ApocalypseEquipped

Saturday, February 16, 2013

Review: First Strike - Snatch Bag-ii

A running joke at our place is whenever I come home with a new piece of kit, i get asked "its not another BAG is it???" This isn't a bad thing, I get a lot of support about both my prepper leanings and my avid collecting of gear (hi all my peers at GHA). It is however a fairly regular occurrence that I will start waving a new piece around and get the grins and eye-rolls as I say "but this one is DIFFERENT..."

Having had a look at a couple of other items by Oscar Delta Special Products, namely their Deep Carry Tube and SERE V-cutter SnakeDr sent me one of their new Type II First Strike "Snatch Bag" bags, which I've been looking forwards to putting to good use.

I've been thinking about going for beach-runs and bushwalks with pretty minimalist gear (I know, this has usually meant a 10kg daypack of "needfuls" in the past) but a recyclable shopping-bag just doesn't lend itself to an active lifestyle. This is where a bag like the Snatch Bag come in.

Here it is folded up, small enough to fit in a Platatac FUP pouch for storage.

When unfolded, the 36cm (14") by 50cm (20") bag is really very spacious. Made from official Crye Precision LLC, MultiCam® in 500D Cordura material. It has also been given a waterproofing treatment to adds to its already a rugged and resilient construction. The internal seams are taped and triple stitched giving an extremely stable and strong bag for its weight.

The shoulder straps are really good, and multifunctional. Two 2.10m (7') strands of OscarDelta's very fancy SERE Go-Cord 960 (Hybrid Technora), also in Multicam. Even the stitched webbing shoulder straps are Multicam, for all over colour and pattern matching. Great attention to detail..

The nylon eyelets give a very strong, silent and stable feed for the straps to run through, without putting extra bulk, or unduly straining the corners of the pack, as a sewn-in strap might.

No hook-and-loop, no clinking metal. This is a lean, mean storage unit!

Internally, a rip-stop nylon divider panel gives you two separate compartments, without adding extra bulk,and you can see there are three green internal loops, (two in the edge seams, and a bigger on at the back of the lip. Loops like this give you attachment points for dummy-cord, karabiners or Grimlock clips, as well as a means to hang the pack as the need arises.

Here you can see a closeup of the heat sealed GO-Cord, along with the eyelet and the ITW Nexus twin-hole spring-locks which are a really simple, and unusual cord management system. I liked its elegance, and of course, it's metal-free.

The draw string closure of the bag is strong and dependable, having twin cords forming this really helps, and there is a feeling of dependability to it. The drawstring stitching is snug and held tight throughout some vigorous tugging and rough handling, even whilst loaded up.

Here is the load seen in the bag above, a "going for a beach-run for a few hours" pack. Perhaps too much stuff, but I'm notorious for that.

My CAOS admin pack, by Nulu Nylon Gear, Zombie Squad 1L Nalgene, a take-away container of food, my running shorts and shirt, and a Sea-To-Summit microfiber towel.

This probably doesn't represent a well-thought out "bug-out-bag" loadout, but it does represent one of the key elements of "snatch-bag philosophy". This is what I had on hand when I pulled out the bag to take photos, and needed to fill it up -right now-, in a "this, this, this, this and that" fashion. No messing around with intricate pouches and MOLLE pouches, just grab and move.

This bag does exactly what it is designed to, it is simple, stowable, deployable and comfortable to load up and get out there with. The over all construction is tremendous (although I did notice the shoulder-strap webbing edges were unfinished, perhaps this was done on purpose to add to friction, or maybe I was just lucky enough to get a rough-and-ready per-production model (I love those!).

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Events: Tough Mudder #2 Melbourne 2013

I ran the Tough Mudder again this year, January 19th, which was a lovely sunny, breezy day here in Melbourne.

The event was held at the Phillip Island Raceway again, which lays an hour and a three quarters drive from Melbourne, and backs onto the Bass Strait. I had only recently been given the all clear from the ankle troubles of late last year, and had not had a lot of preparation, baring three or four runs, of 2 - 5km, so I wasn't sure about how I would cope, not only with my ankles, or my general lack of CV fitness as a result of my injury, the prednisone treatment (25mg daily, dropping 5mg each week to wean away).

