What would you put in your Bug out Bag?

[ak70g2]

I think there is needed a good thread about Cold War individual soldier equipment, starting from the Esbit stoves to spades/winter gear/pocket knives, so on. While a lot of information can be found on US stuff ( www.olive-drab.com comes to my mind), very few intel can be found on german/scandinavian/swiss stuff, from web gear to survival items.

Housil's pictures can make a good study for a military college thesis.

[housil]

We can seperate it from here and start a new thread?

[ak70g2]

You decide. What I'd like to have are a detalied list (w/ pictures)with all the things an 1980' Bundeswehr soldier have on him, in the pockets, web gear, backpack, so on. Will be a great help for me, personally, to get some ideas for BOB improvement, also for collectors, to look for genuine items.

Too bad that Norge decided to leave us, his expertise and collection/pictures were very welcome...

[Treesuit]

Housil,

That is pretty nice. It always fascinates me how Germany came up with some really practical and useful items during the Cold War.

To answer your question on the MRE ration heaters, your previous photo of a ration heater in the Iltis, sitting on the floor is the first generation of ration heater the US had. Here is the more modern second generation:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HEATER-WATER-MR ... 3ccdd09bc3

This is the one I have for my jeep. It was very spendy especially for the shipping. It is very useful much like your Enders cook stove and pot set.

[housil]

Here is the more modern second generation:

I really like that!

[Treesuit]

Housil,

It's really a neat invention. I did see a Youtube video where somebody wired up one and then proceeded to heat some water in the basin. It got real hot ....fast! I would imagine it could heat up MRE's the same way in very little time. The one feature which I think is cool is the spigot on the front face. It lets you pour water for coffee/tea/freeze dried meals, etc while still heating up whatever is in the basin. It's NATO compatible so finding a 24 VDC vehicle port should be easy enough.

[Name_not_found]

Treesuit will it run on 12v like housils will?

or need 24v

[ak70g2]

Guys, check these:

http://www.electrothermalusa.com/product.asp?dsl=770

http://www.electrothermal.com/product.asp?dsl=770

http://www.army-technology.com/contract ... rmal1.html

Seems that this thing is available both in the USA and UK...

[Treesuit]

NNF,

Unfortunately, these are a NATO item and you'll need to find a 24VDC outlet to run them. I'm sure a 12 VDC would run it as well, but finding an adapter and cable is kind of tough. I really lucked out on this because I wanted to put mine in my jeep and take it one the road but I couldn't find any cable system anywhere. I finally found a guy who restores older military vehicles and luckily he had a NSN for one from a distributor back on the East Coast. Now the problem is trying to make the pin connections fit an older style jeep and get the juice from the batteries to run the thing plus not drain the batteries while the jeep is idle or off. Once I figure that out the rest is easy. Mine is a 24 VDC.

And "yes" there is a US version and a UK version. The one I have is a US version that is common in most tactical vehicles.

[Name_not_found]

The connector isnt the issue for me.

But i was told by a few that it wont even turn on with 12v

(housils will just slower)

Was hoping to confirm