Created by Robert Young Pelton of The Worlds Most Dangerous Places fame, the DPx Danger Tab is a thin metal card with perforated edges on the back that quickly breaks away to form a blade.

Just snap off the edges and you have an instant WW II style OSS Thumb Knife with one Serrated and one Smooth edge with a needle like tip.

The DPx Danger Tab is a clever way to have a small back up EDC blade concealed in what looks like a harmless souvenir. String a dog tag chain through the hole and wear it around your neck, stick one in your wallet, in a book or in your shoe.

3X1/2
Stainless Steel
Includes a Rubber Silencer (like a dog tag silencer)

DPx DANGER TAB
5.00
Grab one at the DVM Gear Store Here:

http://www.deathvalleymag.com/dvmgear/2013/06/18/dpx-danger-tab/ >>>

“If you jump really high the waves will just go under you bro”

After decades of studying, observing, experiencing and writing about everything Urban Survival, I have heard some serious fantasy about what people claim they would do during an Urban Survival situation. Not surprisingly most of this so-called ‘advice’ comes from people who have never been in a Urban Survival, ‘Fight or Die’ situation or have even stepped outside of the continental US with the exception of Bus Tours in their lives.

Most of the crazy shit I have heard comes from fake tough-guys, dudes who regurgitate stuff they have read on forums and keyboard commandos that make Bear Grills’s advice look reasonable. Having spent the past 10+ living, traveling and working in the 3rd world, I have seen people (including myself) survive the worst possible situations and do what they had to do to either survive or die.

From my experience, the current 3rd world is what the 1st world would be like after a prolonged ‘event’. That may be a natural disaster, civil war, overwhelming violent crime, financial meltdown or pandemics. In my opinion, the best place to study what people will or will not do when the SHTF in the 1st world, is to study what people in the 3rd world have and are currently doing to survive day by day.

The following are 5 Things People Say They would do in a Survival Situation – and why it will not work based on what has already happened to millions of people in the 3rd world:

Bug Out on Foot

During an Urban Survival situation, I give someone about 15 minutes of walking down the street with a big-ass backpack and an AR on their chest before they get shot and robbed.

During the Jakarta, Indonesia Riots in 1998 people could not even make it 3 blocks without running into a homemade roadblock manned by a group of knife and club-wielding thugs looking to strip them of everything, and that was only a day after the riots started.

Given, the US (or the 1st world in general) is a bit more civilized, but I still give any major metropolitan city in the US 10 to 15 days before it is at the same level of chaos that a city in the 3rd world would be at after only a day under the same circumstances.

FYI: Considering the amount of firearms in the US replace ‘knife and club’ with ‘AK-47 and Chrome plated .32 autos’. Now I know you are a bad ass and everything, but you can not take on 13 armed dug-in people, just not gona’ happen.

Even discounting all of the above, can you walk 100 miles carrying 50 pounds of gear, gun, kit and ammo – and forage for food and water along the way? No, literally millions of people during civil wars have tried and failed; the numbers are against you.

Look at any historical Urban Survival event in the 3rd world where people had to abandon their homes and go on foot seeking refuge somewhere else. How did that work out for them?

Drink their Piss

Take a Gatorade bottle, piss in it, leave it on your back porch for 2 days, do not drink any water during those two days and take a big gulp of warm piss.

Did you bust a blood vessel in your eye throwing up?

I have helped negotiate the release of (or to make their stay more comfortable) a dozen guys in 3rd world jails. Many times by the time I arrived weeks have passed by and the only water they had access to had been from a bucket shared with 20 other dudes. Despite the water giving them the most brutal shits they have ever imagined, they still drink the bucket water over a pee shake.

Trade for Goods

Ok, it has been a few months after some whacked event has caused your city to turn into Mogadishu and you need some supplies. You get into your moms car or hoof-it 30 miles to some unfamiliar and densely inhabited area. Next you toss your box of .22’s, Johnny Walker Black and issues of Hustler on the counter hoping to make a trade for Milk and Tampons.

Guess what happens to the bright eyed and bushy tailed new guy in every 3rd world Black Market?

If they are lucky, they only get robbed – shanked and man raped if unlucky

3rd World Black Markets are a necessary evil in my line of work – I have bought Booze on the black market in Indonesia, guns out of the back of a Land Cruiser in the Middle East and worked undercover in the counterfeiting biz in the US. They are environments where amateurs get killed or jacked on a daily basis.

So good luck with walking into a post-event black market with a backpack full of the most sought after and desperately needed supplies expecting people to obey the honor system.

Eat Someone

Sure, sure I know what you are thinking. Those soccer players who crashed on a snow topped mountain had a pot-luck on their friend’s asses when they got hungry. Well you are not on the top of a mountain after your prop plane took a nose dive. You are living in a city, and you are hungry for a Big Mac.

In an Urban Survival situation, you will not be held up in the hull of a crashed plane while your buddies die from exposure. More likely than not, you will be in an apartment or house, in the middle of white-bread USA.

For 99.999% of people, the act of taking a chainsaw and sawing off an arm, throwing it in a pot and digging-in, is not something they could do. Even in the cases of people who have been adrift for months at sea or Iraqis trapped in their homes during the awesome invasion of Iraq, no one resorted to cannibalism.

Why? Eating Long Pig is fucking disgusting, it is a psychological thing that the majority of people can not do no matter how hungry they are. It’s humanity baby, it’s what separates us from the dogs (and why eat Aunt Jenny when dogs are so delicious?).

Defend their House

During the Jakarta riots, thousands of Chinese tried to hunker down in their houses and apartments. No matter how well fortified or heavily armed they were eventually the human waves of rioters broke in and raped, robed and/or killed them. Secure US Embassy’s, Military bases in Afghanistan and drug lord Houses in Mexico have all been taken over in resent times, proving that all buildings can and will be taken over if the opposing force is overwhelming.

