Green Beret's Winter Gear Recommendations | Gray Bearded Green Beret

all right so i want to talk to you real quick about kind of the kit that i kind of picked for this particular outing because it is colder outside so for the most part a lot of it's going to look like every other kit that i've ever shown you uh but there are some considerations that i take you know for the winter time that i want to kind of highlight real quick but every kit that i break down is always you know the seven essentials plus some tools and it's no different now [Music] so for the fire kit everything's pretty much the same as what i normally carry i like to have four different ignition sources especially in the winter time because fire is so critical to staying warm typically i'll just carry a lighter in my pocket and keep that warm typically in the wintertime though i carry what's called an arctic necklace so that's basically a lanyard around my lighter it's got some tape that kind of secures some lip balm because when you're out here you're going to get chapped lips and then that lip balm also doubles as you know and fuel that you can use you know to kind of get a fire going so during the cold that gas pressure is actually reduced in there so a lot of times it can't put forth enough pressure behind it to actually give you the fuel to ignite so you got to keep it close to your body to keep it warm so you don't have that problem so if you put it around a lanyard on your neck you never lose it plus it's right against your chest keeps it nice and warm so when you actually need to use it this one's been sitting out you can see it doesn't work but i promise you it works lighter that's the only real change to that i like to have some matches and really when it comes to using gloves and having cold hands i really want to go with kind of the biggest light the biggest matches that i possibly can and these yuko titans are probably my favorite for the wintertime they're my favorite for kids kits for the same reason you know they don't really have the fine motor skills that we do so i don't want to messing around with matches very long but anyway cold weather time big matches and kind of speaking of large matches one of the things i brought out for this time is some yuco behemoth it's actually a big match but it actually has the tinder built in and they burn for something like 10 to 15 minutes so it's essentially the same super match concept that i've got diy videos on my youtube channel yuko didn't take that design but it's similar in function and kind of similar in principle and this is a commercially available one so in addition to those two open flame ignition sources i've also got an extremely oversized ferro rod i let this car go by i mean i gotta expect some road noise i'm not obviously not in the forest i am sitting at a picnic table basically like every other fire kit i like to have a ferro rod in the winter time this particular one is one that i like to save for the winter time because it's extremely oversized it's about an eight inch ferro rod it's a lot easier to handle especially if you have gloves on you've still got a lot of surface area that's a way that's available you can use it a lot better than those little tiny ones i don't like to mess with tiny things and you know really super fine motor skills whenever i'm working with stuff in the winter especially if i can use this and still have my gloves on last but not least as far as ignition sources my hudson bay 10 i do have solar available if the sun should come out i'm not counting on that but again this is you know kind of a pace plan for different ignition sources so i like to always have at least those four and i like to as much as i know that i can find tinder out here especially during the winter i like to carry some sort of emergency tender probably the best emergency tinder out there is fatwood which is also a natural tender not necessarily found all that prominently up here in the northeast it's actually kind of hard to find sometimes there's a lot of places where it is hard to find i usually carry a couple of sticks this is convenient to keep in my my belt pouch this is just some of my fat wood shavings it's already shaved down i don't have to mess with it especially when it's cold and i've got some ready-made you know natural tinder in here that's going to light even in wet kind of wet snow conditions like we've got right now so that was just a great resource to have as an emergency tender so i've got that i also like to have some sort of cander some sort of candor i like to have candor what about you you like candor i also like to have some sort of candle and in this case i'm carrying one of the the ex-attack candle tins this is a six hour candle but it's got three different weeks three different weeks it's so cold my mouth stopped moving it didn't stop moving and my brain stopped working i can't even insult myself right now well normally i carry those little tiny beeswax birthday candles which are great but this is also great and it's easy to use easy for me to open in the wintertime it's got three different wicks on here i can even put this inside my super shelter to kind of add additional heat but i don't think it'll ever come to that but as a lighter extender as getting a stubborn tinder bundle going i really like to have these kind of candles and of course i've got you know flint and steel i've got a couple other things like this tinder wick also part of my fire kit is a tinder pouch this is a wax canvas one this is the one that i have on my website uh really got a lot of room in here so as i find dry natural tender i keep it in here keeps it keep keeps it natural keeps it dry that way i could use it when