travel

The MSR Pocket Rocket | Your little camp dragon

Everyone has their preference when it comes to camp cooking. Some are completely kosher with an MRE; freeze dried food or some sort of protein and granola bars. Others take solace in the process of making a good, warm meal on the trail, out in the wild enjoying Mother Nature. There’s something to be said about hiking 12 miles a day and sitting down with your boots off while cooking some fajitas in your camp kitchen kit. Luckily there is someone to help you with that fine meal at the end of a long trek; the MSR Pocket Rocket.

This past week I spent 5 days out in the gorgeous Arizona desert overlooking Roosevelt lake with 3 of my very best friends from the Army. During the day we were off-roading in my buddies jeep till sunset so there was very little time in the morning to cook a proper breakfast. Well I’m not the one to skip breakfast out in the field, so out came the MSR Pocket Rocket and my stove-top kit from Winterial.

Preparing for these types of meals before you head out to the field is crucial to making your life easier. For breakfast I dice up some raw bacon or breakfast sausage with some potatoes, onions, peppers and keep them in a sandwich bag for each day. This way you can just dump the contents inside the small skillet and sauté away. Turning on the MSR Pocket Rocket reminded me of a fighter jets after burners being engaged at an air show. The burner puts out some serious heat that nearly causes you to worry that you’ll melt the pot over the burner. The new addition of the push-start Piezo Igniter worked the first time and every time thereafter. Flawless operating gives you the peace of mind when out in the field and builds the confidence you need in your gear.

MSR boasts’ that the Pocket Rocket can boil 1 liter of water in 3.3 minutes, and they’re not wrong. I think if you have a Titanium cook set it works faster due to the thinner alloy allowing the water to heat drastically faster. Regardless, I was incredibly impressed with how easy making French Press coffee became in the morning. Coming in at just 2.9oz, you can easily stuff this in a pocket or hang it off a belt loop and you would never notice the weight. It’s actually quite impressive to see the immense abilities of this petite device. Crazy to think that 20 years ago Coleman was making the massive propane burners with far less heat capabilities and minimal thought to packability.

How to Survive Anything: Be prepared for an inbound hurricane

Hurricane season on the Atlantic coast usually runs from the beginning of June to the end of November. So far this season, we’ve been fortunate to only see on full scale hurricane and a hand full of tropical storms meander their way toward shore. However, as history has shown, it only takes one serious storm to cripple an entire region of the nation.

If you find yourself in a hurricane’s path, there are a few things you can do around the house to help minimize your risks while you wait out the storm, as well as to help better position you for success once the storm is over… But remember, the best thing you can do to prepare for a hurricane is to get clear of the storm well before it makes landfall.

Stock up on non-perishable foods well ahead of time
Cover windows with plywood (use wood screws, not nails)
Store loose gear indoors or tie it down
Survey your property for trees or tree limbs that look like they could come down. If possible, deal with them ahead of time. If not, avoid rooms in the house near those threats.
Make sure you know how to turn off the gas, electricity, and water in your home.
Put together some water storage
Shelter in an interior room, away from any windows.

Off the beaten path: 4 tips for mitigating the risks of adventure traveling

I’ve done a fair amount of traveling over the years. I’ve stood next to pyramids on two continents, wandered around the Coliseum and the Acropolis, gone white water rafting in Alaska and relaxed at a wine tasting in Malta. Que Johnny Cash singing, “I’ve been everywhere,” because, although there’s still plenty of world left to see, I’ve seen enough to know what to expect when I get there.

Despite what Tumblr posts and motivational memes on Facebook would have you believe, travel alone isn’t really enough to educate you in the ways of the world. Tourism is a powerful industry; powerful enough to shape your experiences as you jet set around the globe. Many tourism based economies revolve around the idea of giving you (the tourist) what you want. In some places, that means only offering food that fits a region’s stereotypes rather than local tastes, but in others, like many Central and South American countries, it often means the construction of entire facades intended to convince you of some Disney interpretation of local life, carefully built at just the right angle to obstruct your view of reality. The reality of poverty tends to stay under wraps–but that’s not the only way traveling can mislead you.

It’s honestly pretty easy to write an article laying out a few simple steps that can help keep you safe when seeking adventure that’s a bit off the beaten path, but the problem with that sort of article is that the IDEA of adventure seeking inherently requires a bit of risk. The risk in some situations, is the very goal of the trip. Therefore, the secret is to actively manage those risks, and make sure you try your best not to end up in over your head.

Do your research.

Back in my HR days, I was always amazed at people who would come into my office for an interview without ever even googling the company they hoped to work for. If you didn’t know what we did, or the specific requirements for the job, you were unprepared and off my hiring list. Call it harsh, but if you don’t prep for our meeting I’ll assume you aren’t going to a competent leader if hired.

