US Air Force Survival Evasion Resistance and Escape Specialists join enlisted Pararescuemen and commissioned Combat Rescue Officers as part of the guardian Angel Weapon System charged with the execution of all five tasks of Personnel Recovery – report, locate, support, recover and reintegrate. Here you see but one aspect of the duties of a SERE Specialist; training and education.
PJs are the heart and soul of the US Air Force Guardian Angel Weapon System which consists of Combat Rescue Officers, Pararescumen, and Survival Evasion Resistance and Escape Specialists. Here is a a quick snapshot of Pararescue kit. There will be minor differences based on Squadron but the capabilities remain the same.
I was watching National Geographic’s ‘Doomsday Preppers‘ the other day and realized that one of the folks they were profiling was one of the inventors of the Crovel. Tim Ralston, the inventor, is a great example of a TacHacker. He started prepping and by necessity he and some friends developed the Crovel. Once others saw what they had built, it was a natural transition into a small business.
Crovel is a is a portmanteau of shovel and crowbar, and it is just that. They’ve taken the concept of a folding shovel and engineered a few additional tools into the design. We’ve mentioned the earlier variant of the Crovel before, but they’ve introduced a new version called the Crovel Extreme which boasts 13 tools combined into one package.
One advantage the Extreme model has is that it is now anodized making it more durable. Additionally, they’ve increased the size of the Hammerhead and incorporated a wood chisel into the Claw portion of the Crovel. They’ve also introduced the Z Spike accessory for the Crovel Extreme as well as a Kydex Cover for both models of the Crovel.
Made in USA!
www.gearupcenter.com/exclusive-crovel-shovel
About once a year, for the past few years the Air Force’s Battlefield Airman Branch of the Aeronautical Systems Center at Wright-Patterson AFB releases a new requirement for a battlefield truck for their Guardian Angel Weapon System. GAWS is made up of the Combat Rescue Officer (CRO), Pararescue (PJ), and SERE careerfields. Obviously, the vehicle would mainly be used by the PJs. Unfortunately, they’ve never actually purchased any vehicles. In fact, we’ve even written about one of the candidate vehicles from past attempts; the SRTV.
This year is no different and a pre-solicitation for the Guardian Angel Air-Deployable Rescue Vehicle (GAARV) was released last week. They’ve included a System Requirements Document (SRD) that spells out the vehicle characteristics they are looking for. According to this document, PJs currently rely on ATVs to aid in the recovery of Isolated Personnel who may be injured. Unfortunately, these have limited speed, agility, range and payload.
The proposed GAARV will be airdroppable from fixed wing aircraft and be able to carry medical, rescue, and survival equipment to an incident site and be able to exfiltrate the rescue team and isolated personnel over adverse terrain. It is envisioned that these same capabilities will make it a shoe in for use in disaster recovery and other humanitarian relief operations.
Specifically they want a vehicle that can be airdropped, features a comms and datalink package, integrates M240 and M249 for defense, capable of on and off-road operation and a minimum payload of 4000 lbs. It must also have mounts compatible with Stokes, Talon, Israeli, and NATO Pole litters. Obviously, as a rescue vehicle, it’s going to need external power outlets, an air compressor and a winch. Additionally, it must be able to travel 350 miles at 45 mph and then loiter for 2 hours once on the objective. Interestingly, there’s no mention of exfil meaning it’s got a 175 mile range.
There are also a couple of other “interesting” requirements such as:
“The GAARV shall be steerable and stoppable by at least one RT member other than the driver”
“The GAARV engine shall run using standard gasoline, 87 Octane or higher, diesel, or JP-8″
“The GAARV fuel tank shall not require a purge prior to adding a different type of fuel than is already in use”
Something you may feel is missing is an armor requirement. They haven’t quite worked out those requirements yet and understandably so. I used to be in the armored vehicle business and armor is anathema to the offroad agility capabilities required by GAWS.
Interested parties have until March 6 to tell the Air Force about their capabilities. Unfortunately, that leaves little time for the Air Force to integrate any ground breaking capabilities discovered in this pre-solicitation into their actual solicitation planned for release on 16 March.
The Air Force has done a lot to upgrade other rescue capabilities, hopefully this year, we’ll see them buy a new truck.
Get a free softcopy of ‘Self Reliance Illustrated’ magazine. I first ran across it at Blade Show 2011 in Habilis BushTools‘ booth. I picked up a few copies and due to my interest in wilderness survival topics I found it worth my money. ‘Self Reliance Illustrated’ is a product of The Pathfinder School and Blind Horse Knives. As you may know, The Pathfinder School is run by Dave Canterbury of the Discovery Channel show “Dual Survival.” The magazine is written for hands-on wilderness use and the articles are from those associated with The Pathfinder School in one way or another. One of the interesting facets of this publication is the inclusion of a section for youth.
Get your free download at www.selfrelianceillustrated.com/free.
“Survival kit contents check. In them you’ll find:
– One forty-five caliber automatic
– Two boxes of ammunition
– Four days’ concentrated emergency rations
– One drug issue containing antibiotics, morphine, vitamin pills, pep pills, sleeping pills, tranquilizer pills
– One miniature combination Russian phrase book and Bible
– One hundred dollars in rubles
– One hundred dollars in gold
– Nine packs of chewing gum
– One issue of prophylactics
– Three lipsticks
– Three pair of nylon stockings.
Shoot, a fella’ could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff.”
the BOLO Report has a great article on tracking written by Freddy Osuna of Greenside Training LLC. Mr Osuna is a fomer USMC Scout Sniper and has over 40000 hours teaching tracking to military and LE personnel. He brings up some very interesting points that you should consider if you are a tracker.
From the BOLO Report.
E-PAK
The concept behind the development of the E-PAK modular storage system is that the one thing you would keep with you in an SHTF scenario is your weapon. Machined from aircraft-grade aluminum, the waterproof E-PAK storage containers are designed to mount to any Picatinny rail, providing immediate access to gear such as batteries, weapon repair parts, personal items, survival equipment and more.
EPAK Modular Storage Systems are available in two sizes and can be had as complete, prepackaged kits or empty for the DIYer.
Prepackaged kits include:
Deluxe AR/M4 Spare Parts Kit
o Firing Pin Retaining Pin
o Trigger Spring
o Hammer Spring
o Gas Rings
o Extractor
o Extractor Spring Assembly
o Extractor Pivot Pin
o Hammer/Trigger Pivot Pin
o Cam Pin
o Firing Pin
o Disconnector Spring
o Safety Selector Detent Spring
o Safety Selector Detent
o Buffer Detent Spring
o Buffer Detent
o Pivot Pin Detent Spring
o Pivot Pin
Survival Kit
o Liquid Filled Compass
o Serrated Lock back Folding Knife
o Fire Tinder
o Game Snare Wire
o High Strength Wire Saw
o Matches
o Safety Pins
o Split Shot Sinkers
o Fishing Hooks
o Fishing Line
o Ear Plugs
There is also a prepackaged standard M4 parts kit as well as a food procurement kit.
Mod-Rail
Mod-Rail is a complimentary PALS compatible mounting system that combines a MOLLE attachment with the back of a Mil Std 1913 rail. This allows you to rapidly store weapon accessories in a bag or in some cases on your gear.
