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Prepared Citizen Series: Minuteman Patrol Pack Loadout
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Feb 4, 2024
Talking about the Marine Corps ILBE assault pack and what I carry in mine for patrolling the woods. ORDER Prepared Wanderer Patches and Stickers Here: https://thepreparedwanderer.bigcartel.com My Amazon Store: https://www.amazon.com/shop/influencer20170928757?listId=G2KB0QXOLW6D 5Col Survival Supply: http://www.5col.com?rfsn=504688.49256 Prepared Wanderer FACEBOOK GROUP: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1835005976546722 Prepared Wanderer INSTAGRAM: prepared_wanderer Blog https://wanderingoutdoors.com
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0:30
What's going on YouTube? Prepared Wanderer out in the woods today. And this is the next in the Prepared Citizen series
0:37
I'm going to be talking about a patrol pack that I've been building this winter
0:42
And I'm finally getting out here in the woods. I'm going to start using it a little bit
0:46
And this is what I consider probably one of the best military surplus packs on the market today
0:52
If you can find them, stick around. So it has been just a crazy winter
1:03
Temperatures up and down, lots of freezing rain and storms. One day it's 50 degrees, the next day it's below zero
1:14
So spring is starting to finally come around here in Ohio. And I wanted to get out and talk about a patrol pack that I've been building this winter
1:25
And putting together to go in this Prepared Citizen series. This is what I would consider a Minuteman style pack
1:35
This would be a supplement to what you'd be carrying on your person
1:40
And what you'd be carrying on either your LBE or chest rig
1:45
Just depending on what you use. I've got a couple different setups I'm working on right now
1:51
An LBE and a chest rig both. To see what I like best
1:55
And the pack is something I consider that you need to have to supplement that gear
2:03
And to be more of the creature comfort items that you need when you're out in the field
2:10
So just a brief breakdown of what this all means. In the Minuteman situation, I really don't expect to be going out actively looking for a fight
2:25
What I'm envisioning happening is when the grid goes down, when the peanut butter hits the fan
2:33
I'm going to be out scouting around areas that I know. And seeing who's out there, what's out there, are there resources
2:44
And I don't want to engage in a fight. That's not what I'm looking to do
2:48
I just want to gather information. So I don't want to be carrying a gigantic bug out bag with 72 hours worth of gear
2:59
I really want something that's lightweight, mobile. But that's going to provide me some comforts that I'm going to need
3:08
To keep me warm, dry, fed. And just give me that extra gear that I can't carry on my chest rig
3:17
So what we're going to look at today is this pack right here
3:22
And this is the Marine Corps ILBE Assault Pack. Now, these are no longer issued, no longer made
3:31
They are getting harder and harder to find on the secondary market
3:35
I was very fortunate to get one of these from a guy I know
3:41
He sent it to me free of charge. It was his in the Marine Corps
3:45
I really appreciate that. That was super nice of him. But he had no use for it, and he knows that I would get out and actually use it
3:53
And so I've got a little piece of history with me here
3:58
And why do I consider this probably one of the best assault packs on the market today
4:05
I think when we start looking at this thing, it's going to be pretty evident to you guys why it's so awesome
4:12
I think it's highly regarded in a lot of circles. So if you can get one of these, I highly recommend it
4:18
So what I want to do is I'm going to just kind of show you how I have it set up
4:22
And then we're going to get into the contents of it. I'll show you what I'm carrying
4:26
I'll just kind of talk about some of the things that I'm thinking about and then actually kind of use it a little bit
4:31
All right, so the ILBE Assault Pack, I believe, was originally designed by Arterix
4:37
And if you guys know backpacks and gear, they are a premium manufacturer and designer of really high-speed backpacking hiking gear
4:48
Very highly regarded in the industry. So they actually designed these for the military
4:53
They made some of them, but I believe the contract actually ended up with Proper
4:59
And Proper started making these en masse for the Marine Corps. Now, what I've done with my pack is I've added two of the MOLLE military-issue canteen carriers
5:13
These are the Marine-issue ones that come in coyote. They fit perfectly on the side
5:18