No matter how well fortified you are you can not hold back hundreds of people, desperate people will crawl over body’s to get you.

Also – Have you watched the end of Young Guns 2 where the gang is held up in an old house? Now you know how to take a house filled with people who are superior warriors.

It’s called a match.

Eat Cat Food

This is the only one that I have seen someone do in the 3rd world, back in the day I saw an old dude eating cat food on the side of the road in Cambodia. Lord knows if he was actually starving or just a crazy hobo who ate handfuls of Meow Mix between bouts of yelling at mailboxes.

The big difference between some dude in Cambodia eating cat food and you Mr. Joe USA digging into a can of Liver and Kibbles cat chow is the Cambodian dude has been eating fried spiders for snacks since he was six years old.

Just like the Piss Bottle above I wish to invite you to dig into a nice room temperature tin of cat food and keep it down.

In conclusion:

Yep – you are fucked

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~James G

Founder – Editor in Chief DVM

James G is a Veteran Civilian Contractor who has worked in the Middle East and Southeast Asia for way too long. He spends his off time in Southeast Asia and Virginia getting drunk, shooting guns, writing poorly written articles and eating dogs

Almost twenty years ago I spent several months in the Sudan and drank from local water sources. Some were “bore holes” or wells while in one case water was procured from a hole dug into a riverbed. Unfortunately cattle were watered in an adjacent water hole with the sure possibility of animal feces and urine being leached into the water source via runoff.

Approximately one month after returning from Africa I was hospitalized with a 106’ fever, decreased liver function, respiratory and sinus infection, and partial facial paralysis (Bell’s Palsy). I was packed in an “ice blanket” for three days.  After several tests (including spinal taps) the diagnosis was “unknown origin, possibly cytomegalovirus.”

It was assumed I’d contracted some virus in Africa.  Whether it was from the water, I can only guess. Despite suffering no ill effects from having drunk from ditches and water holes in Kenya in 1988 while living with a semi-nomadic tribe, I’ve tried to be more careful since my hospitalization.

Since then I’ve learned my lesson. When I returned to the Sudan ten years ago I treated my water daily. A trip to Sudan a few years before that, I traveled to Africa via Pakistan and Afghanistan. In Pakistan I kept to bottled soft drinks and the occasional beer at the American Club. I did filter a few bottles of drinking water from bottled water bought in the local markets.

 It’s safe to drink tap water in Pakistan right?

In Afghanistan I filtered tap water from the UN guesthouse and from the International Hotel in Kabul before filling my canteen. Water from a tap may be “safe” for locals who have become immune to various bio-threats in the water; however, it’s not uncommon for all the locals in some remote regions to have endemic and chronic diarrhea from contaminated water and poor health practices. They consider it a way of life. I even filtered my store bought bottled water in Uganda through the Katadyn before putting it in my canteen.

As the water from these sources was clear and considered potable, there was no buildup of large sediment in the filter. In Angola I tested the filter in a water hole outside of Cabinda City. Given the turbidity and heavy sedimentation from runoff and pond algae along with the contamination from human feces and phosphates (also used for bathing) I wouldn’t expect the filter to remain unclogged for long.

Such poor water sources should only be used in an emergency. Allowing the water to stand so sediment would sink and boiling large quantities of the clearer water siphoned off the top prior to filtering would be advisable.

I would advise filtering bottled water in third world countries if possible. You don’t know the quality control, if any, in these countries. The bottled water may very well be plain untreated tap water from a municipal source. In Somalia in 1993 we were provided with bottled water from U.S. and Kenyan sources. American and UN military personnel subsisted largely on bottled water as water purification teams operated only in a few areas.

I was drinking a gallon or two a day for several weeks before it was discovered that the Mt. Kenya brand bottled water (packaged in a brown cardboard box) was found to contain more “fly parts per volume” than considered safe by FDA and U.S. Army standards. Fly parts. Yum.

When traveling in remote areas, especially hot, arid regions, water is of paramount importance.  You must maintain your body’s hydration level to where it will continue to function. Without water your body functions (motor skills, thought processes, etc.) will diminish as you become dehydrated until you eventually die. You can live (situation dependent) without food for 20 to 30 days.

But go without water for 3 to 4 days and you will die.  But just having water isn’t enough. It has to be safe to drink or you’re going to find yourself in a different kind of trouble. Impure drinking water presents one of the biggest health risks to outdoorsmen and travelers.

I don’t want to sound like a Madison Avenue pitchman, but the Katadyn Combi filter solves this problem safely and in an environmentally friendly way without the use of chemicals or laborious boiling. The Katadyn Combi is designed especially for folks who spend time in the wilderness: hikers, campers, backpackers and outdoorsmen, but long distance and foreign travelers will find it useful as well.

Nope, that’s not your girlfriends latest vibrator – its the Katadyn Combi Water Filter!

It can be used to treat water with a high level of biological contamination transforming it into safe, drinkable water.  The Katadyn Combi filter is ergonomically designed for safe and easy handling and incorporates a two-phase operating mode. The Katadyn ceramic filter with a pore size of 0.2 micron removes suspended matter including  turbidities, worm eggs, protozoan cysts, bacteria and spores.

Properly used it will remove all disease causing bacteria such as Escherichia coli (E. coli). This will help protect you from such diseases as cholera, typhoid fever, giardia (intestinal protozoan parasites found worldwide), and amoebic and bacterial dysentery.

As an option the activated carbon filter (activated carbon first stage – AC) reduces foul tasting and harmful chemicals such as pesticides and defoliants and removes chlorine and iodine from the water.  The use of the carbon granulate also removes any bad odors — no sulfurous stench to your camp coffee, if you use a Katadyn Combi.