Regardless, I had booked in, and was raring to go. I had tried to drum up interest from the folks I ran with the previous year, but no takers (although it turns out, a couple did the event as it happens).

For those who don't know what the Tough Mudder is, it is a 20+km endurance challenge, with 25+ military inspired obstacles. The events run world-wide, in all conditions, and feature some signature obstacles, namely, lots, and lots of mud, electrical wire filled corridors, and pools swimming under barriers, ice filled pools and all manner of climbing, crawling, and of course, running. I hate running.

The above pics are me before the race, in my running kit, pretty much the same outfit that I wore for the previous endurance event I did, the Stampede with the First Spear OAGRE vest, with my Source 3L bladder in the back, and snap-fixed to the 5.11 Tactical TDU belt, keeping the vest snug to me and my TAD Amphibious Shorts with my trusty Blackhawk! kneepads, which were again, a real bonus, so, "i told you so" to all the scoffing runners out there. You can see me, fresh from the Arctic Enema/Chernobyl Jacuzzi ice bath and dunk, fishing a couple of ice-cubes out from my kneepads. I also wore my iPhone, in its SLXtreme case mounted in the Platatac PRR pouch I got specifically for the event. On my head I wore one of my caps, which I had modified to carry a picatinny rail, in order for me to mount my Contour GPS helmet-cam to, via the Strikemark adapter I have. I also added a chin-strap to the cap, to help deal with the added weight of the camera, which seemed to work pretty well. I wore one of the Under Armour t-shirts from the previous Tough Mudder and my Ironclad gloves.

I also swapped out boots, having put my Altama's into retirement and for this event, I wore my Bates Delta-8's which really held up well, and cleaned up tremendously.

Here's one of me having scaled a 2m "Berlin Wall" and torn my number off in the process. Lesson learned, bring my own safety pins or lashing system. Their little pins were ineffective!

This is me and my running-mate, #7819 :) doing the SHINBASHI salute after coming over the Bale Bonds.

She and I knew each other socially, and upon hearing my interest in a running-mate, signed up, regardless of trepidation and obstacle-shyness. Far better a runner than I, we kept a good pace, she kept me going on the straights, and I helped her along on the climbing, jumping and swimming, crawling and squelching.

She started the race with a black headscarf to match her all-black running slicks. I was referring to us as "day-ops" and "night-ops". My gear was already mud-coloured, and my head higher up, so don't think that I was getting away unscathed ...

We did the course in just under 4 hours, I felt that it was actually a lot easier this year, even without all the extensive running I did prior to the previous events. This may be in no small part to mental preparation, and experience. There were no "I haven't done it before" nerves. I made it over every obstacle on my own steam, climbed every wall, made it across the slippery monkey-bars, made it up the Everest half-pipe on my first run. I was rally pleased with not only my pace, but the speed I overcame the obstacles in my path, but also how I was able to help me fellow Mudders.

Here I am, following the event, having stripped off the OAGRE, sporting my celebratory headband, and working up the guts to pull my boots off. Not a blister, or scratch, but a lot of grit and muddy water. It turned out that the time-lapse application I had hoped to run on my iPhone hadn't begun, but the SLXtreme and PRR combination had worked like a dream. The Picatinny rail I had mounted the Contour cam on needed to be at more of a down-angle, I took a lot of 3/4 sky footage, but see below for my links.

I dinged my shin whilst hurdling a log, and gave myself this exciting bruise on the back of my left thigh. Last year I had two of these, one on the back of each thigh. This year I pegged the moment when I got it ... scaling one of the 4m Berlin Walls, lesson learned? major muscle groups do not make good leavers!

A great event, a good challenge, and certainly a good conditioning and preparation experience.

