CAP Talk

Hi y'all,

Is there any extra stuff that would be helpful in a 24/72 hour pack not on the list?

Thanks,
Yolo

Your best bet is to pack only what is on the list, using the least expensive
items you can find, and much of which you probably already have, and then
as your training progresses and you participate in CAP activities, watch those around
you, ask questions of those with experience, and then acquire additional items,
or upgrade what you have, as necessary.

FWIW, in the few situations where I was legitimately operating in field conditions,
I've found the basic list to be just about what is needed.

A couple things I would change.

Make the comb mandatory.

Increase the amount of change for pay phones.

A lot of it depends on where you're at. Stuff that might be useful for someone in California might be totally worthless to somebody in Maine.

Quote from: Eclipse on December 05, 2021, 11:44:41 PM[elided]

Increase the amount of change for pay phones.

When is the last time you used a pay phone? When is the last time you even saw an operable pay phone? And finally, how many pay phones actually take change these days? Most of what I have seen recently only take plastic.

Quote from: SarDragon on December 06, 2021, 01:56:26 AM

Quote from: Eclipse on December 05, 2021, 11:44:41 PM[elided]

Increase the amount of change for pay phones.

When is the last time you used a pay phone? When is the last time you even saw an operable pay phone? And finally, how many pay phones actually take change these days? Most of what I have seen recently only take plastic.

That's because there's no coin box to be collected or stolen.

Time for a number of changes in the 2004 GT and UDF handbook

2004...which is funny because it looks like it was outdated even by 2004 standards.

I know the Boy Scout motto of Be Prepared. But other than a extremely rare mission maybe in CAWG and others ... how often does one ever really use a 24 hour pack, let alone 72? Especially on the Cadet side. We make them buy all this $$$ stuff and they never use it.

Between military time in the field and camping with the fam, I happily used essentially all of my 24/72 hr stuff after my cadet days were over.

But I agree we should not set unrealistic expectations of how often cadets (or seniors) will be called for real world missions