Home Front: membership

I've had some fun recently finding and joining up with some new organisations, for fun and education, licensing and commeradery.

I've been a member of the Victorian Kendo Renmei since 1998, and by association the Australian Kendo Renmei This has provided coverage under the Weapons Control Acts in Victoria for a number of items in my collection, as well as my practice of kendo and its associated arts.

To supplement that, and on top of my exemption by the Governor in Council as a bona fide collector, I also joined the Victorian Historical Edged Weapons Collectors Guild . I also signed up for my Paintball Marker License, after my run in with customs whilst trying to get parts to build a super cool looking lazer-tagger for the Stargate LARP I am involved in.



Then there are the more fun and exciting memberships. I've been a member of Immanent Threat Solutions Tactical for a couple of years now. They specialise in information, training and equipment to deal with, as the name suggests, Immanent Threats. From knot-work, to lock picking, survival navigation to urban threat assessment, as well as working with several groups of makers to produce some cool kit and reviews. I'm very pleased to be a part of their community, in my small way.

Zombease is a lot like my own writing, but specialising in Zombie Apocalypse scenarios. I really enjoy reading their content, Jake Sepulveda is a great guy, and I have enjoyed getting behind his line, and backing his projects.Try out the "Choose your own adventure" section and see how you go. Read all the guides first, and mentally equip yourself.



Zombie Squad is a philanthropic organisation dedicated to first response and support for ALL disasters, zombie or otherwise. They pride themselves on their mission to "educate the public about the importance of personal preparedness and community service, to increase its readiness to respond to disasters such as earthquakes, floods or zombie outbreaks."
I have been proud to help in their efforts to support the Hurricane Sandy relief drive (2012) and the Oklahoma Tornado relief drive (2013). Like Zombease, they also offer "zombie apocalypse" training and guides, but also apply these lessons to more mundane situations, for the benefit of their communities.

Lastly, and most recently added to my list of "professional associations"  in the field of Apocalypse Survival, is the Zombie Eradication Response Team. Who also offer real-world training for disaster preparedness, from a more martial perspective, that is an "organization that uses the Zombie as a metaphor for any one of numerous natural or man made disasters that have and will occur in our lives." I signed up and got some cool patches from them as well. I look forwards to connecting with other folks from "Squadron Q" (Australia) and maybe see you at an event.


I suppose my Health Informatics Association of Australia and Australian Society for Microbiology could also count ... I certainly keep an eye on the bulletins ...

Review: Zombie Outbreak - Trekker pack

Here is the second of the Zombie Outbreak packs that I was sent by Global Gear, a follow up of the Hydro-Bugout pack  I reviewed a little while ago.

This time it is a slightly larger and feature rich pack, the Trekker.

The first thing that struck me about this pack was the range of attachment points, it is simply covered in PALS/MOLLE loops, loop-fields, shock-cord loops, and that is before you even get to the compartments.

Made of the same cordura-like fabric as the Hydro-Bugout, one of the things that I noted with this pack was the significantly better stitching and finishing. The MOLLE loops were even and cleanly spaced, the loop fields were heat-sealed and the webbing was all seated much better.

I gave this one a bit of a workout at a recent indoor lazer-tag event, where i loaded it up with my gear, change of clothes, bottle and the like.

This 30L, 33cm  13"(W) x 53cm (21") x 13cm (5") pack is backed with a breathable mesh and features contoured shoulder straps with both D-rings and webbing loops for attaching accessories. The adjustable pectoral strap will slide up and down a fair way to give you a comfortable carry, and the webbing all mounts to the pack by secure looking construction. 

I liked that the drag-strap poked through the opening of the front flap, and was mounted to the back, rather than the top of the pack, it gave me better balance when picking the pack up, I felt.

The front of the pack features a very large flap, that covers over 1/2 of the front, and has a number of pocket (i'll talk about those a bit later. The whole thing covers the front of the pack, except for the interesting cut-up where the drag strap pokes out, and presumably where you could get grab-access to the internals of the pack without exposing it all, or run hydration tubes or comms lines.


From the side you can clearly see the five rows of two channel PALS/MOLLE webbing, along with the dual fastex-style buckles making up twin compression straps on the sides, allowing you to really cinch up the pack to keep it tidy.

You can also see just how far that front panel will extend, this being an unburdened and only lightly stuffed demo, if needed, that front panel could be buckled down way to the bottom of the front, giving you serious compression and packing minimalism.

