Blog - Tactical & Military Surplus Gear

Bear-Proof Camp Food Storage: Hang Systems, Canister Strategy, and Scent-Control Workflow to Prevent Night Encounters

Bears Aren’t “Curious” About Your Tent-They’re Tracking Calories A bear that wanders into camp at night isn’t looking for conversation. It’s doing what it’s built to do: find dense calories with minimal risk. If it gets rewarded once-an unattended cooler at a car camp, a snack bag left in a

Altitude Sickness for Hikers: Acclimatization Plans, Red-Flag Symptoms, and Field Treatment When Descent Isn’t Immediate

Altitude sickness is a planning problem, not bad luck Altitude illness usually shows up like a minor nuisance: a dull headache, a little nausea, a hiker who’s suddenly quiet. In the mountains, small problems don’t stay small if you keep climbing. From a military perspective, this is a preventable casualty

Heat Illness in the Field: Preventing, Recognizing, and Cooling Heat Exhaustion and Heat Stroke When You’re Miles from Help

Heat Illness Is a Performance Failure First, a Medical Emergency Second Heat illness usually starts as a small drop in output: slower pace, more breaks, and sloppy decisions. In the military, we treated that as a warning light, not laziness. If you ignore it, you don’t just risk discomfort. You

Snow Shelters That Don’t Collapse: Quinzhee, Snow Trench, and Snow Cave Construction with Ventilation and Entry Design

Snow as a Building Material: Strength, Sintering, and Load Paths Why snow shelters fail in the real world Snow shelters usually fail for boring reasons, not dramatic ones. The roof gets too thin, the shape is wrong, or someone keeps “touching up” the ceiling until it turns into a weak

Night Camp Control Procedures: Challenge/Password, Sectors of Fire, Noise Discipline, and Preventing Blue-on-Blue Incidents

Night camp control starts before darkness and before stress A controlled night camp isn’t about turning your campsite into a fortress. It’s about reducing ambiguity when everyone’s senses are degraded. Darkness, fatigue, cold, and unfamiliar terrain all combine to make simple mistakes more likely. Your job is to build procedures

Brackish and Saltwater Survival: When You Can’t Drink What You Find (Solar Still Builds, Distillation Basics, and Hydration Myths)

Brackish and Saltwater Reality: Why “A Little” Can Make Things Worse Salinity, osmosis, and the kidney problem you can’t out-muscle Saltwater isn’t just “dirty water.” It’s water with a salt load your body can’t process without paying a fee in more water. Your kidneys can only concentrate urine to a

Avalanche Terrain for Hikers and Snowshoers: Identifying Hazard Slopes, Safer Route Choices, and Survival Actions If Caught

Avalanche terrain basics that hikers and snowshoers routinely miss Avalanche terrain is not a “mountaineers only” problem. If you hike or snowshoe in winter, you’re in the same physics as everyone else: snow on a slope, plus a trigger, plus a weak layer, equals motion. The reason hikers get hurt

Traveling Safely on Loose Terrain: Scree, Talus, and Rockfall Movement Techniques, Spacing Rules, and Injury Avoidance

Scree, Talus, and Rockfall: What You’re Actually Walking On Loose terrain is one of those hazards that feels “optional” until it isn’t. One minute you’re on a normal trail, and the next you’re on ball-bearing gravel, a ridge of shifting blocks, or a gully that funnels rockfall like a bowling

Improvised Splints That Actually Hold: Trekking Pole Splints, Pack Frames, Rigging Principles, and Circulation Checks

Splints that hold start with the mission: stabilize, don’t decorate When someone’s hurt, it’s easy to get busy doing something that looks medical without actually improving the situation. In the field, a splint has one job: prevent the injured area from moving in ways that worsen damage and pain. If

Cold-Weather Sleep Systems Without a Subzero Bag: Layering Strategy, Vapor Barriers, Ground Insulation, and Condensation Control

Temperature Reality Check: Why “Warm Enough” Sleep Systems Fail in the 20s Cold-weather sleep systems fail for predictable reasons. It’s rarely because you didn’t buy an expensive enough bag. Most failures come from heat loss to the ground, moisture building up in insulation, and small setup mistakes that compound at