The Loadout Room
Professional Gear Reviews
During the course of my career as a Green Beret, I was issued many things, some I was made to turn back in to the Army and others I was allowed to keep. My Pelican 1020 Survival kit was one of the items I was allowed to keep: originally intended to keep a soldier alive […]
The crash through the ice was surprising. The chest constricting cold hit you immediately as the water flowed over your Gore-Tex soaking your insulating layers. With extreme perseverance and strength, you manage to pull yourself onto the bank of the stream, you lay on the bank for a moment as the water begins to freeze […]
PACE stands for (Primary, Alternate, Contingent and Emergency). For those of you military guys that will sound very familiar. In the Marine Corps, they constantly drilled into us being prepared and having multiple contingency plans. The theory behind the PACE lid is to have a place to keep those needed items in the event something unexpected happens and […]
If you’ve been prepping for a little while, you’ve probably got the basics covered. Â You have a bug-out bag, a decent stash of MRE’s or #10 cans of freeze-dried food and a plan to keep it all secure once you’re hunkered down. Â What’s next? Â Besides piling up more supplies, what else can you do to […]
Water: a basic necessity for survival, but often enough treated as an afterthought. When heading out camping, most usually grab a gallon of it in a jug and go. What happens when you need more? You can drink from a stream, never-minding the pine needles and floaties, and pray that you don’t get crippling diarrhea. […]
If you’re on the road a lot you need a survival kit. I was on leave a couple months back and driving a mountain pass when a snowstorm hit suddenly. The snow plows hadn’t yet arrived and the roads rapidly became very treacherous. Cars were getting stuck on the side of the road every 10-20 […]
Give your campfire skills an edge. With the new Black Pearl CampKit, there should be no reason at all for not being able to get a fire started. Light My Fire has created one of the best all in one kit available for getting a sustainable fire started, no matter the weather condition. We’re going into the cold weather season soon […]
Exotac is the result of combining a Purdue educated engineer and a true love for everything outdoors. Their vision is, “based upon designing extraordinary, high-quality and unique outdoor and urban gear“. It’s a no compromise operation when it comes to product design and manufacturing. And because Exotac keeps manufacturing to smaller production runs, they’re able to adapt and […]
Typically I shy away from backpacks covered in MOLLE and paracord. They scream tactical, military and give an overall perception to others that the bag contains something along those lines. I’m not sure that I would carry this pack around town in an urban environment because of that. I would recommend this pack for use […]
Ever been on a camping or backpacking trip where it rained all night long? Maybe you planned on making a nice hot cup of coffee in the morning, but all the available firewood and tinder was soaked. Many times, in similar conditions, you may need to start a fire for survival purposes, whether that’s to get warm, […]