I had a problem with the ends of the compression webbing coming loose and falling out of the buckles, mostly I assume because they weren't under tension, but also because of the way they were finished (a diagonal heat-cut, rather than a hemmed tab, but this was a minor inconvenience, as I didn't use them much.

The front panel features a pocket right on top,
with a "back-opening" zipper closure, and is itself topped with both a 2 row, 4 channel PALS/MOLLE field, but also a sizable loop-field for affixing patches (as I've done here with one of my TAD patches.

Below that, a zippered pocket opens up to fill the bottom of the flap. On top of that however, is an interesting addition. A shock-corded set of webbing-loops, over the top of another loop-field, and all of this is over a tube-like opening that runs horizontally below the middle set of loop-filed seen here under my "Zombie-Hunter" patch.

The whole front panel is closed and locked down by the really large buckle, which feeds through the front loops of the bottom of the pack.

Under that front flap there is another set of two-row, four channel PALS/MOLLE webbing, this time all loop-field equipped, below which are two more pockets opening up into separate compartments at the bottom of the pack.

The male section of the main front closing buckle is seen here, and this has webbing that feeds through yet another set of loop-field PALS/MOLLE straps, although these are broken up by the extra-wide buckle-strap, giving two sets of three by two loops.

The two main compartments open up beyond these.

The "front" compartment is the bigger of the two, with a full width, top to bottom space. It opens via double ended zippers, and will open all the way to the bottom when needed.You can see here the shiny backing of the fabric used throughout this pack. I don't now what it is, but it feels like some kind of thread-impregnated vinyl.

The internal materials (such as that seen in the large panel-pocket here) has a lightweight tent-feel to it.






The "back" compartment features a padded and hook-and-loop tabbed laptop compartment / hydration pouch/ plate carrier pouch.

This whole compartment only opens 3/4 of the way, ensuring that you don't spill all your needfuls, or that it is not dragged open by the weight of the forward compartment and pockets.

The twin sets of compression straps also act in your favor here, holding the pack open, whilst still giving you access, even when bulky items may hinder zipping it up.

All in all this is a decent pack. I liked the various options for mounting accessories, and the range of pockets throughout the outside, to stow smaller items, without having to open up the main compartments. The large over-flap was an interesting addition, and could almost certainly work like a beaver-tail to stow larger items.

Review: Zombie Squad 1L Nalgene bottle

I had a big fanboy moment when I looked up and joined the Zombie Squad, which apart from being a kick-ass zombie clearance and elimination organization is also a disaster preparation educational and response group, performing acts of goodwill and community welfare. I can totally get behind that.   Apart from that, and their awesome motto "Making dead things deader" they also have some great merchandise. One of these items was a logo'd Nalgene bottle, and I thought it was time I gave these renowned bottles a try.

Many of my long time camping friends have recommended them to me over the years, so I was keen to see what it was all about and compare them to my long standing love, my 1L SIGG bottle.  The main selling point seems to be the fact that it is made from the nearly indestructible  BPA free Eastman Tritan™copolyester, but for me the best feature, apart from holding a touch over 1L (32oz) is the extra wide lid.


This makes filling the bottle up with ice cubes, with powdered Power Thirst and makes cleaning a breeze. 

Being clear is also a real help when it comes to cleaning the bottle. Not only can you see if there is built up grot and grime on the inside, but it also allows light in, which is at least a help to keeping it clean.

The other good thing about the bottle being clear, is that along with it being nicely marked to indicate both mixing, proportions, it is also an indicator of how much you've had to drink and how fluid much you have left. The well fitting cap features a retention cap and ring, so no loosing when you are refilling from a stream.

Having been around for over 20 years, there are loads of pouches, filters and the like out there, and many packs will have built in pockets specifically sized to fit the bottles.


One more thing that sets the Nalgene apart is the versatility. Being all but unbreakable (my partner Anastasia tells me her dad still has the bottle that a Tasmanian Devil gnawed on, leaving tooth marks but not penetrating) makes it a good vessel for other uses than for water. One such example is this "paracord hammock in a bottle" project. With appropriate padding, I've been told they make an ideal impromptu storage and transport container for dedicate paleontological samples.

There are even pre-made "Survival kit in a bottle" sets with the 1L Nalgene as the basis, and of course, the good folks at TEOTWAWKI Blog have some helpful hints as to how to build your own. The extra wide lid comes into play here, as it gives you access to fill the bottle with your needful items.

So, this is a great bottle. It's light, strong, resilient, holds a goodly amount and in my case, bears a bitching slogan. I'm not retiring my SIGG, but this is certainly going in my EDC list.