So, I go into the local army surplus store to look for goodies.
After browsing around for a while, I've seen what there is to see, and am ready to make my purchase. As I hand the guy at the counter a brand new fifty, he looks from me to the stuff on the counter and back, and gives me an odd look. Wondering what's up, I look down at my items. Without giving anything a second thought, or really keeping track of what I had, I've ended up with a black watch cap, black glove liners, 100 MPH tape, 550 cord, a large duffel bag, and a black balaclava. It strikes me that these things put together might give the impression of unwholesome plans for the future. Paying with a large, factory fresh bill probably didn't do anything to discourage the idea. I hastened to assure him that the contents of my order were purely coincidental.

So, have any of you absently put together a purchase and later realized later that your various items, when put together, could easily give standers-by the wrong idea?

Buying several boxes of condom... ... before a photographic safari in Kenya....
Unlubricated, they were the best way to protect my different lenses from that african red dust, that goes inside every piece of gear, enters any case ...

Testing the load distribution of my ditch kit when I switched to a true chest rig- I started out with a one peice MAV, and had a half dozen pouches in ACU on it. (Not a fan of it, it looks like bad couch upholstry, but I got them cheap on eBay.) Road walk, at night, I have a state cop pass me. And turn around....

Yeah. People wonder why I like a lower profile. :P

"Wrong Impressions" are why I try to keep people from seeing the inside of my garage.

For low profile you need to dump anything that looks military surplus, specifically military camo when you aren't trying to hide. Some of it is good stuff, but there's good stuff in the civilian world too. That said, I like the looks of the MAV, may need to try one -- no ACU

Look here http://forums.equipped.org/ubbthreads.ph...=true#Post97067

I've swapped the black "water bottle" pouches for tan ones (almost matches), and move them to the ends so I can get to them better if worn as a buttpack, and there have been some changes to how the right hand pod is packed, but it is pretty much the same. I'm currently fussing with how to get a scraps of fleece onto Molle-type straps. Add two big "fly patchs" to the front of the front of this when worn on the chest, and now one will thing twice. Better camouflage than my traditional patches are, I'm thinking.

Just giggle quietly to yourself as you browse, puts them at easy every time.

A nice SpongeBob backpack perhaps?

I carry all my gear every day to work in a blue consumer hiking lumbar pack along with the de rigueur 1 liter nalgene and i never get a second look. There is a problem with the mall ninja look, black, camo or even desert tan, besides a lot of the consumer gear is lighter and better designed that the milspec or military style packs.

That would attract another type of negative attention

Point being, camouflage is trying to blend in with your environment so in a herd of fashionable wannabe athletes here in SoCal, a lumbar pack with nalgene blends in. As would a spongebob backpack in a primary school.

Agree -- the idea is to blend with whatever environment. My EDC backpack is a generic REI brand in forest green, no one looks at it twice. It carries daily use items, essentials and a lot of extra room for whatever else needs to be carried. A gray man dresses to be not noticed. That's a hard concept for some folks.

In response to:

"So, have any of you absently put together a purchase and later realized later that your various items, when put together, could easily give standers-by the wrong idea?"


I am parked downtown in a highly visible busy area.I'm just chilling out listening to the radio. I had taken a long walk earlier in the morning. Backpack is in the back seat.

Part of my pack gear is a good pair of Nikon binoculars. Since I have a backpack in my car and binoculars laying in plain sight
on my dashboard, I must be casing the stores, so the police asked me after someone called them to report me. Asked, "What's in the bag ?"

"My cooking stuff". While his partner covered the other side of my car, I opened my bag. "It's Snow Peak titanium".

"Hey that's pretty cool"
The police did their job...took my ID....ran a check. I have zero record.

I have lived here since 1980 and now I don't want to park there with binoculars visible ever again. Keep the backpack in the trunk. I've been profiled.

Many many years ago, for my hospital job, I was sent to an adult store to buy twelve 6" vibrators.

They were used on the backs of premature infants to help stimulate their breathing and help wean them off respirators. (For some reason the stock kept dissapearing and I was sent back again ....and again...

It's funny, but so true! I was at the hardware store when I realized that my list of seeming random items (rolls of duct tape, rope, crowbar, maglite, maglite upgrade kit, screwdriver set, etc.) must have looked like the "Deluxe Home Invasion Kit". My wife even freaked out when she saw the receipt.

I spend a little more time preparing lists to make certain that combinations of goods don't appear to be "creepy".

I was in charge of getting supplies for a church picnic and had planned on trying out my new deep frier with a couple nice turkeys we had thawed out. My wife stayed home making a dozen and a half fresh strawberry pies. So I went out to the store to get some peanut oil and a dozen cans of whipping cream. They were having a sale on tarps so I tossed a couple in the cart along with two huge jugs of peanut oil and whipping cream. On the way to the front I passed by the clearance table and picked up an outdoor twister game for the kids... The cashier nearly lost it when I mentioned it was for the church get together.

I laughed out loud at this one. The two jugs of peanut oil and the twister game would be enough to set me giggling.

Wow, that is hilarious! I was a premature infant myself (born 3 months early at 1 pound, 6 oz.) but whether that type of back therapy was used on me, my folks have never mentioned it!

See, I learn something new every time I come here.

My DD1 was also 3 months early, 1 lb 6 oz, and 12 inches long,,,I don't remember Steely Dan being around either!

Not the wrong idea...quite the right idea as a matter of fact...but I got a similar look to the one you were describing...

With girlfriend at my side, I was purchasing Cool Whip, rope and condoms.