Manufactured by Katadyn Products Inc, of Switzerland it weighs in at only 19 oz., measures, 2.4” x 10.4”, and with an output of approximately 1.2 quarts per minute the ceramic filter will treat up to 14,000 gallons and its AC granulate cartridge will clean up to 60 gallons per refill packet.

Operating without the use of chemicals, a mechanical power source, and with a minimum of parts, moving or otherwise, the Katadyn Combi is a basically maintenance free piece of survival gear. Included with the blue waterproof nylon carrying case is a tube of lubricant for the o-ring on the filter and cleaning pad for maintaining the ceramic filter.  Constructed of impact resistant polymers, the main body of the filter is robust enough to take normal field use.

And best of all it’s simple to use. I’m a mechanical idiot and I can disassemble, reassemble, and operate the filter without any directions. One-handed operation is a breeze and its adapter base will fit standard Nalgene and Sigg water bottles. It will also fit into the mouth of the standard US Army G.I. one-quart and two-quart canteens.

I’ve found that a small piece of duct tape will hold it in place while you pump away.  The water intake hose is connected to the side of the pump and thrown out into clean, flowing water (where available). A float keeps it on top where the water is more likely to be sediment free and a wire mesh filter keeps large sediments, dirt, and leaves from clogging the plastic tubing.

It might be a little on the heavy side for solitary backpackers who might be better served by a Katadyn Pocket Filter or similar product. However the fast pumping rate of 1.2 quarts per minute is just what you need for groups: whether it be a group of trekkers heading off to Nepal, a wilderness challenge team, or neighborhood bird watching club.

Katadyn Combi Microfilter – Available on Amazon.com >>>

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~Rob Krott
Foreign Correspondent

The author of Save the Last Bullet for Yourself: A Soldier of Fortune in the Balkans and Somalia “Professional adventurer” Rob Krott has had ample opportunity to use his Katadyn Combi in such inhospitable climes as Angola, Sudan, Uganda, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. And he never got sick from drinking the water.

Picture taken at 9:45 AM on a Wednesday

There was once a time when a man would go on a bender for a few days, week, even a month and dive into a booze fueled haze in a hotel suite filled with women of questionable morals. The reason behind why he went on a bender could have been good or bad news, over a broad, news of a old war buddy checking out or just because he damn well felt like it.

After days or weeks of consuming excessive amounts of scotch, expensive food, non-filtered cigarettes and trashing hotel rooms this Old School Man would wash the smell of stewardesses off in a hot shower, have a straight razor shave, throw on something double breasted and made of camel hair, pop the top of his convertible and drive home or to the office and walk in like nothing happened.

For the kings of the Old School Men like Dean Martin, Steve McQueen, Brando, Elvis and Lee Marvin this was just what they did between making Hollywood movies, dating models, racing cars, hanging out with presidents and buying Cadillac’s.

And as satisfying the experience of going on a solo Bender is, it was hardly a one man tradition for them, whole groups of silk suit wearing Old School Pimps like the Rat Pack would buy multi-million dollar mansions on the outskirts of Las Vegas so they could go on month long benders with showgirls and starlets.

Steve McQueen’s Mug Shot for Driving Sauced
He Drank so Much the Cops were Forced to Arrest the most Famous Movie Star in the World, in Alaska, in the 70’s
That’s Bender Drunk

Hell – Some of the best foggy memories of my life are of going on benders either alone with a bottle of single malt in a cheap hotel in Southeast Asia or with my boys in some corner of the world. To this day the Bender is a damn serious tradition in the Military and Contracting community and a necessary tool for writers like myself.

What 30 day leave, end of deployment, pre-deployment or day off in-country with a few bottles of booze that were smuggled on base is complete without blow-out benders ending with legendary story’s like throwing a coke machine off the palace roof?

Before going on gigs me and my boy Tom M. would follow in the footsteps of thousands of Old School Men and hop across the US/Mex border into Juarez with a pocket full of cash and go on 48 hour long booze and senorita filled Benders before stumbling across the border broke and hungover. And when I headed back stateside at the end of my contract for out-processing I would grab a few random guys I met in line while turning in our kit and hit up Mexico for a quick 24 hour Bender before settling back down to civilized life and waiting for the next gig.

Lee Marvin in Mexico
Wearing Leather gloves, Fedora, Pinstripe Suit, Smoking Non-Filtered Smokes, Drinking Tequila, Corona and Eating out of an Iron Bowl

I could literally write a 90 thousand word article just about all the Benders I have been on over past decade of working and traveling around the world. Renting out entire clubs Rat Pack style with a group of guys I worked with after an 8 month long run in Iraq, getting in a fight with Boys to Men in Indonesia, me and three of my boys literally drinking all the booze in a bar in Bangkok, Hold Em’ games in Baghdad with 10, 000 Dollar Pots and passing out in Singapore and waking up in Cambodia (and those are just the ones I can publicly write about).

Now just to make things clear, a true bender is not going down to your local Applebee’s and pounding 10 Skinnybee Margaritas, picking up a slightly overweight gal and passing out in the bathroom of a two bedroom cream colored apartment to the sounds of your roommate playing xbox live. Nor does it have to be 300 dollar cigars, 50 year old scotch and expensive hotel rooms filled with hookers… err, I mean models.

You FAIL at the Bender (and you may like penis)

The Bender is more a concept that a hard working man can go and blow off some steam, forget about the world, bond with his brothers and have some self-indulgent fun for a short time without everyone they know planning an intervention when they come back home.

These days if a man goes off with is buddies for a weekend in Vegas or checks into a cheap hotel with a bag full of booze and drops off the grid for a bit people think he is some sort of alkie that needs to spill his guts out to a bunch of chain-smoking, coffee drinking junkies at a 12 step meting in a dank church basement.