Will I do it again? hells yes. As many, and as often as I can manage.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Wish Lust: Geigerrig Tactical Guardian hydration pack

Following on from this years SHOT show, I saw a link from the guys at Soldier Systems, reporting from the OR (I presume that stands for Outdoor Recreation, or something to that effect) on a really cool hydration system.

The Geigerrig comapny have a rather unique offering, with a pressurized hydration system. This system involves having a bladder with a hand pump (like the kind Dr's use to take your blood pressure on a elbow collar) to pump air into the bladder, squirting it out of the bite-valve.

This is the Guardian model, which I fell in wish-lust with ....

It features a 2L (70oz) bladder (although they do offer a 3L bladder as well) which has fittings for drinking tube and pressurization tube which are both quick-release valved, and offers a slide-top for easy filling and cleaning. Skanky hydration bladders are no-ones friend!

Better yet, they have a variety of carriers for these bladders, all designed to contain the pressure, and give you a secure, continuous pressure water-source.

The fabric of the carrier is a light and rugged 500D Cordura, with PALS/MOLLE strips on top and bottom, six D-ring attachment points for lashing it your pack, vest, plate carrier or what-have you, should you decide to forgo the built in (but stowable) pack straps.

Twin compression straps add to the pressure and stability of your water-load, but the real magic here is the hard nylon "guardian plate" which backs the carrier. This was the real magic for me, as it offers something that I've noted was missing, a slick, hard backing to my hydration carrier. I am very happy with my Platatac Bravo but I found that when on Tough Mudder, crawling through pipes and under netting, and barbed wire, that it caught on occasion, as well as getting in and out of vehicles with it, a slick turtle-back would be a great advantage to both toughness, and drag-reduction.

Couple this with the in-line cyrpto and virus filters and you have a very resilient, functional pressurized hydration system. Hydrate, wash wounds, clean goggles all on the bounce, from a secured and armoured platform!

What's NOT to lust after?

Saturday, February 9, 2013

Home Front: Disruptive Thinking

Some recent events have spurred me to thoughts of preparation, self preservation and looking to become a little more self-dependent. The idea of thinking "outside the box" has always been very appealing to me. Doing the same thing, the same way over and over may work, but not having other means is a sure fire path to being caught out when situations change. Alternate strategies, and more than that, alternate thinking is required.

This patch is a great reminder of this, from SnakeDr and Last Ditch Kit and is a visual demonstration of how to overcome adversity, from new angles. Not being boxed in by expectations!

Disruptive thinking is another aspect of preparation that is often overlooked in the light of the shiny toys, kit and gear. In the event of disaster, a lot of common curtsey, and everyday thinking suddenly becomes fairly irrelevant. Getting in and out of places, getting away from threats, and facing them directly, these are all occasions where this is a distinct advantage. In my martial arts, one aspect of training is around the idea of concentration, and focus, and how to disrupt your opponents focus, and concentration. the kiai we shout, both acts to focus ourselves, but also to break and disrupt our opponent. The concept of seme of mentally putting pressure on your opponent is also key. Disrupt your enemies. Disrupt any opposition. And always, as this picture indicates ... know your exit strategy.

There is another aspect to all this. This is probably more in keeping with the rest of my blog thus far. Being prepared, being kitted out, and having a good stash of EDC gear, a cache of Bug-In supplies, a Bug-Out-Bag, or whatever, but without the nonce to actually DO something, when the need arises, it wont count for much.

This patch, from my friends at HORNEST bears their motto, Tempori servire meaning "adapt to the situation". One must always be flexible enough take advantage of the situation, to make best use of your skills, equipment and disposition, whilst at the same time

Disrupt your oppositions thinking.
Stay out of the Box.
Adapt to your Situation.

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Apocalypse Equipped Morale Patch

I'm really proud to announce that I have my own patches now available!

I previewed them in draft form a little while ago, and I have a batch of 200 just in from Platatac Custom Orders.

Expect to see a PayPal button some time soon, I'm looking at $5 including local shipping ... let me know what you think!

