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! 

 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.

US Army Modular Horizontal Time Machine

US Army Modular Sleeping System

Available here

* Cost ££££ (£100-£120 plus postage) 

* Value for Money: 5 

* Ease of use: 5 

* Construction: 4 

* Alliness: 3

I’ll admit straight up that I didn’t buy this, I swapped it for a set of dessies from a Yank in Um Qasar. This is a great concept. The system is made up of 4 parts. A lightweight bag (green), a medium bag (black), a Gore-Tex bivvy bag (US Woodland) and a stuff sack. The lightweight bag is very similar in weight to the British issue jungle bag. The medium weight bag is not far off the bouncing bomb in its thickness. The best part about this system is the way it fits together. Both the doss bags and the bivvy bag have a heavyweight zip which runs half way along the bags on the right as you lie in it. Along the zip in all the bags are a series of poppers. You can attach the various bags together to create a sleeping system suitable to the environment you are in. The lightweight and medium-weight bags fit together to make a heavy winter bag, and all of the bags connect to the bivvy bag. The system is designed to provide comfort in temperatures ranging from 50°F to -50°F when wearing various layers of extreme cold weather clothing.

 The system is made by Tennier Industries Inc. in the US. A quick look at their website show that this is actually an older system. They have an updated version in the dreaded UCP cammo and another system in Coyote which is probably for the US Marines. Looking at the coyote version I actually think it is a better system but I haven’t been able to find it commercially available. I think any kit seller who was able to import the coyote system would do very well from military, contractors and bush crafters!

The benefit of the way the system fits together is that you have one sleeping system that you can scale for all year round use and for any environment, jungle to artic. Because the bags are all attached to each other when you pull it out to set up your pit for the night you don’t have to faff about getting the bags all untwisted and the right way around in the bivvy bag. If you use a Klymit sleeping pad like I do all you have to do is lay out your doss bag, blow up the pad (5 breaths) and you’re good to go. The long zip means you only have to do up one zip and you can get out of it very rapidly if you need to.

Now the cons. It is bulky. The full system in its stuff sack is a bit bigger than an issue bouncing bomb, although it does compress down smaller. The stuff sack reduces both the length and the width of the system down to one cubic foot. Another con is that these are available only in US woodland cammo. So if you are military there might be an anal Stick Man issue. Finally, I cannot find a UK vendor for this that isn’t asking for stupid money. Vendors only seem to be on eBay in the US so you will be paying about £40 for postage on top of the cost for the system. It is money well spent though!

I love this system. It gives me complete coverage all year around. If I were to go out and buy civvy sleeping bags to cover the same temperature ranges it would cost me far in excess of this system and wouldn’t be so user friendly. I would confidently say that this is good value for money, especially as it has so much versatility. They are available here.

If you'd like to help out GKE you can do so by letting us know how we're doing! fill in this turbo quick survey and help us make it better for you! Just copy and paste this into your search bar - https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/NW3KFPV

This Kit Pest Review 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.

Get yourself home!

Get You Home Bag

As you may have read in my bio I work in the areas of resilience and preparedness.  Just to be clear, I’m not a stock up on baked beans and wait for the apocalypse kind of bloke.  I would not identify with that subculture at all.  What I do, is look at ways individuals and organizations can be more ready for bumps in the road.  I thought I would share with you one of the ways I make myself more resilient.  This article is pretty London centric, but there are lessons for anyone working in a large city.  

Let me tell you a story...

I started carrying a Get You Home Bag (GYHB) after 7/7.  I was working in London and while I wasn’t directly affected I still had to get home from where I worked in South London to where I lived in the Northern suburbs, 11 miles away.  

Firstly, I didn’t know my way home.  On the train it could be done easily and took about 40 minutes.  On foot was an entirely different matter.  I didn’t know the area where I was working very well either.  I was limited to the walk from the station to the office and then the place I would go for my lunch.  I didn’t know what was around me that could have helped.  Even more basic, I didn’t even have the starting point of knowing what way was north!  I have now made a point of planning my way home from wherever I am working.  I also make sure that I spend time getting to know the immediate area around where I am working.  The sad fact is that I will spend more time there than at home anyway!

I wandered around for a while until I found a newsagent that was still open (most shops had closed up due to staff needing to get home) and was able to buy an A to Z.  Once the shopkeeper told me where I was, I was able to start finding my way home.  

 Clearly things in terms of online mapping have advanced sine 7/7.  You can now ask Google to show you how to get home on your smartphone.  However, it is worth noting that on 7/7 the mobile phone networks all went down.  This was a combination of the Emergency Services being given priority and everyone all trying to let people know they were ok all at once.  From memory the network did not recover until very late into the evening.  I would also doubt that my mobile phone battery would have lasted the 5 hours it took me to get home.  The message is you cannot rely on the phone network to support you in any way.  I always carry paper mapping that will let me get home from wherever I am.  Even if this is a road atlas, it will let you get to the broad area of where you live and you will find your way easily once you are on home territory.  Working in London I always make sure I have an up to date A to Z map.  Anywhere else in the country I get a local A to Z and I carry a compact road atlas.

