The Loadout Room
Professional Gear Reviews
The first time I saw a GPS Watch I was in an odd sort of school learning how to take things like GPS Watches and make them do things like track vehicles and the sorts. That was a few years ago (20 in tech years) and things have come a long way since then. I’ve […]
Many of us who are in or from the heavy impact service professions have been beat up, kicked, dropped or even shot a time or two. Staying active and fit can be a challenge for anyone, especially for those with old battle wounds. If your ability, passion or will to get outside and get active […]
Surgical, precise, fluid, dynamic, tough and always ready describes the professional operator, executive, or adventurer. Limited only by the constraints of physics and his own humanity, the professional operator carefully chooses every piece of gear he carries. The responsibility for remaining both agile and quick leaves no room for any gear which only serves a single purpose […]
As I progress on my series “prepared for adventure,” I’ve been searching high and low for the ultimate “Preparedness” equipment, training, tactics and strategies. Â I’ll be looking at the Scout motorized Paramotor as a means of infiltration and exfiltration. I got the idea this weekend when I was 4X4 on the dunes of Pismo Beach. […]
I still remember my first time looking through a pair of night vision goggles. I was inside a darkened office within the walls for 5th Marine Recon aboard Camp Pendleton. A bit grainy and green, but night had turned into day and I was amazed.  Since that time I’ve had the opportunity to use night […]
3 – 2 – 1  STOP! Now load everyone you’re responsible for into your vehicle and start driving. See you in a week! Sounds like a militant drill carried out by those who actually thought they were preparing for a zombie apocalypse. However, once you fully understand that for which you are really preparing, the […]
There’s only one way to know if a pair of tactical pants are worth owning. Put them on and then go beat the crap out of them. So when Blauer sent me a pair of their B.DU Tactical Pants that’s exactly what I did. Cave Sliding Pants Testing Of course, the pants meet all of […]
You no longer need to prepare for emergencies: Flood, fire, hurricane, earthquake, terrorist attack, industrial accident. Whatever. Sure anyone of those things could thrust us into a “Bug Out” situation, but nobody is really worried. Sure we could be forced into the streets with our families alongside thousands of scared people shedding their humanity to […]
There is really no such thing as “gear”. These things, this stuff, these gadgets and guns, these cords, boards and gizmos figuratively and literally represent the circumstances of which life is made up of. Nothing more and nothing less. If we get a new, full suspension, light as hell mountain bike, will we not be […]
In my endeavor to reconcile the pragmatic application of human performance and the primal requirement for the outdoors I’ve discovered the essential as well as the unconventional: the packable and transportable workplace. I work outside, not the kind of “feel good” getting back to nature outside, I’m talking about natural and compulsive need for the outdoors, […]