Stationed in Alaska, I had the temerity to critique some of our survival gear. The instructor produced a few examples of our Soviet/Russian brother's gear. It is generally robust and simple, but overall scared me to death and shut me up quickly.The book is a fun read. The few times I talked with Soviets in the fishing fleets we quietly traded gear. I imagine like anyone else there is a lot of non issue substitute standard <img src="images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />. Forget the knives. They consist of simple non locking pocket folders, The spetsnatz survival tool or the often abysmal AK47 bayonet. There are some very interesting knives beginning to trickle over, mostly based on the Finnish puukkos and knives made in the Gulags.