Gear Review: 3 Tactical Work Glove Options

Gloves can be an important part of many situations.  From camping for handling knives, saws and axes for firewood, professional tactical situations, a day at the range or to stash in your car emergency kit.  Protecting your hands is always key to continuing your activities.

 

 

For this I am comparing 3 pairs of gloves, all size Medium, that I have used and many different situations for an extended period of time. 

Building a DIY Morale Patch Board

After getting into GORUCK a few years ago my collection of patches started growing and ended up just being stored in a box.  I wanted a way to see and display them.

There are a lot of options out there now to buy a pre made patch board but it is really inexpensive and easy to just make your own from a frame.  Mine ended up pretty large at 2' x 4' because I just used a frame I already had but any frame will work as long as it has a cardboard piece inside. 
Here is the final result with some of my collection:

 

Charity Challenges with All Day Ruckoff and Mettle Forger

If you haven't heard of or signed up for the next Charity Challenges event, now is the time.  The Push Up Challenge just ended and the Sit Up Challenge is next starting on 10/1/16 befitting the Green Beret Foundation and Team Red, White and Blue.

Ka Bar Becker 16 Custom

The Ka Bar Becker 16 is a great camp/survival knife out of the box.  But as I've noted before, I like to personalize and upgrade things myself and after a few tweaks, this knife may be one of the best out there.   

Inspired by the customization project outlined on the YouTube channel of Gideon's Tactical as I began to search for a survival/camp knife, I decided to go with the Ka Bar Becker BK 16 based on many things including its lower price point and ability to upgrade parts of the knife when you are able to and not have such a large investment up front. 

First the final results after stripping the stock coating and upgrading the handles and sheath:

 

Waypoints July 2016 - Everyday Situational Awareness

Articles from around the Web that I have been reading this month:

 

Getting your kids hooked on the outdoors from theoutbound.com.

Waypoints February 2016

What I'm reading:

Photo Credit: USFS Becky Bruce-Vaughters

 

There's so much awesome in the above picture.  Makes me miss the Appalachians. 

Books For A Leadership And Survival Mindset

In addition to outdoors activities and gear, I enjoy reading when I get the chance.  One topic I enjoy is biographies of varied leaders in history as well as leadership topics. 

Leadership is directly related to Survival in that the most important tool you can have in a survival situation is your mind.  The ability to stay focused on the tasks at hand and make decisions is paramount to getting yourself and your loved ones through an emergency.  And the best way to learn about leadership is to read about the actions of past leaders in government, military and business through biographies, historical accounts or directly from the leaders themselves.

Emergency Checklist PDF

A recent close call with a natural disaster, that I previously mentioned, has me thinking more about the safety and well being of the family and demonstrated first hand how quickly things such as electricity, water and shelter, that we rely on daily can be taken away. 

I'm a list maker so I started looking for lists that others had already made for a starting point for items needed in an emergency situation. 

GORUCK Challenge Event Gear and Training Tips

Training for your first GORUCK Challenge?
Make sure you have the gear you need. 
Pictured is the gear I used on 2 GORUCK events.  1 Challenge and 1 Light.  I completed my first event, a 15hr 20plus mile Challenge, in December of 2013 and recently completed the 9/11 Light Special Event.  And I am looking forward to completing GORUCK's new Charming the Snake 2016 events.
I also have listed at the bottom some general tips on training for someone who is training for their first event.

Waypoints January 2016

What I've been reading.

I've been following and reading author and life hacker Tim Ferris' work since The 4-Hour Workweek came out but just this month got into his podcasts.  I just never was interested in listening to podcasts but I highly recommend his shows.  You will get something out of almost any episode you listen to.  I have to have pen and paper with me while I listen and usually end up with multiple pages of notes by the end.

New Patch - Gideon's Tactical

First patch from Gideon's Tactical looking great on the GR1 on a foggy day in Texas!