-Green Beret's Winter Gear Recommendations _ Gray Bearded Green Beret.

All right, so I want to talk to you real quick about kind of the kit that I kind of picked for this particular outing because it is colder outside. So for the most part, a lot of it's going to look like every other kit that I've ever shown you. But there are some considerations that I take, you know, for the winter time that I want to kind of highlight real quick. But every kit that I break down is always, you know, the seven essentials plus some tools and it's no different now. So for the fire kit, everything's pretty much the same as what I normally carry. I like to have four different ignition sources, especially in the winter time because fire is so critical to staying warm. Typically I'll just carry a lighter in my pocket and keep that warm. Typically in the winter time though, I carry what's called an Arctic necklace. So that's basically a lanyard around my lighter. It's got some tape that kind of secures some lip balm because when you're out here, you're going to get chapped lips. And then that lip balm also doubles as, you know, a fuel that you can use, you know, to kind of get a fire going. So during the cold, that gas pressure is actually reduced in there. So a lot of times it can't put forth enough pressure behind it to actually give you the fuel to ignite. So you've got to keep it close to your body to keep it warm so you don't have that problem. So if you put it around a lanyard on your neck, you never lose it. Plus it's right against your chest, keeps it nice and warm. So when you actually need to use it, this one's been sitting out, you can see it doesn't work, but I promise you it works. Lighter, that's the only real change to that. I like to have some matches and really when it comes to using gloves and having cold hands, I really want to go with kind of the biggest, the biggest matches that I possibly can. And these Yuko Titans are probably my favorite for the winter time. They're my favorite for kids kits for the same reason. You know, they don't really have the fine motor skills that we do. So I don't want to mess around with matches very long. But anyway, cold weather time, big matches. And kind of speaking of large matches, one of the things I brought out for this time is some Yuko Behemoths. It's actually a big match, but it actually has the tinder built in and they burn for something like 10 to 15 minutes. So it's essentially the same supermatch concept that I've got DIY videos on my YouTube channel. Yuko didn't take that design, but it's similar in function and kind of similar in principle. And this is a commercially available one. So in addition to those two open flame ignition sources, I've also got an extremely oversized ferro rod. I can't let this car go by. I mean, I got to expect some road noise. Obviously not in the forest. I am sitting at a picnic table. Basically like every other fire kit, I like to have a ferro rod. In the winter time, this particular one is one that I like to save for the winter time because it's extremely oversized. It's about an eight inch ferro rod. It's a lot easier to handle, especially if you have gloves on. You've still got a lot of surface area that's available. You can use it a lot better than those little tiny ones. I don't like to mess with tiny things and really super fine motor skills whenever I'm working with stuff in the winter, especially if I can use this and still have my gloves on. Last but not least, as far as ignition sources, my Hudson Bay 10, I do have solar available if the sun should come out. I'm not counting on that, but again, this is kind of a pace plan for different ignition sources. So I like to always have at least those four and then I like to, as much as I know that I can find tinder out here, especially during the winter, I like to carry some sort of emergency tinder. Probably the best emergency tinder out there is fatwood, which is also a natural tinder. Not necessarily found all that prominently up here in the Northeast. It's actually kind of hard to find sometimes. There are a lot of places where it is hard to find. Usually carry a couple of sticks. This is convenient to keep in my belt pouch. This is just some of my fatwood shavings. It's already shaved down. I don't have to mess with it, especially when it's cold and I've got some ready-made, you know, tinder in here that's going to light even in wet, kind of wet snow conditions like we've got right now. So fatwood is just a great resource to have as an emergency tinder. So I've got that. I also like to have some sort of candor, uh, some sort of candor. I like to have candor. What about you? You like candor? I also like to have some sort of candle. And in this case, I'm carrying one of the X-Attack candle tins. There's a six hour candle, but it's got three different week, three different weeks. It's so cold. My mouth stopped moving. It didn't stop moving and my brain stopped working. I can't even insult myself right now. It was normally, I carry those little tiny beeswax birthday candles, which are great, but this is also great and it's easy to use. Easy for me to open in the wintertime. It's got three different wicks on here. I could even put this inside my super shelter to kind of add additional heat, but I don't think it'll ever come to that. But as a lighter extender, as getting a stubborn tinder bundle going, I really like to have these kinds of candles. And of course I've got, you know, a flint and steel. I've got a couple other things like this tinder wick. Also part of my fire kit is a tinder