I carried on my way for a while and got myself turned around with direction.  This was because I had no ground reference.  The first thing I teach people when they use a map is always orient it to the ground.  In other words, turn the map so that map north lines up with magnetic north.  I didn’t know which way was north.  Since then I now carry a lightweight compass so I can navigate in a more meaningful fashion.  I also carry a GPS which has a location programmed in which is in my home area (never your home location!) so I can use that to aid my navigation.

After a while I my feet started to get sore.  Now I’m not the kind of bloke to scrimp on my footwear.  Sadly, a pair of flash black brogues were not the shoes to be wearing for an 11-mile hike.  The biggest issue was rubbing.  I had some nasty sores developing on my heels which would need dressing.  I now have a change of shoes in my bag.  They are in fact lightweight walking boots.  They are good for a one off or a day hike in good weather but nothing more strenuous.  They are good enough to get me home though.  Socks being as important as your foot wear I also have a change of socks in my bag.  Lastly I now carry a small first aid kit, with plasters, compeed, paracetamol and other bits and bobs for dealing with boo boos.

It got to about 7pm and I realised that, having missed lunch, I was pretty hungry and thirsty.  Guess what, no shops open.  I did find a drinks vending machine (it was over a fence in a school playground but needs must) but when I got my wallet out I only had a £5 note.  I now carry a bottle of water with me everywhere along with some energy bars and a bag of nuts.  These are all long life items and can happily live in the bottom of my bag until they are needed.  I also now carry a bag of change.  I have £50 in change in my bag.  Yes, it adds some weight but it is useful for being able to use vending machines and for another reason I will describe shortly.

I had by this time crossed the Thames and I was in pretty unfamiliar territory.  In fact, I had been for quite some time.  The area was pretty depressed and was in fact a large housing estate.  At this time, I was wearing a rather good looking pinstripe suit along with my already mentioned flash black brogues.  To say that I stood out a bit is an understatement.  Guess what?  Yep, I got mugged.  A group of youths spotted be and made a beeline straight over.  I was now missing the fiver I did have, along with the rest of my wallet, cards and my mobile phone.  Not going great!  I now have a change of clothes in my bag which are really non-descript so that I do not attract attention as a possible target.  I also carry a spare wallet with a £20 note and a couple of expired cards in it along with an old mobile phone.  This way if I am mugged anyway I can give them something they can take away.  I keep my real wallet and phone hidden in a waist bag I hide under my clothes.  I also, as previously mentioned have a bag of change.  This allows me to keep a little at a time on hand so that when I do pay for small things like a bottle of water it doesn’t scream out that I have a good bit of cash on me.

I eventually got home after about 5 hours, foot sore and very tired.  As I sat down in my living room I vowed to myself never again!  The very next day I started putting together my GYHB.  After the event I read widely about other people’s experiences and added some other items to my bag.  

A friend of mine was working in Russel Square and was there when the Suicide Bomber on the bus detonated his vest.  He suffered with PTSD as a result.  His most vivid memory was that although he was himself uninjured but was surrounded by people who were, that he could not help.  The same was described by survivors of the bombings on the trains.

I now carry a Blowout Kit in my GYHB, a couple of tourniquets and a couple of Israeli dressings.  The Emergency Services in any city will be on scene very rapidly but, as on the battlefield it is the treatment given immediately after wounding which will decide whether an individual lives or dies.  In the military soldiers are trained and equipped to give this immediate aid to themselves and each other which has resulted in a survival rate of 92%.  There were many individuals who suffered from limb amputations, their lives were saved by people making makeshift tourniquets out of scarves, ties and shirt sleeves.  Having a couple of CAT tourniquets in your bag could save your or another person’s life.

Survivors of the train attack spoke about being plunged into darkness.  The only light available was from people’s mobile phone screens.  When they tried to get clear of the immediate site of the incident they were severely hampered by not being able to see where they were going.  Given that an explosion had just taken place in a tunnel there was a very real risk of a cave-in.  So the sensible place to be was elsewhere!  I carry a head-torch, a flashlight, a small glow-stick lamp and spare batteries for all of them. 

The other take away from those who survived the train bombing was the amount of dust suspended in the air.  I keep a couple of paper dust masks in my bag to protect from this.  Others reported that there was a great deal of glass and sheared off metal, some of which had been burned lying around.  So I carry Kevlar gloves and a set of eye protection too so I don’t injure myself getting out of the immediate area.

