Urban survival

PACE Lid Constellation Kit: A compact urban survival kit

I did a previous article on the new GORUCK Constellation Urban Survival and Navigation course. The owner of PACE Lid is also heavily involved with GORUCK and decided to come up with a kit that could be used for the course utilizing his PACE Lid product.

From the PACE Lid website:

GORUCK Constellation is an Urban survival and navigation course. In the course, you will use items in a kit to carry out various evolutions. The Constellation kit and PACElid were the models for the courses, so it makes sense to offer the exact kit inside a lid ready to go for your Constellation or SHTF preparation.

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Black PACElid outfitted with the following items:

Adventurer Button Compass (NATO/U.S. Military Issue)

All Weather Survival Matches (NATO/U.S. Military Issue)

Derma Safe Razor Knife (U.S. Military Approved)

Sewing Kit w/6 Safety Pins (Assembled in USA)

MP1 Water Purification Tablets (U.S. Military Issue)

Adventurer Survival Whistle (SOLAS/NATO Approved)

Mini Survival Fishing Kit (Assembled in USA)

Type 1A Utility Cord (U.S. Military Approved)

Brass Snare Wire (Trapping and Equipment Repair)

Emergency Signal Mirror (Daytime Emergency Signaling)

Compact Flint Fire Starter w/Striker

Adventurer Tinder Quik Fire Tabs

Adventurer Fresnel Lens Fire Starter

Water Bag

Compact First Aid Kit
–Sting Relief (2 packets)
–Butterfly Bandages (2)
–Band Aids (6)
–Moleskin (3″ x 4″)
–Triple Antibiotic Ointment (2)
–Zip Lock Bag

Hand Sanitizer

Silica Gel Desiccant (Moisture Absorbent)

*Photo courtesy of PACE Lid

Krupto Strategic SERE ankle band: A Crate Club exclusive product

One of the Crate Club exclusives comes from Krupto Strategic. This SERE ankle band is designed to be wrapped around your ankle and to carry the small tools you need to make it home. The SERE ankle band is a simple, but effective idea. It sports three pockets, one large and two small, and is designed to be super low profile. Each pocket sports a simple cover that’s a lot like an AR mag pouch. A little bit of velcro holds the whole closed and secures your goods.

What’s the Point?

It’s a little pouch, and the designer himself has said, “It’s not for your fucking revolver!” The SERE ankle band is designed to hold very small, but important goods. As a SERE kit it’s designed for escape and evasion, so you aren’t packing a fighting load. This Mini SERE kit is perfect for backing some basic essentials for escape in an urban environment. This includes a small knife, a small light, handcuff keys, cash, tools, and anything else you feel you need to escape, evade, and survive with.

Personally, I carry the following in my SERE ankle band:

Crate Club Mini Flashlight
Phillips/Flathead driver
Handcuff Key
Readyman Mini Saws (From ReadyMan card)
P-38 Can Opener
6 Feet or Paracord
1 Small Role Medical Tape
3 Derby Razors

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This isn’t a long-term survival plan, this is you just escaped and need to distance from any potential bad guys. This kit will help you get that distance and allow you to gain that ground. This kits small size makes it easy to hide and allows it to remain virtually undetected.

The small pouches are quite tight but malleable enough to squeeze in your gear. That tight design ensures everything is kept in place and where it should be. The band is semi-elastic and quite comfortable. It’s wide and secured with a healthy dose of hook and loop. The band stretches quite a bit and allows it to fit around my tree trunk of an ankle.

When it comes to all-day wear its surprisingly comfortable and doesn’t sag, drag, or rub your ankle painfully. Alternatively, it can be tossed into your cargo or even back pocket, but if searched it’s much more likely to be found.

The Krupto Strategic SERE ankle band is small, effective and you can store a surprising amount of goods in it. I’m curious to see what our Crate Clubbers store in theirs? Let us know below in the comments what goes in your Mini SERE kit.

To get your own SERE ankle band, visit the Crate Club store

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Want to train with the best in the industry? Check out the Crate Club Academy

You can have all the fancy gear in the world, but what good is it if you haven’t trained with it or practiced with it? That’s where training comes into play. There is a big difference between training and practice. Training is conducted under the watchful eye of an experienced instructor. Practice is something you do after you’ve burned some good reps in a training course. I’ve been through several training courses outside of the Marine Corps and can vouch for the need to get training. Whether you’re wanting to carry concealed, learning how to survive in the wilderness, preparing to survive the next natural disaster or simply wanting to increase your survivability day-to-day, you need to seek out good quality training.

At the Crate Club, we’ve been sourcing products that go into our crates to give you that edge. To allow you to evolve into a capable citizen. Now that we’ve provided you with the tools, we’re providing you with the training to back all that up. Training isn’t cheap. You cannot put a price tag on your life, the life of your loved ones and those around you. Spend once, cry once and you’ll be better for it. We guarantee it.

We are gathering some of the best instructors from the Special Operations community in conjunction with the professional staff at Virginia International Raceway to offer an exclusive limited Crate Club Academy. This session will focus on home defense shooting, tactical driving, and urban survival over 2 intense days of training. We’ll also cut loose Saturday night with some good drink over the fire, and some war stories. There will be special giveaways, and everyone will get a kick ass shirt and more surprises.

Special guest instructors, Eric Davis (Navy SEAL scout course manager), Brandon Webb (Navy SEAL sniper course manager), Charlie Melton (Navy SEAL sniper instructor), Nick Betts (former Army sniper), Scott Witner (USMC and survival badass), and a surprise VIP appearance.

Why are we doing this? Because the Crate Club isn’t about a box of great gear, it’s about building our community with you. A place where guys can be guys and we share a mutual desire to be prepared, maybe a little better than the next guy. Some of our friends may be a little skittish at the fact we would spend a weekend shooting guns and driving fast but, hey, that same person will be the first to show up on our doorstep when the lights go out.

Sign up today to secure your spot

Urban Preparedness: The sneak and peek entry kit

The Sneak and Peek kit is based on a kit we used in my old unit during reconnaissance missions or while setting a sniper hide on an urban environment. That kit also included demo cord and some other things that can’t be used by civilians, but the basic tools are all covered in this current kit.

I carry all inside a GORUCK Radio Ruck Field Pocket. The kit includes tools that would allow me to sneak into places by opening doors, cutting fences, twisting wire, etc. It also serves and an impromptu (albeit not fully stocked) SERE kit. The basic items include:

The Go Tubes contain the small gear I carry, including gear from the SERE Kit and it includes:

A can opener
2 Handcuff Keys
1 14 mm Compass
1 Folding Razor Saw
1 Handcuff Shim
1 Cord Lock with handcuff key
1 Ceramic Razor Blade
1 magnetic key entry tool
1 pair of SerePick Bogota “Titan” Entry Toolset
1 mini pry bar

Overall, all these tools work together very nicely. I might add stuff from time to time based on what I need but this is the base.

*Featured image courtesy of The Capabilities Group

Active SERE kit: Concealed and ready for deployment

An active SERE kit differs from any other survival or task kit in that it must be concealed on your person ready for deployment, not unloading.

Survival in any form for any environment is an act of prevention and or recovery, best enacted by preparation.

A particular set of tools must be removed from a SERE loadout kit to be applied for field use, forming an independent and “active” deployment carry kit.

An active SERE kit is not a pack or pouch filled with many tools to be carried for universal use. It is a select few tools for a specific purpose such as escape/evasion and is integrated on to the person.