Well, yesterday I discovered a GREAT version of Scotland the Brave on Spotify. This morning I learned the YouTube version has only had 826 views, since it was posted on 11 July 2017...Are you kidding me!! This is one of the most energetic versions of this iconic tune!!
You be the judge:
Is that not the MOST energetic version of Scotland the BRAVE!!! you have ever heard??
Until next time...Remember your roots!!
Mountainman.
 |
| The Variable Geometry Pack System - Prototyped by Covert Industries Inc (circa 2003/2004) |
This was one of the major prototypes I achieved back in the day when Covert Industries Inc was still around. This is a serious pack system designed for extended periods in the field. The notable feature being all the components that work with the pack and the other components. So, this long overdue review is going online today. Please, join me as we explore the features and options of the Long Range Recreation Pack (LRRP) System.
For those who are going to ask, I am not sure of the exact volume of the pack. An educated guess would be about 65 litres for the main bag.
The side pockets are another 6 litres, each.
The Pigy-Pak (mini pack) is about 11 litres.
The top pocket is about 4 litres.
And the crampon pouch is about 3 litres.
So, rough guess for all is about 95 litres.
The webbing is a mix of 3/4", 1" and 2" poly propylene webbing.
The buckles include:
3/4", 1" and 2" side release buckles
1" Super loc ladder buckles
2" Heavy duty ladder loc buckles
The zippers were:
#5 vislon separating
#5 vislon non-separating for the top pocket
Also, is the two side pockets zipped together and being worn as a day pack.
Here we see the Pigy-Pak mini-daypack 
Another look at the two side pockets as a daypack
The LRRP System evolved from the Military Patrolling Pack System. Seen here (left and below) with scabbards instead of side pockets.
There is a removable cargo pouch on the front of the main pack.
The top pocket is the tall version with a couple extra litres of volume.
The Military Patrolling Pack uses a 1" harness system and a 2" waist belt.
Axe loops and Hook & Loop handle holders allow ice axes or felling axes to be easily attached to the front of the pack.
Finally, for military applications the name would have been the Long Range Reconnaissance Pack System
 |
| Mountain Road, Alberta (Photo by V.A. McMillan) |
In Part One [https://mtnmanblog.blogspot.com/2021/01/emergency-readiness-readiness-levels.html]
we covered emergency readiness levels from zero to five. Let’s carry on and
explore Level Five in more detail with a focus on the challenges of maintaining
this level of readiness for prolonged periods and a strategy to minimize a loss
of effectiveness over time.
As mentioned in Part One,
Level Five Emergency Readiness is the peak of performance and readiness. Your
kit is squared away. Your vehicle is squared away. You have comms and backup
comms. You have backup power and lighting. You are trained and exercised. You
have a plan or plans for known events that would require your readiness. You
are confident. Your family is confident in you, too. If anything happens that
requires you to deploy or respond to a natural disaster or man-made crisis you
are READY.
BUT… (there is always a
but) how long can you stay at this heightened level of readiness?? What is your
endurance level?? Are you mentally strong enough to stay here at Level Five for
a week?? A month?? Six months?? A year?? Two Years?? What if you do not
deploy?? What if no events occur that require your response?? What if an event
is building in intensity but has not breached the event horizon to become
actionable?? How long could you stay at peak readiness??
This is where readiness
and preparedness need to transform from just a skillset into a lifestyle. You
live preparedness and readiness. However, even in a perfect world staying at
Level Five is difficult to do, much less do indefinitely. If you are employed
to be ready, then you are also employed with others and can form teams. With
teams staying at Level Five for prolonged periods becomes possible because you
can rotate between heightened alert levels and down time to recover for your
next period of heightened alertness.
