Quote:
Originally Posted by MDB
Here's my shortlist. Much has been discussed alredy....
Must haves:
- Good personal flashlight. My Surefire 6P (LED upgrade) lasted two tours. LED upgrade pushes usable battery life to 12+ hours at 80 lumens.
- Ipod, a no-brainer. How I survived on CD's in 2004 is beyond me. Buy good headphones.
- A mini-laptop. I bought a cheap $350 Acer netbook from Amazon and it was small enough to tote everywhere.
- A digital camera.
- Thorlo's, 8 pairs have lasted me over a year and still going strong. Opinions will vary on these but I've loved them.
- Danner TFX's. Best boots I've worn, hands down. Like the thorlo's, your mileage may vary.
- A good sling. 3-pointers seem clumsy. I've used a VTAC 2-point and an SKD single point. Both have their uses.
- Good eye pro. I wish I'd bought a pair FlakJackets earlier. The issue ESS glasses never fit my head just right.
Good to haves:
- A good notebook. Green book cover by AITES (no longer in production) is great. Keeps the pens, protractors, quicky cards, rosters etc easily organized. I like to be organized; and it fits in a SAW pouch perfect.
- A pistol lanyard for your NVG's. Get a bungee lanyard and tie it off to your NVG's. Get an S-ring from the PX and connect them. You never have to worry about silly dummy cord in your face during night missions, the bungee lanyard is always held taught and out of your way on the back of your ACH.
- Mini-D-rings or PX S-rings to tie your stuff down, take extras.
- Mini-lights from the PX, attach them to everything, makes life so much easier.
- Casio Pathfinder. I cannot compare to other 'tactical' watches, but this pre-deployment gift from my wife continues to serve me well.
- Markers, pens, paint-pens, pencils, protractors, 550 cord, 100mph tape; all by the pallet.
- A printer. I had to beg and borrow to print documents many times. I wish I'd bought a cheapo printer. Even as 11B I was surprised how much stuff I had to print while deployed (the second time, first time we had no power).
Back to reading and learning.....
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We all did it when we were in. Buying gear out of our pockets. In a perfect world our unit would get it. But not all units have impact cards readily available to the guys with boots on the ground.
I always tell the students that sometimes spending money out of your pocket comes with the territory. Especially weapons accessories, slings, lights....etc. I don't like it, but nothing is more important then your life sustaining first line gear.