On today’s latest Knot of the Week, I’ll be explaining a method I’ve found for not only storing paracord on a boonie hat, but to weave it using a Chain Sinnet. This will allow you to quickly remove it if and when you need it.
If you remember previous knots we’ve taught here on ITS, we’ve gone over a Paracord Storage Sinnet and a Chain Sinnet in the past. With the storage sinnet we created you wind up with a donut looking paracord spool that can quickly unravel as you need the cordage. While this is a great method for storage, the downside is the time it takes you to create it.
You’re certainly not saving yourself any time with the method below, but you’re also not spooling 50 or 100 feet into a storage sinnet either, which can take up to an hour and a half. With the Boonie Hat Paracord Storage Sinnet, you can take a 20-30 ft. section of paracord and weave it on in about 30-45 minutes.
This may seem like a long time, but think of it as an investment. If you wear a boonie hat and have seen other methods for storing paracord on one, you’ve probably seen it all like I have. My issue with other methods is that they may look great, or have an awesome pattern, but how long is it going to take you to untie that when you need it?
I feel that this method I’ll show you today will solve that issue. Again, investing the time now to weave in this sinnet fashion will save you time in the long run when you most need it. [Read More…]
Today we’re releasing the final details for our Inagural ITS Tactical Muster and Skill-Set Development Excursion taking place in Weatherford, TX on Thursday, October 25th thru Sunday, October 28th 2012. We still have seats available, but space is filling up!
The Muster integrates all the common skill-sets we advocate here on ITS into one long weekend packed full of instruction, while spending the evenings enjoying great camradarie and sleeping under the stars.
Bringing our community together, the Muster will be your chance to spend a few days with the crew from ITS Tactical, get hands-on and learn together. The Muster attendance will be limited to 50 people and available to our Life Members, Plank Owners and Crew Leaders only.
While the Muster won’t be a physically demanding event, you’ll be hiking and climbing so your level of fitness should allow for this. You’re going to get dirty, you’re going to be tired, but you’ll leave with more knowledge than you came with, great memories and friendships forged.
Physical Security
Evaluating physical security is an essential skill-set to not only understand how secure (or insecure) locks and related hardware are in our everyday lives, but also to enable participants to leverage commercial, custom and improvised tools to support personal security and lawful entry.
Matt Fiddler from SerePick.com will be heading up this block of instruction. He’s a certified and registered locksmith and security professional with over 20 years of experience.
Exercises on advanced lock entry (commercial and improvised tools)
Hands on exercises with alternate locking systems (tubular, disc, wafer, dimple, combination)
Introductory lecture on advanced forms of bypass
Field expedient tool design and extensive hands-on with advanced bypass methods
Advanced forms of bypass to included bumping, shimming, loiding, etc.
Participants will be provided with all tools and hardware for the duration of the exercises and will leave with a basic entry kit.
Medical Training (TCCC)
Knowledge of medical equipment and skills to save a life are heavily advocated at ITS. We’ll have Caleb Causey, a former Army medic and owner of Lone Star Medics on hand to teach life saving skills and ensure you leave with the following knowledge.
Training Outline
TCCC (Tactical Combat Casualty Care) – Care Under Fire overview
Identifying and controlling bleeding
Tourniquet, hemostatic and pressure dressing usage
Introduction to wound management (suturing, debridement and surgical airways)
Drags, carries and hasty rigging
Participants will be provided with all training aids during the medical practicals and leave with medical kit assembled during the course.
Knot Tying
Knot tying is an extremely underrated skill-set, especially today with the overabundance of buckles, snaps and tie downs. We’ll get hands-on and ensure you acquire the skills to always have knots in your toolbox.
Training Outline
Introduction to knot tying terminology and history
Rope/cordage overview (natural fiber, synthetic, static vs. dynamic, construction)
Rope management (checking for damage, storage, methods of carry)
Field expedient ladders
Participants will be provided with paracord and rope for all exercises and leave with a paracord bracelet and deployment lanyard.
Rappelling / Climbing
Not only are climbing and rappelling great outdoor activities, but you could need these skills one day to negotiate a cliff or rock face. We’ll get into various methods to ensure your safety and some field expedient ways to always be prepared.
Training Outline
Introduction to rappelling and equipment
Belaying and top roping fundamentals
Swiss Seat and emergency rappelling harnesses
Rappelling station and top rope rigging
Ascending equipment, setup and field expedient ascending
Participants will leave with a field expedient webbing harness to utilize in an emergency situation.
Land Navigation / Geocaching
You are as good as what you’ve mastered, not what you’ve been taught. Using a map and compass is a perishable skill and we’ll be going through the fundamentals of Land Navigation and Geocaching.