Just like you should know all you can about a company before an interview, you should know all you can about a place before you arrive. No, that doesn’t mean re-reading the brochure your travel agent gave you, it means doing a little digging around the internet, checking news stories and, if applicable, State Department warnings. If you’re visiting someplace you’ve already been, you should still do some research to see what new changes have occurred since your last visit.

This counts for cities in the U.S. as well. Before I set off on a trip to New Orleans a few years ago, I did some quick google research and found a story about local thugs approaching tourists and asking them “where they got their shoes.” Apparently, it would make people glance downward, allowing these criminals a chance to start the beat down with an unobstructed shot to the head, followed by a good old-fashioned mugging.

The very concept sounded too idiotic to be true–until I found myself standing face to face with a big, bald dude in a Bourbon Street alley less than 24 hours later, asking me where I got my shoes.

Maybe he saw me walking around in khakis and a polo shirt from afar and thought I’d be an easy mark, but realized he bit off more than he could chew when all 6 feet and 230 pounds of me was staring him in the eye and waiting for him to flinch. Maybe he was just really into alleys and shoes. Either way, I kept my wallet that night and possibly my intact face, thanks to situational awareness and a bit of background research. Having a real mean stare helps sometimes too.

Plan for the worst.

It doesn’t always seem cool to be the guy that’s planning for safety. Some will think you’re paranoid, others that you’re “playing operator” and just showing off your tactical vocabulary, and there’s usually at least one (like my wife) that’s a little too sure of his or herself, and in their ability to fight their way out of trouble. To quote Mike Tyson, “Everyone’s got a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”

You need to be the person with a plan for WHEN you get punched in the mouth. Identify a spot to meet back up if you get separated from your group, talk about how to get to safety and what safety IS in the location you’re in. At the mall in Cleveland, safety might mean just meeting up in front of Sears. In Turkey, it could mean finding a consulate, depending on your faith in local law enforcement (the last time I was there, they were far more interested in taking pictures of my wife with their cell phones than giving me directions).

If you’re traveling with veterans, they probably won’t think twice when you start dropping ORM bombs (Operational Risk Management) in the middle of planning a night of hard drinking in Honduran bars, but if you’re among civilians, you may catch a few stray eye rolls–but I’ll always take those over right crosses, or god forbid, stray rounds.

Trust your gut.

This is the second time I’ve written an article about travel advice and included those three words. That’s not due to a lack of creativity, it’s because your gut is THAT important when it comes to survival.

Trusting your gut is more than trusting yourself–it’s about trusting a specific part of yourself. I once tried to fight a group of guys in Italy over five Euros. My gut told me that I was in a dangerous situation, but it was my ego that told me the solution was to punch my way out of it. Fortunately for me, my wife was present in both body and mind and just gave the dude the money to save her husband’s hide. My ego said that was giving in, but my gut knew it was the fastest way to getting us out of a dangerous situation. Paying up isn’t always the right move, but in that instance, squaring off with street peddlers just outside the Vatican gates, it was the right call.

It’s not in my nature to avoid a fight, but it is often in my best interest. If you can manage it, especially when overseas, diffuse situations before they start and look for ways to ease tensions as they rise. Avoiding a fight might not only save your life, but even winning a fight in many countries will land you a trip to the sort of jails you’ve only seen on the Discovery Channel. Use that gut instinct to get you of harm’s way, before harm even knows you’re there.

Acknowledge that some risk is necessary.

In the military, every operation can be visualized in the form of a fraction: you take your risk factors and throw them on top, you take your objectives and stick them on the bottom, and hopefully your result will be equal to or less than 1. From there, work on ways to mitigate risks until the ratio starts looking friendlier.

Travel doesn’t have to be very risky at all, but sipping rum runners from the deck of a cruise ship isn’t everyone’s idea of adventure and if you’re hoping to go live a chapter in a book you hope to write one day, it’ll mean raising the risk number in the numerator of that fraction.

You don’t always have to avoid risks to reduce the threat they present, sometimes you need only to be aware of them. However, it’s imperative that you make an objective assessment of what could go wrong in the pursuit of your adventure, and pair it with an honest appraisal of how much risk you’re willing to deem acceptable. That’s a personal decision that needs to be based on your level of experience, ability to address dangerous situations on the fly, and the amount of faith you have in the people around you.

Risk doesn’t have to be avoided, but it should always be assessed.

Images courtesy of Twitter, Tumblr

Featured image courtesy of the author

Scrubba Washbag: Keep your clothes clean in the field

The Scrubba Tactical Washbag is a nice little design intending to keep your bags a little lighter by offering you the option of cleaning clothes easily and effectively. While I posted my initial impressions here, I’ve now had the opportunity to air my dirty laundry a bit.

To recap, the Scrubba is a polyether bag with a built-in washboard of sorts made from little rubber nodules. Using the Scrubba is easy: simply add clothes, water and a little detergent. Using the air-lock valve to deflate the bag, manhandle the bag for a minute or so. Open it up, wring the clothes out, rinse the clothes off and you should have yourself what is advertised as a “machine quality wash”.

