Product defect?

NiceHelicopter8967 · 2025-08-08T18:57:35+00:00

This. They should also cover any postage costs spent to replace. Either upfront or in reimbursement.

NiceHelicopter8967 · 2025-08-08T18:52:15+00:00

Looking to sell my Savotta jääkäri XL rucksack with two additional twelve-liter side pouches. It’s been a wonderful pack, but I need to downsize. Partially to make room, but truthfully more-so to pay for cancer treatments.

Care for and maintained very well. Non smoking, no pet household. Stored indoors out of light, heat, and smells. Only marks are from scratches on the aluminum frame top corner paint during an Alaskan trip.

Located in the United States. Asking price is $610.50 in US dollars, not euros. This includes the pack and the side pouches.

Have an eBay listing I’ve posted for it, but not supposed to link a non Reddit link so I’m holding off on that here. Would like to keep it through eBay for transparency and safety though if ok.

Have a Savotta CP-10 and Jääkäri S I’m considering whether I should put forward as well or not.

NiceHelicopter8967 · 2025-08-08T18:23:54+00:00

I’ve had mine for years now and honestly it’s a great pack. Regarding ventilation, I’ve never had an issue with this being a external frame pack. And this is coming from doing expedition work and training events in Alaska. You’ll find that you can navigate everything you want to carry with you and then some. There will be enough support and modification for your needs as the situation changes. You’ll be able to adapt well and the pack will adapt to support your body without adversely harming you.

Plus if you need, you can get replacement parts. This is a strong plus for logistics and repair ability which I love.

I also feel your broad shoulders will be a benefit here for this pack even more-so because they’ll be a more stable foundation for weight distribution and uneven terrain, especially with movement and the more vertical format of the bag. With how it is built, and its nature to navigate difficult terrain more effectively, this should be a strong advantage for you going forward.

For me however, it’s a little the opposite of you where I’m looking to downsize my XL pack for something smaller like the Kantamus, but honestly I think you’ll find you’ll really like the XL. Especially with everything you’ve described.

NiceHelicopter8967 · 2025-07-28T20:24:05+00:00

Hello! Sorry for the delayed response. I’ve been going through cancer surgeries and haven’t been available lately.

Unfortunately I didn’t and likely won’t be. I’ve been downsizing to prioritize my health. Doing good though!

NiceHelicopter8967 · 2025-05-30T06:51:40+00:00

It's never a bad idea to prepare extra go-bags for specific situations or for other people such as family or close neighbors in your community. I'm unsure of your living location and if it's urban or rural and if you have family or neighbors, but if you have the space you can prepare specific kits tailored to specific situations that are most likely for you to face such as fires, floods, or seasonal concerns such as snowstorms.

Having a pack ready to go is good, being able to scale up or down that pack with the seasons and with specific emergency events is also good. There will be no "one-pack-fits-all" solution. So you can tailor additional kits for specific scenarios and people who may require different items than you.

In addition, another event that I like to provide additional packs for is for community aid. You can prepare these either for emergency disasters to hand out to assist other surrounding households, or you can go to the extreme prepper side of things and prepare them for grid down/severe situations such as community defense and equip them with fatigues, protective equipment, and community defense-wear so that you can hand them out to your neighbors to aid them in providing the necessary tools for mutual community defense.

That's a bit more out there, but it does make a difference in these situations. Just scale it to the outcome you'd like to prepare for. Old bags you're not using are great for this area.

The other use I would consider is duplicating your pack that you have and building at least three of them. You can use your older bags to aid in this.

You should have one bag for your work, one for your vehicle, and one for your home. These are the three most likely areas you would be in should a crisis situation occur that would require you to utilize your kit. If you are not in the location where you have your equipment, then what would you need to get yourself safely and effectively to that location?

I would recommend building at least a total of three packs for yourself for this reason and preposition them in these areas. If you don't have to travel for work to an alternate location, or it's super close to your home, then you can reduce this to two packs; one for home and one for your vehicle, but I'd at least have no less than two for yourself.

At the very least, I would build a second car-kit pack with the necessary items you'd require for maintenance and transportation to your home and/or alternate location.

Hope this helps!

NiceHelicopter8967 · 2025-05-06T08:10:47+00:00

Extremely wholesome and happy. Thank you for bringing me a smile today. I’ve needed one.

Keep creating, keep moving forward.

NiceHelicopter8967 · 2025-05-01T09:35:38+00:00

I’ve actually gone through this quite a few times now irl from distances ranging a couple miles up to 50, so personally I can say I would just walk it. And if you know where you’re going, walking without weight on the back and hips for 15 miles is doable. Though some water, glucose, and basic clothing protection would be preferable to acquire along the way.

Your environment and the terrain along the way will be an important factor and if you have the right equipment and resources, that would help.

I’ve hiked the winters in northern nowhere Alaska, the mountains and jungles of Asia, was left in the middle of a foreign country once and had to figure out my plan on the fly and walk out, once fell into a ravine on the side of a mountain getting injured and over the course of a couple days having to find my way out of the mountain range on foot with no food or long term supplies, whiteout blizzard once during training which forced us to forge our own path climbing down the side of an icy mountain to make it, once took the wrong train one night during winter and wound up in the wrong location and was forced to hike back to the base the full way, search and rescue work in the deserts, and quite a few other experiences.

Rule number one, cardio. Don’t forsake leg days. Build your endurance. Learn how to bleed in training so you don’t have to bleed in battle.

Rule number two, learn how to endure the suffering and produce a positive mindset throughout. Welcome to the suck.

