coach for a good six hours before a replacement arrived.

 I basically decided there and then that I was going to start a business that would hopefully make the kit game a little easier to navigate. I could've gone to sleep but I decided to use the coach full of diverse and colourful blokes to try and gauge a bit of market research as they're essentially the troops that know best. So I whipped out my notepad and started asking questions, I probably pissed them off and i'm sure that they're bored to death of hearing about GKE from me by now, but they've been my best source of inspiration and continue to do so, so i'll keep asking, however, they were great, exactly what I needed to hear, honest thoughts and a couple of 'you're a fucking idiot' never go a miss. As I didn't have a fucking clue what I was doing I decided to start with the easy(ish) stuff, the brand. 

 I'd decided whilst conferring with the blokes that the word 'Exchange' summed it up nicely, so that was definitely in. The word 'kit' comes neatly before it and the two together do a good job of telling you what the fuck is going on. I knew it needed a little more something to define the brand as Kit Exchange is a little to broad. So we started talking about words like 'Zero' (from the 'Zero Foxtrot' brand), and a few others. We decided that none of these fit the bill as well as 'Gen' did. 'Gen' to me defines the word honesty and reliability, if a bloke is Gen then you can count on him, if a story is Gen then it must be true, if an item is Gen then it's a good bit of kit. As well as all of that it's a word that 99% of the British Army and further afield have used and are familiar with, so that's what I went with, Gen Kit Exchange. Below is the first Gen logo that Hannah and myself came up with.

 The next bit was the initial logo, luckily for me there were two blokes on that coach who were good artists and could doodle no end. One of the blokes, Alex (different Alex), had a 'F' bomb morale patch on his daysack (imagine the 'G bomb' logo but with an 'F'). I decided this was striking and had military ties, this coupled with the fact Alex actually has an 'F' Bomb tattoo on his wrist cemented the fact that I liked it and would use it. (For our US counter-parts, the 'F bomb' relates to the word 'Fuck' however on British soil and especially in the British Army it means 'Fella') Fuck the bloke who F bombs coupled with a Brecon point, there's a special place in Hell for you. So after some confirmation talks with my Girlfriend (who luckily studied Graphic Design at Uni), she thought it looked okay from that perspective and knocked up an initial logo that incorporated all of the above.  

 So now i've got the name and the logo. How the fuck do I make a marketplace? I couldn't do it all on my phone so I went out bought a second hand MacBook Air that has served me well. Initially I wanted GKE to be a mobile app, after all, everyone has a mobile so it made sense. I decided that I could teach myself how to build an app but it would take years to become a coding genius capable of creating the quality that was needed. So then, I decided to outsource the actual building of the app to an actual developer. I spoke to hordes of mobile app developers and individual freelancers, all of these conversations ended in a price tag of anything from £30,000 - £150,000 for all of the features I was talking about. Essentially what I needed was a 'Shpock' type app, turns out this cost over £100,000 to develop. Well fuck. I haven't got that kind of money and on a Gnr's wage I never would. 

- This is the part one in the lengthy story that is GKE, i'll post them throughout the coming months to give you an idea of wtf went through my head that delivered it to the stage it's at now - Stay Frosty - Alex

This informative Kit Pest Review article was written by Alex Miller. Hopefully you enjoyed it and if you have any thoughts or comments related to this article then leave a comment! 

 If you'd like to visit Cooper's Kit Corner, you can find it here.
 If you'd like to visit Gen Kit Exchange, you can find it here.

Fight to survive.

Fighting

Why do we need to learn to fight?

We need to learn this for a number of reasons.

Firstly, because we live in a society which is growing progressively more violent.  Most street crime now involves violence.  40% of burglaries now result in violence to the homeowner.  Knife crime is on the rise again.  With the best will in the world the Police cannot be on every street corner.  Violent criminals select their victims based partly on how likely they are to be interrupted by the Police.  Given that the average 999 call takes over 5 minutes plus the response time.  In rural areas this response can be 45 minutes plus, it certainly is where I live.  Therefore, you absolutely must be able to defend yourself and your loved ones “in the moment”.

Secondly, it is good for you.  The physical exertion of training will increase your cardiovascular fitness, you will lose weight, and you will have improved strength and improved reflexes, all of which will have a tangible effect on your health.  

There are mental benefits too.  Research has shown cognitive and behavioural benefits.  The researchers noticed improvements in self-esteem, a more positive response to physical challenges, greater autonomy, emotional stability and assertiveness and reductions in anxiety and depression.  Several studies also point to martial arts reducing impulsiveness and aggression.

- Remember, it's not stupid if it works!

Thirdly, it improves our communities.  Criminals are less likely to try and attack people if they think they are going to come off worse.  People feel safer.  Where they feel safe they are more productive and more community minded. 

Why Fighting?

Why not martial arts or self-defence?  I chose the term fighting for very good reasons.  

Firstly, to focus you on what to learn. 

Martial Arts is such a broad term, and covers a huge great list of different forms.  There are modern martial arts, traditional, sports and so forth.  All of these have their issues.  

Firstly, the traditional forms.  They have become so stylised as to be unrecognisable as a useable fighting form, or they are entirely focused on an opponent using the same style that they are unable to cope with something from outside the box.  

Sports Martial Arts, these are traditional forms which are practiced in competition to a very strict set of rules.  As such they have lost their effectiveness.  Look at Tai Kwon Do for example.  It’s massively focussed on kicking to score points rather than to have an effect on the opponent.  The same with Points fighting in kick boxing.  During the Rio Olympics one of the judo gold medallists got punched in the face and mugged, despite being a black belt of many years standing.  

Modern Martial Arts, these are mostly just rebranded traditional forms or are too focussed on a very small and unlikely set of scenarios.  All of the above are also too focused on gaining belts as a means of measuring skill.  Real fighting has no rules and the only acceptable outcome is to get home.

What you actually need is to learn techniques which let you deal with an array of real attacks and disable your opponent very rapidly.  There is no winner in a protracted fight, all parties will end up injured and ineffective.  You will need to be equally proficient on the ground as you are on your feet and close in as well as at range.  For this, scenario based training is the best solution.  Don’t study anything which merely has you practicing gently in the dojo.  Train by having someone attack you.  Someone who makes you work to get your technique right and puts you into a physical state similar to that you would be in if you were fighting for real.  

Avoid anything where everyone wears skulls and cammo.  These guys usually have an overly inflated opinion of how hard they actually are.  Usually they have never used anything they teach in anger.

Avoid the Black Belt collector.  Anyone who has multiple black belts has something to prove to themselves.  This also means that they are too entrenched in dojo thinking to be street realistic.

Learn from a bad lad.  I train with a guy who has learnt his skills the hard way.  He started young in the stands at Milwall on a Saturday afternoon.  He is literally death on legs.  Any encounter with him is always short and very violent.

Understand the law.  Make sure you understand the law as it pertains to self-defence.  We live in a culture where the victim can be seen as the aggressor in the eyes of the law and penalised accordingly.

Secondly I chose fighting to promote a mindset.

Nothing in life is free.  You have to fight for everything.

This motivational Kit Pest Review article was written by Ben OToole. Hopefully you enjoyed it and if you have any thoughts or comments related to this article then leave a comment! 

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