Can you imagine Elvis coming back from a Bender in Hawaii and opening his front door at Graceland just to see a bunch of low-rise skinny jean wearing dudes and non-gluten eating gals there to ambush him with an interdiction about his drinking trips with the Memphis Mafia?

“I am going to pick up another case of Vodka, some OJ, bottle of Bruit and a 19 year old gal – Back in 5″

He would pull out his chrome plated .45, shoot everyone, make a peanut butter and banana sandwich, throw on a Stars and Stripes gee and karate chop 80 boards in half. If that happened to Lee Marvin he would just go out to his Shelby, pull a flamethrower out of the trunk and burn the house down with everyone in it. Then go eat a bacon and mayonnaise sandwich on white and wash it down with a pint of Bourbon.

These days the bender is a dying tradition, being replaced with men going to the spa and getting a non-happy ending passion fruit and menthol scrub massage, followed by a wheatgrass shot at the local vegan co-op and picking up his poodle (a ‘service dog’ for his anxiety) from the dog stylist.

I challenge the modern Old School Men reading this to not let this revered Old School tradition go the way of the dodo bird and slapping your secretary on the ass. Grab some booze, cash, channel the spirit of Steve McQueen and go on a god-damn bender. And feel free to share you Bender story’s in the comments.

Click Here to Read All DVM Old School Man Articles >>>

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~James G
Founder – Editor in Chief DVM

James G is a Veteran Civilian Contractor who has worked in the Middle East and Southeast Asia for way too long. He spends his off time in Southeast Asia and Virginia getting drunk, shooting guns, writing poorly written articles and going on year long benders

Packing for another romp in the 3^rd world

When you pull over at a Hajji Shop in Iraq and you walk through the isles past the cans of fly-covered baklava, dusty cans of corned beef and Gauloise Smokes what is the one thing you can not buy?

CR123 Batteries

And not just in Iraq, I once drove around for 3 hours in Phnom Penh, Cambodia looking for CR123’s before I finally found some in a camera shop for the astounding price of 16 bucks a pop!

After going through all the Bullshit of having to order CR123’s in bulk and paying 150 bucks to ship them, trading bottles of Jack D with force protection guards and wasting time trying to track down a shop in Stabyouinthefaceistan just to get raped at the cash register I had enough. So I decided to replace all the disposable battery powered kit I used with AA and AAA powered kit.

But that created another problem, off-brand batteries in the 3rd world are mostly shit Chinese batteries that have 1/5th the charge that US batteries have, so to make up for using commie batteries I had to pack a shit-load of batteries before every mission.

And enter the next problem, I would end up with a huge pile of loose batteries spread all over the bottom of my mission bag (I would take them out of the package so I would not have to fuck around with cutting a battery package open while trying to watch the road).

Solution: Enter the guys over at Flight and Fight Tactical

I figured I needed a way to carry a grip of AA and AAA batteries lined up beside each other (so I could keep count visually) in some sort of pouch that would not dump all the batteries out if it was banged around in my mission bag or tossed on the floor of my guntruck.

I looked around but I could not find anything currently made to fit that bill so I threw a shot out on my Facebook to see if anyone knew of a pouch like that. Less than an hour after I threw the post out on my wall Flight and Fight Tactical said they could work it out for me.

And a few hours after that, BAM, they posted a picture of the perfect solution to what I needed, yep – in a couple of hours they sketched up an idea, sewed it up and had it GTG. That sort of professionalism and hard work could have only come from an American company, straight-up fucking outstanding.

The Flight and Fight Tactical AAA Blackjack Battery Brick (avert your eyes to the Satan of all camouflage)

The Flight and Fight Tactical Blackjack Battery Brick is exactly what it sounds like, it holds 21 AA or AAA Batteries in a clever design that folds up three times on itself into a compact ‘brick-like’ package. And each fold and flap secures the last preventing the next row of batteries from falling out even if you leave a fold open.

This is just an ingenious design to a problem that pretty much everyone who uses batteries has. I even got one for my mom and pops so they can stop having a drawer filled of paperclips and loose batteries that sounds like pool hall every time they open it.

And to top things off Flight and Fight Tactical sells these bad-boys in your choice of ACU, Multicam, Coyote, Foliage Green, OD Green and Black for only 23.95. This is a hand sewn USA made nylon product for a few bucks more than a DVD.

I have been using my Blackjack Battery Brick for six months now and it still looks brand new, the stitching is solid and the 1000D Cordura is holding up great. If you use AA, AAA, CR123 and Coin Cell Batteries (and who doesn’t?) then grab a few Blackjack Battery Bricks from Flight and Fight Tactical and throw one in you go bag, the cheap price is a steal for a USA handmade piece of nylon gear.

Flight and Fight Blackjack Battery Brick
Available in ACU, Multicam, Coyote, Foliage Green, OD Green and Black
Made in the USA
23.95

AA (21 AA) >>>

AAA (21 AAA) >>>

COMBO (7 AA’s, 8 AAA’s, 4 CR123′s and 2 coin cell batteries) >>>

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~James G
Founder – Editor in Chief DVM

James G is a Veteran Civilian Contractor who has worked in the Middle East and Southeast Asia for way too long. He spends his off time in Southeast Asia and Virginia getting drunk, shooting guns, writing poorly written articles and eating rotten baklava

To Everyone under 25 – This is NOT an Xbox 360 Controller

*Note: I use the term “operator” loosely here

When the subject of “what are must-have operator skills” comes up most people spit out the obvious answers of guns, Ninja-fu and other shooter type tactical skills that first pops into mind when thinking about leaping out of a chopper in some 3rd world shit-hole.

But as much as being able to fire an AT-4 naked or reloading an AK with one arm blown off may be great skills for shooters, they are actually some of the least used skills unless you are some sort of Tier-1 SF or OGA guy.