When I was in the army
one of the taskings that would rotate through was for one company of soldiers
to assist DART (disaster assistance response team). For one month, one company
would be on 24-hours notice to deploy anywhere in the world if DART was sent to
a location to respond to a natural disaster or man-made crisis. Usually, DART
would deploy with enough resources to make clean drinking water, have their own
power supply and comms, a medical team and soldiers for local protection and
assisting locals with disaster recovery tasks until local infrastructure could
resume without assistance. So, for thirty-days 100 or so soldiers would
maintain their readiness of having their full fighting order, ruck and a duffle
bag packed and ready to go. If a disaster occurred the troops only needed to
get dressed, grab their kit and report to base, get personal weapons issued and
jump on a plane to be transported to the location in need of assistance. Since,
deployment did not always occur, normal daily routine continued – morning PT,
company or platoon tasks or training on base and off-duty time limited alcohol consumption
and distance away from base, you were on standby after all. This being on
standby to deploy at any hour to any location is taxing, especially if you do
not get deployed. Getting deployed may be exhausting but you are doing what you
trained for and that pays you a small dividend. For any one company it could be
18 – 24-months between DART taskings due to the rotation through the whole
army.
In the civilian world
many first responder organizations are also on standby to respond on-call to
emergency events. The fire department and EMS are most recognizable to this
model of alarm bells going off at the station or hall and crews gear up and
mount up on their response vehicles and deploy to the scene to assist the
citizens at fire or medical emergencies. First responders use teams and rotate them,
so a fresh crew is on-duty for 8-12-hours before being replaced by another
crew. In this way, response times are kept to a minimum because readiness is at
the maximum. To keep crews at their peak training, drills and exercises are
employed for this one purpose. However, not everyone in the civilian world
belongs to an agency.
For those who operate as
a single-family unit or maybe as part of a limited mutual support group of
friends or neighbours, achieving Level Five readiness is a great achievement. Maintaining
that level is challenging. Maintaining that level for prolonged periods is
monumental. A protracted low-intensity event that has the potential to explode
into a high-intensity event at any moment is extremely taxing on individuals.
If you are the party creating the low-intensity event and you know exactly when
you are going to escalate into a high-intensity event your
troops/forces/members are afforded the luxury of knowing the timeline and being
able to energy up to the increased demands of the event. On the other hand,
those who are on the receiving side of such events and lack the foreknowledge
of the timeline, they must maintain heightened readiness for prolonged periods
thus exhausting themselves before the escalation even begins. The alternative
is to lower the readiness level and then gamble that you can mobilize in time.
These low-intensity events that have the potential to become high-intensity
events become acts of attrition by the aggressors against the defenders. Or, as
a former soldier that is how I see things.
Here is my strategy for
endurance. First you need a group or team, one that you trust. Next, tasks need
to be divided between sub-units of the group. These tasks include – QRF (quick
reaction force) Level Five, Follow-up units – Level Four and everyone else –
Level Three. If the event is for a fixed period, then afterwards a period of
Level Zero to recuperate while maintaining one unit at Level Three or Four
would be a wise practice. Otherwise, if the event is of an unknown duration, it
becomes necessary to rotate the sub-units through Level Five, Four and Three. If
folks have a job, the rotation cycle will likely work well on one-week rotations.
During this lead up time is a good time to start/continue cross-training team
members into the Level Fire tasks. Remember, if your group has four Level Three
teams, two Level Four teams and a lone Level Five team, the Level Three teams
need to be brought up to Level Five, just so your Level Five team can get rest occasionally.
Burnout your top team in the lead up and they could become non-effective when you
need them the most. Also, the rotation will help build stronger teams across
your whole mutual support group. On tactic for conducting this increased
training would be to disperse your Level Five team so that one member is
attached to each of the Level Three and Four teams. Once the knowledge has been
shared, practiced, and exercised/drilled, then everyone will be able and
comfortable taking their position in the team rotations as Level Five for a
week. Remember one effective method of ensuring the teams are growing is to
engage each team in an operation debrief and learn what they feel are their
strengths and what gaps exist to focus future training on.
Emergency preparedness and emergency readiness are both individual disciplines and team sports. If each member of a team contributes to the team’s achievements and is mindful of their personal responsibilities and stays focused, there are few goals that cannot be achieved together.