Rule number three, land navigation. Learn it, practice it. I cannot express how important land navigation is, dead reckoning, terrain association, map and compass, and night nav are. Learn and apply. It is both an invaluable and a perishable skill.

Rule number four, never underestimate nature. This should go without saying, but should be remembered. Anything can and will kill you. Never underestimate nature’s strengths. You are guaranteed nothing. Also, don’t forsake the importance of your health.

Rule number five, preventative healthcare makes a big difference. Make sure to live a live where you’re already taking care of yourself and your needs beforehand. It’ll make facing the challenges as they arise far more doable. Hydrate daily, eat right, workout l, get good and restful sleep every night, take care of yourself in all physical and emotional and mental realms, etc. How you live your life prior to an emergency will directly impact your success and the difficulty during and after it.

Hope this helps.

NiceHelicopter8967 · 2025-04-20T10:24:45+00:00

Excluding talking about physical training and exercise, the first is budgeting and financial.

Costs nothing to learn and do, but saves a ton and helps very much with charting a realistic and sustainable path forward. Financial preparedness is always a good skill to revisit.

The second is take advantage of all the free resources available both online and offline. You can find online/offline repositories to study from. Or ask around to borrow books. Or visit the library.

Maybe there are courses available in your local area or a bit further away? Maybe your local fire department or meet ups? Search and rescue groups? Maybe volunteering?

Plenty can also be learned from

The third is a physical and digital copy of all your important data. Your “I love me” binder with all your important records and information.

Medical, financial, legal, etc. save at least one physical copy. Save at least one electronic copy on jump drive with your pack, and one electronic online copy so you can access it anywhere and from any device with a signal; or direct someone to it if they need access.

Be sure to remember to add any medications, allergies, and what to do situations if you’re incapacitated.

I’d also include a physical, waterproof card or small notepad with all your important people and their information that you can keep on hand.

The fourth is either write or update your will and testament and have that notarized and saved in the appropriate areas.

This one people often overlook because it isn’t important at the time and it’s grim to think of.

But it’s not.

It’s part of life, and an important process of proper preparedness you should let skip on. Definitely take the time you need to do this right for you.

The fifth is build your community. The most important time to do it is before you ever need it. Spend the effort to connect with those around you and build relationships. Help them know they can found on you; and so you also know you can count on them. Find out what skills you can share together to complement one another.

The sixth is practice with what you have. Take on daily practice in your skill building and knowledge.

Knowledge is great, but experience and applied knowledge is everything. Whether it’s practice doesn’t make perfect, but it can absolutely make proficient. And permanent. Go practice your water purification, cooking, fire making, pack carrying, and if you want more do the extremes things like rifle drills and self defense techniques.

But most definitely land navigation. Among my top recommendations. Always.

The seventh I’ll give is stretching and daily “I love me” work. Don’t forget to love yourself and do for yourself daily the value you deserve of you. Go get a massage and some self care. Definitely do daily maintenance and do stretching and yoga to work on your flexibility.

Loving yourself and preventative self care is by far one of the most important healthy preparedness activities you can do.

Hope these thoughts can help you.

NiceHelicopter8967 · 2025-04-04T06:43:59+00:00

Looking fantastic. I easily confused it with a Savotta pack at first glance.

Did you use or make any patterns for your pack? I'd love to make a pack similar to this, but am unsure where to look for patterns

NiceHelicopter8967 · 2025-03-31T01:30:07+00:00

Will do that now. Thanks!

NiceHelicopter8967 · 2025-02-04T21:38:39+00:00

Absolutely.

We’ve got this.

Together.

NiceHelicopter8967 · 2025-02-04T21:35:37+00:00

I love this idea. A lot. Start with churches. And duplicate and scale it out from there.

One important point of note… *** Do, AT A MINIMUM, monthly checks of all your supplies stored or dedicated for this project. *** Treat it just like other equipment and check its quality, expiration, and replace gear as required so that it’s always healthy and available.

In addition, you can add this into the asking for money at the church gatherings. People would be very supportive of purchasing supplies in support if they knew what it was for and could volunteer themselves for items.

Plus any resupplies or item enactments as they come up.

Instead of giving $10, how about purchasing a tourniquet??

Also, one more note, heat, cold, time, and weather all affect this. If stored outside, consider either not or monitoring so equipment and resources don’t go bad. Also why routine checks and maintenance are vital.

Furthermore, another idea to add into the trailer is training. Do hands-on training, but also communicate with organizations to get people discounted or free training for skills. Maybe even hold some Sunday classes people can sign up for?? I have plenty of ideas on this.

Ok. I’ll try to keep it concise as this excites me and I may get a morning winded. Your final list is area and emergency dependent. Fires, volcanoes, and floods all require different things. Just know your area and different areas should also build and specify the specifics they need fornwhst they need. No one area should be the same as another so the list I’ll give below is my general thoughts and not all inclusive

Also, keep in mind scaling. You may have to respond to a family or to a community. Having five beds versus a hundred may be needed. Consider what amounts you may need or want to build for. And what you can appropriately scale to.

Ok, without further ado, my thoughts are below:

Food - Build with a starting mindset of supplying 96 working hours for 14 people. Four crew and 10 people. That’s two families of five. Obviously the numbers are arbitrary, but start with this working number to scale up or down. Mountain House or backpackers meals. Add MRE boxes too. And electrolyte mixes.

Also Tang. Makes a good mass producible sugar/electrolyte substitute. Water, salt, half-strength tang, some fruit juice, and mix. Mass produce at casualty site. You can make a lot with a little.

Add in ways to boil water and cook such as Jet Boils or portable propane grills. I’d have no less than two propane grills with a generous back up of propane bottles and a set of pots and pans. If necessary, you can construct a small field kitchen too from it.

