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Archive | July, 2012

Peppercorns and Rabbit Turds

By on July 31, 2012 in Tactics and Training, Why We Train

One of the most important benefits of training (or really education of any kind) is the strengthening of your mental filter. This filter is the mental decision making matrix that you pass every idea through to test whether or not it is worth incorporating into your skill set. In essence, this filter helps you separate the good ideas from the bad ones.

How Wide Open is Your Filter?

Someone without much in the way of training (education, experience, etc.) will generally have a wide open mental filter. It allows many ideas, techniques, and pieces of gear to pass through without much thought. This can be a good thing if they are being fed good ideas or it can be a terrible thing if they are standing at a typical gun shop counter listening to Goober McKnowitall opine about shotguns. “I don’t even have to aim? Even just the sound is enough to scare a robber away? Sounds great! I’ll take a shotgun and throw in some of those birdshot home defense rounds too!”

Training and education tend to create a more selective mental filter. People with more experience can more successfully separate the good information from the bad. Their filter allows less through because they can tell from experience what will and won’t work for them. In some cases, people with a well-built filter don’t even have to try a technique or piece of gear to determine that it is a dud. That won’t sit well with the guys online who defend their ideas by saying things like, “I bet you have never even tried the bayonet mount tomahawk!” Let’s just face it, some ideas are just bad and really don’t need to be tried in order to determine that.

Certainly, as a gear focused blog, JTT is likely guilty of clogging up some people’s filter. I have said it before and I will say it again, you really don’t need most of what we talk about on this blog. Training will go a lot further than gear in preparing you for any number of scenarios.

Building Your Filter

There is no shortcut to a high functioning mental filter. It can only be built with intention and focus through quality training, experience, and education.  Choose the information sources that you allow to build your filter carefully because the quality of the information used to build your filter will largely determine the quality of your mental filter.

Professional firearm training is a great way to build and test your filter at the same time. Each new idea presented in a training course that passes through your filter and is incorporated into your life helps filter the next set of new ideas. During your time training you will find that techniques will be added to your “toolbox” or they will be thrown out. Some pieces of gear will pass the test while others will fail when confronted with your ever growing standards for performance.

This is part of why seeking training from people who teach ideas and techniques differently than what you are used to can be valuable. People with solid mental filters need not fear new techniques or ideas. New ideas will either be rejected by your mental filter or be used to reconstruct it – both of which make it stronger.

Strong Filters Make Strong Shooters

Be intentional about strengthening your mental filter. It will save you time spent on worthless techniques and money spent on worthless gear. Sooner or later, everyone needs to learn how to separate the peppercorns from the rabbit turds.

Hardpoint Equipment AMAS

By on July 31, 2012 in Tactical Gear

A lot of companies throw around the words “modular” and “system” but few earn those words to the same extent that Hardpoint Equipment does with their AMAS (Axis Modular Armor System) plate carrier. Nearly every part of the AMAS is removable, replaceable, and adjustable or, in short, modular.

Perhaps the most striking feature of the AMAS is the replaceable front and back panel system. The front and back panels are secured with a Velcro and tab system and they are completely removable. Additional panels can be purchased and that opens up some interesting possibilities. You could set up one panel for an AR-15 and another for a 7.62 battle rifle or AK-47. The panels are also available without MOLLE webbing so you can turn the AMAS into a slick carrier. That is a tremendous capability. I should also point out that the panels are secure enough that the drag handle on the rear has been tested to actually function without the panel tearing away with the weight of a grown man.

The side straps and cummerbund are also completely modular and offer more adjustability than any other carrier that I have seen. The side straps have a unique 3-point design that allow a ton of adjustment for not only length, but also angle. You can choose the side straps or a cummerbund that allows the use of side plates (or both).

The AMAS can also utilize Hardpoint Equipment’s ventilation pads. These pads can be secured to the inside of the plate pockets to provide some standoff. This gap allows airflow behind the plates to keep you cooler and can help protect you from plate deformation in the case of an armor strike.

All of these features add up to what seems to be a very impressive plate carrier. The AMAS is currently available for pre-order from HrdPnt.com. You can stay up to date on when the AMAS will be available at the Hardpoint Equipment Facebook page.

 

Review: GearPods Survival Pro

By on July 30, 2012 in EDC, Reviews, Survival, Tactical Gear

When it comes to pre-assembled survival kits, the contents don’t seem to vary much from one kit to the next. Many kits use the same components from the same vendors or at least similar components. It is often the container itself that differentiates one kit from another. However, the GearPods Survival Pro is one kit that differentiates itself by its container and contents.

