ESEE/ RAT Advanced Escape and Evasion Kit

If you frequently go to the wilderness, as a hunter, backpacker, or bushcrafter, you need to have a last ditch survival kit. Prepared individuals build small kits and call them PSK's, or personal survival kits. They are the last line of survival, if everything has gone wrong, and all your other gear has been lost, stolen, or destroyed. They are small enough to strap to your belt, or carry in a pocket, so that they are always on you. As a Special Forces medic once told me, "If it isn't strapped to you when everything goes sideways, you don't own it."

Generally here at Dragoon Solutions we advocate building your own survival kits. Usually that allows you to put together a kit that fits your needs specifically, without wasting money on something that you don't want or need. However, we have found a kit that meets a need, and leaves you with plenty of room for customization.

Randall's Adventure and Training/ ESEE Knives has been building no-nonsense survival gear and knives since 1997. Their equipment has been used in combat zones and law enforcement operations all over the world by warfighters and counter-narcotic special operations teams, and by every day men and women who know the importance of solid blades and survival equipment. If you have read much on this blog, you may have noticed we are big fans of ESEE knives. Recently, through a contest of theirs, we have come into possession of their Advanced Pocket Survival/ EE Kit. Read on to see our initial thoughts on this ready made Personal Survival Kit

The Pouch

Right out of the package, you can feel the quality that has been put into this kit. The pouch is a heavy duty OD green nylon, with YKK zippers and a metal D-ring. There is a heavy nylon belt strap on the back of the pouch, so that the kit can be strapped to your person, or secured to a pack if you wish. The flap over the pouch secures with hook and loop attachment, closing an exterior pocket. The zipper opens up to a main compartment. All in all, very simple and rugged construction.

The Contents

As you open the flap, the first thing you see is the front pocket. It holds a 5 pack of Stay Alert Caffeine Gum. This is the same stuff that comes in some military MRE's to give a quick boost of caffeine in the field. There is also a small ziplock baggy with a survival fishing kit. Hooks, fishing line, and lead split shot, along with two small safety pins.

In the zippered compartment, there is a 9x6 inch, 60 cubic inch LokSak. It is a dive tested, zipper closed, waterproof sack, kind of a military grade ziplock baggy. It would easily hold all the equipment in the pouch, a map, or any other small bit of gear you don't want to be wet in the field.

There are also two smaller ziplock baggies holding small first aid items, and survival tools.

First Aid 

For a small kit, many of the basics are hit, if only hit softly. This would be classified as a "boo boo" kit. It is meant to help you deal with small aches, pains, and injuries to help you drive on in a survival situation. In such a situation, small problems can and will lead to bigger problems, so this kit, while meant for small stuff, could really mean the difference in a survival/escape and evasion scenario.

The kit includes-

• Bandaids
• Alcohol Wipes
• Loperamide- We generally say if you have something giving you the runs, you need to let it work its way out, as long as you can replenish fluids. In a survival or escape and evasion situation, this may not be possible.
• Oral Rehydration Tabs
• Aspirin
• Triple Antibiotic Ointment
• Bug repelent wipe
• Anti Itch wipe
• 6-0 Nylon Suture
• Hemostatic Gauze (Small)
• Sunscreen
• Lip Balm

The best thing about this, is it provides a baseline that you can add to. More loperamide, Acetaminophen, Ibuprofen, bandaids and other small items could really increase the amount of things you could deal with in this kit, and there is space for it. Also, one thing that I believe is missing completely from this kit is an amount of duct tape. It can be used like Steri Strips to close wounds, among other things.

Tools

This kit provides the bare essentials for surviving an emergency in the field, or if you lose your main kit in an escape and evasion scenario.

• Firesteel and Striker- The firesteel is extremely small, for space and weight purposes. The striker is not quite as sharp as I would like, compared to strikers that come with Light My Fire firesteels. If the paint was stripped and the striker sharpened, it may throw better sparks
• Tinder Quick tabs
• Fresnel Lense- Plastic, thin magnifying glass, for starting fires, and also inspecting wounds. 
• SAS wire saw- We have all heard horror stories about wire survival saws. This will be one of the first parts of the kit put to the test
• Folding Razor Blade
• Folding Saw- This will be tested soon as well. This would be great for getting out of Flexi Cuffs, but I wonder how useful it will be in the field on wood. It could help with quickly notching out traps or other small tasks, especially if you had no real knife to use.
• P51 Can Opener
• Cordage
• Pencil
• Paper
• Brass Snare Wire
• Emergency Whistle
• Signal Mirror with sighting hole
• Button Compass
• 4 water purification tabs
• Plastic disposable handcuff key 
• (Not Shown) Gerber Shard prybar/ screwdriver - I have pulled nails and staples, stripped wires, and driven screws with this tool. It can be used, but if you are building a wilderness specific kit, it may not fit your needs.

Obviously, the plastic handcuff key is extremely specific to escape and evasion, and it may not be legal to carry due to your local laws. Which brings this point... this kit is a great baseline to build from. It leaves PLENTY of room to add and subtract small items that may be more helpful. We would add a small keychain LED flashlight, even though there is easily room for a Streamlight Pro Tac 2 in the outermost pocket. An altoids tin could contain a lot of the items, and give you something to make char cloth. A small Bic lighter may even be a great addition, because when it counts, a lighter much easier than firesteel, and there are no style points in survival. A small knife would be extremely valuable, such as the TOPS Turley PSK, ESEE Candiru, or even an ESEE AH1 arrowhead. Something with a little tougher cutting edge than the razor blade would really round out the kit. Some bank line or 550 cord would also increase the amount of useful cordage in the kit, because every foot of 550 cord actually gives you 8 feet of cordage, using the 7 inside strands.

No matter what, make sure the PSK you buy or build fits your needs. Stay tuned for other ideas on small, last ditch survival kits that we have built ourselves.

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Kyle
DSPS
2MAY13