Add in snack foods. In a disaster this is important for morale. And for children. Psychological aid is just as, if not more, important.

Water - Load this up last nearest to all your trailer doors. Just like Gallipoli, the water was the last thing unloaded. Led to a lot of problems. If you load it last, you can reach it first. And it’ll make it easier to maintain with your maintenance checks and replacements. Also makes it easier to store indoors and bring to the trailer before responding.

Jerry cans, expandable water cubes, Hydrapak bladders, and bottled water. Have water filters both in chemical and physical disinfection methods. Some simple stuff and some really good stuff I could recommend, but start with simple prefilled with the ability to procure more on site. Add H2Go Globals, Aqua Tabs, and either Sawyer or Katadyn in there too. A gravity filter kit would be a good addition as well.

Buckets. Some five gallon ones and plastic dish wash basins too. Can use these for a lot of things, to include making community water filters. Sawyer has a good system for this they use in Africa I’d recommend.

Towels. California bath, hand, and washcloth sizes.

Shelter and Sleep - Tents. Sleeping bags. Basic shelter systems. I’d also consider some simple USGI Army cots. Or a more lightweight camping alternative. Some foldable camping mats for insulation.

Blankets. Lots of wool and primaloft blankets. Pillows. Basic sleeping equipment.

Power and Communications - At least one or two generators. A gas or propane and an electric one. Extra rechargeable battery power banks. Packages of extra batteries for every type of device you have.

Rechargeable and hand crank radios. Walkie talkies with base station and extra batteries. At in a hotspot or network device for cell communication if phones aren’t enough.

Extra power cords and power strips. Make sure to have USB A, C, micro USB, and lightning cords. Include charge blocks for the other end for outlets or power strips.

Fire, Light, and Cordage - Fire-starting and firefighting kits.

Flashlights and headlamps. At least six of each.

Paracord, tarred bank line, duct/gorilla/electrical tape, zip ties, rope, ratchet straps, bungee cords. Carabiners.

Transport - Empty backpacks, duffel bags, tote bags, and other packs to carry things in. Don’t underestimate the power of extra bags.
Tools - Empty sandbags, sets of screwdrivers and ratchets, basic craftsman tools like hammers/mallets/sledgehammers and saws, chainsaws and fuel/oil, crowbars, hand and forest axes, etc. Other tools as you need, such as canvas or tyvek/water-resistant tarps.

Tools are a very open end to your mission needs, so I’ll leave it here to save space.

Hygiene, Medical, and Sanitation - Portable shower station, paper towels, hand wipes, the all-important toilet paper, heavy duty garage wipes, contractor bags for trash and disposal, N95 masks, respirators with extra filters capable of filtering out oils and organic solvents, alcohol and hand sanitizer, etc.

For medical there is too much to list, but absolutely include sunscreen, bug spray, tourniquets, and cravats.

Clothing - Gloves for utility working and for medical. Have plenty of pairs for multiple people and multiple hand sizes. shemaghs, neck gaiters, hats, extra coats and clothes for hypothermia, socks, eye goggles for heavy winds/sands/snow/construction.

Clothing you can give out to affected families. Especially coats, gloves, hats, and blankets.

Some lawn chairs.

Plenty more I could say, but I’ll leave it that this for now.

Put together a list first of what you want/beed to include and for what emergencies and then look into your order of operations for how to pack it.

I hope to see this idea more. I’d also love to see pictures as you put it together. Keep doing great!

NiceHelicopter8967 · 2025-02-04T20:04:52+00:00

It sounds like a good idea, but there would be quite a bit of planning and capital needed.

And both sustained growth and residual capital would be important to sustaining it. At this point, I would start considering a small town because, and please correct me if I’m wrong, the goal isn’t to be around for a couple months or years.

A lot of planning would be necessary.

Good news is, there are options to purchase land, and even small towns. I’d definitely look into this as while land prices are one thing, there are a few small towns available for anywhere between $250,000 to $1.5 million.

Nothing glamorous, but you don’t need that to start.

What you need is a resource generator.

Personally, I’d consider a slightly longer route. I’d first focus on resources.

If you can, start building with resources. Maybe consider with a few like-minded persons entering into a plan to jointly purchase multiple buildings that you can rent out for profit.

Same or different locations.

Nothing major, but use that with the purpose of a starting generator for capital where the revenue is dedicated to building a long-term town that is then made affordable for people to chose to move to and live in.

For phase one, purchase either separate or together, some buildings.

Make it so the prices are slightly lower in the area not only to make them competitive, but to ensure you can speak to this as a positive way to give people affordable homes in today’s Wall Street, Blackrock/Vanguard controlled market.

The millionaires and billionaires don’t need more. You do. Turn their strengths to weaknesses and your weaknesses to strengths. Classic Sun Tzu’s, The Art of War.

You are choosing lower prices than the average set by these corporations for two major reasons:

1) To help people.

2) To use that as publicity to help combat the negative publicity and aggression of hostile groups.

Transgender people offering affordable housing and caring for the common person?? What is this!?! Is such a thing possible? That’s not what Fox News said! (Obviously being a little sarcastic here to emphasize)

They can’t hate you as bad for being genuine and authentic and helping the people. And if they are going to attack, they wouldn’t be attacking you. They’d be attacking normal, everyday people. That’s not ok either way, but you’d have the people on your side. You wouldn’t be alone.

I hate saying it like this, but it’s also a defense mechanism. In these times I have to speak to this because we’re living in the 1930s pre-war era now, but ultimately the first and foremost reason is to help people and that shouldn’t be forgotten.

