From the monthly archives:

February 2010

TACTICAL GEAR: MAXPEDITION COLOSSUS Review

by Bubba G · 3 comments

in Tactical Gear

MAXPEDITION COLOSSUS

I needed a new bag like I need a hole in the head, but I was sifting through all my crap carriers and became dissatisfied with the fact that I really had nothing less than a backpack or messenger bag to carry my net-book in.

I wanted a strap hanger that didn’t make me look like I was toting a computer in a breifcase and could double pull double duty and haul other possibles I’d need on a mission in the red zone or to a Starbucks when on leave.

I found my match. The Maxpedition Colossus!

This sling bag fills a unique niche for me and supports me as an everyday carry bag. However, some might call it my ‘Man Purse’ just before I knock them on their can. What the hell do they know. Lots of cool dudes carry crap in a bag – think Jack Bauer since McGuyver never needed anything past the lint in his pockets and a pair of underwear to manage life’s problems.

Click Here to Read the MAXPEDITION COLOSSUS Tech Specifications >>>

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DVM PODCAST: Popular Articles Review and Other Drunken Ramblings

by DVM Admin · 34 comments

in DVM Podcast

Dont Drink and Podcast

Hey guys, this is our first podcast (well it will be a podcast later). I haven’t made an account on iTunes yet so you will have to listen to it here of download it (Right click “Download” and select ‘Save Target As’ or ‘Save Link As’).

In our first episode of the Death Valley Podcast I talk about some of our most popular articles. This is an experiment to see if people are interested in hearing a podcast version or Death Valley mag or if they run away screaming after listening to my drunken ramblings for an hour.

Also I am sorry if the audio sucks, I used the built in microphone on my laptop, if people like our podcast I will buy a decent mike – if not I will spend the money on booze. So you will need to turn up your volume to the max, sorry guys.

So let us know if you like our podcast in the comments below

Play

Podcast: Download

Click Here to Comment on This Podcast >>>

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URBAN SURVIVAL – BOOKS: The SAS Urban Survival Guide and Tom Brown’s City and Suburban Survival Review

by DVM Admin · 15 comments

in Books & Movies,Urban Survival

Tom Brown’s City and Suburban Survival and The SAS Urban Survival Guide – One Isn’t Worth The Paper Its Printed On

Urban Survival is by far my favorite survival subject and out of all my skills, it is the only one where I consider myself consonantly proficient (well, that and binge drinking). Most of what I know is a combination of self learning, the classroom and practical experience living in Urban Hostile Environments around the world.

I know in the grand scope of Urban Survival skills I still have a ton to learning to do – there isn’t a single subject in survival or any other life skill that can’t be modified, studied or improved upon until it eventually becomes instinct.

So in the interest of filling up the watermelon I call a head with more Urban Survival knowledge I picked up the 2 most popular and widely available Urban Survival books on the market; Tom Brown’s City and Suburban Survival and The SAS Urban Survival Guide.

These books were written by two of the top “gurus” in the wilderness survival field; Tom Brown Jr. and John “Lofty” Wiseman. One was pretty good despite going off subject a bit and the other sucked mad balls.

Click Here to Read My Review and Find Out Witch One of These two Books Should be Used as Toilet Paper >>>

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SURVIVAL MINDSET: RISK .vs GAMBLE

by Bubba G · 2 comments

in Tactical Training

Understand Risk VS Gamble or You May Draw This Hand

If you carry a gun for a profession, then you’ve entered the world of risk management at the deep end. Traveling the semi/non-permissive zones of the world is what I share in common with Contractors, Soldiers, Jihadists, militiamen, criminals, and terrorists alike. The thing I’ve noticed is that some do a better job at managing risks than others.

Traveling the Red Zone offers a unique opportunity to examine, define, and truly get to know what risk is made of. A good starting point to gain a better understanding of risk and what it takes to manage it is to peer out into the space you occupy right now. You might be at home, in your car, or preparing to mount a mission in some shit-stain Country that the State Department warns you against ‘visiting.’

The point is this, you occupy space, are a human being that requires air rushing in and out and blood going round and round, and it’s a fact that you need to employ your brain to keep your other body parts intact. Hence, the everyday intrinsic need to the manage risks your environment, lifestyle, and job engender.

Read How To Manage a Risk VS Gamble Situation >>>

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WEAPONS: THE SUREFIRE PEN EWP-01

by Bubba G · 4 comments

in Weapons

THE SUREFIRE PEN EWP-01 and a 5 Pack of Hot-Dogs

I bitch about this all the time, but I have feet for hands. I rarely can find a pair of gloves that fit right let alone a pen that I’d swear didn’t look like a twig in my paws.

Well, finally I found the right pen for the cleavers I call hands. The SUREFIRE EWP-01 PEN.

It’s big, and in a pinch could be used in exigent acquisition as a weapon when called for. Plus, it’s just plain cool.

Black, blue, and tan are the standard colors it comes in, and I went with black for a more common, nondescript appearance. It’s made out of aircraft grade aluminum and anodized to Mil Spec just because that’s the way SUREFIRE rolls.

Whether it’s writing out the next rent check, putting a payment down on my next car, or stabbing a bad guy in throat in a Jack Bauer-type moment – I’ll be doing it with the SUREFIRE EWP-01.

