A comment from the article - "the art of survival hasn't changed much in 50 years." - basically a true statement, and probably pretty conservative at that. It wasn't a whole lot different when your flintlock was a multipurpose item - useful for starting a fire as well as ringing down game.

I wonder why they specified 188 lb breaking strength Kevlar line? It is strong and light, but I understand Kevlar is tricky to tie knots in. I would be happy with plain old nylon mason's line for most uses....

They really need to talk to Doug in regard to proper components. They request a container that the components will not fit in. They also request that each item be in a bag with an easy open slit, which makes each item bigger. And a P38... Don't they use MRE's now as opposed to C-Rats?

John

THEY don't carry a PSK.
The SEALS just bring a fork and a spoon .. and EAT YOU !!!

HAHAHAHA!!!
Pete2

In Mother Russia, survival kit carry YOU in its pocket!

OK what is in the AF kit, got a link ?
That P-38 stumped me and so did the Multi-Tool
it seemed to have very limited functions.

I found a hardback copy of O'Grady's book in a used bookstore one day for $3. I opened it up and on the title page was his autograph.

"In Mother Russia, survival kit carry YOU in its pocket! "

NOW you're talking.
I want one of those :-)

Pete2

Would a UniMog constitute a good survival kit?

The fact that they say 300 units doesn't bother me- we've had several people use that number before (SecDefs, SecStates, POTUSes, past and present) when talking about DevGroup. But most guys build their own kit.

So a couple theories. One, someone realized there is no official survival kit and had horrors and these are being bought to be the official, issued items. But I've got a hunch and nothing to support it- something about this feels like a prepackage. Slinking in with a cover with no real gear beyond laptops, dark clothes, and not even as much as swiss army knife is relatively easy; then the weapons, E&E gear, and the big bundle of cash meets you there, either with help of someone at the embassy or an air drop or whatever.

As for the p38, yes, it's old. But there are lots and lots of places where I can get canned food much easier than wet pack, and if you are building your supplies from indigenous materials, you take what you can get. Besides, the p38 is one of my favorite multitools.

as Ironraven commented... I've used my "US Speaker" P38 more as a screwdriver or other tool than it has opened cans... today it is a nostalgia item...a rite of passage to open a C ratiion can of ham and lima beans, wrong side up to find a layer of cold ham fat....I've had one on a key chain since 1971, compliments of the chow hall at Torii Station, JSPC, Okinawa...