pouch. This is a waxed canvas one. This is the one that I have on my website, uh, really got a lot of room in here. So as I find dry, natural tinder, I keep it in here, keeps it, keeps it natural, keeps it dry. That way I could use it when I need it. So that's kind of the last piece of any fire kit that I've ever shown you. But so pretty much everything's the same there. And then as far as a shelter kit goes, you know, something to sleep under, something to sleep on, something to sleep in, then some cordage to throw it all together. My something to sleep under, I've got an oil skin tarp. I've got an emergency blanket. I like to have a reflective, some sort of reflective blanket in the wintertime because it's just a good idea to have. And the particular shelter that I'm going to show you, uh, incorporates this drop cloth of plastic. So that's new. I usually don't have that. Uh, then of course got my Rapid Ridge line. I've got some bank line number 36 and I've got one of my possum perches because one thing that you'll notice is when you have to sit down a lot, you know, having something to sit on that's not going to soak your butt is a good thing. So that's why I can carry this. I can make a tripod, keeps me up off the snow. So that's kind of my shelter kit. Uh, in addition to that, I've also got a couple of different choices. I've got my entire, you know, snug pack, bivvy sack and the, the special forces sleep system. It's basically two sleeping bags that you can zip together, put inside that bivvy sack. It's really good. I like it about down to about 10 to maybe zero degrees to where I'm still comfortable. So I've got that choice. I've also got wool blankets that I can use, you know, so that's all kind of that, that shelter kit as far as something to sleep under, something to sleep on, something to sleep in and some cordage to put it all together. As far as water, not really a whole lot changed on the water kit. I've still got my stainless steel bottle and nesting cup. I've still got a cotton chamag, and we'll talk about that more when we get into, you know, procuring water in this type of environment. Then as far as food, I've got a skillet. I've got a bush pot and then just the cooks and a spoon. This is actually a flat pack stove that I like. I've got that to go for food, and I've got some food in my haversack. As far as first aid, I've got the GB2 IFAK right here, and this is actually the pouch that we have that I had custom made by a buddy of mine. He's an old Green Beret buddy of mine that makes these, but the GB2 IFAK is inside. I've also got the trauma shears inside. I've got an additional tourniquet because the extra tourniquet is actually in here. This is my quick grab tourniquet that's on the outside, and then of course I've got an emergency mylar blanket tucked in there as well. So basically everything that you've seen me use in the past is in here. As far as signal, I've got my signal joey that's got some passive and active day and night signals inside it. It also, you know, you have the ability to lash it to the back of your pack, and if you need it to signal, you can flip it over. I like to, in the wintertime, have this visible because if something happens, if I fall down, get stuck out there, I'm going to be a lot easier to see in the snow with something highly visible like this for anybody that comes to look for me. So I like the signal joey, and then of course headlamp and batteries. One thing I'll tell you about the winter is make sure you bring more batteries than you think you need because they don't work as well in the cold. And then tools, you know, I like to have a multi-tool, which in this case I've got my Swiss Army knife again. I've got a couple different choices of knives here. I've got a GB2 Pukko, and of course the Garberg, which is one of my favorites. Then, you know, really some tools and maintenance that I've got, nothing really that you haven't seen me use before as far as maintaining tools, you know, just a file for the axe. This time I've got, because I'm bringing an axe this time, I've got an actual puck, you know, if I have any damage on that. I've got some olive oil to keep all the carbon steel lubricated. I do have a Scotch Eye auger this time, and I'll show you how I'm going to use that. And, of course, the Marlin spike hitch, or the Marlin spike actually. I like to have these especially in the winter because when your fingers are cold and you're trying to recover cordage, it can get really difficult. So if you have this to kind of get those knots loose, it's really a helping hand. So have these in the winter, really important. And I've got bigger saws, but I do still like to keep this small little pocket boy in my actual kit because I don't always need a big buck saw, you know, to take down small stuff for crafts and materials and things that I'm doing. Sometimes I just need a little saw. That's kind of what I've got going on for the tool kit. And then last but not least on the kind of gear repair and maintenance kind of section of things is I've got an Exotac Rip Spool. This has got a sail needle inside, and then it's a machined aluminum housing. So I can actually use that as an awl, even though I've got one on my Swiss Army knife, I could use that as an awl, and then I've got some tape around the outside with some thread slash braided fishing line that I could use to repair gear. So one thing I didn't talk to you guys about, just the standard NAV kit, I always bring a map and a compass of the area. I like to have some waterproof paper that I can use to write some notes down, mechanical