This installment of my recce series was unintended. I had planned to talk about weapons in the gear article. However. I just kept writing and writing, and writing, and realizing I hadn’t said what I wanted to say. So I broke out into two articles. It buys me an extra week of content, and it lets me more fully explore the concept of the recce rifle and discuss other recce patrol guns, which I’m sure you won’t mind.
Know a Knot: The Swiss Seat
Welcome back to Know a Knot! It’s been a while, but you asked for it! This time we’re talking about the Swiss seat. The Swiss seat is a knot that is tied around your body to form an expedient rappelling harness. It’s not exactly a knot, but knowing how to tie one is pretty important if you’re a serious outdoorsman. Let’s get into it.
Basic Skills: How To Change Your Own Oil
Knowing how to change your own oil is a very basic step in becoming more mechanically proficient. I’m not a mechanic by any means, but I have changed my own oil for a long time now. If your car’s hood is a sealed mystery box and you want to get a little more familiar, learning how to change your own oil is a really approachable first step.
Recce Series BONUS! Throwback Recce Belt Kit
As I recently mentioned in my recce series article on recce gear, I decided to rebuild my early-2000s jungle patrol fighting load. Though not the wisest expenditure of cash, I did this for a couple of reasons. I wanted to see if the general concept was still valid. I also wanted to see if you could create a workable recce belt kit out of very dated – but also very affordable – ALICE components.
Recce Patrolling II: Recce Gear Loadout
There is a great deal of interest about the equipment used on recce ops. I’ve been asked about recce gear quite a few times in recent memory. I’ll tell you what I know about recce gear loadout. It shouldn’t take long.
First Aid: The Paramedic Jump Bag
A while back I wrote an article about my home first aid kit. One criticism I received really stuck with me. I was told my recommendations were “too EMT” for the average individual. Today I would like to put my little home first aid kit into perspective by showing you the contents of a paramedic jump bag.
Recce Patrolling I: The Recce Team
The idea of “recce” is kind of becoming a trendy thing lately. Recce rifles and recce kit setups are showing up on YouTube and elsewhere, but what, really, is recce? That’s what I hope to get into over the next few weeks. This article will intro the series, and offer an in-depth discussion of the recce team.
Winter Hiking Marvel: Kahtoola Micro-Spikes
Winter is my favorite time of year to hike. It comes with some hazards, not the least of which is ice on the trail. We’ve discovered Kahtoola MICROspikes and I’ll never winter-hike without them again.
8 Defense Lessons from “Creep” (2014 Film)
The film Creep (also available on Netflix) is absolutely one of my favorite movies in the horror genre. My girlfriend introduced me to a couple years ago. I remain fascinated by its low-budget, quirky weirdness, and I think there are some solid survival and defense lessons from Creep. Let’s take a look at them!
Extreme Winter Weather Preparedness
Winter is no longer coming – it has arrived! Last weekend we woke up to over a foot of snow outside. I thought I would share a few of our preparations and lessons-learned from this event. There’s nothing new or ground-breaking, but hopefully some of our lessons can be helpful to your own winter weather preparedness plan.