Until next time…cover
your buddy’s six!
Mountainman.
Useful Links:
Part One https://mtnmanblog.blogspot.com/2021/01/emergency-readiness-readiness-levels.html
Fire Piquet https://mtnmanblog.blogspot.com/2017/07/bugout-location-fire-piquetsecurity.html
 |
| Hills West of Savanna Creek, Alberta (Photo by V.A. McMillan) |
Well, 2020 may go down as
a “novel” year, a year most folks would not care to repeat anytime soon. Yet, 2021
is starting with similar tensions that brought 2020 to a close. Thus, bringing
me to this post on Emergency Readiness.
Let’s talk about readiness. What is readiness and why should we care?? Good questions. Readiness is the act of being ready. My American neighbours have a couple examples of readiness in their history – The Minute Men and Rogers’ Rangers. The Minute Men were American Patriots who acted as the QRF (quick reaction force) during the War of Independence – coming to the aid of their community or neighbouring community when under threat by their enemy. They got their name because they were expected to be ready on a minute’s notice. Meanwhile, Rogers’ Rangers were an American unit attached to the British military during the Seven Years War under the command of Major Robert Rogers. Rogers’ Rangers Standing Orders (1759) [http://www.psywarrior.com/ranger.html] are classic readiness orders that still hold value today. These standing orders detail things like deploying scouts when on the move, never use the same route out as you use to return to prevent being ambushed, post sentries when going to ground at night, march late and rise early, and keep your rifle clean, with sixty rounds and keep your hatchet sharp. Technology, field gear and weapons may change but the essence on readiness remains the same.
I am going to suggest a readiness system that ranges from level zero (not ready) to level five (extremely ready). This system of readiness draws upon the concepts devised by Colonel Jeff Cooper and his “color code” for gunfighting [https://modernsurvivalblog.com/security/coopers-color-code-definition/]; as well as, more recent additions to this “color code” [https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/managing-stress-arousal-for-optimal-performance-a-guide-to-the-warrior-color-code/] and Lt Colonel John Boyd’s OODA Loop for decision making [https://taylorpearson.me/ooda-loop/].
Emergency
Readiness
Level
Zero – Not Ready
Level
One – Ready, with at least a week’s notice
Level
Two – Ready, with at least a day’s notice
Level
Three – Ready, with a few hours notice
Level
Four – Ready, within an hour’s notice
Level
Five – Ready, within a minute’s notice
Level Zero:
This would-be what Cooper calls Condition White, you are not ready. This would
be a state of relaxation or stand-down to recover and recharge your soul, your
internal life battery and get ready for the next period of readiness. It is
also the same state for those who have no understanding or willingness to be
prepared or ready for an emergency.
Level One:
This would be the state of having had training, made a “plan”, and had the
required gear & equipment for emergency preparedness; however, your
personal system for coordinating all of these key components has not yet been
developed. With enough lead time you will be ready, but that lead time would be
measured in days or weeks. Further training with others and/or conducting
drills or exercises would assist you to progress to a higher readiness level.
Cooper may call this Condition Yellow – relaxed alert, a condition when you are
less likely to be caught off-guard.
Level Two:
This state of readiness is a giant leap forward from level one. Your gear &
equipment has been sorted and stored in a specific location, you have your
plans written down and you practice your skills & training regularly
(annually or semi-annually); however, deploying your gear & equipment and
enacting your plan still requires more than a day’s notice. Continued group
training/practice, as well as, conducting exercises & drills will further
enhance performance and reduce response time. Cooper’s Condition Orange – increased
vigilance, would be similar.