I decided to put it to the test

After a few days hunting in the rocky hills of eastern Oregon in 100°+ heat, I was left with a small pile of pretty funky clothing. I picked out the clothes with the most stank: two pairs of Ranger Panties and a DCU top that hasn’t been washed since midway through my last Afghanistan deployment (in 2004). There’s a layer of salt crust on there that I think might require Holy Fire to remove.

Yes, the Scrubba is a simple-to-use product. I tossed in my clothes, dumped in 3/4’s of a gallon of water and a little dash of laundry soap. My advice is to add a little water to the soap prior to loading in the clothes to let it get a bit sudsy, but I’ll get into that a little later. Rolled the top of the bag down and clipped it shut. Opening the air valve, I squeezed all the air out. Tossing the bag on the ground, I then used my body weight to mush, grind and rubba the Scrubba for about a minute and a half. Not getting a whole lot of movement out of the clothes due to the full-on vacuum, I let just a little air in and washed the clothes for another half-minute.

Opening the bag, I dumped out the water and started wringing out the clothes. A quick rinse, then another wring-out. I found a convenient branch in the sun nearby and aired out my laundry. A couple of hours in the sun and I was ready to pack up and move out, cleaner no doubt than when I arrived.

But how clean? I keep coming back to the advertising point of “machine quality wash” because it is both a bold claim and the easiest reference point for us all. I gave the washed laundry the only two tests that matter: the smell test and the eyeball test. First up, the DCU top. Smell test? Fresh! Eyeball test? Still some sweat and salt stains around the collar. I think even a machine would have a little trouble getting those out though… Second up were the Ranger panties or “silkies”. These are also known as the “undergarments of freedom” and an “oasis for your crotch“. The eyeball test is a little tough on black material, so it was on to the smell test. They were considerably cleaner than when they went into the Scrubba, smelling like they had been worn a bit but showing none of the eye-popping, stomach-churning reek they went in with. Drastically cleaner? Yes. Machine quality? Close but no cigar.

Here’s where I want to go back and cover the adding soap/water before clothes. The directions say to add them all in step one, but if you add clothes first, the top clothes get the soap while still concentrate and the bottom clothes get it once watered down and dirtied. I could have and should have figured this out ahead of time, but experience breeds success quicker than anything.

At the end of the day, the Scrubba Tactical washbag does indeed get the job done. Taking up very little space, this product can clean your clothes pretty well as long as you have an ample supply of fresh water. Coming in at $55, if you find yourself traveling often the Scrubba washbag is a good option to look at to reduce your packing list and increase your hygiene. Check it out!

How to Survive Anything: Make it through a tornado

There are a lot of things you can do to make sure you never find yourself directly in the path of a tornado, but despite our best efforts, sometimes we still find ourselves in some pretty crappy spots. So, while we may devote plenty of videos to getting out of dodge before something bad lands in your lap, it’s just as important to know how to survive if escaping ahead of time wasn’t an option.

So what do you do if you find yourself directly in the path of a tornado?

Hide out in a storm cellar if at all possible. If not possible, head for a basement.
If not possible, jump in a bathtub or something else that’s firmly secured to the ground. Place a mattress over you to protect yourself from falling debris.
If you are sheltering in a group, interlock your arms to ensure no one is pulled away.
Stay as low as you can
DON’T STICK YOUR HEAD OUT TO FILM ANYTHING FOR FACEBOOK
Don’t emerge just because the storm seems to have stopped. It may be the eye. Wait for the all clear on the radio or until the sounds of the storm have passed for several minutes.

Feature image courtesy of the NOAA Photo Library via the U.S. Air Force

How to Survive Anything: Making it through a flash flood

Like most natural disasters, a bit of preparation ahead of time can go a long way. If you know there’s a high flood risk in your area, start by heading for high ground or out of the path of the storm. If, however, evacuating isn’t an option, you run the chance of finding yourself squaring off with one of nature’s most prolific killers: water.

If it can make the Grand Canyon, it sure as hell can mess up your Sunday. Here’s what to do if you find yourself squaring off with a wall of water:

Dump whatever you’re carrying and book it for high ground.
If the water starts to rise around you, look for something to climb (like a tree) and get as high as possible.
If you find yourself swept up in the flood, you are in trouble. Try to orient yourself so your legs are out in front of you so you can use them to stop you from being bashed into any hard objects in your path.
Protect your upper body and head at all costs. You’re going to get hurt, but you can survive if you keep your head above water and your torso free of holes.
Try to steer clear of obstructions in your path. Getting out of the flood is a top priority, but you don’t want to end up pinned up against an obstruction in the effort. Your chances of being killed increase dramatically the more the flood hits you with debris.
Go with the current and work your way toward an edge until you’re in shallow enough water to escape.

Feature image courtesy of the National Parks Service