Can anyone tell me what gear to include in a mess tin size pouch taking into consideration GB's weather and terrain.

that depends on what you normally carrier with you, but british weather calls for rain protection ( poncho )and thermal protection/shelter ( survival bag,mylar blanket,etc. ). so carry that in case you didnt already carrier it. <br>usually carriered with a mess tin are: a stove of some kind, fuel, something to egnite it with and food ( boulion cubes, buter, peanut buter,etc. ). the rest of the contents depend what on what the purpuse of the kit is.. a stand alone kit or do you use it with some other kit ?

Bearing in mind that england is a mixture of farm land hills andwoodland.<br><br>The belt pouch would be an addition to my psk and would hold the bulkier kit.<br>a list of the items can be found if you run a search on survival kits.<br><br>the pouch would be incase I lost my rucksack whilst out hill walking (I like to go for longer than just a day)

There was a case when my mother was a climber where 2 people were caught out on the hills. The sar team went to look for them but had to turn back because of the weather.<br>The weather was poor for several days.<br><br>A couple of months later the bodys were found frozen solid. They'd been buried under the snow. gives you some idea of how bad the weather can be even though they weren't that far from the nearest village

I personly carry a mess tin set (2 tins), a hexi stove, a lighter, film pot of lifeboat matchs, AAA maglight, some rations, survival blanket, spoon.

Lofty Wiseman in his book "SAS survival handbook" gives some good tips on a survival pouch. I can tell you what he said when I have moved and can un-pack all my books. <br><br>One good thing to carry with you is a mini wash kit. Suprised? Well being able to brush my teeth and having a fresh breath has always been a great way to keep up my morale.<br>reinhardt

Lofty Wiseman said:<br>Pouch, Hexi Stove and fuel, Penflares, Mess tin, Pencil sized torch, Marker panel ( fluorescent strip, 1 x 6 ft), Matches in waterproof container, Brew kit, Food (tube of butter, dehydrated meat, chocolate, Salt tablets or electrolight powder), survival bag

Reinhardt:<br><br>May I humbly suggest:<br><br>Proper planning plus preparation prevents [censored] poor performance <br><br>Sincerely,<br><br>Milestand (Obsessive Detail Guy)

Heres what I include in mine.A swiss army knife,signal mirror,whistle,small flashlight,matches,flint fire starter,small first aid kit,pocket size survival guide,candle,rope,fishing kit,poncho,emergency blanket,sewing kit,cotton for fire starting,candy,water tablets,and food bars. Hope this helps

Put 2 Packets of Book matches in a small reseable plastic bag which will measure 2x3 inches and you can do away with the flint.<br>

Why would anyone carry a stove when rocks are so prevalent??

Amen Brother. Been there and done that.<br><br>Mariner.

I disagree I find flint firestarters to be much more reliable than paper matches and you can light more fires with them.

rocks don't tend to have a very good base for mess tins/metal mugs. A lot of the rocks in the UK tend to be porous anyway.

I agree to disagree :o) The flint rod, metal match or whatever you want to call them are the best thing since tender. If all you have is a book of paper matches, even several books in the same place, you might find yourself without fire. I've ruined many, many books of matches from heat condensation while hiking or working. You should carry more than one form of igniter and tender anyways. That way if one fails, you have another. Typically, I carry at least 3 methods of firestarting with me, but not all in the same location. That way if I lose or damage one, I have another to fall back on. Same with signal capabilities, water carry and purification, as well as knives. When I combine my kits I also have more than one type of shelter with me. It pays to back up your most needed items. You just never know what will happen to your primaries when the chips are down.

1/4" x 2" ferrocerium rod. ~ 7000 strikes. ~ $3.00. Is it worth a second thought ? Book matches are rendered useless by the slightest dampness in my experience. The reliability and longevity of the ferrocerium rod is unmatched IMHO.

You type pretty good for a guy who froze to death ;-)

i don't carry a PSK in the conventional sense and haven't done for years but when ever i go into a "wilderness" area i do carry a pouch that is just a little bit bigger than a mess tin pouch, so i guess you could say that this is my PSK, the contents do vary a bit but this is what's in there pretty much constantly. <br>small "billy" can (about 1250ml capacity),<br>1 litre platypus,<br>paracord<br>braided fishing line (i'm not sure what test this is, i'd guess about 100lbs),<br>matches in a waterproof container (these are just normal "strike anywhere" matches),<br>swedish firesteel,<br>opinel folding knife,<br>small sharpening stone (i will get round to upgrading this one day),<br>fishing kit,<br>a couple of candles,<br>tinder (this changes pretty much all the time, usually it's a mixture of chared cotton and stuff that i've picked up on the trail),<br>small first aid kit,<br>water purifying tablets,<br>a few yards of snare wire.<br>i think that's about it, there's bound to be something i've forgotten but that's basically what i carry. i should probably say that i would always combine this kit with a poncho and liner, a british army water bottle and steel mug, and a mora knife knife with another firesteel.<br>IMHO knowledge is much more inportant than kit, our ancesters managed pretty well and they'd never even heard of a PSK, instead they carried with them the knowledge to provide themselves with all the necesseties for life just by using what they could find in their environment, i think we could learn a lot from them. <br><br>take it easy.<br><br>stuart

damm ditchfield, now I can´t post it (sigh)<br>

Milestand,<br>thanx but I think I'll leave it like this (7p's is enough for me) as I got it from the book "Bravo Two Zero".<br>reinhardt

One item I'm giving consideration to is the fishing kit universal. that is issued to our military. Anyone used one of these?

No. My mother was a climber at the time and used to help out with sar. I wasn't even borne then.