The Waco Kid

Ration meal of the day Bla Band Chicken Meatballs and spicy tomato (and pasta). I cooked mine in the dirty Swedish mess kit. Just for full effect. It’s a pretty big meal with plenty of pasta and meat. I didn’t find it especially spicy, but “your mileage may vary”. I have to agree with the reviewer in that it was big enough to be an effort to eat. 👍 For context I shop for shirts at Jacamo. 🧈 I couldn’t read the instructions so put it in the pot for 8-10 minutes and turned it over halfway through. It was throughly hot so a shorter cooing time would have been okay. It’s a big meal and the packet seems a bit larger than British army ORP main meals so a job to fit in a 58 mug with the lid on. All in all: Good 👍 👍👍 probably enough for lunch for two if you add bread or side dish. I’d like it spicier though.

Cooking on an open fire The simplistic method is to just stick your cooking pot on or beside the flame. A lid will help to keep ash out. Cooking on a open fire does require a bit more attention and practice to keep the fire going as you need it. A few simple additions can make it a bit easier and flexible. 1) Hanging the pot from something like a tripod or overhanging support. This usually means having to a pot with a bail handle, round and oval pots are easier to suspend without tipping over. Height can be adjusted using this method. 2) Using a grill to support pots above the flame. This is hand for rectangular mess tins and you can adjust how far they sit to the heat. An other useful accessory is a pot grab, even on pots with lids and handles. You can buy lightweight ones or make them from wood. Home made wood burning camp stove: He does add extra ventilation to the van in a meter episode.

How come this never used to be a problem? Surely women have huge experience carrying plates? In fact they should be regarded as experts in the field with centuries of going back and forth to the kitchen. Often also carrying food as well! Awsome. Sometimes the lack of respect for women infuriates me. 😡 Then I talk to my wife.

Isn’t that a ballistic level fart?

Wait, there was factual content on that post? I really like swords. Seriously had not heard of that useful link. 👍

WHAT Heresy incarnate is this you say brothers!!!! Look closely. I was messing with Olive PLCE and dreaming of Paddyflage and AUG. PLCE pouches fit perfectly on 50mm narrow molle cobra battle belts. I give you the bastard child of AliExpress and JS Franklin ltd.

On Sunday I deployed children. Had a brew, loaded mags, had a kip through the briefing, heated chicken tikka, had a brew, slept through game one, bombed up the kids mags, had a brew and a nap in game two. Packed up and recovered children. It didn’t rain. Best game ever.

FAMAS am bestest. I said it first.

MRE of the Day is…. Summit to eat Chicken Tikka! This is a dehydrated dry meal that you add hot water too. ”It’s slightly rippled with a flat underside”. The bag will stand up so you can mix and eat straight from it. The packet is tough and this has been kicking around my Bergen for two years with out puncturing. There are graduations for the fill level inside. A little small but legible. I found even with a lot of stirring there was a bit of powdery taste at the bottom. That said it was a good size meal and the flavour was pretty good, I had it for for breakfast with tea and coffee. Plus side for dehydrated meals are that they are very light to carry but you do need water to make them edible. I used a small folding spork to eat it from the packet but a longer tool, like the ORP issued plastic one, is a bit better to get in the corners. 🤘🤘🤘 3/3 for scran.

Not that I’m biased toward M81 m. But good to see two models of SIG in the same picture…… 😉

Using wood to fuel a fire Different materials burn differently, species of tree are exception. A summery can be found on the woodlands ways blog. https://blog.woodland-ways.co.uk/fire/which-wood-for-my-fire/ The most common in the UK are probably: Oak. Dense, excellent fuel long burning. Pine. This will spit and pop, this was used as a substitute light source historically. Especially the knots. Fatwood can be gathered too. Birch. Very available and the bark can be used as tinder. The Larch. The other major factor that is often referred to when using wood is “seasoning”. I’m not taking salt and pepper but drying timber to reduce the amount of water in it. This process can take months to years. If you are back packing or travelling on foot the best you can do is to gather fallen timber. In the winter it may be dryer if sheltered, in the summer exposed or windward wood is probably better. Green, wetter wood will be harder to light and produce more smoke. Stripping leaves (and sometimes bark can help). Green wood can also be more difficult to cut or split too. Cooking fires The most common open cooking fires are “platform” type fire lays. This is a layer of relatively large pieces of wood laid close side by side the a layer of smaller material at right angles. Repeat until kindling is at the top. Fire holes are a sometimes used as a “stealth fire. Long fires and star fires are long burning for overnight heat and light. A Teepee is the chassis bonfire for social occasions. It’s therefore good for cooking hedgehogs… I mean jacket potatoes. Po-Ta-Toes! Open wood fires require more work to gather enough fuel, light and maintain. They take time to get to optimal burning condition and to keep going. When you put out a wood fire it is important to damp it down and take out the coals as they can reignite themselves later. Open fires have pro’s and cons over stoves and more technological cooking systems. • Heat and light. Can be varied by fire construction and fuel. • Smoke. Depends on wood and how dry it is. • Ash and hot coals. Some fuels will produce more. They less obvious uses of a fire by products: Smoke for signalling, insect repellant (and certain food preservation). Ash for cleaning pots. Coals for cooking and heating stones for baking or heating water in non-metal containers.