Training Outline
Map terminology, map reading and declination
Terrain association
Compass selection, azimuth, back azimuth, calculating pace count
Introduction to Geocaching and caches
Applying Geocaching to everyday life and navigation in general
Participants need to provide a compass and will leave with pace count beads that will be made during the land navigation practical.
Fire, Shelter, Camp Gadgets and Stoves
Essential to preparedness is knowing how to construct shelters and get a fire going. We’ll be showing you some methods for shelter construction and how to build fires that you can use for heat and cooking. We’ll also show you some more discrete methods for each.
Training Outline
Applying knots and lashings into practical applications for construction
Building a shelter to sleep in overnight
Fire construction using various methods
Camp stove familiarization and introduction to alcohol stove construction
Participants will be provided with shelter material and leave with a self-made alcohol stove.
Food and Drinks
We’ll be providing food and drinks for everyone during the Muster. This won’t be pre-made store bought food or even fast food, they’ll be home cooked meals prepared by Matt Gambrell in the ITS Galley each day.
We know you’re going to work up an appetite and with menu selections like smoked brisket, fish tacos, burgers and breakfast burritos, you’ll be sure to get plenty to eat!
There will be snacks and plenty of leftovers during the day if you get hungry, but we did include geedunk in the packing list just incase.
Travel Details and Packing List
The Muster will be taking place from Thursday, October 25th to Sunday, October 28th. We’re requiring everyone to arrive no earlier than 3 p.m. on October 25th and no later than 6 p.m. that evening. For departure on Sunday, please plan on being at the Muster until 1 p.m. If you’ll be flying, please keep this in mind when booking flights.
Base Camp will be located near Weatherford, Texas, which is about an hour drive west from either the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport or Love Field Airport. The exact coordinates will be emailed to everyone attending closer to the Muster.
The majority of our activity will take place outdoors and we’ll have a pre-arranged area to set up tents. Any changes to the packing list we’ve provided here will be emailed out, but it shouldn’t change much from this.
You’ll also get an awesome T-Shirt and Morale Patch commemorating our first ever ITS Tactical Muster. While we’re planning on a Muster each year, there will only ever be one first Muster! There’s a ton more planned for you to take home, but you’ll just have to be there to find out what.
The pricing schedule below benefits those that get their payments in early. Don’t forget that if you’re a Life Member you’ll get 25% off your registration. Our Life Membership is also closed for now and won’t reopen before the Muster takes place.
$800 – Payment postmarked by June 1, 2012
$900 - Payment postmarked by August 1, 2012
$1000 – Payment postmarked by October 1, 2012
Send completed registration formAND personal check, bank money order or cashier’s check payable to ITS Tactical:
ITS Tactical 6100 W. Pioneer Pkwy, Suite 100
Arlington, TX 76013
Price based on date of payment receipt; your payment must be postmarked by the date you are submitting payment for. Payments postmarked after October 12, 2012 will be returned. Registration is non-refundable and non-transferable.
Please check out the Facebook Event for the Muster, so those of you that plan to attend can keep in touch with each other. There will be an official closed Facebook group created that we’ll add those that have a confirmed registration to. Details coming soon for those who have already been confirmed as attending.
We’re doing something different today with our Knot of the Week series and taking a look at five knots that you should know how to tie at all times. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been out with friends and had to tie something or someone down and everyone just looks at me.
No matter how often I remind them they need to read our KOTW articles and watch the videos here on ITS, I thought I’d put together an article on what I consider to be the knots I use the most on a regular basis and why you should have them at your disposal. Below you’ll find links to our original articles on ITS with tying instructions, as well as embedded videos that take you step-by-step through each of them.
Let’s face it, it’s hard to remember all the knots we teach here on ITS and knot tying is a depreciable skill that needs to be practiced. So let’s look at five, in no particular order, that you should know how to tie with your eyes closed or even underwater. [Read More…]
After months of planning, we’re excited to finally release details on our inaugural ITS Tactical Muster and skill-set development excursion.
The Muster integrates all the common skill-sets we advocate here on ITS into one long weekend packed full of instruction on Lock Picking, Knot Tying, Rappelling, Fire & Shelter Building, Camp Gadgets & Stoves, Medical (including TCCC principles), Navigation and Geocaching. All this while spending the evenings enjoying great camradarie and sleeping under the stars.
Bringing our community together, the Muster will be your chance to spend a few days with the crew from ITS Tactical, get hands-on and learn together. The Muster attendance will be limited to 50 people and available to our Life Members, Plank Owners and Crew Leaders only.
