Stormy, in a moment of inspired smartassery a while back, still correctly identified me as a gear queer. Since many of my activities follow a seasonal approach these days I've been too busy to address it, but now that things have slowed down I'm working to beat this addiction to nylon and produce a more realistic loadout.

My first line will not change, and will stay in my pants pockets and wallet, so I still have a complete survival kit on me at all times. I have also decided on which of my various packs to settle on. The changes are coming to my fighting load.

To that end my preps this week have centered around establishing a base line of minimum gear and running my rifle while wearing it to ensure it works as desired.

So far I have set up a Mini MAV with two magazines and a dump pouch to support my rifle. A drop leg panel supplies pistol support and a blow out kit. My holster is dropped as well. This is because belt mounts will interfere with my pack's waist belt. Lets face it, my mission is not to fight bad guys, it is to safely make it to a BOL and a MAG. Nor will I have the support system of today's soldier. All of this tells me I am better off working my fighting gear around a comfortable sustainment load, which will include more magazines and ammunition.

More updates to come. Stay tuned.