Changes to GT Gear List

[GTCommando]

Alright,
I've been GTM certified for over a year now, and pretty much have my gear down to a science. But I was wondering: If you were put put in charge of rewriting GTM Task O-0001, Prepare Individual equipment, what would you change, if anything?

Would you add/remove any specific items to the equipment list?

Add to/remove anything from the required items for trainees?

Make any optional equipment mandatory, or vice versa?

Alter any additional guidance on equipment, e.g. restrictions on knives?

Try to keep the thread on topic, please. This could become a very useful and interesting discussion. Thanks in advance for your input.

[cap235629]

adopt the NASAR standard and not try to reinvent the wheel

[lordmonar]

Add Space Blanket to survival kit.
Add Strobe light to survival kit.

[md]

Take out the watch - so many people use phones anyway (especially if you're just out with your 24hr gear). On the same note, a lighter works just as well as matches, and it's less likely to get wet (but maybe more likely to be used inappropriately?)

And how about a small notebook or paper with a pen for your pocket?

And more safety pins for those times the person next to loses a button.

[mclarke]

Require Binoculars of GTL.
Beacon Light for GTM (optional) and GTL (required)

[Майор Хаткевич]

Take out the watch - so many people use phones anyway (especially if you're just out with your 24hr gear).

Watch battery life - measured in years. Smartphone battery life - 3-24 hours.
I suppose they compliment each other, and act as a backup, but you can't get rid of a watch. My TGHK watch has a backlight button, a timer, alarms, tells me the date/day of the week, AND has a small compass to boot. So does my cellphone. But my watch doesn't take up a pocket, sits on my wrist, and weights less.

On the same note, a lighter works just as well as matches, and it's less likely to get wet (but maybe more likely to be used inappropriately?)

I always had both.

[titanII]

a lighter works just as well as matches, and it's less likely to get wet

neither works like a flint fire starter. They can be soaked for hours and still start a fire. Nothing like 'em. I think they, along with suitable tinder (cotton balls, etc.) in a Ziploc bag, should be added. But I do carry matches, for when I'm lazy/not falling in streams 

As for the cellphone vs watch debate: Bring both. Use the watch to tell time reliably, and as a compass if analog. Keep the cellphone off in a Ziploc bag, for emergency calls.

[ol'fido]

Carry more matches. These should be wooden strike anywhere kitchen matches. The so called waterproof matches sold in camping stores require a special striking surface and go bad quickly becoming very brittle. Some gear geeks will waterproof their matches by dipping the heads in melted parafin and letting them dry. Keeping them in a watertight container and exercising caution should work just fine. Also, carry a butane lighter and a metal match/ferrite rod. When talking about firemaking tools and materials carry more than one.

Flashlight with red or blue lens are useful only if driving or flying IMHO. Having a driver/pilot that can see because of the glare inside the vehicle/aircraft would probably be a bad thing. Otherwise, CAP is not the military we don't need to maintain noise and light discipline. Get a big bright white lens flashlight for night work. The batteries should last for 4-5 hours. If your IC or GBD is doing their job that should be about as long as you should be searching at night(for a lost person) before you are pulled to rest and resupply. Then you change batteries. In fact I would get a nice bright headlamp so that the light goes where you look and you have both hands free.

Just my personal pet peeve, but I don't need a shoe shine kit in my gear either.

[Al Sayre]

I haven't seen strike anywhere matches in quite a while, I think some states have even outlawed them.

[titanII]

I would get a nice bright headlamp so that the light goes where you look and you have both hands free.

+1,000,000. SOOO useful.

but I don't need a shoe shine kit in my gear either.

You're joking, right? 

[ol'fido]

Nope.

[titanII]

Oh gosh, I have some choice (four letter) words for people who would even think to bring a shoe shine kit 

[Eclipse]

Oh gosh, I have some choice (four letter) words for people who would even think to bring a shoe shine kit 

Nothing wrong with having a simple kit or some boot black in your 72.  Just because you're in the field doesn't mean
you have to look like poop, especially if you are there for a prolonged period of time.