Yes, it is probably overkill.  No, I might not ever need it.  But what if I did?  I will admit that my paranoia is somewhat fuelled by what happened to me on 7/7 and by working in the more “fun” parts of the world.  This is a basic set up that I keep wherever I am working.  Be that at home or abroad.  I just scale it to my environment.  Overseas I’ll probably chuck in a satphone and an upgraded medkit for example.  But wherever I am I am confident that I have what I need to get to a place of safety.

This Kit Pest Review 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.

RAID - Ben's obsession.

Monster RAID Pack Review!!!  

Get it here

• Cost: ££££ (£160)  
• Value for Money:  5
• Ease of use:         5
• Construction: 5
• Alliness:         5

 Anyone that knows me knows that I am unhealthily fond of RAID packs.  I actually have 3 of them (black, coyote and multicam) and I carry one every day.  I first came across them when I was working in Afghanistan.  The company I worked for owned ATS tactical for a brief time and I worked with the owner’s brother.  I was in the market for a new daysack and had been eyeing up a motherlode when he thrust a RAID pack under my nose.  I haven’t looked back.

One of the big reasons I like this pack is because I much prefer clamshell opening packs to top openers like the good old Munro.  I always seem to need whatever is right at the bottom and have to muck up all my careful packing to get at it.  With the clamshell lid on the RAID I can get at any bit of kit I need without dragging everything out of the pack.

The original RAID pack was designed by a serving US infantry soldier and manufactured by Eagle.  Once he left the Army he set up his own Kit Company and now manufactures in house in Kentucky USA.  I have both an Eagle and ATS RAID packs.

The basic design of a RAID pack is a large internal compartment with a clamshell opening.  Inside is a compartment to take a water bladder or ATS’ excellent frame sheet (more on that below).  There is PALS webbing and a Velcro patch on the opening lid and Further PALS on the sides and bottom.  The sides also have top opening pockets which go the full length of the pack.   There are  compression straps around the outside of the pack to let you reduce its size 6 on the original RAID and 4 on the RAID II.  There are 3 port openings in the top for antennae, cables or hydration hoses.  

The original Eagle RAID has some other features.  Inside the pack mounted to the flap are two rectangular mesh box pouches which zip open on 3 out of 4 sides.  One is larger than the other.  They are big enough to take a set of waterproofs or a softie/buffalo.  The top mesh pouch has a small stash pocket behind it.  Also inside the main compartment are 4 load stabilisation straps a bit like you get in a suitcase.  2 go top to bottom and 2 go left to right.  I found they were really great for holding a radio in place.  

The RAID II is an update of the original RAID pack.  The face of the pack has a zippered utility pocket for fast stowing of items, while maintaining the PALS webbing of the original pack.  The inside face of the pack flap is also supplied with PALS webbing.  Instead of the load stabilisation straps, from the original RAID, the back panel of the RAID II has four one inch ITW/Nexus Tri Glides for tying into or tying down a wide variety of loads.  Three flapped tube or wire routing ports at the 10, 12, and 1 o'clock are laser cut and larger than in the original RAID. 

The greatest distinction between the RAID and RAID II packs is the shoulder straps.  The 1/2 inch foam straps have been narrowed, and the attachment point strengthened and moved to the back panel rather than the top seam of the pack.  Load lifters are provided to improve load carriage.  Additionally, there is approximately three inches of vertical travel for the adjustable sternum strap. 

ATS offer a lifetime warranty against manufacturer defects in materials and workmanship.

You can get them in black, coyote brown, multicam or ranger green which is more like a light grey colour than green!

I want to finish the review by talking about the ATS frame sheet for the RAID.  You can very comfortably wear the RAID without a frame but adding one makes a world of difference.  The load is massively stabilised and it is easier to balance your shoulder straps.  The frame sheet is a shaped piece of HDPE with an aluminium bar in the middle to keep it rigid and bound edges to protect it.  You could go to eBay and buy yourself a sheet of HDPE and make your own but you would be missing the binding and the stiffening bar, so I would recommend getting yours from ATS.  It is also covered by their lifetime warranty.

The ATS RAID II is better made than the Eagle original, and the materials are better too.  I love my RAID.  It has a great kit swallowing capacity without becoming overly bulky.  The Yanks will often refer to it as a 3 Day Assault Pack as it can carry enough kit to survive for 3 days in the field.  Mine gets used for my daily carry, on the hills, when I am working overseas and I found it great when I was an Infantry Platoon Commander.  

There are other RAID style packs available in the UK, sadly none by a decent manufacturer.  If you want to get one you will have to get it from ATS in the US.  However, unless you get obsessed by them like me, you will only ever need to buy one!  If you want to get proper nerdy about them there is a cult following for them in the US Military.  You can find a monster 51 page RAID pack thread over on Lightfighter.net, a tactical kit forum which is run by ATS.

If you are in the market for a daysack for whatever reason, do yourself a favour and get hold of a RAID! Find it Here.

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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! 

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