After we covered the survival kit we will today cover, what we call the field kit.
There are still some people out there thinking that a survival kit not only serves your needs in an evasion type of scenario, but is also a source for stuff you will need in the field during prolongued operations. Like: “Hey dude, I lost my lighter! ” “No problem, I got one in my survival kit!”. This works until shit actually hits the fan and you are in dire need for such an vulnerable item like the lighter, you gave to your buddy.
So the basic principle of a survival kit is that it stays sealed and only gets touched during an actual survival situation. Of course, for some people out there, sleeping in a tent is actually what they call survival.
The Field kit is part of what you actually put in your ruck for prolongued operations. This list of items is usually for me:
- The Actual Field Kit
- Mora Knive
- Multi Tool
- Mess Kit
- Cooking Bowl
- Steel Bottle
- Hobo Stove
- Boo Boo Kit
- Survival Kit
Those items can vary, depending on type of the mission. But this is the baseline that I take on almost every prolongued foot operation.
My fieldkit is stowed in a waterproof stuffsack. And all items are stored in ziplocks for organizational purposes. All goods in my field kit are consumable items.
One bag simply carries some wet wipes. I think I don’t have to explain what they are good for.
Another bag consists of some soap and a hand towel. This is either for body cleaning use or for cleaning the cooking set and mess kit.
The next bag also is focused on hygienic use. It features dental cord, wipes, a cut down tooth brush and tooth paste.
I also carry a bag consisting of spare batteries and a powerbank.
Most important, I’ve got a part of my kit focused on fieldcraft and firestarting. I carry some flat rolled tape to fix gear. An Esbit stove with twelve cubes of Esbit to heat my meals. I prefer solid fuel over gas most of the time because it saves much space. I also use my Hobo stove for cooking as much as I can combined with the three Tampax and the three candles I carry in my kit I almost get endless capabilities to heat my meals and to start small campfires.
I carry not less tan three lighters in the kit. Everyone needs a lighter at some point and you tend to lose them. All is rounded up by a flameless ration heater for discreet cooking.
I tried to focus on the most important aspects of fieldcraft with a less is more approach. Of course there are more comfortable ways. But almost everything serves a dual purpose. So for example, I can do simple sewing tasks with the dental cord, I can use the candles to warm my body or use them to dry up my boots.
I hope you like this attempt of gear organization. How do you organize your gear for hikes or fieldcraft, is there anything you do different? Tell us in the comments.
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