When I first started in the Overseas Security Contracting biz back in the day I thought the only skills I needed to know was how to shoot, loot, chew on cigars and say cool catch lines like “Its gona’ be a long day”.

But after working in places like Iraq, Indonesia, Thailand and Kurdistan for the past decade I ended up using way more mundane skills like sewing my clothing than the exciting shit like strapping C4 under a bridge while wearing a black stocking cap.

So I put together a list of some of the less obvious skills that every operator should have, no matter if you are running the roads in Iraq or Afghanistan or surviving a natural disaster with your family, this is the shit you really need to know how to do.

10 Skills Every Operator Should Have

#1 Know How to Drive a Stick Shift

I was on a contract in Iraq a few years ago when the boss came to me with the usual “we got a new guy, wet behind his ears like a mother-fucker, learn him up cuz’ he is on your team”.

This dude was 24, ex-Army (no trigger-time) but a pretty bright kid and seemed Non-Douchebagey so I gave him the benefit of the doubt and put him through the usual routine of the ‘new-guy’ BS errands. Seeing it was lunch time I threw him some bread, the keys to the Hilux and sent him on a Taco Bell run for everyone”.

About five minutes later he wondered back into the team room with a bewildered/embarrassed look on his face.

I was like “what’s up kido?” – he said “I don’t know how to drive a stick”

Being an Old School guy who learned how to drive on a stick shift with his pop yelling at him the whole time the very concept that a man can not drive a stick has never entered my mind. So I was like “are you fucking serious bro?”.

Yep, he could not drive a stick shift, I have no fucking Idea how someone who was in the Army never learned how to drive a stick. And I have even less of an Idea how a Man does not know how to drive a stick. Anyway, I told him to grab one of our TCN’s and learn how to drive a stick by Thursday. To his credit he did, but we gave him shit about it everyday until he went to the Philippines on leave to marry some bar-girl and was never to be heard from again.

Reality Check:

Pretty much all the money gigs, military deployments and humanitarian aid volunteer work are gona’ be in some 3rd world dump-hole. That means the Contractor (or Mil/Government Agency/State/UN) you work for will buy a stick for non-mission getting around (and sometimes even for missions if they are especially stingy bastards) to save a lousy 500 bucks. Unbelievably in the 3rd world they still have brand new cars where airbags are an option, so the chances of you getting behind a manual car is pretty dang high.

And think about this scenario: What if the guntruck (or your car) you are driving gets disabled and you have to snatch some local dude out of his car (or just hot-wire a parked truck during a Hurricane when you minivan can’t go over a twig) and you sit down behind the wheel, it’s a stick and your ass does not know how to drive a manual? Well, you are fucked you pansy.

The Moral of the Story: Even if you are not shootin’ and lootin’ in some Tin Pot Dictatorship you are still a man, and men know how to drive a stick.

The above also applies to Motorcycles: Seriously, if you do not know how to drive a motorcycle and you are a man then take your skirt off and take a course

Part 2 Coming Soon Pimps…

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~James G
Founder – Editor in Chief DVM

James G is a Veteran Civilian Contractor who has worked in the Middle East and Southeast Asia for way too long. He spends his off time in Indonesia and Virginia getting drunk, shooting guns, writing poorly written articles and grinding gears

James G’s SOL – IFAK

Over the past decade of working as a contractor in shit-holes around the world and living and traveling in the 3rd world one thing I have always learned to have close by is an IFAK.

Depending on what sort of gig I am on or where I happen to be traveling “IFAK” can mean anything from a backpack packed to the brim with medical kit to a cargo pocket with some QuikClot, some tissues and a Band-Aid.

Basically if you are an operator working in the worlds hot-spots you need to understand that your IFAK needs to be customized to whatever operation you happen to be on. That can be everything from looking from some rich guys missing kid in Bangkok to running PSD missions in Afghanistan.

The particular IFAK I am going to go over today is one of the ones I currently use as a TL running missions (everything from PSD to Convoy Security) for a private security contractor in Iraq.

This IFAK was put together by our Company Medic to be used in a very specific situation. Without giving away any OPSEC shit, lets just say we are way squared away when it comes to having the best medical supplies and highly trained US medics on our missions. So basically if someone (hopefully not the medic) is injured we have not only the medical kit to treat them but also a top tier medical professional on-board.

I call this particular IFAK the “SOL-IFAK” – meaning if I have to reach into it, it is because I am a combination of injured, unable to physically move from my position, cut off or pinned down and my teammates or medic can’t get to me and I have to treat myself ASAP.

It is not for helping others (but it still has the components to do so if necessary), not for treating myself quickly and running to our medic – it is a you are all alone and “Shit Out of Luck” with half your leg 4 feet away along with a few holes in ya type of IFAK.

Pretty much the only time the SOL-IFAK will get reached into is if I am lying on some shitty Iraqi highway, bleeding, pinned down behind some broken down eighteen wheeler that is 12 flatbeds away from my guntruck/teammates and I am not expecting medical assistance immediately.

The SOL-IFAK will keep me alive until my team kills everyone and the team medic is able to treat me and then gets my ass off the X and on DBA.

Note: All the items in my SOL-IFAK were selected by (Call Sign: KeyWest) a highly experienced PSD/CSD Civilian Security Contractor Combat Medic who is a former U.S. Army Medic, Civilian firefighter and EMT. Descriptions and why those items were chosen were written by him, so thanks to ‘KeyWest’ for helping me with this article.

SOL-IFAK Contents

Let’s start from the beginning… basic first aid. Apply manual pressure and elevate. Next dress wound. Next apply a pressure dressing. Next, apply a tourniquet. These have been the basics of first aid and how it has been taught from the beginning. However, there are now some different options to keep close.

