On gear

Well I was bored out of my skull today at the job and stated making lists of stuff I think I'd need. I'm happy to report that the food situation is going very well. Every week I spend between $15 and $30 on food preps, and my supplies have grown enormously. I'm to the point that I think I need to stop buying pasta and spaghetti sauce. But the stuff is ALWAYS on sale cheap!!!!

Other than a preponderance of spaghetti sauce and pasta I have a wide range of foods in my pantry canned. Lately I've found chicken and smoked ham on sale, and loaded up on those items too. protein will be real nice to have when the poop hits the fan.

So now I'm turning to items that I might not need but are damn handy. For example, I've been looking at web gear. If I need to fight with my rifle I need a way to carry my ammo. When I played paintball, a good way of carrying ammunition was vital. This must be doubly the case in real combat.

I'm a bit lost in the ALICE vs. MOLLE department. Complicating matters is that I'm not a small man by any stretch of the imagination, and the whole "one size fits many" doesn't apply to a man with a 58" chest. I think I can wear a vest designed to go over a normal sized guy in body armor, without any body armor of my own.

M14 pouches are DAMN expensive too. I can find M4 pouches anywhere but the M14's got the short end of the stick. Although I just found these for $12 each.

What color though? That's a tough question in New England, as we have 4 seasons and a wide variety of foliage and terrain from the desert-like beach scrub to near rain forest-like lush old growth forest in the west of Mass. Then, I'm in an urban and suburban area. Bah! Olive Drab it is!

I think I found a cheap vest here, but no mention is made of size. I'm calling them now to see. The Leapers site itself is blocked from work, so no answers from there for now.

Looks like I got myself some web gear on the cheap, just need to call them to be sure. I think 8 mags is enough, for now. Maybe a pouch for a trauma kit too.

I'd really, really like body armor if real bad stuff goes down, but I just can't swing $1k for a good set. More on that another time.