pencils. Kind of in the wintertime, a couple other things you need to think about is a lot larger tools. At least I do. I like to have larger tools than I normally would carry for the other seasons because really you need to put away a lot of firewood for the night to stay warm. So while that small silky is great for most things, when you really need to put away a lot of firewood, you need to start thinking about the larger tools. I like to bring in things like axes and buck saws, larger silkies. I've had this one for several years. It's a very large saw. This particular one is a silky big boy. So this one works really well. It cuts really fast. Like all silkies, it only cuts on the pull stroke, but then, you know, an even bigger option that I can cut even larger diameter firewood with is this collapsible buck saw. And I've got to put together, but it collapses down. So that's really good for putting away firewood. As far as getting access to that firewood, you know, having some sort of ax is going to go a long way if you're, especially if it's snow covered and you can't see any of the stuff that's on the ground and the stuff that's on the ground is soaked. You might have to go to the dead standing kind of stuff. So if you're talking about bringing down dead standing, you can do a lot with just an ax and a saw and really the amount of firewood you expect to put down, the diameter of the trees that you expect to be taken down, you know, as far as what's predominantly dead standing in the area you're going to be in, kind of determines what size ax you can get away with. This is a Woodcraft pack ax. This is probably one of my favorite. I'll call it a larger ax, but it's still a pack ax, right? It's got a 24 inch handle. This is from Council Tool. It's American made, really, really solid ax, really good ax, especially for the Eastern Woodlands and the Northeast. I really like it. So that's kind of the largest that I'll go as far as what I'm carrying into the forest for the most part. But that is my favorite ax. Then kind of a smaller version that I might be able to get away with depending on where I'm going is also Council Tool Woodcraft. This particular one is the Camp Carver. So it's a little bit bigger than a normal hatchet, but it's also still smaller than that pack ax, but functions really well. So we'll probably get to use that. But those are kind of a couple of different options that you can use as far as putting away your lumber for the night. The other thing to think about is mobility. One, you've got icy conditions. Those are slippery conditions. The chance for mechanical injury in the forest and in the wilderness is pretty high anyway. Mechanical injury, especially to the lower extremities, that's pretty high. That's one of the most common wilderness things you're going to run into as far as injuries go. So having some sort of traction device, like I like to carry these. These are just Yak Tracks, but they basically just slip on and give you a little bit of traction, keep you from slipping in ice. So really it depends on the conditions. For ice, I like to throw these on. If the snow is deep and it actually makes it difficult for me to walk, then I'm going to go with some sort of snowshoes. I like the Military Surplus Magnesium. They're not the fanciest by any means. The binding system is pretty simple. I like those and I like traditional snowshoes. Really it just depends on what your style is and what you like to use, what kind of terrain you're in. Another thing that's almost indispensable is a small snow shovel. These don't weigh much. This particular one is from Black Diamond. But if you need to clear away an area to set up some bedding or you get a lot of snowfall, this goes a long way towards clearing that out. Clearing out a place to put your fire. And then just when you build your shelter, being able to scoop some snow up and kind of pack that around the outer edges will really kind of help seal that in and really protect you from the wind. So I like to have a small snow shovel. And then last but not least is something that I normally wouldn't carry in a pack. This is something I would carry if I'm running a sled behind me and carrying a lot of gear. If I've got a hot tent with a wood stove, I'm going to carry something like this. This is an ice chisel. It's basically so that I can access water from a frozen lake. Don't think that I'll need it this trip, but I do have it. And it is something that you can use. I can also use my axe, depending on how deep the ice is. But to kind of protect and preserve the edge of that because I need it for firewood, I like to have some sort of chisel to get down through the ice and get to that fresh water that's not frozen. Those are just kind of some of the tools that I've got. And we'll see what we need while we're here. But that is really kind of the gear that I want you to think about. You obviously don't need all of this, but some of this stuff you may need depending on your area. So think about that, but keep in mind it's still just seven essential kits and a good knife, really. It's a fire kit, it's a shelter kit, water, food, first aid, navigation, signal in case you get some sort of emergency and need to be pulled out, and then of course some tools. And then within those tools, a way to kind of repair and maintain those tools while you're out here. And then I guess lastly in my tinder kit, lastly in my tinder kit, I'm getting cold. What's going on? They say when you get cold, you start to lose cognitive function, but I don't believe that. Not for a second.