The GearPods container system is versatile, unique, and innovative.

The caps allow you to terminate a module, join modules to make a longer module, or join them as separate modules.

Overview

The bread and butter of GearPods is their innovative container design. The GearPods containers are translucent plastic tubes in various lengths that are capped at both ends. The caps can be end caps or couplers (open or closed style) that allow multiple tubes to be connected together. This tube form factor allows the GearPods to be carried like a water bottle and they can even function as a water bottle in a survival situation.

The Survival Pro kit is one of GearPods pre-assembled kits.  It comes with the container and several items packed inside that cover a variety of survival needs:

  • Navigation
  • Signaling
  • Fire starting
  • Water purification
  • Food gathering
  • Food preparation
  • Equipment repair

Removing the top reveals the cap on the cooking cup.

The Survival Pro kit contains two modules: the cup and the stove.

What’s Inside?

The list of items that the GearPods Survival Pro contains is extensive. There are many standard items that are survival kit mainstays and a handful of very innovative items that you won’t find anywhere else.

  • GearPods CookMug: Compact 4.0” anodized aluminum cooking mug/pot with snap-in lid
  • GearPods Stove: Solid fuel stove with windshield
  • Esbit® solid fuel tablets (2)
  • Rescue Flash™ signal mirror – 2″x3″ signal mirror with retro-reflective targeting, protective film, plastic sleeve and instructions
  • Fox40 Micro Safety™ – loud emergency whistle for signaling distress and communicating location
  • Spark-Lite™ – dependable, one-handed fire starter
  • Tinder-Quik™ (4) – weatherproof waterproof tinder that burns 1-2 minutes
  • NATO “Storm” Matches (10) – vacuum sealed, NATO-approved waterproof and windproof matches with striker
  • 20mm Liquid-filled button compass – simple navigation tool
  • Mini-LED flashlight – small keychain-type flashlight with rugged case and battery with 24+ hours of continuous use
  • Folding saw – light- to medium-use saw blade constructed of 18TPI steel for cutting wood and metal, and housed in a rugged handle
  • Folding knife – light- to medium- use knife with stainless steel razor blade and rugged handle
  • Katadyn Micropur-1 Water Tablets (6) – 1 tablet per 1 liter (33.8 fl oz) of water; effective against viruses, bacteria, guardia and cryptosporidium
  • Sterile, self-standing water bag (36 fl oz) – for pre-treatment water capture and storage
  • Heavy duty needle – for repairing clothes and gear
  • Heavy duty thread (50ft reel, 10 lbs BS) – for repairs and emergency line for fishing
  • Safety pins (2) – 2″ – for repairs, first aid or even improvised hooks for food procurement
  • Wire (8ft) – 0.02″ stainless steel wire, non-magnetic – use for repairs and snares
  • Braided nylon cord (25ft, 70lbs BS) – many uses including securing gear and building shelters
  • Fishing kit – 4 hooks, 2 split-shots and 1 snap swivel
  • Duct tape (2″x30″ 9mm) – many uses from first aid to repair
  • Weatherproof stationery – 2”x3” (4) – keeping logs, leaving messages, drawing maps
  • Pencil (with protective cap) – use with weatherproof stationery
  • Fresnel Lens (2″x3″) – redundant fire starting method
  • Waterproof and tearproof instructions – with illustrations (PDF)
  • Stuff Sac – with drawcord and fastener (2)

Cup module and contents

Stove module and contents

Observations from Use

I won’t talk about every item in depth. Much of what is contained in this kit are items that are already proven performers. GearPods has done a great job of sourcing quality components for this kit but the parts that really shine are the parts that they designed themselves.

The Survival Pro kit comes with a small cooking set that GearPods designed to fit their containers. The design of the cook set is ingenious. It consists of a small stove, a cup that nests into the stove top, and a windscreen. The stove is designed to work with fuel tablets like those from Esbit and has three legs that can be spread out to stabilize the whole unit. The cup has a heat resistant fabric ring at the top which makes it a bit easier to handle when it is hot and a concave bottom which helps catch and hold the heat from the stove.