This front panel is all MOLLE and has one long zipper that accesses a very large pocket here for quick access
5:31
On the front of mine, I've got a small admin pocket. I got this from Mil-Spec Monkey
5:35
This is the small MOLLE admin that they sell. I've got my little carabiner on here
5:44
Flipping it around, it has a very simple designed back
5:54
It's slick and smooth, so nothing to impede when you're slinging it over a chest rig or armor or something like that
6:04
You'll be able to get that on and off pretty quickly. It does have a belt that is tucked in here, so you do have a waist belt
6:11
There are some pressure straps on the side. Of course, we've got padded shoulder straps with a sternum strap that is adjustable
6:23
It moves up and down, this strap right here. On the top here, we have a port so you can run comms from a radio or a hydration tube
6:38
The main pack, once again, is very simple. It is one big pocket with a hydration sleeve in the back
6:52
If you notice here, there are buckles so you can add straps to attach a hydration bladder
7:03
Back here in this pocket, this is the frame sheet. There is a semi-rigid frame sheet that comes with these
7:11
If you're going to be looking for these, make sure it comes with that because this really helps with distributing the load and giving the pack some rigidity
7:22
Bottom of the pack, a drain hole, and that is it. This bag is very simple in its setup
7:34
It does not have a lot of extras. That is purposefully designed for the task that it was designed for
7:42
You throw your gear in it. You don't need to have a bunch of little pockets, laptop sleeves, and pen pockets
7:52
Like so many of the manufacturers that do assault packs today, they add all this extra junk that you really don't need when you're in the field
8:01
None of that stuff matters. You really need it to be simple. You need it to be durable
8:06
This bag definitely checks all those boxes. What do I have in mine? Let's take a look
8:15
Everything is laid out on this military casualty blanket. The civilian equivalent is the grabber blanket that is reflective material on one side and OD green on the other
8:34
The reason I carry this is a couple reasons. One, my thinking is, and I've used this in the past actually, is that these make fantastic ground sheets when you're setting up a shelter and you're sleeping under a tarp or a poncho
8:50
You can sleep on top of these. They also do double duty as a shelter themselves
8:55
You can actually use them as a tarp. Or, in a situation where you are losing body heat, you can wrap up in them and protect yourself from the elements and get a little bit of heat going
9:08
So, it's a multi-purpose item that works extremely well. It's a very lightweight item
9:15
It's really essential, I think, in a lot of my kits that I build
9:19
I always have one of these blankets with me just because of that
9:23
Up here, I have an Espit style stove
9:33
This is not the Espit. This is the BCB Dragonfire. This takes the Dragonfire gel fuel
9:41
I've done a review of this stove. These are fantastic. The reason I picked these types of stoves, Espit or this one, is because they have a very low smoke signature
9:53
You don't have a lot of smoke coming off of these things. You can cook on them very quickly. They heat up water fast
9:58
They're relatively lightweight. And, in a pinch, you can add wood to these
10:05
Twigs, sticks, to add to the fire if you need to. So, we're going to set this up and actually use this
10:12
I wanted to show that. That's how I heat up my water
10:17
Here, this is my kit that really has all of the little things that I need to utilize
10:28
So, I guess I would consider this a survival kit in one regard
10:34
I've got a 550 cord for setting up a shelter. I've got duct tape, military survival saw, wire saw, butane lighter, can opener, some live fire, which is another fire starting method
10:53
Here, I've got a match case with a compass in it. Here is a razor blade
11:00
This is a mini saw. Fire bellows for starting a fire. And then a flashlight with a diffuser on it
11:12
Back here, I've got some quick little boo-boo items, first aid items
11:18
And back here, I've got water purification tablets and some whorl bags
11:37
A little plastic magnifying lens. And then one of these little metal survival cards that has some different items on it for fishing and hunting
11:51
You can make little arrowheads out of it. So, just some little items
11:57
And then, also, I've got some more fire starter. These are some black and white fire starter
12:06
And these are a man-made tinder. They are kind of an impregnated cotton ball with some wax and some accelerant in those
12:14
So, those go in the back here. So, this kit really is going to be all the essential items that I need
12:24