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Review: Chicken nipples

No, there's no great punchline here ... just .... chicken nipples .... or perhaps better to say, "gravity-locking beak-activated water dispenser". Either way, these are some very cool additions to my urban homestead that has dramatically improved the hydration levels, and water quality that my chookens are getting.

These valves are sold by the chicken keepers supply company CC Only as a part of their extensive poultry supply catalog. They have a wide variety of poultry farming supplies, but these little watering devices caught my eye after a post on the American Preppers Network.

The magic of the valve are the twin pins and ball bearing between them.

When screwed into place with the threaded end, the ball bearing and top-pin presses down on the top of the bottom pin, forming a seal. When the bottom pin is jiggled, it moves the ball bearing, breaks the seal, and allows a dribble of water to flow. Once the jiggling ceases, so does the flow of water.

The bottom pin has considerable freedom of movement which means that the chookens can poke and peck at it from whatever angle their little chooken heads come at it.

In fact, within minutes of placing these out for ours to drink from, they had worked it out and have not gone thirsty since installing them.

This layout was my first iteration, which featured a simple clear bucket, without even a lid, but it did allow me to judge how much water was in it, to guage any leakage, as well as how much the chookens were drinking.

One of the things CC Only were quite clear on is ensuring that the connection was secure.

Drilling a hole in the bottom of the bucket was simple enough, and with a dab of pipe-sealant to close any gaps, the system was pretty easy to set up. The real trick is to ensure the hole is the right diameter, there is adequate material for the thread to bite into, and sufficient sealant to prevent dripping.

I have just recently replaced the plastic bucket with a repurposed baby-food tin with a lid, to stem evaporation and also to reduce the weight , as this big bucket got quite heavy to haul when full. Working with a metal base added a little more difficulty in the fitting, as it wasn't as forgiving as the plastic, but is a longer lasting solution.

These were a great addition to my urban homesteading venture, my chookens have had un-fowled water (hyuk-hyuk) and I think they are a little more entertained with having something to peck at for their water.

Friday, February 1, 2013

Review: ITS / Zulu Nylon Gear skeletonised bottle carrier

One of my Giftmas presents has gotten a good workout, and as it turns out, this was another of my wish-lust items that was realised. Ive been using a much loved Platatac FUP to carry my poor battered 1L SIGG for the last few years, and its been a great fit, giving shade and some protection to boot.

However, There was something delightful in the lines and modularity in the ITS / ZuluNylonGear collaborative effort of their
modular skeletonized container sling.

Finally getting my paws on one, I wanted to show you just how modular, and hardy this sling is.

Here you can see it strapped to the front of the helmet carrier of my Bullock Echo daypack, where the FUP had previously sat. Plenty of room to attach it again, should I want a double-bottle setup, and still room for the SAR Global Tool Eclipse signal system tag.

The coyote colour was a nice match to the Platatac Khaki that most of my gear is, and it certainly blends smoothly.

Here is where the magic really is. The 1L Nalgene bottle is a pretty wide load, too wide for my Platatac FUP (although they do have the WUP, expressly designed to fit this bottle) The ITS sling is modular, in that it can be adjusted to fit almost any container. You can see here the interface between the two "arm" straps and the base strap, which is sandwiched and locked into place by the hook-and-loop layers.

The elastic shock-cord bottle retainer loop is initially fed through the top of three channels available, which I've indicated here with zip-ties. I like that I can use these to drop down the loop to retain other containers, be they bottles, can or jars, They also offer attachment options for dummy-cording items to the sling, lids, filters, funnels or cups, if needed.

Lastly, the four channel, one row PALLS/MOLLE attachment at the back is more than adequate to attach, fix and carry a fully laden 1L bottle, both on a pack or by manipulating the channels to act as a belt-loop, on the hip.

As with the Zulu Nylon Gear CAOS admin pouch this is a bang-up piece if kit. Rugged, modular and multifunctional, just the way I like, and just what I hoped it would be. Wish-Lust made reality!