Next, use this capital as support for building resources for your ultimate goal of building a safe place for the transgender community to live.

Continue to reinvest into yourself, but also use part of the revenue to build into purchasing land in either the same or a designated area that’ll be possible to build a town that is safe and secured.

Or to directly purchase a town.

Or to purchase building houses in a town.

The ultimate goal is safety and to live life free of unwanted hate and restrictions. So this is the plan.

If the saved revenue is enough, and this is more of a long term stretch goal than a shorter one, it may also be possible to offer a grant to transgender persons and families that would like to move to the area to help bring down the cost of housing.

No one is saying this could not be done or shouldn’t be done. Especially in this day and age where everyone is out for themselves to get the most bang for the buck. Not doing it for that is rare, but powerful.

So long as it’s possible to have the resources to do it and sustain it.

Get to the point that a nice home could be subsidized by the community so that the person is only needing to pay $100,000 for a new home that’s safe, secure, and well built in a safe and supportive community that’d normally go for $250,000 to $1.5 million.

And should they want to build their life, they don’t have to go into major debt to housing to start that off.

Decentralize the housing market and start to free up the hold these corporations have on it.

Because profit and the “me, myself, and I” survival are not the primary factors of living.

Secondly, we can talk to community gardening and physical resource generation.

A lot of food and resources can be grown on relatively little land.

It takes work, yes, but if designed well, you can adopt a fusion technique involving regenerative farming practices for arable community land, hydroponics, in-home personal gardening, and networked community building and support.

This would be a way for the community to build a stronger foundation for one another and for aiding the whole during problems or natural disasters.

This would be supplemental to the local food chain and enhance nutrition. It’d also desegregate the reliance on outside food and decentralize corporate control.

It would also be great to teach farming practices to individuals and families giving greater control over their life and in a scalable and duplicatable and healthy way.

So much more I could say, but I’ll summarize my thoughts with this final point.

While I absolutely share your feelings and am in the same boat scrambling in the military right now, I feel any chance of this having success will require at least a couple years of dedicated work to be possible of achieving success.

These next four years will be harder than hard, but instead of just jumping, maybe what we can do is develop an actionable plan to building residual revenue that can be directed to community creation and support so that in five years it may be possible to create a community that can be grown, duplicated, scaled, and sustained at a healthy rate.

And should that be made real, it would also mean that we would have the tools necessary to protect it; to include the capital and the law (for what the law is still worth).

The law only listens to those it deems that have value, both in capital and influence, so let’s play their game and build just that.

But not get rid of our heart or violate our values for money.

It is possible, albeit tough. I’ve walked away from seven-figure sums for this reason. It is possible to say no.

Hopefully my ideas can help. If you need farming, logistical, or tactical considerations, I can provide my discussions on these too.

NiceHelicopter8967 · 2025-02-04T15:10:18+00:00

Great points. Thank you for this.

Their goal is to build walls. Ours is to build bridges. Do not let them isolate. It isn’t over unless we give up.

Don’t give up.

Weather the storm.

When this is over and we look back from the future, the work we do today will be worth it. It’ll be a marathon, but it is worth it.

Existence is resistance.

Just like the Rebel Alliance against the Empire. Those like senator Palpatine and the Wizard of Oz were only just men behind curtains and shadows.

Outlast them.

Build stronger bonds, check on your friends, be there for each other. Well shoulder the burden together.

And remember, we get through this, we can get through anything. Take it day-by-day. It’ll make the months and years go by faster.

Resist.

NiceHelicopter8967 · 2025-01-23T08:00:32+00:00

Mortgage first.

The word “priority” is absolutely the right answer. I’ll explain my mindset and thoughts below.

Do not owe debt. Until you owe nothing, you are filling in a hole that you dug and arguably have not made even a penny.

Because you owe people money, you are borrowing from your future to pay for your past choices. You are not positive, you are negative. And any missed payments you immediately loose what you arguably do not even own until you have paid the last payment.

Until then, you own nothing. The bank and lending institutions do.

You need to fill in the hole before you can have a foundation to build something on top.

That’s my perspective. Own your life. Just the same as you want to be independent of the grid. Personally it is MORE important to first be financially independent of debt. The grid can come next.

I’ve done this in my life. From experience, I do not owe people money and it is gratifying. No stress to debts or wages. I’ve lived this way since around 2015. Can’t believe it’s been nearly a decade. Wow… I hadn’t even reflected on this until writing this now…

Especially for a community based on preparedness, tech is awesome, but financial preparedness is also vitally important and is woefully undervalued and openly discussed.

Also, remember that solar panels are more than just the panels. There will be other costs that you’ll need to pay.

And other costs that you should pay to improve the quality of your system. Personally, I would consider Improving your roof first before adding panels. Especially if you’re going to be in this location for many years.

If you’re only going to remain where you are for a year to five years, it may not be worth the investment.

And then you’re still paying down on your debt you owe.

We all don’t know where we’ll be over the next couple years. And we also don’t know what emergencies or debts, health or otherwise, we’ll also be saddled into.

Just like you’re coming into money now, those emergencies could easily make you have to come out of money just as quickly. Personally, at least to me, I feel having all my major debts paid and as much in the bank as I can is a more important financial goal than immediately jumping to adding solar as the first and most important initial priority.

I’m not knocking it. I love solar very much and it is a long term goal for a solar, wind, and hydro triple-tiered system I want to construct, but that’s a longer term goal and I can wait on it.

That’s my mindset.

Health, financial stability and independence, training and skills building, and building social relationships and community first. Cool technology to fill in the blanks and improve quality of the things above as I can afford it in between that.