Here, I've got a military style poncho. So, that's my shelter, and it's also going to help protect me from rain
12:33
I've got a small backup field knife. This is the EZ-3. One of my all-time favorite knives
12:49
I've got that in a kydex sheath set up for neck carry. And I've got a small Bic lighter under some ranger bands
12:56
Ranger bands, of course, can be used for a fire starter as well. Another Bic lighter and some Burt's Bees for my lips
13:04
This goes in that little front admin pocket. That's kind of a quick grab-and-go item
13:09
Always have extra lighters. I've got a small homemade ration pack. We're going to go through this in a little bit here in the video
13:19
because I'm going to actually cook my dinner out here. But I've got some ramen
13:24
There's some chicken. There's some pulled pork. Clif bars. Coffee. Creamer. Just different beef jerky
13:34
Just a lot of different little things. So if you don't want to use MREs
13:38
which can be very expensive and not that great, also very heavy
13:43
making your own little ration pack I really think is the way to go
13:47
You can get this stuff pretty cheap at the grocery store. And you can rotate it out
13:51
and you don't feel bad about using it when you're training, because you can replace it easily
13:57
instead of having to order MREs, which are very expensive and not always fun to get
14:02
Of course, a good pair of gloves to protect my hands. My hands are really important to me
14:06
So I've got MechanicWear gloves. These are the FastFit gloves, I believe they call these
14:14
They're just a very lightweight pair of gloves, but they have a leather-style palm
14:20
I don't know if that's actually leather. It may be. But they definitely do the job of protecting your hands
14:29
Over here I've got my titanium canteen cup and lid. And then on this pocket over here
14:37
this is my other canteen that's just a Nalgene Oasis. Underneath that I have a sit pad that I've cut from a military sleeping pad
14:45
So it's a foam pad. That's something I can kneel on, sit on
14:49
I can fan the flames of a fire if I am going to start a fire
14:53
Here I've got baby wipes, baby butt wipes. I can use those on my hand and face and my bottom
15:01
So that's nice. You definitely want to stay clean when you're out in the field
15:06
And then this is a more extensive first aid kit here. This is not a trauma kit per se
15:13
but there is an H&H compressed gauze tape, gauze pads, gloves. On my chest rig or my LBE, I carry more of a blowout kit and a tourniquet
15:27
So this is more taking care of myself, boo-boo type items. And this is in a watertight bag
15:36
This is an aloe sac. If you haven't seen these before, they're a little bit better than a Ziploc
15:42
They seem to work pretty well for me. I haven't had too many issues with them over the years
15:47
But you always want to check them. So the aloe sac or a lock sac, sometimes what they're called
15:54
And that is pretty much it. All right, first thing I got to do is I got to clear off this ground a little bit
16:02
There is a lot of debris from the fall and the winter
16:10
Make sure I'm safe. Had a lot of moisture, but I'll go ahead and clear it anyway and give me room to putt
16:21
I'm going to be using the BCB gel stove. Like I said, I've done a review of this stove before
16:31
And it's really nice because it uses these alcohol gel packs instead of the S-Bit
16:39
So if you don't like S-Bit because of the smell, these are a little bit more pleasant to work with
16:45
They're self-contained. They're more expensive. But you can get them on Amazon and other stores
16:50
And then also this stove has a nice feature. It has a little wind block that you can put in there
17:05
So what you do is you open one of these up. Throw that in there
17:29
And you got this for trash, so we got to contend with that. I'm going to pack that out for sure
17:34
Just put that aside. It's kind of hard to do this with the camera
17:44
So forgive me for fumbling around a little bit. Alright, that's going
17:57
And once it gets going, you will know it. So put that in there
18:05
Close that up. Put my canteen cup on there
18:44
So there's just a little bit of smoke, but it's not black smoke
18:49
I mean, it dissipates very quickly. And you're not going to really notice it from a distance
18:58
It's definitely not filming up into the sky. So you're really not alerting anybody to your position, what you're doing out in the woods, which is good
19:13
Alright, while that water's boiling, what I've got to put my stove in, this is actually a piece of material that came off of an older pack, ILDE pack
19:29
This is the Marine Issue Digital Camo. I just sewed a little pouch for it
19:37