While the Muster won’t be a physically demanding event, you’ll be hiking and climbing so your level of fitness should allow for this. You’re going to get dirty, you’re going to be tired, but you’ll leave with more knowledge than you came with, great memories and friendships forged. [Read More…]
I’d like to start something new here on ITS today and start sharing all the EDC (Every Day Carry) photos we receive in our Forum here on ITS. We’re also going to turn it into a contest every few weeks and give away a $25 gift certificate to the ITS Store!
We’ll select an EDC based on only one criteria… Rule number one, always look good! Just kidding, we’ll pick it based on being a functional and realistic EDC. This means it actually has to be what you carry in your pockets, not in a bag (as much as we want to see photos of your Discreet Messenger Bag.) Of course this is totally left open to our interpretation and why we’d like a brief description of what you’re carrying too.
To enter, simply join our Forum (if you’re not a member already) and post up your photo in this topic with a brief description of your EDC. We’ll look in on the submissions and pick someone every few weeks to win. The winner’s photo will be posted on the homepage of ITS Tactical along with the announcement. I’ll start things off this week and show everyone what’s in my pockets today. And yes, all this is really all in my pockets. [Read More…]
How many of you have either purchased or made your own Paracord Bracelet and ever had to unravel it to actually use the paracord? If so, you’ve probably realized how much of a pain it is to untie each part of the Solomon Bar Knot that’s used to tie these bracelets.
Today on our latest Knot of the Week, we’ll show you how to use a Chain Sinnet knot concept to tie a Paracord Bracelet that will allow you to quickly pull apart your bracelet for immediate access to your continuous 10 feet of paracord for emergency use.
This method will take a bit longer to tie than a normal Solomon Bar Paracord Bracelet, but if quick access is what you need out of your bracelet’s paracord, then this is the answer.
We’re thrilled to announce our newest ITS Tactical event. The Muster will be a skill-set development event held outdoors that integrates the most common skill-sets we advocate here on ITS Tactical.
Rather than simply try to convey all these skills from a computer, we wanted to bring our community together to get hands-on and learn together.
While all the details are still being finalized, we hope to have the registration information and cost for you soon. We’re shooting for mid-October right now in Central Texas, but wanted to put out plenty of notice to everyone so you can clear your calendar.
The Muster will be limited to 50 people and you’ll have to be a Life Member, Plank Owner or Crew Leader to attend. You’re going to get dirty, you’re going to be tired, but you’ll leave with more knowledge than you came with, great memories and friendships forged.
We’ve also launched a Facebook Event for the Muster, so those of you that plan to attend can keep in touch with each other.
In our newest Knot of the Week, we’ll be taking a look at a way to add a leash to the lid from your Liberty Bottle so it doesn’t grow legs and walk away.
One thing that I felt was missing from the US made ITS Liberty Bottles that we sell in our store, was a way to lanyard in the lid so it didn’t get lost. As I started taking Liberty Bottles with me while hiking and climbing, I quickly missed the ability to drink one-handed after removing the lid; which can be done with Nalgenes.
With a couple of easy knots and some Type 1 Paracord or the guts from standard Type III Paracord, you’ll be able to create your own Liberty Bottle Leash in no time! [Read More…]
Yesterday my good friend Jack from The Survival Podcast asked me if I’d like to come on his show to discuss the Top Ten Tactical Skill-Sets for the Common Man. I jumped at the chance and the show we recorded yesterday is now live!
I tried to highlight many of the Skill-Set topics that we frequently discuss here on ITS Tactical and I think they all tied together well. I’d urge everyone here to spend a few minutes to check it out and hear about why we advocate having these skill-sets here on ITS.
Here’s my personal top ten list of tactical skills that everyone should make a part of their lives, specifically for those of us in a preparedness mindset.
Self Defense, Combatives and Situational Awareness
Navigation
Fitness
Lock Picking
Medical
Driving
Knot Tying
Digital Competency
Home Security/Assessment
The Tactical Mindset
Let me know what you think about the show and check out the links below for more information on each of these skill-sets here on ITS. Follow this link to listen directly on TSP or find them on iTunes!
A huge thank you to Jack for having me on TSP, I really enjoyed the opportunity brother! Be sure to subscribe to TSP and follow them on Facebook and Twitter!
Have you always wondered how to achieve the technique that Strider uses to wrap their knife handles with paracord? On Today’s Knot of the Week we’ll show you exactly how to do it with a detailed video in HD!
We’ve previously demonstrated this method on a County Comm Breacher Bar, but if left a lot of you asking further questions and if we could demonstrate it on a Strider Knife. Using a Strider/Triple Aught Design DUK we’ll show you how you can utilize this wrapping on anything that has at least two holes drilled and optionally a lanyard hole as well.
You can apply this wrapping principle to just about anything you want to and we hope you find something of your own to wrap!
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