Click Here to Read the SUREFIRE PEN EWP-01 Tech Specifications >>>

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H2H FIGHTING: Whoopass Like Sherlock Holmes

by James G · 13 comments

in H2H Fighting

“Watson May I Borrow Your Mustache For a Moment?”

If you haven’t seen the new Sherlock Holmes flick stop reading this article right now, get in your car and go see it. It is a great movie that has brought back the franchise with a bang.

Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law play the roles of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson perfectly and Guy Ritchie did an excellent job of directing.

But the best part of the movie isn’t the story, it’s the use of the once forgotten British Martial Art of Bartitsu, kicking ass with the Riding Crop and the classic Cane (one a sword cane) by Sherlock Holmes and Watson. Good on Guy Ritchie for using the same tools and martial arts used by Sherlock Holmes in the books.

Below is a little bit of information on each of these Victorian era weapons and fighting techniques and how you can learn then if you want.

Click here to Learn how to Fight Like Sherlock Holmes >>>

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TACTICAL GEAR: A Trio of T.A.D Gear Pouches

by Bubba G · 3 comments

in Tactical Gear

T.A.D. GEAR RECON POUCH, T.A.D.GEAR OP 1 POUCH, T.A.D. GEAR GPP2 POUCH

I love gear – Pouches, packs, and just in general, stuff to put stuff in.

When you work in the field for extended periods or on long missions, you begin to outright hate issue gear or substandard gear. Don’t get me wrong. Issue equipment has made leaps and bounds progressing from lowest bidder to acceptable and adequate products for the job. However, there still exists products that are a cut above the vagaries of the unintelligent approaches of mass production and the lowest bid.

One of the brands that leaps out of the mire of today’s tactical gear market is T.A.D. GEAR.

Here are three pouches that set a standard for expectation.

Click Here to Read the T.A.D. GEAR RECON POUCH, OP 1 POUCH, GPP2 POUCH Review >>>

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CIVILIAN CONTRACTORS: The Greyman

by Luke W. · 52 comments

in Civilian Contractors

The 5.11 Tuxedo: Cargo Pants + 5.11 Shirt + Riggers Belt + International Airport = NOT GREYMAN!

Perhaps it is my innate curiosity or, for years I was actually employed to be highly observant – or more than likely I am just a nosey bastard by nature. Probably it is the latter and not the former. Cops can spot other cops a mile away. It’s been that way forever probably.

I can also tell you that I can spot fellow security contractors in much the same way. Many of you who are reading this right now are saying “yeah, you’re right, so can I”. We like to think it is a special talent that allows us to recognize a fellow meat eater.

There is some truth to that, but for the most part we are a fairly observant bunch and there are certain visual cues that we give off that inadvertently reveal who we are to one another and unfortunately to others with less than desirable motives.

Click Here to Learn the Civilian Contractor Greyman Dos and Don’ts >>>

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TACTICAL GEAR – FIELD TESTED: ESS Profile NVG Review

by DVM Admin · 2 comments

in Field Tested,Tactical Gear

Now That’s a Big Damn Beetle

After resisting goggles for like 10 years (they mess with my depth perception) I was left with no choice but to buy a pair when my job changed and I had to take Blackhawk chopper rides 10 times a week.

Up until then my Oakley M frame hybrids were fine for protecting my eyes from wind on the occasional Blackhawk ride, but after getting stuck with the rear right-hand side seat a few times my old Oakley’s just weren’t up to snuff anymore.

So as usual I hit up the PX and picked up a pair of ESS Profile NVG’s, I didn’t choose this brand for any particular reason, it was the only brand they had.

ESS says in their catalog that the Profile NVG were designed with input from the SF community. But every gear vendor says that, so take it with as much a grain of salt as you do when you hear a tactical instructor says he “Trained Navy SEALS”.

Click Here to Read My Rambling Review of the ESS Profile NVG >>>

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OLD SCHOOL MAN: Habits of the Old School Man – Part 1

by James G · 17 comments

in DVM OLD SCHOOL MAN

The Last of the Old School Men

When I was a kid the type of guys I admired were always the Old School tough guys like Clint Eastwood, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, Sean Connery and pretty much all of the fedora wearing dudes from the 1930s to the 1960s.

You know the type I am talking about, hard drinking, Lucky Strike non-filter smoking men that called ladies dames and would punch a guy in the face for looking at his wife.

These old school men would never wear low-rise jeans, drink decaf coffee, drive a compact car or talk about their “feelings”. They had names like “Nick”, “Joe” and “Mike” not Baxter, Williamson, Francis or any of the other last-name for a first-name pansy names people are naming their brats these days.

They never asked a gal for her number, she just gave it to him because he was a real man – and real men don’t beg for the digits. His car was a fast gas guzzling behemoth, he had a scar from WWII and never died in a bed. His hobbies always included power tools, greasy hands and the possibility of dismemberment.

When the sink was stopped up or the fence blew down he fixed it with his bare hands, the very thought of calling someone to “help” him was sacrilegious. After recently re-watching Dirty Harry, Bullitt, The Untouchables and a few 80′s action flicks I have put together 2 lists of my favorite Old School Man traits and habits.

Below is the first list of the Habits of the Old School Man, part 2 coming soon. These aren’t just simple lists, they are the rules for living the Old School Man lifestyle that has been deleted from everyday society and replaced by romantic comedies and political correctness.

[click to continue…]

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