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5/12/14

Every Day Carry Bag Dump Contest: Mr. Storm

I used to carry a smallish messenger bag, but I found myself either missing something or constantly swapping out things that I needed. I am also a father of two toddlers, so diapers and wipes are absolutely necessary. Being Ex-Army, I trained on the old ALICE webbing and packs. Sadly, I left the service before MOLLE became mainstream, and I have always wanted a sturdy MOLLE backpack. I dislike slingpacks, mainly because when they get full, it upsets my balance when I run.

After looking at a huge amount of backpacks, I settled on the Fieldline Surge. I took out the hydro pack, never use it. Despite the MOLLE straps and the tan color, the backpack never gets looks at work or out and about. Once everything is contained and strapped down, there are no rattles, no loose straps and only 7" at the thickest point.

I guess it is a EDC-GHB loadout.

On person:
- Letherman Supertool 200 - Had it for over 15 years. Best multitool ever.
- Kershaw Storm Folder
- USMC Bulldog neck knife
- Aluminum Wallet
- Casio Solar G-Shock watch

Fieldline Surge Hydration Pack -Minus the camelback bladder.

Exterior:
- 4 Medium aluminum carabineers
- 1 Large steel carabineer
- 2 6" bungee cords
- UZI Tactical pen
- Camo Paracord Bracelet
- Guiness bottle opener
- Columbia 32oz vacuum-insulted thermal bottle with rubber bands around it
- CAT B15 Rugged Android Dual-SIM Smartphone
- Tactical 5.11 Large C5 Smartphone PDA Case
- Coleman thermometer with integrated button compass



Water Bladder compartment:
- 2 Diapers
- Baby wipes
- MTech Karambit

Main Compartment:
- 2 nylon grocery bags
- Large Bandanna/Handkerchief

Secondary Compartment:
- Pocket Reference 4th Edition
- Surelight Tactical LED Flashlight
- Typhoon Triple Flame Torch Lighter
- Corona Tungsten Carbide Blade Sharpener
- Large nylon grocery bag
- Anker Astro E5 15000 mAh External Battery with charging cable inside ziplock bag
- 8 AAA Rechargeable batteries
- 4 AA Rechargeable batteries
- Bundle of 10" Cable Ties
- Neoprene Head Gloves with rubber grips
- Thermal Blanket
- 12' nylon strap 1" wide
- 12' Measuring tape
- Tan sun hat with neck protector
- First Aid Kit (2x3x7 hardshell waterproof)
- Bandaids (Various sizes)
- Polysporin
- Alchohol swabs
- Medical Tape
- Firesteel
- Butane lighter
- 2 8"bungee cords
- 9-hour emergency candle
- 6 AAA Alkaline batteries
- Duracell 16GB USB Thumbdrive containing important family information
- SanDisk MicroSD card with Adapter containing important family information

Small Top Compartment:
- Excedrin Travel bottle
- Aspirin Travel bottle
- Magnetic tablet stand
- 2 Toasted Oatmeal bars
- 4 Nescafe instant coffee packets

Medium Bottom Compartment:
- 4G Tablet with neoprene sleeve
- Ti-30 Calculator
- $100 in various bills
- Kershaw Blur Tanto Folder
- Earbuds

One might say that I have a lot of knives. With the exception of the karambit, all the others have a intended purpose, beyond causing injury. The Kershaw Storm is my everyday cutter, with a service edge that is strong and stays sharp. The Kershaw Blur Tanto has a custom razor edge, for fine/precision cuts. The Bulldog neckknife is for quick access to an edge, from envelopes to boxes and everything in between. Plus, one thing my father taught me decades ago, was to always carry more than one knife. Two is one, one is none. It will break, get dull or you will lose it when you need it most.

Also, one big focus for me is durability. While my life is not particularly full of hazards, I find that things break or stop working only when you need them. Hands get slippery, things get dropped or jostled or get within reach of toddlers. Also, if you get caught in a rainstorm, and your pack gets soaked through and through, anything not watertight will be useless weight. Everything electronic or medical in nature is waterproofed.

There are some redundancies, mostly focusing on critical items like sharps and firestarters.

Alex's Commentary:
Thanks for the entry!

I'll preface what follows that this is meant as constructive, helpful advice. Take or leave, free o' charge.

You don't need 5 small cutting tools (counting the knife on the Leatherman). I understand redundancy, but, for example, a karambit jammed in a pocket with diapers is going to be fairly useless in a self defense scenario. For utility purposes, the neck knife and the pocket folder do the same thing. If the neck knife is handier, why carry the pocket knife at all?

Why so many caribiners? Or a full package of zip ties? One 'biner and a couple zip ties oughta do the job. I'd ditch the ties and add some duct/gorilla tape, but that's me.

I go by the rule of thumb of having 2 spare sets of batteries. You've got a lot 14 AAAs and 4 AAs. Could lose some of those.

Get the Pocket Ref content on your phone/tablet (or Google what you need) and leave it at home. Same for the Ti-30, if possible.

Travel size bottles for pills - they're usually half empty to start. Top them off from larger bottles as you go.

Good call on the cash. You may want a buck or two in quarters for vending machines.

If you are going to carry a firestarter like a ferro rod, you might as well carry some tinder to use it with. Or something like hand sanitizer that can light up easily.

Two USB drives w/ backup data won't help you if they're stored in the same place. Keep one in your bag, put the other in your wallet, on your keychain, etc. Diversify.

I am going to guess the green, blue and orange things are the grocery bags - reusable kinds, from the looks, and somewhat bulky. If you need to carry grocery type bags, try getting some of the disposable kind and folding 'em up paper football style. They pack down to the size of a Dorito.

If you want to carry a candle, you may want to try a tea light or two versus the 9-hour candle. Less bulk, does the same things.

That's it from me -  what does the tribe say?