Cravat

The first most basic part of this kit would be a cravat. This can be used as a sling, for a pressure dressing, to be used in conjunction with a splint, and as a tourniquet. We carry at least 2.

Field Dressing

The next most basic part is the field dressing -2. This can be used to be applied to stop bleeding, cover a wound, decrease chance of infection, and can also be used in conjunction with others at the same time.

One thought to keep in mind is that one field dressing will usually hold about little less than a pint of blood. This is important to understand because your blood will keep you alive. If your first field dressing has soaked all the way through it’s past time to move on to the next step.

Quick Clot (Two Types)

Now on to quick clot. This item comes in different styles. We carry 2. The quick clot combat gauze and the quick clot (ACS) Advanced Clotting Sponge. The regular quick clot combat gauze is for temporary use to control traumatic bleeding. This means major bleeding.Don’t use this if you scratch your knee, or scrape your elbow.

This is for major trauma. You would open the package and apply to open wound and apply pressure for at least 3 minutes. Sometimes you may have to use more than one. At this point you would wrap and tie the bandage to maintain pressure on the wound and evac as soon as possible.

Quick Clot (ACS

The quick clot (ACS) is for a little more traumatic wound and is used for emergency external use only. This package also reads “Do Not Eat”. I’m not even gonna ask why that is printed on this package.

You need to wipe away any excess blood around the wound then pack the wound with the mesh bag in the package. Sometimes it may require more than one. It’s important to remember that direct pressure over the wound is never forgotten. Apply pressure for at least 3 minutes. This product will produce heat to be aware.

Wrap and tie a pressure dressing over the wound and evac as soon as possible. It’s also important to put the package in a pocket or stuck on you somewhere so medical staff will act appropriately when you receive hospital care.

Emergency Wound Dressing

The next part of our kit is the Emergency Wound Dressing….its a hemorrhage control compression dressing. It has its own device that enables you to one handedly apply pressure to a wound while dressing the wound.

Abdominal Dressing

Our next part of the kit is a small abdominal dressing. This is used like any other field dressing except its bigger to cover those exposed guts. And at this point, you might as well kiss your ass good bye because you have a very short time to be at a hospital.

Wound Dressings

The next 2 wound dressings are elastic in nature and provide pressure when applied. However the sponge is not as thick so other dressing may be required. One thing I’d like to point out is that once a bandage is applied…. Never remove it. Just keep adding to it.

One Handed Tourniquet

The next hemorrhage control device we carry is the one handed tourniquet. It’s always nice to be able to stop a major blood flow in a second and stay alive, rather bleed out from a leg blown off. Tourniquets should be the last course of action.

Apply a T on your forehead and note the time if possible. At this point shock will start to come into play and you may be unable to function. But with training, focus, and determination you can apply a tourniquet to yourself.

ARS Needle Decompression

Another part of our kit is a ARS Needle decompression. Once you are shot in the chest you thoracic cavity (your chest will start to fill with air… maybe blood. The needle decompression can be used to expel the air and allow your lung to function as best it can.

Remember to roll to the injured side. This will allow your good lung to function as best it can for as long as it can.

HYFIN Chest Seal

The last part of our kit is a HYFIN Chest Seal. This is an occlusive dressing. It is placed over the wound and will not allow air to enter the chest cavity and will allow air in there to escape.

One point to examine here… many chest shots have exit wounds. You are not gonna be able to apply a chest seal to both. Its only if you have and entry point. At that point, lay with the injured side down and apply the resources you have.

Thanks again to my Team Medic for helping me with this article

If you have any questions please feel free to jump in on the comments

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~James G
Founder – Editor in Chief

James G is a Veteran Civilian Contractor who has worked in the Middle East and Southeast Asia for way too long. He spends his off time in Indonesia and Virginia getting drunk, shooting guns, writing poorly written articles and trying not to get shot, blown up by an IED or the clap

This Book Blew Rmabo’s Mind!

Whether it’s a war zone or a civil disaster area, traumatic injuries often occur in remote, unsanitary locations. Coffee’s book explains advanced field procedures for small wound repair, care of the infected wound, IV therapy, pain control, amputations, treatment of burns, airway procedures and more.

Hugh Coffee is a professional paramedic with extensive experience administering emergency medicine in Third World and battlefield environments. Coffee’s experience in Third World and austere environment medical procedures include improvising medical equipment from available materials and performing disaster-medicine procedures under primitive conditions.

Coffee’s book is in use by many SF medics and other folks who often go in harm’s way. Coffee gets right to the bottom line in dealing with the subject of field trauma first aid and “meatball surgery.” He learned it the hard way during the guerrilla war in Guatemala — patching up troops on hilltops where no doctor would go.

I may be biased as he’s Hugh “Doc” Coffee is a good friend and I was on a medical team in Kenya, Uganda (during an Ebola outbreak) and the southern Sudan (Sudanese guerrilla war) with him, but anyone who is a combat medic or who may need to perform first aid in the third world needs to read this book. I personally watched Doc Coffee revamp and supply a surgical ward in a Sudanese Rehabilitation and Relief Association field hospital near the frontlines.

Coffee is a fount of knowledge on the subject of improvised medical and surgical techniques and imparts it clearly and concisely to the reader. Ditch Medicine can be found on many survivalist and prepper resource lists and is a recommended addition to the bookshelf of any first-responder, EMT, etc., who could possibly see themselves forced to operate, literally, beyond their training and experience in an emergency.

This book is an invaluable resource on emergency techniques for those with previous medical training (EMT thru General Practitioner). Hugh also has a video series available from Paladin Press.

Click Here to buy Ditch Medicine: Advanced Field Procedures For Emergencies on Amazon.com >>>

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~Rob Krott
Foreign Correspondent

Rob is a former US Army Officer who has traveled to over 70 countries and worked with several foreign Military’s. Rob is also the author of Save the Last Bullet for Yourself: A Soldier of Fortune in the Balkans and Somalia, a war memoir of the Balkans and Somalia.