The cook set can boil water fairly quickly, which isn’t really surprising since it is a relatively small cup. The set up and take down is very easy. The windscreen can be rolled tightly and inserted into the cup for storage but you should take some care when storing it because it will scratch and scuff the anodization on the cup. The fabric on the cup won’t make it possible to handle a cup full of boiling water but it does make it possible to handle the cup sooner than you would be able to without some protection from the heat.

The Survival Pro comes with an instruction sheet that contains valuable information like general survival tips and information about items in the kit. It is printed on a material that feels like Tyvek. That may seem like a small thing but it shows just how clever the folks at GearPods are. Tyvek is extremely difficult to tear and basically water-proof. Those are desirable attributes for something that may have to be used in adverse conditions.

Cup on stove

Many of the items in the kit allow for one handed use in the event of an injury. The Spark-Lite fire starter can be used with just one hand without much trouble. Additionally, the kit includes a rescue Flash signal mirror that has a retro-reflective aiming reticle which allows it to be used one handed (some mirrors require a second hand to aim).

The kit doesn’t include any shelter specific items but it does include items that can be used in shelter construction (cordage). An A-frame style shelter can be built without any tools or cordage if the right materials are present. You may want to consider supplementing the kit with a GearPods Shelter unit or at least carrying something like an emergency blanket/bivy, poncho, tarp, or similar item.

The kit itself is very efficiently packed. You will want to take note of how things are packed when you are using the various components or you may have some difficulty packing the contents. I played around with different configurations and there is some leeway with how you pack the kit but a little bit of care goes a long way. GearPods thoughtfully provided two small stuff sacks that hold every component of the kit except the cook set. These bags let you keep the kit components together and organized even if you are using the cookset.

Cup, stove, and wind screen

The kit contains some redundancy (the good kind). There are multiple ways of starting a fire, multiple ways of food gathering, multiple ways to purify water, and multiple repair items. Redundancy can be a very good thing in a survival kit. Take the fire starters for instance, you will likely find that the Tinder-Quik are a very easy and reliable fire-starting method. However, in situations when you have direct sunlight, you will want to use the Fresnel lens in order to conserve the Tinder-Quik tabs and matches. The redundant items allow you to conserve resources by choosing the tool for the job.

The kit itself is very easy to carry. It fits in most water bottle pouches or rides fairly unobtrusively in your pack. You can even add another small container module and it will still fit in most water bottle pouches. GearPods sent me an additional small module so I could see how the connectors work and I found that it was great for storing natural tinder that I foraged (something you may want to do immediately once you realize you are in a survival situation).

Wrap Up

The GearPods is a well-stocked kit with a good mix of innovative original components and proven standard components. Its water bottle-ish form factor is unique and functional. The cook set’s design is ingenious in how it fits the container format while still retaining a lot of functionality. Between the container and the contents, this is easily one of the most innovative survival kits on the market. Check out the Survival Pro on GearPods.com.

Disclosure: This kit was provided to me free of charge by GearPods as a “thank you” for mentioning their products on JTT.

 

Building Your Mindset

By on July 30, 2012 in Why We Train

Some jobs have side benefits that aren’t deducted from your paycheck. For instance, when I worked on a carpentry crew framing custom homes, instead of health insurance we received suntans, a great sense of balance, and all the strength training that could be handled during a work day. It seemed like a great deal at the time and I really enjoyed that line of work. Being a police officer is no different in this respect.

One of the largest “non deductible” benefits to this job is developing a strong sense of situational awareness. My work environment brings regular exposure to dangerous people, vehicle/foot pursuits, fights, robberies in progress, shootings, and more. This is what has become of most large American “inner” cities. Functioning well under these conditions will inevitably help build a strong mindset.

The average guy, who wants to be alert and prepared, most likely doesn’t have the opportunity to function often in these types of circumstances. That’s a good thing or we’d already be living “Mad Max.” However, without some real life experience and time/stress training it is difficult to fully develop your mindset. I want to start an occasional series of entries to share with the readers some of the things that I’ve learned along the way and hopefully help with that development.

Of course, I don’t even come close to knowing it all and I approach each new shift at work as a student of the harder side of life. Unfairness, sudden calamity, life changing mistakes, and a myriad of other dangers wait daily in the wings for the right opportunity to swallow the unwitting and the experienced alike. No man is ever able to rise above these facts and can only maintain his relationship with God and run the race of life to the best of his ability. I hope that in these following articles the readers will find at least a few nuggets to help guide the way should any treacherous situation come along.

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