Frag Out! Magazine

It is a typical item to be placed in the load bearing equipment or for the belt of the first line (it slightly interferes with the original assumption of the survival kit). If it is on the belt, it still can be managed, but when we place it in the pocket of the vest then in the emergency situation we may have it too far or lose it together with a part of the load bearing equipment. Here, user's experience plays a fundamental role– when somebody is aware of such threats, then he can adjust an equipment properly. On the other side of the big pond there are several companies which manufacture kits for the military forces. For many years the leading position in this field belonged to the Ultimate Survival Technologies (UST), which produced compo- nents to these kits for the armed forces (heliographs, whistles, firestarters, etc.), but a market is receptive so it started to deliver kit for everyone. The other company which relatively not long ago started to manufacture with its own survival prod- ucts is SOLKOA. What is meaningful, these were used by the US Navy SEALs - SOLKOA provided dedicated survival kits for frogmen. Among the leaders also ASE company might be find, producing the kits used in many US units. By the way, an in- teresting fact – there is no NSN stock number that describes an universal survival kit because such does not exist. Therefore the different companies develop their own products which are then researched and implemented to use by the supply officers or the soldiers themselves. And here we came to the next aspect: every soldier or a unit are able today to develop their own kit according to their SOP. Finally, over the years every soldier serving in the army could complete the bunch of useful small pieces of the equipment, even not knowing, that it would have a name of the survival kit. This article is neither not aimed at showing the survival kits that are a golden mean – it should be tailored individually to the requirements. It is also impossible to show all the survival kits since these piece of gear is modified very quickly – consistent are only some elements inside the survival can, but even not all. And here slowly emerges a perfect survival kit. DefInIng survIvAl kIT Firstly – adjusted to this in what we do or to our task. The terrain of use is very important: if it's a desert set, it is obvious, that we would not need a fishing set. The second issue is adjusting of our survival kit to the rest of equipment. For the high-speed direct action ops huge load of equipment is not required. There is no rucksacks and third line gear. So the survival kit must be small - tiny box in the pocket of the trousers or a jacket would be enough. But when our mission is patrolling the area on foot, and additionally a terrain is difficult, our equipment and its usage changes dramatical- ly. SHTF scenario might be possible. So, we must prepare a survival equipment to meet our requirements and help us in in the case of isolation from the rest of our team. A solution is placing a survival kit on the first line belt or in the jacket pocket. Another idea, for the situation when we do not use a jacket, is storing a survival kit in fanny pack or waistpack. Such a solution became a standard in the Unit- ed States Marine Corps Recon teams. Here a great deal depends on our clothing. If we have a smock jacket, we will have a lot of space to hide there the most needed things. if not, we must support ourselves with the first line belt or the other solutions. When we already know where we go and what we will do there, and also how we will be dressed and equipped, it is worth to get to know with every element form our kit. Why? Since the next important point while selecting the survival equipment is gathering items which we are capable to use. In brief, one may write that we take what is really necessary, and not what can be just useful. In this matter an experience of user is a key. Survival tech- niques and the SERE should be trained from time to time and verified in order to keep your hand in. A training completed once in a lifetime is not very useful because too many issues depend on the conditions in which we will find ourselves or even on our well-being. But the most important – I repeat – is an experience. SURVIVAL KITS

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