just 1

Tools and equipment to get the job done.
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The Soldier
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just 1

Post by The Soldier » Sun Jul 12, 2009 7:18 am

if you could only have 1 item to op with aside from camo and rations what would it be? mine would be a serated ka-bar or a swiss army knife.
"Every man dies, not every man truely lives"- William Wallace

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Xanatos
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Re: just 1

Post by Xanatos » Sun Jul 12, 2009 7:20 am

My Smith & Wesson HRT9B has gone with me on every op since I got it, never let me down. #1 on my kit list.
We are all books containing thousands of pages and within each lies an irreparable truth.
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Illusion
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Re: just 1

Post by Illusion » Mon Jul 13, 2009 12:30 pm

Just my old multitool.
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darktorn
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Re: just 1

Post by darktorn » Mon Jul 13, 2009 1:37 pm

A knife, has so many uses and is easy to carry.
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Re: just 1

Post by Legend » Mon Jul 13, 2009 2:00 pm

A folding knife. Legal and useful.
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Re: just 1

Post by trx100 » Mon Jul 13, 2009 5:05 pm

The awareness of my surroundings. Its the most useful tool i have ever used. Oh, and a mini mag lite with a red lens :D

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Re: just 1

Post by stealththief » Tue Jul 14, 2009 1:12 am

Legend wrote:A folding knife. Legal and useful.
Yes
Image

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Xanatos
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Re: just 1

Post by Xanatos » Tue Jul 14, 2009 3:53 am

I have a feeling the word 'knife' is going to come up a lot in this thread...
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Psychlonic
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Re: just 1

Post by Psychlonic » Tue Jul 14, 2009 4:41 am

Flashlight. Hard to explore when you can't see, I reckon.
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Re: just 1

Post by darktorn » Tue Jul 14, 2009 9:19 am

Psychlonic wrote:Flashlight. Hard to explore when you can't see, I reckon.
Fuck, completely forgot about this I change my answer, red lensed flashlight.
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Ghost
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Re: just 1

Post by Ghost » Sat Jul 18, 2009 5:55 am

Meh, flashlight can hurt just as often as it helps. Give me a small, reliable fixed blade knife and i can improv all the rest.
"A man's greatest treasures are his illusions."

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Psychlonic
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Re: just 1

Post by Psychlonic » Sat Jul 18, 2009 2:58 pm

I take it you don't go indoors, much?
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Re: just 1

Post by Ghost » Tue Jul 21, 2009 12:46 am

Perhaps about 10 - 15% of my opping time is spend indoors, and in most of the locations there is enough ambient light filtering in through windows/skylights that i can see well enough without having to use my maglite. That doesn't mean that it's not my second choice, but i think a knife is a lot more useful overall.

Hell, there was even one time that a police cruiser stopped to investigate an abandoned building i was opping because he saw my red light inside move across a wall that was visible through a front window.
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Psychlonic
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Re: just 1

Post by Psychlonic » Tue Jul 21, 2009 5:38 am

Interesting. I couldn't op without mine, too many pitch black areas.
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Re: just 1

Post by Ysidro » Wed Jul 22, 2009 5:08 pm

Definitely my flashlight. Though my multi-tool is a close second.
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Ghost
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Re: just 1

Post by Ghost » Wed Jul 22, 2009 9:08 pm

Psychlonic wrote:Interesting. I couldn't op without mine, too many pitch black areas.
Just out of curiosity, what percent of your time do you spend either indoors or in rural areas?

I generally stick to anything from suburban to "light urban" type areas, simply because those are the areas that i live in. I've been thinking about putting together a pair of those makeshift IR goggles that you can create out of an old camera just for the few situations where i do go through more rural areas.
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Psychlonic
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Re: just 1

Post by Psychlonic » Thu Jul 23, 2009 3:33 am

Percentage-wise probably only 10% - at least in area, probably more like 30% in terms of time - but that 10% is typically the main reason I go out and deal with the other 90%. I've been in schools, offices, warehouses, mills, enclosed garages, and all these areas - even if they had a window somewhere - typically didn't have enough to allow me to really get to know my surroundings. I'm sure I could navigate through the darkness marginally without a flashlight, but what would be the point? I couldn't read labels, signs, see artistic/valuable objects fully, identify brands, a lot of shit without a flashlight. Being able to move through the darkness isn't enough for me. I go out to see (and sometimes take) things. And I mean see the damn thing completely. Look at the beauty of an old lever action rifle and think about where my moral compass is that night. A pristine muscle car in someone's garage and wonder if someday I'll be dumb enough to take it. An airplane locked up in a pitch black hangar, knowing I'm standing next to hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars. Graffiti on the walls, I want to know what it is. If I can't see, there's no point. Not to me, anyhow.

If anyone else can get by without a flashlight, I envy you. I don't have that luck on my operations.
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Ghost
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Re: just 1

Post by Ghost » Sun Jul 26, 2009 6:53 am

Well i think it's safe to say that the more intense the operation is, the greater need there is for gear. And most of the stuff i do now isn't exactly intense by any means. Still, there is a reason that a flashlight is one of the three things i bring with me on operations, which you illustrated perfectly right above me. I sort of assumed that this was a thread about just getting by, and let's face it - most of us here could get by with just a flashlight, or with just a knife, or just a multitool. regardless of the single item chosen, your experience will be diminished from what it may have been if you had a full kit with you.

However, being the paranoid guy that i am, i'd trust my self defense skills with a knife over my chances at being able to use a maglite like a kubotan. And bottom line, when it comes to something potentially dangerous i'll take the method that gives me the best chance of success every time. I won't disagree, a flashlight would not limit you nearly as much, but a knife would almost always leave you safer.

Of course this is all based on some hypothetical situation where we are limited unrealistically. On any normal op, my knife, my maglite, and my picks will all make it into my gear loadout.

Edit: someone should market a survival knife with a maglite built into the handle instead of the hollow storage space.
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Re: just 1

Post by Xanatos » Sun Jul 26, 2009 11:00 am

You could carry a small LED in the empty space, I've got a small red one that's not even a centimeter thick and about 3cm long. It provides enough light for me to see clearly indoors, it'd fit nicely in a Ka Bar handle.
We are all books containing thousands of pages and within each lies an irreparable truth.
What is locked, can be opened. What is hidden, can be found. What is yours... can be mine.

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