Can we at least agree on bringing along the cast iron skillet for that perfect early morning patrol breakfast?

Well, of course, We aren't savages.

What do you mean?

The spoken policy is "train how you fight".

Perhaps it is outside the bounds of this thread, and I am mistaken. You can disregard.

Guys these are two valid viewpoint here; there is no right or wrong, just what works for you.  Will I be carrying some extra stuff for training patrols?  You bet.  Will I be carrying that on an operational patrol?  Hell no.  

Yes, there are things that are best left un-said on open forums.

My man! LOL.  I'm 56 and have always trained, so getting lighter isn't it - my hips started going out at around 53 with X-ray confirmed Osteoarthritis of both joints. Only solution is total replacement, which will only happen when the wheelchair gets rolled out. CBD Oil is working for the pain, currently. I too had to switch up training - I use a NordicTrack Cross Country Ski Machine at max incline/resistance for cardio/lower body, and "convict conditioning" body-weight stuff, coupled with Dumbbell work. I TOTALLY looked hard at how much gear weight goes on, and have switched out gear. The 18" 6mm ARC is getting more use, thanks to the hips

I'm not here to be right, I'm here to learn things. I haven't been to combat. All I've done is training. I genuinely want to know what the gentleman means.

Damn, I feel lucky. I'm more in the nagging aches and pains category.

Oh man you guys just wait.  Turning 69 this year.  It gets harder each decade but still totally doable.  You just have to tighten up on diet and recovery.  It helps being married to a gymnast too.  Been lifting/running/swimming together for 43+ years.  But yeah weight control is huge.  And keeping lean muscle mass from turning into fat.  You can never stop working out.  Just modified for your current sit.  

This is a very relevant sub-topic.  How the load out needs to take into consideration those of us that are no longer 18 yr-old hard chargers.

This is the whole reason I started getting back into belt kit, thus why I ended up starting to sewing kit.  I realized I was in my 40's now and recovery times were already starting to slow down, I decided to get ahead of the game.  Mitigate the overheating issues that come with chest mounted stuff, as that seriously affects you the older you get, compounding other issues.

I'm 40 and going backpacking tomorrow with my 5yo. I'm wondering how old we'll be when he starts carrying my stuff

Enjoy this time with him; it goes so fast.

Lets talk about chest rigs. I have been considering something like the front and rear plate bags from Tracer tactical to integrate with a chest rig for a while. For anyone not familiar heres a link. Basically they are just a bag that holds the plate, and attach to any chest rig that has an H harness.

If shit really ever hit the fan here, my plan is not to go anywhere. But in some crazy scenario where I really had to leave, or if I needed to go on foot for some distance, I'm not going to do it in a PC and I probably don't want to put a PC in a ruck either. The plate bags would allow me to carry armor and add it in with the kit I already have.

I was also thinking about the Tracer Scout chest rigs. They are 7 mags wide and only 1 thick, with pockets on the back and MOLLE on the front. They look super cool, but I think loaded down with sustainment, ammo, and armor they would be too heavy. I tried putting my Onward Research chest rig onto my JPC and that alone is too heavy with 8 mags for any kind of extended use.

Pics are from their instagram. Top 2 pics show what they look like, bottom pics are Marines wearing them with some extra stuff. I really want to like this concept, but I think its going to be too heavy. I also think they may be too wide to comfortably wear with a pack. Their rig that stacks two of the mags on the sides might be okay, I'd like to try it out but their shit is also pretty expensive.

I'm not looking for any specific feedback, just throwing out some ideas I've had knocking around in my head. I think a plate carrier was one of the first pieces of gear I ever bought after getting into guns and the prepared citizen kind of ideas. It was the hot thing for a while, but I've come to realize that if I/we ever really needed to use this stuff, 3 mags is not going to cut it. I've got to carry tons of ammo and anything else I might need, and putting 8 loaded mags on a plate carrier is not gonna work. If anyone has seen the video about the new Trex arms TAP rig, they also demo putting a plate into the rear of it at the end. I think the concept of a light plate behind a chest rig has merit, especially if it can stay streamlined enough to not be super cumbersome and heavy.

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Aim more shoot less?

Almost worth carrying more M18s and less mags.

Is that frag or smoke? I definitely don't have access to frags They would be a force multiplier but I think I'd stand a better chance of the ATF coming to shoot my dog than actually needing them.

If you're talking smokes, I've been curious about the civilian available smokes and bangs. I kind of want some just because its cool, but I'm not sure if they would really be useful. Smokes could be used for a screen to break contact? I'm not going to be using them to communicate with anyone else like air or other elements.

I don't run a gun, but I'm going to say that I'd much rather maneuver through smoke - either going forwards or backwards - if I were on a 2 way range.  

Going back to WW2, there was ALOT of use of smoke grenades in small unit stuff, especially by the Germans.

Pop smoke
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Team Level Supports:

L3 Harris HF antenna system;

This antenna can be setup at a patrol base on the ground, or an a vehicle (parked). Utilizing lower frequencies, it allows  for a squad to make comms back to a patrol base, when there is no line-of-sight for VHF/UHF radios.

HF radio was largely replaced by satellite systems in past years, I predict an HF resurgence in small team applications against near peer enemies, for a variety of reasons.

Much of current US comms doctrine has been forged on the ideas that there are vehicles to charge batteries, run power amplifiers and provide other supports.

It is doubtful future conflicts will allow this doctrine to be sustainable. Will we see Vietnam era hand crank generators for radios? Will man’s vast imagination for killing, provide the technology for small scale renewable energy? Are these things already in hand?

We will see.

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This kind of radio info interests me.  I have been thinking the same thing, that HF radios and field phones will be making a comeback.

I was just sitting in someone’s house talking about how to redesign a modern phone field.

I have a couple products I am working on, that I think might be interesting.

I have heard that you can convert those old phones - the ones that have the circle-dial that you put your finger into and turn the dial to dial a number - into field phones.

Lack of caffeine has contributed to 90% of all documented war crimes.

Brew kit video for an alcohol burner that fits in your canteen pouch.

I will try to teach the person who made this video how to not make it sideways,,,,,,,,,,……… lol

Speaking of caffeine.  I'm going to give a thumbs up to this stuff.  I used to a be a big energy drink fan  (sugar free ones)  but they are expensive.  So I tried this - Gamer Supps, basically energy drink powder.  It's not only way cheaper than energy drinks, doesn't have as much of the bad stuff that's in energy drinks, but it's also a pretty compact caffeine source.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CG7T9SDF?tag=arfcom00-20