Good Evening Ladies and Gents; I did a search, but didn't find this question addressed. I work at a trauma center in the Bronx as a nurse. I work in OR scrubs. I would guess that most of us wear a "uniform" at work. I would also guess that these clothes would not be our first choice if we were suddenly thrust into a situation ( you fill in the blank ) in which we are subject to the "rule of threes" and the clothes on our backs must serve as our only shelter as least for the imediate future in the worst case senario. I know I'm preaching to the the true belevers, but if you can only gaurantee access to what you have on your person right now, and most of us don't/ can't go thru life "dressing for success", how do you all do this? What kind of access do you have; home/ car/ under your desk and how do you organize it (eg. some remedial protection in your Edc, more in your BOB, still more in the trunk of the car and some representation in your long term pack? What are your choices; Wool/ waxed canvas or synthetics and why? Thanks in advance! Respectfully; Jim

Well, I'm lucky. The computer geek "uniform" is jeans or BDUs, ankle boots or tevas with wool socks, and we all carry jackets becuase a happy server lives somewhere with the air conditioning around 40 degrees. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Basically, what you do is stash an overnight bag in your car and at least a sweatshirt and real shoes at your desk. Do the superman thing, but skip the phone booth (IF you can find one).

As for what to take, I think all of us are less than thrilled with cotton for cold and wet weather, but after that, you use what works for you. There is no "one right choice". Wool is good, but heavy, bulky and pricey, and a lot people it doesn't agree with. Polypro and similiar "fleeces" aren't as effective as wool is when wet, and have a horrible habit of melting. Silk is pricy, a pain to maintain, some people think it feels icky. Tight fiting nylon doesn't wick as well as silk, likes to melt when too close to the fire, and some people think it feels icky. Leather weights a ton, and is maintence intensive. Goretex is noisy and doesn't work quite as well advertised. And so on and so forth. Pick the one who's downsides you are less worried about and use it for a while. After that, you'll know what works for you.

And THAT is the first lesson of gear selection. You aren't buying for a couple million guys, you are buying for you and maybe your family. Pick the gear you like and can afford.

Or maybe a better way of answering this is to ask a question- what have you already tried and liked, and under what conditions? That, right there, is the best place to start.

I work in a pretty relaxed enviroment, so just as long as I'm wearing something that covers all the important parts and doesn't have foul language all over it, I'm all good. Im a huge fan of thrift stores, so much so that I'm starting to be shocked at the price of new clothes that I probably wouldn't have thought twice about a few years ago.

I really like wool: it doesn't melt, is plenty warm, looks good. I've gotten several Bannana Republic sweaters that are either cashmere or merino wool, or a blend with silk, all for just a few dollars each. Even thought they're "Dry Clean Only" I just wash in the machine on Delicate and air dry.

If it will be cold/windy/rainy then I'll add a nylon windbreaker over the top of the wool mid-layer.

Wool pants are a little bit harder to find sometimes, but I've got a few dress pair that are 100% wool and serve me well. But I usualy wear Dickies, or something similar when I'm working around the house, or doing maintenance at work (my second hat). I find the cotton/poly blend to dry fast enough, even in a light drizzle, and has good wear resistance. I haven't yet tested if the poly content causes this type of material to melt, or burn, so maybe I'll have to sacrifice a pair that doesn't fit too well anymore to the fires of science. Anyway, it is similar matterial to the 50/50 poly/cotton cold weather BDUs.

I recently picked up some 5.11 pants at a thrift store nearby. One pair of lightly used (if at all) 100% cotton canvas cargo pants, and several pairs of 100% polyester uniform pants (Class A that look like nice slacks, and Class B which add cargo pockets), brand new with tags.

The cotton canvas pants have been great in the workshop and around town here in the summer, but I'll probably shelve them when it starts to rain. The polyester pants are good to, but I melted a hole in one knee from sliding across the floor during an intense game of ping-pong. I think I'll just cut off the legs of that pair and turn them into shorts. I think these will be my winter pants, mostly because they repel a little bit of water before it starts to soak in, and even then they dry really quick.

Socks, shoes, and underwear are the only items I consistanly find myself buying at real retail establishments, or online if the price is right.

Socks are extreemly important to me, but it is the same basic principle with everything else. Wool if I can, but if I know I'll be sloging through water on a given day I'll go with nylon dress socks - thin if it's warm, thick if it's hot. Underwear too, althought I don't have any wool currently. Cotton boxers if warm and dry, or if I'll be working where there is any chance of fire. Poly boxer-briefs if it's cold/wet.