i need it so that's kind of the last piece of any fire kit that i've ever shown you but so pretty much everything's the same there and then as far as a shelter kit goes you know something to sleep under something to sleep on something to sleep in then some cords to throw it all together my something to sleep under i've got an oil skin tarp i've got an emergency blanket i like to have a reflective some sort of reflective blanket in the winter time because it's just a good idea to have and the particular shelter that i'm going to show you incorporates this drop cloth of plastic so that's new i usually don't have that then of course got my rapid ridge line i've got some bank line number 36 and i've got one of my possum perches because one thing that you'll notice is when you have to sit down a lot you know having something to sit on that's not going to soak your butt is a good thing so that's why i can carry this i can make a tripod it keeps me up off the snow so that's kind of my shelter kit in addition to that i've also got a couple of different choices i've got my entire you know snug pack bivvy sack and the the special forces sleep system it's basically two sleeping bags that you can zip together put inside that baby sack it's really good i like it about down to about 10 to maybe zero degrees to where i'm still comfortable so i've got that choice i've also got wool blankets that i can use you know so that's all kind of that that shelter kit as far as something to sleep under something to sleep on something to sleep in and some cordage to put it all together as far as water not really a whole lot changed on the water kit i've still got my stainless steel bottle and nesting cup i've still got a cotton chamog and we'll talk about that more when we get into you know procuring water in this type of environment then as far as food i've got a skillet i've got a bush pot and then just a kooks and a spoon this is actually a flat pack stove that i like so i've got that to go for food and i've got some food in my haversack uh as far as first aid i've got the gb2 ifak right here and this is actually the pouch that we have that had custom made by a buddy of mine is old green beret buddy of mine that makes these but the gb2 ipak is inside i've also got the trauma shears inside i've got an additional tourniquet because the extra tourniquet is actually in here this is my quick grab tourniquet that's on the outside and then of course i've got an emergency mylar blanket tucked in there as well so basically everything that you've seen me use in the past is in here as far as signal i've got my signal joey that's got some passive and active day and night signals inside it and also you know you have the ability to lash it to the back of your pack and if you need to signal you can flip it over i like to in the wintertime have this visible because if something happens if i fall down get stuck out there i'm going to be a lot easier to see in the snow with something highly visible like this for anybody that comes to look for me so i like the signal joey and of course headlamp and batteries one thing i'll tell you about the winter is make sure you bring more batteries than you think you need because they don't work as well in the cold and then tools you know i like to have a multi-tool which in this case i've got my swiss army knife again i've got a couple different choices of knives here i've got gb2 puko and of course the garber which is one of my favorites then you know really some tools and maintenance that i've got uh nothing really that you haven't seen me use before as far as maintaining tools you know just the file for the axe this time i've got because i'm bringing an axe this time i've got an actual puck you know if i have any damage on that got some olive oil to keep all the carbon steel lubricated i do have a scotch eye auger this time i'll show you how i'm going to use that and of course the marlin spike hitch or the marlin spike actually i like to have these especially in the winter because when your fingers are cold and you're trying to recover cordage it can get really difficult so if you have this to kind of get those knots loose it's it's really a helping hand so have these in the winter really important and i've got bigger saws but i do still like to keep this small little pocket boy in my actual kit because i don't always need a big buck saw you know to take down small stuff for crafts and materials and things that i'm doing sometimes i just need a little saw so that's kind of what i've got going on for the tool kit and then last but not least on the the kind of gear repair and maintenance kind of section of things because i've got an exotec rip's full this has got a sail needle inside and then it's a machined aluminum housing so i can actually use that as an awl even though i've got one on my swiss army knife i could use that as an off and then i've got some tape around the outside with some thread slash braided fishing line that i could use to repair gear so one thing i didn't talk to you guys about just the standard nav kit i always bring a map in the compass of the area i like to have some waterproof paper that i can use to write some notes down mechanical pencils kind of in the winter time a couple other things you need to think about is a lot larger tools at least i do i like to have larger tools than i normally would carry you know for the other seasons because really you need to put away a lot of firewood for the night to stay warm so you know while that small silky is great for most things you know when you really need to put away you know a lot of firewood you need to start thinking about the larger tools i like to bring in things like axes and buck saws