Top 10 ESSENTIAL personal equipment items for the Army

[Music] [Music] hello again everyone it's me Matt hope you have an a wonderful day so today we're talking about equipment and specifically equipment you can take into the field or on operation exercise to make your life a little bit more easy when deploying or doing what you need to do in your specific job or trade equipment that you can take into the field sometimes is very specific to the user you know everybody has their own preferences especially in your own specific trade or field or you know job role that you have infantry will have their own specific things they want artillery armoured Corps logistics medics whatever it may be you're gonna have your own personal things that you wish to take with you in the field but there's definitely a sort of a universal type of extra equipment you can invest in and spend a little bit of money on to make your life a little bit smoother and make you perform at you 100 percent or 110 percent maybe or just to make you feel like you can actually get through an operational deployment or an exercise a lot smoother and happier than you would be than if you didn't have some of these things now a bit of a disclaimer for you here folks this video is not endorsed by any product by anyone it's not endorsed by the army it is purely information provided by myself to do give you a little bit of an idea of the kind of things that I think are very useful for you and to have in the field now be aware that some of these things are not cheap and if you're going to actually invest in getting some of these products or some of these items I would strongly encourage you to not go cheap try and find quality products you don't want stuff to fail for you in the field especially if you're buying it to go on any operational deployments or operational tours there's no point saving 15 20 bucks here and there for a bit of kit when the extra money could actually potentially help you a lot more in the long run some of the items that I'll mention I'll specifically relate to this point because it is pretty crucial that if you do buy cheap stuff it's just a complete waste of money so let's get into some of the things that I think you should definitely start looking into procuring if you want to help yourself out go into a operational deployment or exercise in the future so one of the first things to consider when purchasing some new gear is some gloves now it doesn't matter which military you're a part of or where you are in the world you're gonna need something that's can protect the most important part other than your feet of the human body when operating in a operation environment which is your hands because they're doing just about everything with be working on a weapon system repairing something doing medical procedures whatever it may be your gloves are protecting your hands and they need to be able to do so in any weather any climate any environment that you put them through issue gloves normally do the job very very well but of course they are issued and you have to replace them and a lot of people are nervous to replace issued kit because they think it's gonna get them in trouble or that it's gonna cost them money or that they're Stormin is gonna be like oh god you keep ruining these gloves and most of them just bear with the gloves and have little tears and rips and whatever else it may be and this is compromising the ability for you to use your hands properly so it's always nice to invest in some really high quality or some really strong grade military-style working gloves that are actually gonna allow you to do your job a lot more safely and sometimes even more effectively I'll give you a little an example I had a soldier including myself who is actually one time attempted to grab a hot barrel in the heat of the moment when you're in the section attack whatever else and maybe from changing barrels and a machine gun totally totally ridiculous you know but your brain sometimes does silly things when you're extremely tired and if it wasn't for the gloves that I currently own um I would have burnt my hand off with issued gloves because they're not designed to withstand that much heat at any one time the gloves that I had had reinforced leather stitching double banding of leather there and really strong robust material totally didn't even notice a little bit of heat under there not a big deal and they were fine I looked up and like I just tried grabbing a machine gun barrel stupid idea this applies for all sorts of things though whether it be in the cold conditions you want something that can be you know robust enough not to get tight and stringent on your hands when working in extreme colds you want something that is potentially waterproof and of course there's not one glove that does it all I've tried trust me in all my career I've tried finding a glove that can do just about everything it just doesn't work but you need to kind of find what works best for you now what I find works best is a good multipurpose glove that you can use to do most day-to-day jobs when you're working an extreme cold we go into a whole new ballgame but try looking for something similar to the mechanic gloves the mechanics contact gloves are fantastic they're called impact and they are really really good they do a fantastic job protecting your knuckles and your you know the back palm of your hand which is crucial and the leather reinforcing you know strips on the palm of it themselves work really nice and it has the touch screen ability on the fingers there for if you're operating any kind of technology which is really really nice I've had my mechanics glove so quite some time haven't really had an issue with them at all they drive very quickly and they just do a good job so definitely invest in some good military gloves if you have the ability to so next up is for