Not all missions are 1 day on a weekend.

[titanII]

I agree appearance is important, but not when it gets in the way of doing the job right. I personally think that this crosses the line into impracticality. I could understand if they were making sure their boots were functional, drying them, MAYBE mink oil etc. (which can and should be done at home). But why is someone shining their boots during a multi day ES mission? Why do they have so much extra time that the most useful thing they could do is make their boots look better. If they have free time, they should he doing something that enhances their ability to be useful in the operation, like eating or sleeping. Not to mention it is extra weight in your pack.

[Eclipse]

Not to belabor this, but...

...the 72-hour pack is base gear, and in most situations you're not carrying it anywhere - it's in the back of a van or
other transport, or maybe you had to schlep it a ways to get to the FOB or main bivouac area, but once there, you drop it and leave it.

Few CAP operations are ever going to be death marches into the wilderness.  In most cases they are long days in semi-urbanized areas
where we are supporting larger operations as part of the whole.

A GTL today might be a GBD tomorrow, and there's no reason he can't clean up his boots before walking around the ICP and the press, etc.

Critical?  Of course not.  A piece of professionalism?  Yes.

We also know that the "boot shine circle" is an age-old tradition that in my experience is some of the most effective CISM you will find, and
generally all CAP members need.

[arajca]

Taking proper care of your boots includes polishing. When wiping the field crud off, you usually take off some polish and protection. A quick coat and buff restores it. No one realistically expects a high gloss shine after a day in the field, but a fresh coat of polish will help your boots last longer. Some of the man-made stuff doesn't need to be polished, but leather does.

[md]

Flashlight with red or blue lens are useful only if driving or flying IMHO. Having a driver/pilot that can see because of the glare inside the vehicle/aircraft would probably be a bad thing. Otherwise, CAP is not the military we don't need to maintain noise and light discipline. Get a big bright white lens flashlight for night work.

I think I disagree. If my eyes actually adjust to the dark, I can see pretty well, especially with peripheral vision, and that's what we need with a search anyway. With the white, I can see a lot better in a little area and a lot worse everywhere else. But maybe that's just me.

(and, yes, I never believed this was true until GSAR school - where we learn lots of impossible things in a very short period of time...)

[sardak]

In 2002, while writing ASTM standard F2209 for land search team member, I compiled the 24-hour or basic equipment lists from 20 SAR organizations and teams from around the country. Last year, Pete Norris of NESA and other fame, asked me if I had considered updating the master list. I hadn't, but I took a look at it and decided it didn't need updating. I attached a cover letter explaining why and sent it to Pete. This thread prompted me to look again. I tweaked the cover page but didn't mess with the list. I've attached the 2011 version for your reading pleasure. There is also a list of items for the 72-hour (base camp) kit.

There were a total of 100 items on the lists (purely by chance, not by editing). I list them in descending order of importance based on several scoring methods explained with the list. Only six items were on all 20 lists and no list had all 100.

Matches appeared on 19 lists, fire starter on 12 and lighter on six, the point being that some means of starting a fire is required. Shoe/boot shine kit appeared on zero 24-hour lists. It may have appeared on some 72-hour kits since there were lists from CAP units

Flashlight or headlamp was on all 20 lists, with spare batteries, spare bulb and/or second light source on most lists. I didn't look into details such as red lenses. However, in 31 years of SAR I've never searched at night with anything other than a white light, and can't think of anyone else who has either. In fact, there is usually discussion over who has the brightest, most practicable light (gazillion power battery powered floodlights aren't much fun hauling around). The point is to see what's around you and to be seen by those you're looking for.

Mike

[md]

Thanks, sardak, that's an interesting list. Always good to remember that people have many different ways to do things, all (we hope) reasonable in their situations.

[Al Sayre]

I found it interesting that 100% required a compass, yet only 13% required a map...