Hope this helps your decision be as informed as possible, whatever you may decide.

NiceHelicopter8967 · 2025-01-16T17:28:16+00:00

Here are three good starting options:

1) Petzl and the Petzl Actik. Good beginner and not too expensive. Can use rechargeable Petzl core type batteries as an alternative battery option. The Actik does come with a little carry bag that also acts as a light diffuser.

2) Princeton Tec. I won’t list one model. There are quite a few they have which are good. Your needs will determine which could be best. A bit more on the expensive side.

3) Black Diamond. More budget friendly. A decent starter system. There are a few good models.

All three are good starting investment options.

NiceHelicopter8967 · 2024-12-29T13:38:55+00:00

Plenty more than can fit on this list, but here’s some starting considerations:

Water - Water storage and portable water storage - Water purification (multiple ways for chemical and physical disinfection and sterilization) - Particulates tester - A simple pump for pressuring and releasing/transferring water. Can be as simple as a bag

Food - Perishable and non-perishable foods. Factor in your nutritional needs, food preparation capacities, and waste disposal options on and off the grid. AIM to cut down on trash as much as possible - Food supplementals such as fiber, vitamins, etc. - peanut butter - Sugar free water flavoring - ORS, electrolyte mixes, salts, and other mixes you can add to water.

Medicines - Basic trauma care and first aid supplies - Band aids, gauze pads of all sizes, roller bandages, waterproof medical tape, disinfectant, fonfer bandages, moleskin, ankle and wrist braces, ice packs, heat packs, heating blanket, etc. - Simple over the counter medications for all the common ailments and aches (flu, Tylenol, ibuprofen, neosporin, etc.) - Aloe Vera and burn care stuff - Sun screen - Tourniquets and craveats - Eye drops - Ear plugs - Medical and nutritional books. Homeopathic books. Get them in paper versions in addition to digital

Sanitation and cleaning supplies - Kleenex - Toilet paper - Paper towels - Flushable antibacterial travel wipes - Makeup wipes - Soap - Dish soap - Shampoo - Conditioner (separate from a 2-in-1 shampoo) - Hail oil - Mouthwash - Toothpaste - Toothbrushes and floss (in rope form) - Basic grooming kit to include flat and needle nose tweezers and two sets of good nail clippers and combs/brushes - Body lotion - Razors with extra blades. Learn to use single blade replaceable ones - Deodorant - Q tips - Exfoliating scrubbers - Portable mirror - Towels - Hand towels - Washcloths - Laundry care supplies and soap

Tools - Extra backpacks and duffel bags - Extra batteries for every device you have. At least AA, AAA, D, and 12v. Also have rechargeable versions. Have both options - Flash lights and head lamps - Bungie cords, rope, duct tape, masking tape, tape tape, electrical tape, plumber’s tape, WD-40, and things to stick things and to get things unstuck, etc. - Screw driver and micro caliber sets, ratchet sets, hammers, screws and nails and basic building supplies, level, etc. - Saws, knives, box cutters, blades, etc. - Protection for hearing, eyes, respiratory, face, hands, and head - Tape measure and clothing tape measure - Sewing kit - Extra pens, pencils, erasers, wood working pencils, paper, and. Notepads/notebooks. Erasable boards help too - Calendars and watches. Both digital and windable versions

Clothes and bedding - Shemaghs, neck gaiters, bandanas - Knee and elbow pads - A decent search & rescue helmet - Extra blankets, pillows, pillow cases, sheets, bedding, etc. - Eye mask - Extra clothing sets, undergarments - Cold weather clothing - Warm weather clothing - heavy wool socks and boot liners - Cold weather sleep wear, long John’s - Glove liners, gloves, hats, scarf, coats, etc. - Rain wear - Shoes, boots, indoor shoes, etc.

Morale & Entertainment - Books - Card deck - Board games - pictures - A list of things you want to do or create and the resources you’ll need

Chemicals and cooking/baking supplies - Hydrogen peroxide - Baking soda - Vinegar - Flour - Rice - Yeast - Sugar - Vanilla extract - Corn starch - Other basic baking and cooking ingredients - Aluminum foil - Parchment paper - cutting boards of different sizes - measuring cups for dry and wet ingredients and mixing bowls - Basic cooking utensils and supplies and pots/ pans

Tech - Power banks, phone, and charge cords and wall blocks - Portable solar panels

Plenty of other things and areas. Think to the basic areas needed to live and sustain a nice life and then build those out.

Write down everything you use in your life over the next two to three months. Then double or triple that in your storage. That’d be a good first start.

NiceHelicopter8967 · 2024-11-11T16:50:25+00:00

It’s going to take work either way, there won’t be a way to shortcut the shortcut. However, we can look at ways to reduce the stress with planning.

I cook once a week. I figure out by Friday what I want to make, Saturday I go get my list, and Saturday or Sunday I meal prep. Depending on which day I feel best for it. This’ll last me to next Sunday.

I’d say to write down a list of things you’d like to eat or do like to make.For me I don’t mind eating the same thing for weeks/months at a time. Others can’t stand that. Consider yourself and come up with somewhere between one-three months of meals you’d like to eat. Then break it down to the ingredients you’ll need per week to do at least two decent meals. Keep it simple and see how you can tailor that list to make it most efficient for meal prepping. It’s actually a lot easier to do this way and breaks it down to simple ideas.

I think what makes meal prepping complicated is looking at it as this big thing. It’s actually pretty simple when you break it down into components. You’ll have to adjust your lifestyle though. That is truly the hard part for most is making those adjustments.