All that said, if I was working in scrubs, I'd at least have a wool pull over, a light windbreaker, and a pair of Dickies in a small bag that I could stash at work. Maybe an extra pair of socks and underwear and few personal hygene items and you'd be ready to spend a night or two on someone's couch and not look too bad on the other side.

Greetings Gents: Thankyou for your responses and kind considerations. My reason for posting was primarily to see how other people did this and also to engender thought. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think most people give enough thought to the roll their clothing choices can play in their in their survivabillity. Sometimes our clothing choices are dictated by the place we work or by the society we frequent. For example, don't think it would work to wear the colthes I wear while practicing skills in the south 40 to the Bronx ( or maybe I'd blend right in <img src="/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />) The question is what are your choices and why and logisticly, how do you accomplish this. Just looking for better ways to do things and to learn or maybe teach? Thanks; Jim

Good question.

Two scenarios -- one is walking home, which would require warmer, tough, water proof layers and good shoes

two is staying on at work for 3-7 days. That would reguire a change of clothing or washing.

I'd pack a small duffel with spare shoe, socks, and layers for warmth, plus a jacket for the appropiate season.

Teacher

Wear what you have to, and keep a bag in the car, it's the only option. I carry a pair of grey fatigues in my car, with a pair of wool long johns. A tshirt, a wool shirt and a rolled up poncho with liner. Two pairs of socks. I also keep a spare pair of work clothes in there, a pair of sweat shorts, a small light weight blanket and shave-and-shower stuff, in case I have to crash on a friend's floor some reason.

Most "problems" last 24 hours. It's easier bugging a friend than sleeping in the car, and warmer. And if it goes longer, well, that means I can clean (some of them are worse slobs than I am :P ).

sock's, sock's and more sock's. Underwear as well. I can put up with the same shirt if I have to. Same sock's & pants? Noooo.......
I have found that polycotton walking trousers are to be prefered over jeans pretty much anywhere. Loose fitting top layer(s). Wind or waterproof as needed. Oh, yes. One other point - Any friend who left me in the cacky when I can't get home would be off the friendship list real quick.

Beware the full synthetics. They not only melt, but stick to the skin and burn the whole time until they cool.

Lot of guys in Iraq were clamoring for the synthetic, wicking t-shirts, shorts and socks (CoolMax, UnderArmor, etc. ) because of the heat and the tendency of cotton to stay wet with perspiration causing chafing and other skin problems. I guess there were a few instances where soldiers wearing synthetic skivvies had them instantaneously melt in an explosion, causing severe burns over a large area of the body. There's a letter on the subject from a Marine here.

And it isn't just your casual encounter with an IED that's a problem. I recently had to take an NFPA Electrical Safety class for the job where we were told to always wear cotton underneath anything synthetic when working around electrical enclosures. The arc and resulting plasma cloud from a serious fault has the same effect as a bomb.

Also, when I took an MSF motorcycle safety class many years ago, we were told that a nylon jacket is pretty good for abrasion resistance (preventing roadrash), but to make sure it's lined because the heat from friction will eventually melt it and it will stick to the skin.

Synthetics are fantastic for a lot of activities, just wanted to make sure people were aware of the downside.

Good evening gents; My preferences is for Merino wool undies, Merino wool mid layer(s), and either waxed cotton or wool outer with Smartwool socks. Good boots for three season (working on a pair of White's Smoke Jumpers) and white Micky mouse boots or LL Bean boots for winter. Mores Kochansky likes nylon outerlayer,Chris Jankowsky (RIP) likes 60-40 mtn parkas (good luck finding them) and mentions a parka with wolf ruff and hood lined in wolverine with 60-40 outer shell and lined with double layers of Thinsulate IIRC, And they both like dedicated rubber rain suits.As above, a wool watch cap, wool gloves and a wind shirt and other stuff in a small bag that supliments your on body EDC, more clothes in your BOB, a more complete selection of colthes in your car trunk, and a pre packed selection in your long term bag, all variable by season.This is not original to me, I adopted it from an article in the survival section on Outdoors Magazine.com and I don't see any reason to reinvent the wheel. How do you all do this, if you do this? PS getting oversized wool sweaters from the thrift is great; after you launder them in HOT water, they shrink to fit and you have a boiled wool sweater <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> I've been looking for a Dachstein sweater forever, I don't think there imported to the states?Thanks; Jim

How are you keeping your feet dry in mickey mouse boots? I tried them for a while and started working on a nice case of what I think was trench foot.

Either that, or they really weren't new (which they were marked as) and I inherited some really interesting foot fungus.