Footwear now most of you have probably gone out and purchased your own military boots that work for you and that's great one thing that waterproof boots that they always claim to say do I'm not entirely 100% waterproof and when you're working in snowy wet cold environments you want something that's keep your feet completely dry but at the same time be able to breathe the great thing about Neos is that they do that to a very good capability Neos are an over boot sock so much to say or over boot I guess cover almost like gaiters that cover your entire boot in a waterproof membrane slash sock that's gonna prevent your gear beneath your ankle there and your boot getting wet and soggy and gross and still have some ability to breathe now when you put these on for long extended periods of time of course normal boot care normal foot care is still needed don't get complacent with these things but they're very useful if you're going on long patrols through wet grass or through wet snow it's not a good time getting your waterproof boots soaking wet and trust me I have waterproof boots no matter how much you think they're waterproof there'll always be some nook or cranny that a couple of drops of water will get into and that can cause a lot of problems on a patrol or a section attack or whatever else you're doing for the rest of your exercise or deployment so invest in some Neos put them on when you need to they are quite pricey but trust me they're worth the investment as always your unit is specific as to whether or not you're allowed to wear this kind of stuff so just verify with your chain of command before you start putting this stuff on so next up is briefs of course your underwear isn't exactly the number one thing that we want to be talking about but it is important because when you're going on deployments or exercise of course you can't be changing your underwear every day as much as you wish to sometimes it doesn't quite work out that way in the conditions and the hygiene routine that you've been provided in your operation deployment or exercise that you're on you've got to try your best to change your underwear as much as possible but you want to have underwear that it's gonna work best for you when you're operating in hot or humid or extreme weather conditions because it's a total different way of operating than you would just a normal run or go into the gym or just going about a normal day-to-day job you need something that is moisture wicking or that can reduce moisture in your underwear because at the end of the day you're doing a lot of physical exhaustion you don't want to be getting chafing etc etc the issued underwear is okay it works but you want to try and invest in something that's a little bit more specific to you no rigorous training physical training and you know being able to reduce that moisture in in and around you know the regions I guess so Under Armour makes some really good underwear for both men and women that you can wear in sort of a more rigorous environment when going on operations or exercises lots of different options for you it's all what works best for you this is a very personal preference kind of clothing item but experiment find out what works best go on some runs do some you know vigorous PT see what works best for you because whatever you're gonna do remember it could be done for an extended period of time on your exercises or deployment so just take a look at it try your best not to use you know underwear that you would wear in a normal setting because you're not going into a normal setting of day-to-day lifestyle this is a very different environment and if you're not used to it figure it out look at options see what you can find and when maybe you're kind of basic you have other options and you're like actually I've just done basic and that just didn't work for me invest in some different underwear see what works for you so the next one's a bit of a no-brainer but you'd be surprised at the number of people I find that just don't know how to select a watch for working in a military world watches are important because in the military everything is done by very specific timings and if you don't know the time the date or other information that relates to timekeeping you're gonna be in quite a bit of trouble so make sure you get a good watch it needs to be robust it needs to be strong it needs to do all the thing that you expect a watch to do and more because you're gonna be putting it through the ringer it's gonna be right beside your hands it's gonna be slamming off stuff it's gonna be smashing off things it's gonna be operated you know extreme cold we're hot middle of the night it needs to operate in all sorts of environments now I don't want you to go insane and start going out saying I've got to spend thousands of dollars on a brand new military watch if you google military watch the choices are endless it's whatever watch works for you if it tells you the time and you can get information from it that you need it's passing the test but make sure that it can do what it needs to do under some more rigorous environment conditions don't buy a 10 dollar washer Walmart and expect it to work perfectly you know or you know a 20 dollar watch from your local jewelry store like yeah this is gonna work perfectly now many people have had good experiences with very very cheap watches and that's what I'm saying it's all down to personal preference just make sure that when it goes through what you need it to do it's able to meet the mark because if you don't have a good watch and it breaks on you a falls off or gets lost there's a lot of implications to that right lots of different problems whether it be the enemy know you're there you don't know the damn time for your orders and your groupings and all that sort of stuff it's a big deal so just please invest in a good watch don't spend thousands