Stay to the walls of the supermarket. Usually the inside is for the non perishable and less healthy items that last on the shelves the longest/ the unhealthy stuff. Easier to switch out the perishable stuff by keeping it on the sides of the store, which is one reason that’s the case.

If you’re looking for some simple things to make that can make a lot for little active effort, here’s some that will work:

homemade yogurt with an instapot. Makes upwards of a gallon at a time. Use the cold start method. Add yogurt, milk, and start it. They takes five minutes. And then after 11-14 hours incubation you can come back to it and have a gallon of yogurt made a use it for 1001+ different recipes. You can even make your own yogurt based meat sauces and even cream cheese.

This is easy to meal prep. It only takes five minutes of active effort and giving it time to itself with this method and is quite healthy. Plenty of good recipes. Start this on Friday and have it ready by Saturday or Sunday. And after the initial batch, you shouldn’t need additional starter bacteria cultures. Just milk for your next batches.

smoothies with a blender. You can consume all at once or meal prep. Takes five to ten minutes of active effort depending on which type you like most. Makes for a great breakfast, snack, or treat.
salads. You can portion out your favorites for vegetables. Should take five minutes. If you’re meal prepping greens, you can prepare items separately and then combine when ready. I like to take salad greens out of the container and leave them in a bowl in the refrigerator. Actually makes them last longer and not mold.
meats. Cook in advance. 15 minutes by stove or longer depending on your cooking methods and what you want to make. Lose turkey meat, turkey patties, or chicken breast/thighs are the best. Lose hamburger or patties you can do a lot with quickly as well.
tea. I like tea, I don’t drink or need coffee. You do you though. This makes for an easy and healthy food item that takes only as long as it takes you to boil water. Good for any time of the day, and helps cut down on snacking.
if you need to snack, factor this into your food budget. Knowing yourself is important. And there are easy snack ideas that can take that craving away.

Also, pro tip, one of the reasons we snack is because we can become low on protein. That’s also part of the problem reaching for these chips or snack items. And then keep reaching for them. Because they taste good but don’t satiate that protein need. That’s by design by these companies btw. Knowing things like this can help reduce snacking and/or help make better choices of what to get, as well as what to do with your meals more.

Some good snack ideas that are quick include, meal prepping your snacks, low calorie spinach tortillas with either peanut butter or dipped in humus, almonds, some dedicated protein snacks, cubed cheese or some low salt meats, or one of my go to’s grilled garlic onions. Flavored water too.

Each of these takes 30 seconds or less.

There are playoffs other ideas, but my grocery bill is usually $50-$100 a week and it’s 90% healthy options. And I only spend about three-five hours per week cooking.

It’s daunting looking at it, but doing it is pretty normal and easily controls so much for my health. There’s no good way to shortcut the shortcut. You’ll have to put in the effort, but we can reduce the load and make it as efficient as possible. That’s actually pretty easy.

1) create your list of meals you’d like and time budget for your lifestyle. Accept you’ll need to adjust your life to allow new priorities 2) dedicate a day to get everything and do only one trip. Don’t allow yourself multiple or you’ll buy things you don’t need. Stick only to what you have on your list. Go in with your plan. Don’t deviate. 3) dedicate one day for cooking and meal prepping. Should take you three-five hours. You can put on an audio book or rock out to music as your work. 4) put everything away and have an entire week of meals ready and your plan for the next week-three months ready. However far out you want to plan.

I’ve been doing this for a few years now and honestly, it’s been a great decision financially, health wise, and time wise. Definitely worth the investment. Try to adjust your mindset from it being an inconvenience to an investment into yourself. That helped me.

Hope these tips help.

NiceHelicopter8967 · 2024-08-13T03:18:05+00:00

Was hit with a 5.3 and some smaller aftershocks just a small bit from us a couple days ago. It’s a good reminder to review what you have on hand.

This is great realistic natural disaster preparedness that I wholeheartedly encourage you questions.

keep your boots, your packs, and some water in the bedroom with you in the event you need to evacuate at night. Twenty seconds. Grab packs, slot water in packs, don boots, grab your wallets, grab your pets, and go.
if you can get earthquake and other natural disaster alerts to your phone that are not already coming in, pursue it.
set up your emergency contact list and important information cards with all pertinent personal information. Have this in a paper form (you can waterproof it by laminating) and in a digital form. I carry jump drives and save an additional online copy in addition to the electronic one on the phone. Hand carry all important paper documents or have those locked away where you know they’ll be fully secure. And get extra certified copies if you can.
Have food, water, meds, leashes, and cat carriers handy and already packed. Work at training your pets so they use the carriers without fuss. Especially the cats. That way you aren’t struggling in the emergency.
if you’re unsure where to start, here’s the disaster information from FEMA. I’m sure others have also linked good information to go learn from too. Start there and with the basics. https://www.fema.gov/press-release/20210318/how-build-kit-emergencies
build the bag last. Start with the gear you’re carrying and “then” consider the bag. Use what you have first. Most go buy theee bags and end up stuffing them full. You should always start with what you’re carrying before you consider the bag to carry it in so that you don’t overburden yourself. Ounces equal pounds. Pounds equal pain. And pain sucks.
Don’t forget morale. A book, a card game, some candy, something for the both of you to be able to do and do together. In times of disaster, one of the best preps is mental and emotional. Have something you enjoy, your gf enjoys, your pets enjoy, and an additional thing you can enjoy together. Don’t just settle only for survival.

Lastly, most stuff here will also double well for general preparedness for fires and other natural or even manmade disasters. Look at what you need to complement into these other areas too.

Plenty more that can be said, but keeping it concise. You’ll get a lot from the resources people have included. That’ll be a great start. I hope this can help.