Whether you’re lost in the woods or wandering around a city in some 3rd world shit hole, you might need to find your bearings. An ordinary wristwatch can provide the answer. Follow the steps I have listed below to find out how.

You Will Need:

-Matchstick or something similar
-Analog wrist watch

Instructions:

-Northern Hemisphere

1. Holding the watch so the hands are parallel to the ground, point the hour hand toward the sun.

2.Take a matchstick and lay it on the watch face so the head covers the number halfway between the hour hand and the number 12

3.The match head is pointing south, and the other end points north.

4.If your watch is set to daylight saving time, use the number 1 as a reference point instead of 12.

Southern Hemisphere:

1.Holding the watch so the hands are parallel to the ground, point the number 12 toward the sun.

2.Take a matchstick and lay it on the watch face so the head covers the number halfway between the number 12 and the hour hand.

3.The match head is pointing north.

4.If your watch is set to daylight saving time, use the number 1 as a reference point instead of 12.

~Tom “Tomahawk” M
Correspondent – Wilderness Survival
Tom is a US Army Veteran  (Scout Platoon , Pathfinder, Parachute Rigger, Cav Scout and Infantryman) and former International Civilian Contractor who has worked and lived in Africa and the Middle East. Tom is also a former wilderness instructor for several US and East Asian wilderness schools and has probably taken every wilderness survival course offered between 1980 and 2000. He spends his off times in Thailand Pubs telling drunken “I was there” story’s to impressed tourists.

Fully kitted Private Anti-Piracy Operator: Romanian PSL and PPE

London, Abu Dhabi, Karachi, Bin Qasim, Dahej, Suez, Malta, Port Said, Suez, Goa, Redi, Galle, Colombo, Dubai, London, all visited in one recent eight week spell working the high risk area between Egypt and Sri Lanka. The gig is anti-piracy, or if you like – maritime security, but definitely armed and dangerous.

Prior to this I spent the last eight years in the sand pits of Iraq and Afghanistan, fighting off the dust and heat and the occasional insurgent. The heat’s still a bother, but the dust is history, and the moist sea air is a welcome change from the stench of the ‘Global War on Terror’.

You settle in quickly in this job, there’s a routine to all seafaring, even for the inveterate land lubbers in the security teams who ride shotgun on a ship’s bridge. You mostly watch – the flat open ocean, the radar, and the clock – 99.9% of your time is unremarkable, some say boring.

I don’t mind though, I especially like the ocean at night, when the full panoply of stars folds out above you; I even bought the Rough Guide to the Universe, to help me pick out the constellations – and with the ship’s binoculars I discovered the Andromeda Galaxy on a ship off Oman back in January.

Somalis don’t like the dark much, so in the wee small hours it’s OK to raise your line of sight skywards, and ponder the human condition while you slowly carve through pirate waters.

What of the pirates? They don’t think of themselves by that name, they’re just businessmen, protecting Somalia itself from avaricious foreigners who would dump toxic waste off the coast, and modern fishing vessels that grab up all the worthwhile stock in the Gulf of Aden, leaving the Somali fishermen, with their traditional methods, literally floundering.

These are excellent seamen with nothing to go to sea for – apart from piracy, and they are a primary source of recruitment into the ranks of the pirates. The fact that the pirate fleets are now threatening the north Arabian Sea – a thousand miles from Somalia – changes nothing for them, its business as usual, and business is booming. But why go to such lengths, with the world’s most sophisticated navies in hot pursuit?

The facts about Somalia speak for themselves: no effective government for twenty years, three quarters of Somalis live on $2 a day, life expectancy is 42 years, one in four children dies before the age of five. I once heard a saying that went “Africa is the hardest place on Earth to be an optimist”, if that’s true, then there must be a prolonged drought on optimism in Somalia. If I lived there I would probably be a pirate too, they have families to feed just like everyone else. Consequently I have a great deal of sympathy for them.

I was going to name this article Rendezvous with a Pirate, but as of writing that still hasn’t happened. Not that I haven’t been close, very close, to coming face to face with my potential seaborne nemesis. I’ve been lucky in my first six months, nothing more. In March I was guarding a chemical tanker with 21 crew members, Ukrainians and Filipinos, transiting west from India to Egypt.

We were sailing off the coast of Oman, on a course of 210˚ towards ‘Point B’, the easternmost RV point on the Internationally Recognized Transit Corridor (IRTC). This is where the military navies escort vessels east and west along what used to be the main pirate hot spot, the Gulf of Aden (there’s not many pirates left there now because of the naval presence, yet the navy boys still plough on regardless, but that’s for another article, not this one).

I was on watch that evening, on the bridge with me was a monosyllabic third officer at the wheel, and two able seamen watching out on the bridge wings – the ‘mark one eyeball’ still being the best bit of security kit available in any theater, even in these hi-tech times.

Night fell, black as coal, yet the day’s heat and humidity was still hanging over the decks like a shroud; and, although you drum the need for continued vigilance into them, the watch crew relax when night comes. With no moon it’s dark enough to fail to recognize a human body 20 meters away. I was doing my usual watch routine – keeping an eye on both radar screens, their ghostly light giving the now darkened bridge a supernatural feel, and patrolling the three sides of deck surrounding the bridge, binoculars and night vision goggles close at hand.

Suddenly the VHF radio crackled, and on emergency Channel 16 the terrified voice of an Indian watch officer came on: “Coalition warship! Coalition warship! This is Motor Vessel (—–) we are being attacked by pirates, our position is eighteen degrees twenty two minutes north, fifty eight degrees zero four minutes east, please assist. Mayday! Mayday!” The wing watchers immediately came to the bridge doors to listen, and I had to order them back to their stations – they were more valuable than ever now that we had a possible identification of pirates in the vicinity.