but you know a couple of couple hundred bucks on a really nice watch that's strong enough and robust enough to do what you need to do in the military world don't try and integrate your civilian watch you know your brand-new Rolex or your fancy shiny watch in there it's not worth it same thing applies to sort of smart watches don't bring your smart watch on an exerciser operational deployment it's just not worth it it's gonna get smashed broken you can be devastated all exercise you're not gonna be focusing you know I just broke my $800 watch get something that's specific for being you know held in environments that's really rough like gee sharks you know they're really good environmental watch for the military and you can look at a garment if you really want to go all out and guess with a GPS style watch but it really just needs to be something simple tells you at the time tells you the date really that's about it if you can get one with an alarm that's helpful to allow you to get up fourth century and things like that you want one that can glow in the dark at least or has some sort of light-up ability to allow you to see the watch at night because the last thing you want is you know you need to tell the time and your flashlights dead and there's no light anywhere and you're just like trying to peek at your watch in the middle of the night and pitch-black in a wood line to figure out what time you're you know yo group is when you need to step off for an attack have a good watch folks I I cannot express enough how many times I've seen people have problems with their watches and it's really come to bite them when they're on things like courses or initiating you know attacks or fire missions or whatever else it may be get a nice watch treat yourself it's gonna last you a long time throughout your army career whatever military create you're a part of and it'll do you well now the next one is just as obvious as some of the others but a gerber is something you definitely require when going on any kind of exercise operational deployment or even on your day to day a multi-tool is very handy for just about everything whether it be cutting paracord to fix your tent or using it to pry something open whatever it may be a Gerber or any kind of multi-tool a strong robust not a $10 again cheap-ass thing from you know the doll store you need it to be strong enough to do it what you want it to do I've gone through the cheap ones before they don't last get a good long lasting one that's gonna do you really good trust me these things that I've used this for that a saved my ass on so many occasions it's unreal so spend a little money get a nice one I'm not saying specifically go for Gerber it sister you know for reference in the Canadian Armed Forces we issued a girl which is really nice and hold for it try and get a holder that will actually go onto your belt buckle so it's always on your person so you don't have to look through your kit and rummage through it everywhere you want something that's quick and accessible you can just pull off your belt buckle and off you go and that's what you need has a very small knife but it does what you need it to do in a serrated knife to cut as well pliers etc like that that's what you need okay folks so please trust me on this it's going to help you a lot during your career whatever you do whatever trade you are get yourself a good multi-tool next up is a notebook holder or an orders holder this is really really crucial for any trade and any rank if you need something that you can protect your notes from take copious amounts of notes pens pencils whatever it may be that you need to take notes from which you do in the military all the time for the field make sure you get one try and get yourself a waterproof notepad they're not the greatest but they do pretty good get a waterproof one so that you can operate in the wet conditions if needs to and then just a normal notepad as well there are thousands of configuration types of you know notebook holders have a look at them see what works best for you I like to go for the smaller ones not these big heavy-duty things that is too much you don't need to fill this thing with every you know piece of paper you can imagine it needs to be there for quick reference put your orders in there if you need to you might need it a little bit bigger there if you're a leader you put some other bits and pieces in that you might need reference books handouts etc but for the most part just find something that can hold your notebook that's gonna protect it you can put some other bits and pieces in there's waterproof matches miniature or flashlight pens pencils all that sort of stuff it's crucial because you're gonna need it trust me no matter what trade you are in the field or an operational employment and just having your stuff dotted or over your kit it's just not good have it localized into one specific holder or you know I guess bag or pouch that you can just pull out and everything is there ready to go it's gonna help you a lot in no matter what you do now those are the Canadian Forces probably well aware as to what this is a Coleman stove and Knapp the burning stove really really nice bit of kit it works fantastic for cold weather environments it's a bit of a pain in the butt to lug around and if you don't want to cook for an entire session or even a small squad and you just want to make something for yourself right quickly try and invest into something that's like this but a lot smaller you can get small enough the stoves you can get jet boils the world is your oyster when it comes to finding little cooking devices for making a coffee I don't drink hot drinks really pop more chocolate I know I'm one of those weird Brits that doesn't drink tea or coffee but invest in something that can cook even just your MREs or your ration packs up very quickly in hot water or