Hints and tips for lighting wood fires. As the old saying goes “keep your tinder dry”. Tinder (not the website/app) is the material that you initially light with a spark or flame. Kindling. Small pencil thickness twigs and sticks used to build up the fire from tinder before putting on your main fuel when burning wood. What works with a spark: • Natural materials like bitch bark or very dry fine grass wrapped into a fist sized bundle, not tight enough to stop air flow however. • Dry newspaper screwed up loosely will burn very quickly. Quite often too quickly to work outdoors in a wind. But does work if sheltered or in a fireplace. • Shavings from a block of hexi or esbit. About an eight of a standard hexi block should be enough to ignite with a spark. • Cotton wool pre-soaked in petroleum jelly. • Sawdust made into blocks using molten wax. • Hammero tinder card. Thumb sized piece, fluff the surface fibres up with a knife. • Fire dragon fuel block, a small piece cut off can ignite other fuel. • Fatwood stick/maya dust. This is the high resin content wood from the base of a felled pine tree. If it’s good it will smell strongly of pine sap. If you are storing it keep it in a sealed container as it does dry out. Shave the fatwood to get a thumbnail sized pile at least. The man made/processed items are usually easier to light in poor conditions than naturally gathered tinder. Some other popular options, but I’ve only limited experience with: Amadu (proceeded horse foot fungus) Charcloth Pre-burned cotton fabric https://www.twineagles.org/char-cloth.html Potassium permanganate (and glycerin) Can also be use for water treatment and wound cleaning. I’m not convinced it’s better than other methods thought. General tips: Practice with the tools and methods you are thinking or using. Duct tape. A small square is useful to catch fine particles like maya dust or hexi shavings so it doesn’t blow away. Prepare lots of tinder and kindling before starting to start a fire and have them within arms reach. Fold up windshields can be used as surface to help contain tinder and once the fire is going make cooking quicker and save fuel.

I just assumed you are Lindybeige’s love child.

Because “Springtime for Hitler” was taken.

Time for that training scenario…. ”Annie were’s ya Oakleys?”

What I should have mentioned about collecting water is an overlooked hazard. Many of the more toxic plants in the UK grow on river and lake banks. Giant Hogweed being especially unpleasant and can cause serious burns on contact. Some key identifying features are shown by Hidden Valley Bushcraft here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NQAawyKfIDc&t=19

Cleaning your water supply 1) Step one collect water and remove any obvious debris. 2) Pre-filter using Millbank bag*, coffee paper or improvised screen made from clothing. If your are really have time you can make a filter from sand and charcoal in a knotted trouser leg…. *It’s important to soak the Millbank bag until it’s sodden before filling it up. Otherwise the water will not flow through it. Don’t force water through it. 3) Purify the water by your chosen method. Chemical/puritabs: Useful if you are the move as you can let it work as you go. Boiling: Simple if you are at a camp and going to be cooking anyway. You only need to get it to the point of a boiling. Doesn’t need to be a rolling boil for ten minutes. Mechanical filter: Pump filters rely on ultra fine screens to catch pathogens. Some can be used to drink directly from the source. Pre-filtering may help it last longer. Not always clear when they are losing effectiveness. I guess this takes us to fire lighting and cooking. “Tastes like shit, but you can live on it”.

You never see these two guys in the same place. 🤔 Well just that one time.

