Today, people are worried and seem to be gearing up to defend themselves in a SHTF scenario. The worst thing I see is people developing shooting skills with no gear on, but having their SHTF combat loadout all assembled ‘Just in case’ and not practicing with it. Trust me when I say that whatever skill you think you have will be useless when the time comes if you don’t practice with/in your combat loadout. Everything changes when you start stacking on the gear, from using your firearm(s) to mobility. Besides, practicing your skills in your combat loadout is a great way to stay in shape, so why not?
DEFINING COMBAT LOADOUT
A combat loadout is quite subjective since it simply means what you are carrying to go into combat. For some yoohoos out there, an effective combat loadout will merely be a camelback, plate carrier, and a few mags. It really depends on a lot of factors that are rooted in experience, knowledge, environment, and mission. The main goal here is to have a loadout that is sufficient for allowing you to fight and win, but also survive if your best option is withdrawing.
I got a couple sets of British belt kit on Ebay for $90 each. For the warmer months, I have a smaller set with 3 utility pouches on the back.
For the arctic winter in Alaska, I have a 4-utility pouch set that allows me to carry more to make up for not having room on my person.
These belt kits are not modular, but can easily sustain me for 24hrs when loaded properly. I will have some items on my person and in a pack, but this is my main source of equipment on the move and if things go bad, so they need to be capable of storing all the crap I consider to be necessities.
I currently have the smaller belt kit loaded with: 200rds 308 for my Tavor7 or 360rds for my AUG, 2 1qt canteens, 2 MRE snacks, 2 MRE entrees, lightweight camouflaged poncho, 25ft 550 cord, electrical tape, camo paint, IFAK, 5 glow sticks, compass & monocular, water purifying straw, folding knife, flashlight with a removeable red lens and variable brightness.
All I had to add was an inexpensive low-profile plate carrier and swimmer cut Level 3+ plates to complete the ensemble, which will mostly stay slick unless I absolutely feel the need for a pistol. I may not always need/want my body armor, but it is the best life insurance I can get that has minimal effect on my range of motion and agility.
I have spent a lot of money collecting other pieces of gear only to find that this British system works the best for weight distribution and agility. If I need more, I just toss on a pack. If I need less, I use a chest rig and a belt holster for my pistol.
So how did I come to decide the contents of my loadout? I used a combination of knowledge of my operating environment, possible threats, and tactical/field experience. Compared to what I carried on deployment, this loadout is much heavier and inclusive because I am responsible for my own sustainment. I have to care all the equipment to feed, hydrate, medically treat, and defend myself. Unless I am in a group, I am an island and my main defense is stealth. However, having minimal defensive capability (2 spare mags) is ludicrous at best, as is minimal sustainment items. If you get engaged and survive initial contact, you will need to conduct evasion and escape techniques, and this is the worst time to wish you took some light items (food, water, shelter, medical) that could help you live to fight another day.
TRAIN TO ADAPT
So you got you loadout all situated, and now it is time to start looking at ways to train yourself to get comfortable working, living, and fighting in your combat loadout. Make sure all your magazines and water source(s) are FULLY loaded for authenticity. First thing I would start with is simply deploying your weapons. Start out dry with snap caps and practice presenting your rifle from different positions (patrolling hold, compressed, ready, etc.) and while moving. If you have a pistol, practice transition drills from all different positions (standing, kneeling on either and both knees, prone, each side, etc.) in order to really iron out your technique and even pistol location. These drills need to be conducted often since these are perishable skills that are basic but most likely to be used.
Next, I would work on practicing your reload and malfunction drills. If you wear gloves, this can take a good amount of time to perfect, so make sure you practice often, and in the same way as you practiced simple deployment of your rifle or pistol.
To work on your agility, I recommend starting out by just having a quarter or third of your mags loaded until you are comfortable adding more weight. Simply continuously practice snapping in and out of the various positions starting from standing. Burpees are a great workout for this, but also adding moving to the left and right a couple feet once on the ground can help you build the needed muscles for moving with ease while prone. Also practice snapping into a kneeling on either knee, and going into a full squat. Remember to only stay down for a second or two and then explode up with a jump to develop good leg power. Wide lunges will help develop these leg muscles for sure, especially if you practice going down slow and only going at max speed when going back to a standing. Focus on concentrating the power only on the leg that has it’s foot planted on the ground. Perform these exercises daily and often if possible. Another helpful exercise is to simply weigh yourself with every you carry, then duplicate that weight with a backpack and take it for speed walks with periodic jogging to help keep your pace at or under 15MPH. You can and should periodically practice short sprints and jogs with your combat load, but be sure to not make it a daily task since the idea is to build yourself and adapt to, not destroy yourself with, your combat load. The idea is to be quick and be able to control your movements as seamlessly as you do without your combat load on.
Last thing I want to touch on is technique and frequency. As far as frequency, spending as much time on the agility portion as you can will pay dividends for you weapon work. For technique, I recommend you safeguard your knees on most of your training my walking toes to heal or simply only walking on the balls of your feet in order to let your calves act as the shock absorbers they are built for being. To develop your calves better, consciously walk on the balls on your feet and try to QUICKLY sneak on the balls of your feet only. After about a day or two of constantly walking on the balls of your feet, your knees will thank you and you will see ‘the light’, so to speak.
CLOSING REMARKS
I know there is bound to be some people who seriously will say that I am being extreme and that they are too old or frail to practice. But they will show me the extent of their imagination by insisting they will be able to just “tough through it when the time comes,” which is up to them to believe. If you have the gear around, and think you will use it, then do yourself a favor by training and practicing with it.
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