Tactical Gear

Tactical gear, grouped by what it carries and what it holds

Tactical gear is a loose label, and it covers three separate jobs here: carrying a load, holding kit on the body, and keeping a small set of tools together for when things go wrong. Large rucksacks sit at one end, load-bearing vests and plate carriers in the middle, packed survival kits with axes, cordage and fire-lighting tools at the other. Modular webbing runs through most of it, which is why pouches from one item usually attach to another. Larger carries are covered in tactical backpack.

What does modular webbing actually do?

Rows of stitched nylon tape let a pouch be woven on where you want it rather than where a factory sewed a pocket. The advantage is that a vest or pack is configured around your own kit; the cost is weight and the temptation to fill every row. Build outwards from what you reach for most, then stop when the load starts pulling the vest away from your chest.

How is a heavy rucksack carried without wrecking your shoulders?

Most of the weight belongs on the hips, not the shoulders. Set the hip belt on the top of the pelvis and tighten it first, then bring the shoulder straps down until they touch without lifting, and only then pull the load lifters at the top. Heavy items ride high and close to the spine; light bulky items go low and outboard. A large pack carried badly feels heavier than a bigger one carried well. Other carrying options, from holdalls to shoulder bags, sit in military bags.

What belongs in a survival kit?

• Cutting: a fixed blade or an axe head does the jobs a folding knife struggles with, from splitting kindling to cutting cord.
• Fire: a ferrocerium rod works wet, which is the reason it is packed alongside matches rather than instead of them.
• Water: a container plus a way of treating what goes in it, since finding water and drinking it are two different problems.
• Signalling: a whistle and a mirror weigh nothing and work when a phone battery has gone.
• Cordage: paracord holds a shelter up, replaces a boot lace and takes the strain off everything else in the kit.

Where should a plate carrier sit on the chest?

Over the sternum, with the bottom edge of the front panel clear of the belt line, so that bending does not drive it into the stomach. A carrier is set from the shoulders down, then the side straps are tightened until it stops swinging, not until it grips. If a rucksack is going over the top, check the two together, because a hip belt buckled under a low vest panel is the combination that stops working after an hour.

How is kit kept dry?

Assume the outside of a pack gets wet and pack for that. Roll-top liners keep the contents dry when the seams and zips give up, which is what a drybag is for, and clothing goes in first so it stays sealed while the top of the pack is opened all day. A coated pack from waterproof backpack sheds most of it, though anything with a zip should be treated as showerproof rather than sealed.