Level Three:
Achieving this level of readiness will keep you and your family safe during
most natural disaster events and many man-made crises events. This level of
readiness ensures you can evacuate from a flood or wildfire, or
shelter-in-place from a chemical leak. You have the skills & knowledge to
know what to do, you have the gear & equipment to stay or to go, and you
have written and exercised plans that your family uses. Each member of your family
has a bugout bag/GO bag/ready pack. Your vehicles are rarely parked at home
with less than half a tank of fuel. Your home is rarely without a few weeks’
worth of food in the pantry, fridge, or freezer. You have alternate light sources
and battery packs to recharge critical communications devices to endure a
typical power outage. At this level you meet or exceed the government’s
expectation for 72-hour of preparedness. Although, this might be similar to
Cooper’s Condition Red; there are physiological differences, that would not be
experienced by at this readiness level unless a response was required, then, level
three would be closer to Condition Red.
Level Four:
This level of readiness will see you successfully survive known natural
disasters and man-made crises albeit you may have to leave valuable gear or equipment
or possessions behind. Your skills, training and knowledge combine to give you
and your family an edge over 90% of the others in your community. This will
help you to help your family and then help your community. Readiness is a habit
now, a way of life. You no longer have to think about it, you just do it. At
this level of readiness, the only events that would cause you great challenge
would be fire in your home or a tornado or a tsunami; all other natural disaster
events or man-made crises could be handled as you have planned. Psychological,
physiological, and situational awareness are heightened at level four however
the negative effects of Condition Grey would likely only be felt if deployed at
this level and only for the duration of the high intensity stage of the event. Due
to the high level of training, practice, drills, exercises, skills, knowledge,
gear & equipment, at level four readiness a person should experience less
tunnel vision, less cognitive impairment and enhanced situational awareness
because this is the level you train at.
Level Five:
The highest readiness level, meaning you require the least amount of warning or
notice to employ your training or plans. At this level, you keep your vehicle
preloaded with essential gear & equipment. Family GO bags are the only items
needed to grab when leaving your home. You have digital copies of family photos
and documents on USB drives and they are in your GO bag. Water and food are
preloaded in your vehicle. Your vehicle is always kept with at least ¾ of a
tank of fuel. Vehicle maintenance is not neglected. Achieving level five
readiness is to be at peak performance mentally, physically, and emotionally.
You are as ready as you can be. Unlike, Condition Black, level five is a good
place to be. Maintaining level five readiness, however, is another story which
will be explored in detail in Part Two [https://mtnmanblog.blogspot.com/2021/01/emergency-readiness-readiness-endurance.html].
So, no matter where you currently are along the emergency readiness continuum, Level Zero to Level Five, everyday is an opportunity to improve or maintain your readiness. Remember as skills and training increase your knowledge you become less dependent on gear & equipment for your success. The more you know the more you can improvise when necessary for achieving your goal.
Until next time…watch
your six!
Mountainman.
Useful Links:
https://modernsurvivalblog.com/security/coopers-color-code-definition/
https://taylorpearson.me/ooda-loop/
http://www.psywarrior.com/ranger.html
 |
| Near Waiparous, Alberta (Photo by V.A. McMillan) |
Folks I am going to embellish this post with images shared to me from the web. I am not the source of these images (except the photo header image which I took earlier this year), but they can be found on Pinterest or Google Images or similar locations. The images will paint their own story and my words will tell my interpretation of the story. [Language Warning: Course Language Used, Read at your own discretion.]
 |
| The Easy Path |
 |
| Power to the People |
 |
| Create Emergencies to Break the Law |
 |
| From Pinterest - The Devil Shivers |
Until next time…start
thinking for yourself!
Mountainman.
PS - Need a second opinion, check this out: https://bardsofwarfilm.com/open-letter/?fbclid=IwAR0DJZuXtz-iAGPHJpU53gc2UC-XpfaOJ7BfrfcmdLnL6MRxGDh6D65zulc
Thanks to the Canadian Legacy Project more Canadian Veterans will have the opportunity to receive an education in entrepreneurship and developing a working business plan to get their business up and running. The next Veterans Business Boot Camp will begin on 18 January 2021 and run until 14 February 2021 in an online format.