Good call. The icon Les Hiddins. Not many could carry if that hat. 😉 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jejk-7I9Y6U

Brilliant find on How! I have the urge to train seagulls to find uboats now! 😂

Why has every British and Irish head of state that has been in post in the last twelve months either quit, been sacked or arrested? 🤔 I want to start a conspiracy theory that Liz Truss blackmailed them all to try and make herself look better…. 😉 I’d like to be wrong about this.

Non UK sources: Mors Kochsnski. https://www.morskochanski.com/ Some bloke with an accent and strange taste in hats. Handy with a knife.

Some sources for training: The UK Mountain Leader Training Board. https://www.mountain-training.org/ Navigation, navigation, navigation! This is the UK body that administers the WGL; ML (mountain leader); WML; EML and SPSA/MIA/MIC (mountain instructor award). I am probably out of touch with current state of award but just doing the 4-5 day Mountain Leader training at Plas-Y-Brenin (not the final assessment) is excellent. Yes I did do mine twice…. Everything comes down to navigation, oh sorry but your gps, fell over. Resection please. Not sure if classic abseil is stills thing though. 😁 Old school books: Eric Langmuir’s Mountain craft and leadership. Peter Cliffe’s Mountain navigation. The above are not “survival” but about how to organise and conduct expeditions and field trips. They tend to get over looked in the “SAS survival guide” market but are much more useful to civilian outdoor activities. No landing Place series. Aircraft crash sites in British mountains. Sad but interesting sites to visit. Ray Mears, The outdoor survival handbook. This is the one that covers the UK and is organised by season. His other books are good. He is British outdoor sage. The Woodlore knife, just get a cheap mora… 😱 John Fenna, various online articles, he used to write articles in Combat and survival and still active in UK bushcraft. I think he is a guide at St. Fagan’s living history site doing Celtic and Neolithic living. I will ask on the forum and update. Hidden Valley bushcraft. Excellent YouTube “how too” guides. Inactive in the interwebs but still a great resource. I’ve tried to make videos and it’s hard work (therefore beyond me) plus an art to do anything that is informative. Some left field references: Jack Hargreaves. Archived TV series on you tube. I’ve included him as background on why certain things are in the UK countryside are as they are (or not). Yes he is some old boy smoking a pipe and taking about fly fishing. He knew more about ecology, sustainability, history and the environment sixty years ago than many people today. He was Monty’s communications and intelligence specialist in WW2. He helped to set up a couple of British TV networks. None of his shows had a script, just 45 minutes of knowledge delivered, no out-takes and very little editing.

I do personally hate a road March. A) Miserable as fuck memories. B) Long history of Army training tail end Charlie’s getting hit by fuckwits driving ranger rovers. C) Tarmacadam (I am old) being something I avoid when on foot due to knee caps making a grating noise. D) Fuckwits driving ranger rovers. Dehydration vs bugs. I’ve had dysentery a couple of times. Once because I drank water directly from a Welsh mountain stream I later found a dead sheep in. The weather was very hot for the time of year an I’d run through my carried supply. The effects kicked in about twelve hours later as I passed through Crewe on the train. Fortunately back then the bog door didn’t unlock itself after a few minutes. 😁 A cork is light and duct tape I pack anyway….. Antibiotics for the win. Your mileage may vary of course! Literally. 🤮 I used to drink untreated water on the Mountain marathons (yes I was moderately fit once) as we took a “balance of risk” chance on very light kit and speed verse how long symptoms would appear. Largely got away with it. I am not advocating for drinking random water supplies however. Things seem to have become worse on that front. 🤔 On a planned hike where you are not up against any cut off taking time to double check and clean a water supply should not be an issue. I’ve had less (relatively speaking) issues in less developed parts of the world. Partly I suspect, due to taking more deliberate care but also less man made pollution. Unless you are near a lithium mine or something! EV’s for the win. 😮

Due to Britains historic industrialisation, population level and not especially scrupulous water companies any water source should be considered contaminated. That said and mystic forces of nature aside dehydration will kill you a lot quicker that a bout of the shits. So in an emergency drink. Upland: These tend to be springs fed (at best) or pools that are mainly rain fall fed. A lot of these pools are man made to supply water to sheep and cattle so be aware of parasites. Lowland and agricultural: As in the video above your best bet of a clean source is to try and locate a spring but even so these can pick up phosphates and other chemicals. Urban: Again chemical pollutants are common but poor handling of human waste is also a major issue in most of our rivers and sea shore. But at least Greggs sells bottled water. All made easier if you select the appropriate non-weapon proficiency during character creation of course.