Friday, January 25, 2013

Review: Strike Industries - Simple Plate Carrier

This is a really interesting piece of multifunction kit. Strike Industries, in conjunction with J Tech Gear have come up with a multifunction plate carrier, that doubles as a carry case for a laptop. They did my Sling Catch, and Picatinny vertical sling mount
so I've been keeping an eye on their new developments, and was only too pleased to see this cool piece become available, and to receive one!

This might seem like an unusual combination, but considering the kinds of products on the market now in the US to attempt to protect kids from the alarmingly frequent mass-shootings at schools, the idea of having every-day items with the potential for containing armour is not new. In Australia, we are lucky to have pretty low rates of weapon related violence, but, being prepared for disaster, even the personal and human initiated kind, is what this blog is about. This is the Simple Plate Carrier, and it is anything but merely "simple"...

I've talked about what I use as a plate-substitute before, when reviewing my Platatac MAC rig, and whilst not ballistic protection, I have again included Polyethylene cutting boards, shaped to the right size.

These not only give me the rigidity and bulk of plates, but I figure that they would also afford me some stabbing, cutting and blunt force trauma protection. Perhaps not as cool looking as a set of Mad Max tire armour, but far more modular, lighter and functional. I have a 34cm x 24cm (13 1/2" x 9 1/2") board in the front internal pocket here, which closely mirrors the SI Plate that Strike industries offers

The back compartment houses both my 15" MacBook Pro, a spare battery, and my iPad.

The rugged cordura-type nylon material of the case is very well stitched, with reinforced seams and bartacking on all the attachment and stress points, without being heavy, stiff or bulky. The wide webbing of the strapping is fixed at the upper edge with vertical fastex type buckles, and at the bottom edge with horizontal buckles of the same type and more importantly, size. Lastly, and this was a big point of interest for me, the back of the carrier features a sewn in handle, laying flush with the back, to turn the whole thing into a modern buckler if needed ....

I found that the laptop charger didn't fit very neatly in the case (it formed a bulge where the plug sat) but because the front of the carrier has three rows of PALS/MOLLE, including two side-by-side and covered in loop-pile, for patches, ID tabs and the like, I was able to affix one of the black Platatac FUP pouches I have, and give myself some extra storage capacity, with out bulking the carrier up too much, or making it too obviously a piece of MIL-SPEC type kit. There is a second panel on the lid flap for a flag-size patch. Depending on how big and full your carrier gets, there may be a third loop-filed exposed, for even more patch-goodness, here's my AFT's Jungle Recon extolling the love of his job...

And here is how the shield handle works, from behind. The main strap is wide enough to give a good bunched grip, knuckles flat against the back of the pad. Because of my very long forearms, by elbow poked out a little of the back when I stand "en guard", so I gave an alternative hold a shot, with my hanad gripping one shoulder strap, arm looped through the hand-hold and the other strap over my elbow.

Both seemed to feel pretty good, and with advantages and disadvantages according to the style of defense used.

When carrying the unit around, I tended to sling the the shoulder strap such that the entire carrier sat under my arm, rather than behind me.

This meant that I could bring the other strap up and over my opposing shoulder, to drop the carrier into the classic "front pack" configuration.

"Nice Target" you might say, about the patch, well, as Batman and the Punisher have said in their respective comics, "I cant armor my face" (although, these days this isn't as true. )

So here I am striking a pose, Simple Plate Carrier as a shield, with my trusty S&W Tactical Pen as my on-hand "please don't make my use this" incentive.

You can see that my elbow hangs out, but when taking a better "buckler and dagger stance" this would be less of an issue. with a combination of the polyethylene cutting board, the laptop and the material of the carrier itself, this was a substantial and solid barrier to put between my vitals and someone without my best interests at heart. All in a package I can happily carry about day to day.

One of the great things about this carrier's design is that the shoulder straps, being all of the same design, can be swapped from position to position. Instead of a "backpacks/frontpack" style carry, simply by changing the straps from top-to-bottom, to top-to-top and bottom-to-bottom, giving you an "around the neck, around the waist" configuration.

All the straps feature a slide adjustment and an elasticised loop to secure loose ends.