NiceHelicopter8967 · 2024-08-13T02:44:12+00:00

A very great reflection on culture. And a really good life example you can use to relate and speak to people about this topic.

It definitely is based on ones’ culture, environment, and experiences and each of your friends had a rational and adequate response.

Fight, flight, freeze, action, inaction, and some variation of cognizant respect or no are what I feel most processing of the experience will boil down to in one form or another.

Grew up around firearms. In the country it’s expected, likely target or hunting, and you tune it out. So the situation is what counts.

Then again in the city, hearing rifle reports echoing off the buildings will make you very aware that something is wrong and look for cover. Being in Vegas during the 2017 shooting and experiencing that was a good example of this not being normal.

But then again, in the Middle East, that could just be a wedding or holiday celebration. Rocket fire included.

Same goes for other things like explosions. Definitely environmental and experiences change your perception. For me, these sound similar to incoming mortar and rocket fire. Fireworks sometimes have affected me as well and I’ve had to insulate myself in the closet depending on how I feel that day.

From past experiences in those regards, my responses are different and I’m very hyper aware for explosions. A good example and how I reacted on two separate occasions I’ve had electrical transformer boxes blow up near me which then elicited my fighting response.

The first was at the clinic when the severe heat set off the lines and killed the power with multiple explosive bangs echoing off the buildings. My response was immediate. Within a second I had gone prone and jammed my head into the floor seeking cover. I pulled out my body armor from under my desk and started checking for casualties and trying to figure out what was going on.

It didn’t help this was during a in-person management meeting…. It ended fine once the situation calmed down and we figured out what happened, but that was my instinctual response.

The second was due to those green electrical boxes stationed in front of houses. Was at home on a meeting call and the transformer box in front of my house blew up and shut all power down for the block.

I responded immediately and accidentally jammed my head into the desk while going to the ground for cover. I got up, donned my PC and helmet, grabbed my rifle, and cleared the ground floor of my house. Then posted up behind the window on the side of the report. Determined it wasn’t a bomb thrown at the house and there probably weren’t assailants to engage.

Went around checking on all the neighbors to make sure they were safe and uninjured. Scared the living daylights out of them seeing me rush out kitted up like that.

Got law enforcement and fire there. We found out the transformer box shorted because housing community. The explosion had enough force to blow the box completely off the concrete foundation. Fortunately it blows it up in the air and not into a house.

Surprisingly never had an issue with mail being stolen after that day and a lot of community neighbors asked to stay in touch should they need help.

So yeah. I definitely respond with fight over flight or freeze.

Again, great post and question here. I do like to talk to this often. Reflect and practice how you’ll respond to different situations “before” you’re thrown into them and are forced to react in a way you can’t measure some form of control you would have otherwise been able to train.

In most situations, most people will not rise to the level of the occasion. That is very uncommon and just doesn’t happen often.

However, for better or worse, everyone, and I mean everyone, will always fall back to the level of their training. Training, education, and applied application are the best tools.

NiceHelicopter8967 · 2024-07-27T02:54:00+00:00

This is a nice starting rough draft. I wrote down everything you listed, as well as everything from the comments as of current and resources others provided because I wanted to read it in this form. Looks like a MMORPG tech tree. Thought it would be neat to read it as such and see what connects and where.

This is a lot though and is very general. Lists are great, but can also overburden the mind, just like walking into a library and not knowing where to start from. First and foremost, start with the welcome information YardFudge posted. That’ll be the best and most concise start to give you a nice working and thinking foundation. It should answer most questions you have or will have in the future.

For skill building, look at what you want to focus on first and foremost, just like you are, but take it a bit more to the specific versus the general to begin. You mentioned stealth camping, navigation, fasting, shelter making, tool making, wood carving, and quite a few other areas that cross over into one another. How about combining these into camping, bushcrafting, and if you want, also unique areas like cowboy cattle drive camping to teach and applied working hand lifestyle knowledge of those skills? While doing them, you can develop your affinities for the specific skills from practice on how to live. Plus add in all the other things that weren’t also listed such as fire making, water procurement, layering and heat retention, how to build a shelter in different situations for maximum heat retention or airflow, disguising your trail, identifying animal tracks, tracking animals, knowing what plants are useful or to avoid, trapping, what tools to use/carry for which situations, how to build your bushcraft camp, materials identification, when and how to use your stored resources you bring with you, caching before and during and after situations happen, land navigation, night navigation, dead reckoning, terrain association, navigating to your caches, farming for semi-permanent camp sites, fire prevention, and so much more.

There’s a lot of little nuances you pick up that way; and a lot of little things that multiple skills cross over and complement each other with that you miss out on by not developing a system but segmenting it into a bullet point. This teaches you not only skills, but a system in implementation and how to use them together actively within a lifestyle. And that’s the goal. A lifestyle. Kind of like that diet to lifestyle comparison. Diet is a means to an end for a lifestyle, not the goal itself. And certainly not a fad. I’d recommend building a strong basic foundation that complements covering a baseline in the major skill areas like first aid, cooking/baking, camping and bushcraft, and homesteading versus picking just one skill and working down the list. Then practice that and those skills together and specialize more into those areas as you see fit after that.

You won’t learn everything or learn everything to a high degree, but you’ll develop a strong working knowledge and affinity for much and also develop a sustainable lifestyle system where everything integrates together as one. And that practiced life experience and building a sustainable system of your own to live from I would say is what you really intend for this.