Just did that by hand and ran some cord through it, and then my stove fits in there nicely, so it keeps my pack clean
19:46
And then as far as rations, we'll go through these a little bit
19:53
I've got some ramen. This is some good ramen. This is the soy sauce flavored gold
20:00
I've got a couple of different protein selections. I've got white chicken
20:05
And then I've got pulled pork and barbecue sauce, which I'm kind of anxious to try that
20:09
I think I got this at Walmart. And then some beef sticks, jack links
20:24
And then I've got to have coffee. Definitely a slave to caffeine
20:32
But coffee is such a morale booster when you're out in the field, so I've got some black rifle coffee
20:40
I've also got some chai spice black tea, just for some variety
20:46
And then my all-time favorite field coffee is this Kopiko brown coffee
20:52
This has the cream and the sugar built into it already, so you just throw that in a cup and add hot water and you've got cream and sugared coffee
21:00
A couple of protein bars, puff bars. And then in here I've got hot sauce packets, soy sauce
21:08
Those are always good to have. I don't really carry any extra salt or sugar or any of that stuff, just because I've got the all-in-one coffees already
21:22
But I certainly add those to it. It's always good to have just a variety of different items
21:27
You never know what you're going to eat. I think what I'm going to do is I'm going to do the pulled pork and barbecue sauce with the ramen
21:35
I'm going to mix those. I think that'll be pretty good. And then when I get back to my place I can replenish this food so it's ready to go for the next time
21:51
I also carry this little mess kit. In here I've got a folding cup and a spork that came with it
22:06
So that gives me an option to eat out of this instead of out of my metal cup which is hot
22:11
And then I've also got a little tray so I can actually put a piece of meat on there if I need to
22:18
This is by Wildo. I believe this is a Swedish company. I think they make some military stuff
22:30
So my first tab is already burned out while I was talking to it
22:35
And the water's not even boiling yet. The fuel is bubbling. Crazy, look at that
22:59
Yeah, it's softening up nicely. I'm going to transfer some of this to my bowl
23:59
Mmm. It's really good
24:29
I've got all this trash
24:39
A little trick I do is put everything in a rubbing bag so I don't tear it open
24:48
I leave it kind of intact so I can put stuff inside there
24:54
I can put those gel fuels, packs in there. So all my trash is in here
25:14
I can pack this out and get that to a safe place
25:18
I don't want to leave a lot of trash laying around because that's going to be an indicator that I was in the area
25:23
And it's just not what I want to do. So making sure you police your trash is really a great little tip
25:32
Alright, so this is how I've got my patrol pack set up
25:38
And now you probably noticed I never used the term when I was associating with my stuff as an assault pack
25:45
Because I'm not in the assaulting game. That is not what I'm trying to do
25:51
This probably would be considered more survival. But in a scenario that is not because you're lost but because you need to survive out in the field
26:08
Away from modern comforts and for a couple of days in a patrolling situation
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And that's what this is all about. That's what this pack is designed for
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That's how I have it set up. And I want to reiterate again as you're watching this video
26:26
Not everything is in here because there are other things that are on my person and in my chest rig
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And those are going to be separate videos. And I want to do those all separately so I can give those each the time that they deserve
26:39
And then at the end of this whole series you kind of put everything together. And kind of see the journey that I've been taking of putting this gear together
26:45
Thanks for watching the channel. Thanks for watching this series. Make sure you check out the links down below
26:51
To the affiliate links, to Amazon, to the Etsy store that sells the patches and stickers
26:58
That helps support the channel. Helps me keep going doing this. And look for more of these videos coming throughout the year
27:07
I'm going to be sprinkling them throughout. Doing other videos as well
27:11
Doing bushcraft stuff and product reviews like you guys love. But also be adding this prepared citizen stuff in there, intermixed
27:19
Alright guys, I'm going to load up and get out of here. And I'll see you in the next video
27:24
Thanks for watching. Bye
28:02
Bye
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