This is the classical "Plate Carrier look" and it's a little more conspicuous, but certainly more secure. Wearing the carrier in "frontpack" style, when leaning forwards, it was occasionally tricky keeping the carrier in place, unless I had another pack on my back pinning the straps in place. Good for backpacking and travel in unusual and possibly insecure places, but not full-time.

For the best performance and security, over-the-neck is the way to go.

I've been looking for a means to carry a laptop about. My CSI folder is awesome, and it carries my iPad about in safety, either inside, or slipped beside it in my Bullock Echo daypack, but the Simple Plate Carrier offers the modularity of a inconspicuous armor carrier for a little urban insurance, as well as a means to carry a laptop, and an iPad around safely and securely.

I felt there wasn't much padding for the bottom edge and sides of the laptop compartment, but that was easily solved after-market with a sheet of closed cell-foam. I really liked the lines, and as always, the multifunctionality of the carrier really appealed to me.

Just be sure to remember that neither the iPad or MacBook's are bulletproof .... not to mention cutting boards .... be safe, be equipped and know the limitations of your gear...

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Home Front: Summer Harvests

We've had good fortune with our crops this summer, the front veggie patch has had good light, and we've been keeping on top of the watering when it has been hot. The reward has been a bumper crop of tomatoes, and some edible corn. Last years corn turned out to be the actual variety used to make popcorn. Looked great, couldn't be eaten after boiling. (To be fair, it does pop really well, we still have some of it left).

However, last years crop of tomatoes, those that survived the Triceratops Girl arrival cull (she would pick and gobble several each time she came through the gate) and our own cooking needs, we dried and eventually bottled in olive oil and herbs. This jar however was met by Tactical Baby's early display of evil, when after accidentally knocking off a jar of herbs from the bench, she grabbed my glass jar of precious dried tomatoes, tossed and smashed them too.

Lesson learned, this years produce will be canned into one of the small Dead Person Jars.

I use an electric dehydrator, for the speed and simplicity that offers, and the Fowlers Vacola - Ultimate Dehydrator 4000 is well suited the the task. This batch filled two of the four trays, and filled a third of a 1L DPJ.

We have another couple of meals worth of corn, if they haven't dried out too much in the heat, but even if they have, the rabbits and chickens will enjoy them.

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

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.

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Review: Ranger Eyes

I've been fascinated by glow in the dark products since I was a little coyote pup, and have had no end of fun with them. From ceiling stars to a Swiss Army Knife, I'm a sucker for that pale green glow. I've passed this joy on to Triceratops Girl, who got a SARGlobalTool Moon Glow disk for Giftmas, to go with her dinosaurs. Then comes the Ranger Eyes / Cats Eyes patches concept. Traditionally I've read, Ranger Eyes have been used to help identify friend from foe during night missions, before the prevalence of IR NVG and reflective tape and certainly in lower-tech and power consumption conditions, (and where legally difficult to obtain) there these patches make it easier to follow members of your group under the cover of darkness.

I thought I might quickly showcase some of my collection of ranger eye patches, which I exposed to the Australian summer sun for about 2 minutes (rather than the recommended ten) to take these quick shots in the equipment closet at work. At the top left and right, my Giftmas present ITS skull logo patches. These were a lot thinner, and made of a white rather than green glowing polymer. The didn't quite have the intensity of the other patches, but that's a good thing some times. in the center, the HorNest logo patch which was larger, and by far the brightest. In the bottom corners, the TAD logo and DogPatch Ranger Eyes. I lost one Dog Patch x-bones patch somewhere along the lines, but I really like these little guys.

I currently have the HorNest patch on my 215Gear Ultimate Riggers Belt, the ITS patches sitting on the ZuluNylonGear CAOS Admin pouch which in turn rides atop my BullockEcho daypack, giving me another piece of "see me walking" visual aid from behind. The two TAD patches ride on my 25th Anniversary Platatac Cap and again, give me some "out and about" visual options.

I've found these patches really good when I have stayed over at friends and needed to find my gear (or my pants) in the dark, late at night, or early in the morning .....