The watch officer picked up the vessel on our AIS (Automatic Identification System – gives each ship’s name, course, position and speed), there were only two ships within 30 nautical miles – us and mayday boy, supposedly now under attack; he was 9NM astern of our port quarter, though we couldn’t detect any small, fast-moving craft near him on our radar.

This was a souvenir from a transit this vessel undertook last September

I stood the rest of the security team up, and the other three boys were on the bridge in under two minutes, suited and booted with their grab bags full of the bits and bobs they didn’t want to lose if we had to retreat to the engine room citadel or get our feet wet by leaving the ship in a hurry.

This vessel was well equipped and we had enough weaponry, ammunition, and pyrotechnics to put on a good show if there was a pirate mother ship about, her skiffs searching the area for slow-moving merchant ships like us. A night attack – rare for Somali pirates, I was remaining skeptical until it was confirmed, and indeed it was, very soon.

Within minutes a Turkish warship responded in clear English to the mayday call. After confirming the under fire vessel’s position they scrambled a helo to intercept. The Turks asked for a running description of events. The tanker reported she was under attack from two skiffs, and had already taken hits from RPG and small arms fire, undoubtedly AK47 – standard bad boy weaponry around the globe.

The chopper got there in ten minutes, we listened to the pilot communicate with the attacked ship. The helo warned everyone they were opening fire, and put a few dozen rounds across the path of the chasing skiffs. The pirates pulled away and slipped unseen into the surrounding night, no harm done. The navies are stretched to the limit, it was lucky this warship was around, as we were still a long way away from the safety of the IRTC.

The rest of the night was spent red-eyed and on edge; the bad guys had to abort, they would be looking for other prey, and we were closest – although we changed our course slightly to get away fast from the area of the attempted hijacking. Plus, these guys must have been desperate to make a score – they were targeting at night, unusual for Somalis. We never saw a thing.

Pride of the Indian Navy

People ask me all the time why does the coalition not just blast the pirates out of the water? Also, when ships are hijacked and en route to a six month holiday in Puntland, why do the marine forces not just retake the ship? After all it’s what they’re trained for. I believe there’s a good reason why this doesn’t happen.

Somali pirates, as a rule, don’t kill hostages. If you’re unfortunate enough to get scooped by pirates, the most you’re going to get is an uncomfortable stay in a Puntland port, sharing a room on board with the rest of the crew, with teenaged locals pointing AKs through the window at you. Unlike Nigeria or Indonesia, where pirates are ruthless with crews, Somalis treat the crew as their most valuable asset – you wouldn’t mistreat your prized cow before trying to sell it at the market, likewise a dead crew isn’t good for the subsequent ransom dealings with the ship’s owners.

Start killing pirates regularly and they might start mistreating their hijacked crews, or worse. The pirates don’t want to up the ante, neither do the coalition. If they are threatened with force Somali pirates will kill without hesitation, so to avoid a bloodbath both sides play cat and mouse instead.

If pirates board you and they get to the wheelhouse – or even get hold of one of the crew – before everyone locks down in the citadel, then its game over, you’re off to Somalia. Outside of the IRTC the navies invariably can’t reach a vessel in time before it’s boarded and hijacked. That’s where the private security companies come in. We are already on board and good to go.

Firstly it’s as a deterrent – row upon row of razor wire, water hoses, and other obstacles on deck; then a show of force with weapons on the bridge. After that it’s warning shots, but the rules of engagement are clear – only fire when you are fired upon, or a life is in immediate danger, then aimed shots only.

Ship using fire hoses to fight off Somali pirates

Pirates aren’t suicide bombers or jihadis, they have no wish to die, this works to your advantage, so do the relative firing positions – us up on the steady deck of a huge ship aiming down on them bobbing up and down in a small wooden speedboat. The key for them is to get on without us noticing – that’s why the mark one eyeball guys on the wings are invaluable: see them, show yourselves, and hope they’re not too desperate to try and board a ship under fire.

Another incident happened on a different vessel during my eight week trip, much more chilling for me as we were completely alone and enjoying a beautifully calm, sunny Indian Ocean morning. This time the team were aboard a dry cargo vessel heading 90˚ for India, just after leaving Point B and a Chinese naval convoy (a work of art compared to some). Nowadays the areas north and east of the IRTC’s eastern extremity are prime hunting grounds, the pirate fleets have moved there, knowing the military is in scarce supply. My team 2 I/C on watch called me up to the bridge around 10:30 local time. A ship that had followed us from the convoy was now acting suspiciously, slowing down, changing course, speeding up, very odd.

I was on watch earlier in the morning, and had idly observed the same vessel through our binos, there was nothing around for miles but us and him. Suddenly, as we watched on the radar, he changed course completely and started back west, the way he came. I immediately thought “hijacked”, and when I passed on my hunch it sent our Indian captain into paroxysms of fear.

It was confirmed later when we saw the odd ship set a course for north Somalia, and then a report came in from the International Maritime Bureau in Malaysia, the ship was fired on and boarded – game over. Why didn’t they send a distress call on the VHF? Who knows, but that particular crew has 6-9 months in captivity to ponder their fate.

So, that’s a little of the life of a ship anti-piracy team. None of the headlines of Iraq or Afghanistan, and in my opinion a lot less of the risk, so fair’s fair. I’ll be back out there again soon, brown arms, red face and white body, but who said it was pleasure cruising?

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~John Hawkwood
Anti-Piracy Operations Correspondent

John is a British security consultant who has spent the last eight years plying his trade in Iraq, Afghanistan, and now in anti-piracy, facing off Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean. You can check out other writings by John about private militaries, jihadis and pirates at his blog OneHiredGun.com