larger silkies i've had this one for several years it's a very large saw this particular one is a silky big boy so this one works really well it cuts really fast like all silkies it only cuts on the pull stroke but then you know an even bigger option that i can cut even larger diameter firewood with is this collapsible buck saw and i've got it put together but it collapses down so that's really good for putting away firewood uh as far as getting access to that firewood you know having some sort of axe is going to go a long way if you're especially if it's snow covered and you can't see any of the stuff that's on the ground when the stuff that's on the ground is soaked you might have to go to the dead standing kind of stuff so if you're talking about bringing down dead standing you can do a lot with just an axe and a saw and really the amount of firewood you expect to put down the diameter of the trees that you expect to be taken down you know as far as what's predominantly dead standing in the area you're going to be in kind of determines what size actually you can get away with this is a woodcraft pack axe this is probably one of my favorite i'll call it a larger axe but it's still a pack axe all right it's got a 24 inch handle this is from council tool it's american really really solid axe really good acts especially for the eastern woodlands and the northeast i really like it so that's kind of the largest that i'll go as far as what i'm carrying into the forest for the most part but that is my favorite axe then kind of a smaller version that i might be able to get away with depending on on where i'm going is also council tool woodcraft this particular one is the camp carver so it's a little bit bigger than a normal hatchet but it's also still smaller than that pack ax but functions really well [Music] so we'll probably get to use that but you know those are kind of a couple of different options that you can use as far as putting away your lumber for the night the other thing to think about is mobility one you've got icy conditions those are slippery conditions the chance for mechanical injury in the forest and in the wilderness is is pretty high anyway you know mechanical injury especially to the lower extremities um that's pretty high that's one of the most common wilderness things you're going to run into as far as injuries go so having some sort of traction device like i like to carry these these are just yak tracks but they basically just slip on and give you a little bit of traction keep you from slipping in ice so really it depends on the conditions for ice i like to throw these on if the snow is deep and it actually makes it difficult for me to walk then i'm going to go with some sort of snowshoes i like the military surplus magnesium they're not the fanciest by any means i mean the binding system is pretty pretty simple i like those and i like traditional snow shoes really it just depends on on what your style is and what you like to use what kind of terrain you're in another thing that's almost indispensable is a small snow shovel these don't weigh much this particular one's from black diamond but if you need a clear weigh an area to set up some bedding or you get a lot of snowfall this goes a long way towards clearing that out clearing out a place to put your fire and then just when you build your shelter you know being able to scoop some snow up and kind of pack that around the outer edges will really kind of help seal that in and really protect you from the wind so i like to have a small snow shovel and then last but not least is something i normally wouldn't carry in a pack this is something i would carry you know if i'm running a sled behind me and carrying a lot of gear if i've got a hot tent with a wood stove i'm going to carry something like this this is an ice chisel it's basically so that i can access water from a frozen lake don't think that i'll need it this trip but i do have it and it is something that you can use i can also use my axe depending on how deep the ice is but to kind of protect and preserve the edge of that because i need it for firewood i like to have some sort of chisel to get down through the ice and get to that that fresh water that's not frozen but this is kind of some of the tools that i've got uh and we'll see what we need while we're here but that is really kind of the gear that i want you to think about you obviously don't need all of this but some of this stuff you may need depending on your area so think about that but keep in mind it's still just seven essential kits and a good knife really it's it's a fire kit it's a shelter kit water food first aid navigation signal in case you get some sort of emergency you need to be pulled out uh and then of course some tools and then within those tools a way to kind of repair and maintain those tools while you're out here and i guess lastly in my tinder kit lastly in my tinder kit i'm getting cold that's what's going on they say when you get cold you start to lose cognitive function but i don't believe that not for a second you

Channel: The Gray Bearded Green Beret

Views: 66,021

Rating: 4.9667239 out of 5

Keywords: Ranger, Green Beret, The Pathfinder School LLC, Survival, Bushcraft, Preparedness, Fire, Shelter, Camping, Hunting, Trapping, Knives, Axes, into the winter, green beret, green beret's, packing list, winter survival, winter skills, how to prepare for winter, prepare for winter, winter preparation, how to pack for winter, winter camping, cold weather survival, cold weather camping, cold weather backpacking, backpacking, gear list, gear recommendations

Id: us99ZkWjLgo

Length: 15min 43sec (943 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 11 2021