you can create your hot water to shave and do your morning routine for hygiene really really handy get it again a good quality system like a Coleman or a jet ball they make very high quality standard equipment you don't want something that could be a safety hazard to you or others leaking fuel explosions fires you see where I'm going with this invest in something that works and it's not secondhand or broken inspect it before take it out make sure it works it's fully functional and trust me when I say this you can have a lot better of an exercise or deployment that you're going on begin to just make your own hot water very quickly or even for others very quickly also next up is camouflage of course using the little pasty tubes that get issued to you the Canadian Army gives you they're not the most practical they burst they leak you have to put it all over your hands it's goopy it's not great stuff I would strongly encourage you to invest into a good cam stick paint pad or stick that you can use that is a lot easier to put on your face than it is you know sort of the pasty kind of stuff the reason for that is is that you not only get a stick in the pad but you also get a mirror that you can utilize inside of it so you can actually see how your cams looking because you know there's no point putting cam on and just imagining what it's supposed to look like or someone else trying to do it for you if you have the cam stick with the with just the stick itself then sure it doesn't have a mirror you ideally want to get a three tone finger pad but you can just quickly scrim off a bit of cam put it onto your face and use the mirrors reference really good bit of kit there about five six bucks online don't worry too much about skimping out on these ones it's pretty good stuff just make sure you're not allergic and 20 of them ingredients inside the product it's the last thing you wanna do is get into the field use this stuff and then your face turns into a freakin mess of a you know informational that's what stuff so just make sure you check and verify for you go in the field next up is a good headlamp or head torch or flashlight whatever you want to call it really really important bit of kit folks you know again many times have I seen people have real problems and struggle on it operational deployments exercises courses by having just poor quality or very inefficient headlamps that is not very useful for in the field don't go over the top you don't need to be spending you know 200 bucks on these high-tech fancy flashlights a lot of people have very specific and helmets nowadays in certain militaries so if you have a helmet that has quick-release connectors that allow you to get sort of fancy kind of flashlights and headlamps then go for it if asking the Canadian Armed Forces just get a really nice Petzl I would always invest in to try and get a 2-pack and get good deals nowadays on Amazon a sort of a two-for-one kind of option you need to have one that is capable of producing red light do not do the cheapskate way of getting a red mark and coloring over the one lens or whatever else it may be just get one of the transforms from white to red light because sometimes you need white for specific things like safety and obviously red for the tactical side of things those who do have fancy helmets with the clip-ons again don't go over the top don't be crazy with it but if you have it use it you know if you have those capabilities to use quick release and quick connectors then grab a flashlight that can do that for those of us that don't have these really cool helmets and I wish we did just get one that has a straight singular band do not get one that has a triple band ie one that goes over the top of your head the reason for this is most of the time you're not always going to be having the thing on your head it's very easy to lose it so what you tend to do is actually put it around your neck with the kind of a quick-release coupling there that snaps in case you get caught on something just have it around your neck with the triple band strap you can't put it around your neck because the top band just gets caught around your neck it's just a pain in the butt so stick with the singular band type of head flashlight also with the triple band flashlights that you get they sometimes don't fit over your entire helmet the way that they've been constructed so the singular band pretty much all of them that you get will be able to adjust into the full length and size of your helmet the diameter your helmet so don't get the triple bands work on the doubles they work really really good and yeah that's going to help you a lot during your your exercise for sure and as I said try and get to one as a backup keep them on your persons I keep wanting your small park or in your rucksack or whatever and the other one on you at all times and make sure that you have spare batteries for all of them what I tend to do is get three Triple A batteries which is what they normally take and then electrician tape three of them to the back of the band so that if you have the three die in your flashlight there and then you can just cut the tape off the back ear band take the three batteries out and put them straight into your flashlight and then you don't have to be rummaging through all your kit in the pitch-black trying to find these things they're right on your flashlight next up is a first-aid kit now most militaries will issue you some sort of first aid equipment with your session level or platoon level or whatever company level you may have with the medics but it's always nice to have your own little personal first-aid kit when you have your own cut scrapes bruises or wherever else you have going on you can customize it to your own setup you know what your body does and what happens to it whether it be blisters or you know whatever it may be have a little emergency