The deadline for registration is 12 January 2021. Do not delay, registration is limited to 20 students.
Here is the link to the Veterans Business Boot Camp: https://www.canadianlegacy.org/entrepreneurial-training/
I graduated from the first Veterans Business Boot Camp in 2019 when it was hosted at Mount Royal University in Calgary, Alberta. Here is my blog post I wrote after my personal experience with the Veterans Business Boot Camp: https://thegoodplanblog.blogspot.com/2019/07/veterans-business-boot-camp-good.html
I highly recommend any interested Veteran to take this program, you will gain valuable insights about business and entrepreneurship.
Thank you, again, to Mr. Dave Howard and the Canadian Legacy Project for offering this valuable learning experience to Canadian Veterans and to Judy McMillan-Evans for your outstanding teaching style.
Until next time...take advantage of the opportunity knocking on your door!!
Mountainman.
 |
| Near Oldman River by V.A. McMillan |
Feardemic is a play on words, mocking pandemic in a cynical and sarcastic manner. According to Wikipedia "pandemic" is from the Greek "pan" = all & "demos" = people. And we know fear is an emotional response or choice to a stimulant, generally assumed to be a negative response. Yes, I was surprised to hear my wife use the term...but, it seems an accurate summation of the current state of affairs here on planet Earth. [Editor Correction: Feardemic in context with my wife's usage has to do with the fear many folks have with death and their unresolved acceptance of death and as a result they cannot allow themselves to live, much less live fully. The current pandemic/plandemic further exasperates this fear and has the fearful clutching at any idol to save their lives, such as the devotion to wearing masks.] FEARdemic an irrational response to the non-stop bombardment of the population by the propaganda allegedly due to the public health concerns for an upper respiratory infection called COVID-19. A disease that has a survival rate above 97%...
Here are links to previous conspiracy tales:
https://mtnmanblog.blogspot.com/2020/09/pandemic-vs-propaganda-plandemic.html
https://mtnmanblog.blogspot.com/2018/03/divide-conquer-global-elites-vs.html
https://mtnmanblog.blogspot.com/2018/05/masters-of-chaos-how-elites-are-keeping.html
https://mtnmanblog.blogspot.com/2019/03/the-coming-wars-between-peoples.html
https://mtnmanblog.blogspot.com/2020/04/zero-day-covid-19-crisis-global-elite.html
Back in January and February 2020 when the COVID-19 outbreak seemed real, and information was sketchy it seemed both reasonable and prudent to limit contact with people, practice excellent personal hygiene and employ PPE (personal protective equipment) when going out into public places. However, the emergency phase is long past. We have a much better understanding of this virus and it is not nearly as deadly as we were made to believe. So, why the hell are we still under lockdown?? Certainly not for public health reasons, but purely as an exercise in power and control. So, how did public health legislation get so powerful as to dictate house arrest and jail for non-compliance??
Where is the proof that any of these oppressive measures are warranted?? No, public "officials" nor the W.H.O. nor any other government source will be good enough. Just because billionaires like Gates or Soros said so, is also NOT good enough. A non-biased third party would be a good start. Of course, there would need to be at least three independent third-party verifications before any findings could come close to being accepted, after the sandbagging propaganda that has been shoved down our throats.
If things were not rosy enough and everyone would just like to get a bit of breathing room to get our personal and collective thoughts in order; this continued social engineering experiment just goes on and on without abatement. The latest twist is a series of screenshots of a Twitter? feed from an insider member of the Liberal Strategic Planning Committee who has expressed horror that the PM and his Ilk have sold out our country and wants the committee members to sell to Canadians it is in our best interest to capitulate and concede defeat without a fight and accept a buyout via the IMF to forgive all personal debt in exchange for enslavement. I cannot verify the authenticity of the images and I have not determined if they are real or some sort of PSYOP trick being played on Canadians. Needless to say the subversive, traitor who is allegedly in charge of our country is not making any friends in regions who absolutely did not vote for him nor his party.
