Greetings from Okinawa Japan, I'm an active duty Marine and a America Red Cross CPR/First Aid and Wilderness Survival Instructor. At times my EDC can become my field pack or overnight pack... Field/Duty sneaks up on you at times.
This whole pack with water weighs in at roughly 15
lbs, and I know this is pretty heavy for an EDC but bare in mind I never
know what kind of day I will walk into at work. Also it's not like I'm
taking the train or bus to work. This pack goes from my house to the
car to my office and back. I know I can get out of dodge with it and
make the 21.2 miles back to my house wearing this pack in a day, if
needed. This is one reason I have this type of bag and also the items I
carry. I hate not having that one thing with me when needed but know I
can't carry it all, so I have learned to pick my battles, but always
remembering if you pack light you freeze at night.
The pack is a standard Oakley Panel Pack I picked up
about four years ago off US Standard Issue for $40. I had it
re-stitched for better shoulder straps and carry handle. Also I added
webbing on the top flap and on the left side, which is how I carry my
canvas First Aid kit and my BDS admin pouch. Let me tell you, its been
around the world and countless deployments and exercises. It's still
holding up and I wash it twice a year and spray it down with
waterproofing, she's still running hard.
*Left outside pocket has one pair of Mechanix
gloves, MountainSmith raincover, three dust masks, 20 ft of paracord,
facecloth and ziplock baggie of both US and Japanese coins equaling 10
US dollars and 5,000 Japanese Yen, "$45 depending on exchange".
Right outside pocket has Pelican case with my Garmin
Foretrex 401, waterproof Ishuffle, Roadrunner ID bracelet, babywipes,
handwipes, Febreze, hand sanitizer, bug spray, pocket towel, sewing kit,
toothpicks.
Outside pocket I have a pair of shears and a Boker Cop Tool, "love this little tool"
Center
pocket is my bag of snacks which I generally carry cliff bars, power
bars,instant coffee packets, Tabasco, fork, spoon and 5 hour energy.
Canvas pouch hanging on the left side is a small
quick to grab first aid kit. I keep CPR pocket mask, gloves, OTC meds,
tweezers, wipes, tape and gauze.
Center pack are my Oakley M-Frames and my BDS Admin pouch which has the following items:
Leatherman Wingman
E&E pouch by Adventure Medical Kits
Morale patch "Navajo Joe", my callsign
P-Tec headlamp
duct tape on a card
flint and steel
extra ziplock bag
Rite in the Rain book with pencil
handkerchief
6 inch ruler
water purification tablets
ear plugs
lighter
bootlaces
Leatherman bits
four AA batteries
four AAA batteries
two CR123 batteries
crazy glue
sillcock key
also carry one Inova flash light, love this light! four tours to OEF/OIF and still going.
In the Ipod sleeve I carry my Bose headphones and my 80gb Ipod
On my left shoulder straps I carry a Krill yellow light, battery operated Chemlight is what it is....
On my right shoulder strap I have a fox40 whistle, small Coghlan's compass and a cheap little light.
Inside
the pack I carry a Shemagh, zip ties, one trash bag, three 1qt ziplock
bags, coffee cup, steel 36oz water bottle, E-Reader Nook, Moleskine
notebook, digital camera, Pocket Ref book,bag with all my power cords
and Brunton Solar Charger, a Condor admin pouch with spear pens/pencils
along with my small moleskine with backup contact numbers and my
Rickshaw Folio with my Moleskine planner, and lastly a small hygiene
kit.
Medical kits inside my pack is larger and has:
Betadine
Gloves x2
Burn gel x4
space blanket x2
OTC meds
AfterBite wipes
Mask x3
Iodine swaps x3
compression gauze
Quick Clot
Thermometer
Duct tape
Decompression needle
surgical blade x2
Dental Medic
Ultralight Medical Kit .7 complete
CAT
Thanks for a great website and keep it up!
Cheers,
Navajo Joe
"Keep your powder dry"
From Alex:
First up, thanks for your service!
You've got a pretty well rounded bag. You've got a lot of the bases that I look for covered.
A couple comments:
Books weigh a lot - I'm seeing multiple notebooks/planners/etc., plus the Nook. I'd look at consolidating.
Another Pocket Ref! See previous entries. If you regularly use multiple sections of this book, I could see keeping it. If you just use a page or two, photo copy or tear 'em out and laminate. If it's there 'just in case' and doesn't get used, ditch it.
A smart phone would help you consolidate quite a bit - planner, iPod, Nook, etc. Not sure if there are restrictions that would prevent an iPhone or even a iPod touch.
Lots of towel type implements - not that any take up much room or weight, but the shemagh can do the job of the bandana or hand towel.
Multiple battery types. Not a big deal, but you could consolidate to one or two types.
The FAK looks pretty heavy, but since you are active duty military, it likely makes sense. Am I counting 6 N95 masks total in the bag?
That's it from me - let's hear what the Tribe has to say!