first aid kit just for yourself it doesn't need to be big it needs to be something that can fit in about the size of your palm you know doesn't need to be huge because if you make a big setup it's just going to be more of a hindrance than anything else something has some Basics in it bandages you know dressings some alcoholics wipes that's about it you don't need anything intensive because a they get expensive B you are not a medic and if you are then of course you have your own special equipment just take it easy don't go over the top of this it just needs something to it can do some very simple stuff to repair some of your cuts and bruises you may get and your normal operations and things you get off too one exercise and finally a bit of a creature comfort we all love our technology in our phones and all that sort of stuff although mostly when you're on exercise and operational deployment you can't really use them you do busy or you just don't have the ability to because your chain of command so would you not use them whatever it may be however when you come out of field normally your phone's dead you can't contact your friends family coming back from wherever you need to come and you can't charge anywhere because there's no power point so a nice thing to get is a little portable charging unit can either get a solar powered one a battery bank whatever it may be that allow you to charge your cellular device or wherever the other bit of equipment you may need to charge out in the field there may be other things you want to use that will make your life a little easier I know some people have flashlights that are rechargeable for our USB so this is the kind of system you want to use they're really really good bits of kit to have elsewhere as well I'm not just in you know the military world you can use them outside the world as well in civilian careers or whatever else you do please be cautious of getting some of these units there is a lot of knockoff cheap nasty junk out there that can get very dangerous very hot cause fires burn you explode etc etc invest in a good unit that has a good reputation and is robust enough that you can throw it around a little bit in your pack or the back of the vehicle or whatever else and it's not gonna do any damage to you or other people including your cell your device or something that you're charging because there's a lot of systems out there that have caused a lot of problems for people don't skip out on this folks invest good money into it remember it's gonna help you not just a new military career but can help you outside of your military career as well for things you need to do for instance like emergencies in your vehicle really really important bit of kit so I myself have not actually got one I will be investing one in the near future the solar-powered ones there's all sorts of stuff you can get but definitely something to look at getting in the future for whenever you deploy or when you're going on some kind of exercise in the future so that's it everyone ten things that you should definitely look at investing in for your future in the military if you wish to as I said please make sure that you confirmed the chain of command if you can buy or use these things there's no point in spending good money on this kit and then being like oh well I can't even use it there are stringent policies in place of certain equipment that can or cannot be worn or used so just verify for you cause yourself a bit of problems with either your chain of command or your bank account I hope you learned a little bit of something from here today if you want to learn about anything else you think you need for the field or for operation deployments please let me know I've got a longer list other than these ten items lots of other little intricate little pieces that you know a lot of people will bypass or don't really realize are actually really useful but these top ten are definitely gonna give you a really good start and help you allow quite a bit I think when you're going out and exercise and doing what you need to do if you enjoyed today's video you want to see more content like this please leave me a like and also a comment I'd love to hear your opinion on future content you may want to see in regards to you know military service or or stuff that you want tips or advice for them I'm happy to help staying within my lanes within my boundaries of course because I am NOT a subject matter expert for everything in terms of you know the military I know my my own experiences and that's what I'm gonna try and share and help you know aspiring soldiers or soldiers they're already serving to to take away from if you want to see more of my content please feel free to hit the little bell button by the subscribe button or the subscribe button itself if you're new to the channel and welcome those have been contributing towards my patreon page I cannot thank you enough thank you so so much for helping I really does mean a lot to me for those who've been donating and if you want to check out any of my social media or anything else like that go check in the description box below I hope you all have a wonderful day and I'll see you next time all the best bye bye you

Channel: Matsimus

Views: 136,896

Rating: 4.9034381 out of 5

Keywords: top 10 things you need, Top 10, jet boil, military gloves, gloves, kit, army, gear, clothing, equipment, military, boots, flashlight, rucksack, hiking, camouflage, helmet, headlamp, notebook, tactical, tactical equipment, top 10 items, top 10 ideas, top ten, 10 things you need, need, watch, field exercise, army gear, army equipment, army kit, army issued, military grade, Kneepad, Gore-Tex, Tactical boots, multitool, gerber, KNIFE, Survival Gear, MILITARY SURPLUS, Tactical Gear

Id: 7nWSYqpe1ZU

Length: 25min 10sec (1510 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 30 2019