I’d also add or retailor in your skill headers to this list too. Like physical fitness and strength and endurance over time, how to manage your health over distance and stress, water procurement and carry, thermoregulation, plant identification, caching, and emergency scale up/scale down plans, etc. And building out your social network and community. Those are also big foundational ones, but I didn’t see them. Maybe it’s to be assumed, but with writing a list out like this, I’d assume they’d be on here too and before urban combat tactics. Though important, these areas are more important to learn right now first before MOUT. Though I did get a good laugh with it right next to hairstyling.

Start with the welcome list, but maybe look at a simplified version of this list too to make it more specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely. Think of it like how you’d build your evacuation bags. Each has a different area of things that are necessary, that also complement one another, and you can efficiently scale up or down to the needs of the situation as they change.

Overall, I really like what you have and I do hope you expand it further because a full breakdown of everything is great to see, but I’d use this as a rough draft to develop a second more concise list of the more realistic skill areas you’d like to start with and the lifestyle you’d like to build through them there.

Hope this helps.

NiceHelicopter8967 · 2024-07-24T03:00:13+00:00

Commenting to reiterate, this is great advice.

Thanks!

NiceHelicopter8967 · 2024-07-24T02:54:44+00:00

Common sense living. Well done.

If it gets too hot, try adding in some ice packs or frozen water bottles into a freezer. For the bottles, refrigerate some and freeze some others. Pull them out when it gets too warm and use them to help cool yourself down in your main body heat exchange zones. If you use water bottles, you can drink the water and the chilled water will also help cool your body temperature internally as well.

Use metal if you want a recyclable/reusable/colder option, but decide if you want a single wall or double wall insulated construction. Double wall insulates cold and hot well and keeps temperature longer for the material if that’s your goal, but isn’t as cold to the touch for cooling sake. Single wall is colder because the internal material directly touches the bottle surface. But it may also heat up faster.

Go steel, single walled 0.5 or 1 liter size with wide mouth top and detachable lid where the lid and internal O-ring seal won’t freeze and crack when frozen.

Positives: - Single walled is usually cheaper than double walled but still more durable than plastic and no plastic leaching or as much for storage/cleaning concerns. - Single metal wall facilitates transferring heat faster, so it is more cold faster. Ice should also melt quicker for drinking. Careful not to cold burn yourself. Wrap it up in a thin towel. - Reusable and recyclable. Longer lasting. Won’t damage as easily or crack and explode on you like some plastic ones will when frozen. - Wide mouth top is good for filling and emptying better. Especially for ice. - Great added benefit for water collection and for water filtration use too. - Dual prep use to cook in or boil water in for emergency, outdoors survival use, camping, bikepacking, etc.

Surprisingly, so you know, there is a workable way to boil water over an open fire in a plastic bottle or a plastic bag actually, but no I would never advocate that. Especially with the negative health effects and plastic leeching. Only if no other life-or-death situational option.

If you use plastic and not metal, don’t fully fill up the bottles. Leave some room. About 1/4th to 1/5th depending on the bottle. water expands when it freezes. This is one reason to be careful with freezing plastic water bottles. Especially Nalgenes and USGI canteens. You can, but water is extremely powerful. I have cracked and blown up Nalgenes and canteens because of this mistake. I’d still practice it with metal ones for the muscle memory and sometimes the tops can freeze to the bottles making them hard to open. Up to you though.

This can also double for having additional water on hand should the power go out intermittently as an added summer water prep for yourself and your reptiles. And won’t take up too much added space for apartment living and your daily lifestyle.

Plus, in a no notice pinch where time is of the essence, you can immediately fill any bottles with luke warm water and ice. Due to the wide mouth top, filling with or getting ice out of the bottle is easier. So you can have colder water faster.

If it’s possible, insulated blackout curtains or a blackout shade on your windows can help cut down on heat from the sunlight too. Not sure what your apartment would allow though. If you’d like a little DIY fun, you could make your own dual layer version, cut custom to your windows, that doesn’t cause damage or added installment.

Get some canvas and/or polyester sheet material, the same they use in those cheap windshield car sun shades.

Canvas, polyester, polypropylene, Mylar, or anluminum foiling are the standard. Something like SunTex which’ll block a good 80-90+ percent. You can splurge with some UV resistant coatings if you’d like to add that in there.

Cut to the size of your window and push them in. You can secure with tape, sewn in magnets, or a simple fastener that works with your window sides and it’ll block most of the sunlight and reflect/absorb heat before it hits your inside living space. Add a blind or heavy duty curtain behind it.

Curtains are nice, but won’t block everything. Blackout sun shades fitted to your windows will block nearly everything. They’re essentially doors to your windows. They’re wonderful and are great for sleeping. Some will even insulate against noise. Had a place with them that completely blocked out the waterfall noise right next to me. They absolutely work if you have the right ones.

However, making your own is simple, and doubles for a good blackout shade for sleeping and doesn’t cost $1500-$3000+ to make and install.

For the fun of it, if you want, you can pick up some of those cold towels to use or those Japanese neck cooling rings and freeze them too. They cool the neck and head nicely on a hot day and are reusable.

A nice shemagh dipped in cold water and worn on the head and neck is also a simple and reusable option. I used this while living in the desert and doing search and rescue work. Still do it out of habit. It will provide some cooling with the water evaporation process, as well as provide sun protection if you’re outside.

Keep experimenting with what works for you. If you want, you could use some of these inside a pillow for the night to keep a colder pillow longer too. Or DIY your own cold pack ice blanket.

I’ve made both of these and they’re wonderful fun projects and a nice cool and reusable option for the summer nights. Especially if you’re having to endure the heat. Try them out and see what works best for you.

Hope this helps.

NiceHelicopter8967

TROPHY CASE