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Body Armor with Batteries (I love it when someone outside this industry thinks they discovered something new to write about.)
CamelBak Products, LLC, announced earlier this week that its Chem Bio Reservoir X™ (CBR X), the next-generation of hydration safety equipment, meets the US Army’s stringent requirements for a Multi-Purpose Personal Hydration System and is able to withstand 6 hours of chemical challenge after the rigors of 30 days of use, making it easier and safer to stay hydrated in a CBRN threat environment. This means CamelBak is offering a single reservoir that can be used everyday yet meets the rigors of a slimed environment. It seems as though we have been in the COIN fight for so long we have forgotten the old days of the 20th century where we trained exhaustively to fight and win in a CBRN environment.
Camelbak combined their DuraFlex Barrierâ„¢ material, HydroGuardâ„¢ technology and HydroLinkâ„¢ modular attachment systems to create the new CBR X reservoir. “We design, test and manufacture our hydration systems to perform in the most challenging and lethal environments in the world,” said Sally McCoy, CEO of CamelBak. They introduced their first chemical and biological resistant reservoir in 2000 and while they were issued to several units, CamelBak had never received certification from the Army.
CamelBak has been working with the Army on this for YEARS. They stuck with it through all of the technical challenges and kept up with evolving threats to stay at the cutting edge of Chem-Bio protection technology. Thanks guys.
Unit and agency orders can be supported by ADS.
Powertraveller is a European company that produces a full line of charging devices. While they aren’t a “tactical” company, you are going to find products that are perfect for use in the field whether on duty or just having fun. Each one of their chargers is intended for a slightly different application but can be used in conjunction with other powertraveller devices to increase versatility.
The powermonkey-eXplorer can power most cell phones (96 hours), iPods (40 hours) and other mp3/mp4 players (6 hours), PDAs (48 hours), as well as portable game devices (5 hours). Versatility is it’s middle name and can be recharged via its integral solar panel, AC, or USB. Additionally, it comes with multiple tips called monkey nuts to accommodate various devices as well as adapters for use in 150 countries.
The MiniGorilla is designed to be used with the latest netbooks, but can also charge an iPad when used with the gorilla-pad connector. It also has use with camcorders, e-readers, and even many cell phones. It can be charged via AC or with the separate solargorilla charger. Think of the solargorilla as a big brother to the powermonkey.
The powergorilla can charge any device up to 24 volts, but the real draw is the extra 2-5 hours of power that it can add to your laptop or Macbook as well as its ability to charge multiple devices. It can be charged via AC or with the separate solargorilla charger, and like the minigorilla requires the gorilla-pad connector to charge an iPad.
You can pick up the powertraveller products at Extreme Outfitters.
The Light My Fire Spork isn’t that crappy spork your daddy used to get at KFC. Instead of a spoon with a forked edge, the Spork is a spoon on one side and a fork on the other, with a serrated edge, making it a knife as well. There are even different kinds of Sporks available, like the extra-medium, made to better reach into larger freeze-dried food pouches, as well as the large, which is used for cooking. Light My Fire also offers Plexiglass tubes, which hold Sporks in bulk, and can be ordered to hold pre-arranged color combinations, including our favorite, Combat. You can find Light My Fire Sporks at many outdoor retailers.
An intrepid Dutch reader sent us this report on their issue ration packs.
It consists of one of the boxes shown in the photos plus two meals in a can or sachet which can be eaten both hot or cold. These main meals are based on standard Dutch meals like cooked potatoes, veggies and some meat to lasagna, stews and special meals like halal-prepared.
The contents inside the box have varied over the years. Studies showed that Soldiers are attracted to ‘branded’ items so there was a transition to items like the Mentos bar and chewing gun. A little while back the dark chocolate bar was replaced by a Mars bar. But luckily they changed it back to this delicious chocolate! Our reader also commented that he also likes the recent addition of toothpicks.
Dutch Soldiers are taught to make a snack pack from ration items like a packet of biscuits, the chocolate bar, Mento’s and the dextrose. They keep it in their smocks so they can always grab a quick snack.
What is most telling is that our reader reports that the Dutch troops deployed to “derka-derka-stan” don’t use these rations much since the heat makes them go bad quickly. The tend to rely on US issue MRE’s or would make a meal from what their wives/moms would send.
Here are some photos of French rations from one of our dedicated readers. Keep them coming!
This example is for gourmands of MREs. The RCFIR (Reheatable Field rations) are great if you can “stomach” luxury meals such as tinned Rabbit stew and other French provincial meals. They also have Italian and Moroccan meals in their list of options as well as tinned fish, cocoa powder, potato soup and good crackers.
However, according to our reader, the candy selection is world class and he keeps their hard and fruit paste candies in his survival rations kit ALWAYS. He also related that the dark chocolate is delicious.
He did not get the boxed wine we all hear so much about but is continuing his search for issue Red wine. They also weigh a ton, about 1 pound and while purchasing them in Europe is easy, shipping to the USA is crazy expensive. He closed out his report by relating that the absolute best part is the small pocket Esbit heater in each box with six heat tabs and 12 matches.
Sometimes the simplest things make life better. For guys who can’t rely on KBR laundry, washing your clothes on a washboard and hanging them out to dry is a reality of life. Manufactured from braided rubber tubing the Gruntline stretches up to 7 feet and has clips on each end to attach it for use as a clothes line or as a tie down strap. Although its been around for awhile, its a classic. I carried one with me for years and it got lots of use as intended as well as to suspend ponchos in large tents so I could stake out some “me” space.
Available from McNett.
Photos courtesy McNett
