11 Things Veterans Buy at an Army Surplus Store That Civilians Walk Right Past

📕 HOLD THE HOUSE ($17): after the gear, secure the house it sits in. Door lines, 17 hiding places, a 30-minute plan. 👉 https://wadeguide.netlify.app 🪖 Price guide for the gear in this video: REAL SURPLUS, REAL PRICES ($27) https://gravesguides.gumroad.com/l/real-surplus-real-prices Eleven things sitting in the bins at the back of an army surplus store that a civilian will walk straight past, and the reason each one is built the way it is. 🧭 WHAT THIS IS The expensive thing at the front of the store was designed to be sold. The cheap thing in the bin at the back was designed by people who had to answer for it when it failed, bought by an organisation that would be stuck with it for a decade. That is the whole pattern. Everything on this list was issued to me before I ever paid money for it, which means I did not pick it, could not return it, and had no opinion about the brand because there was not one. Where a specification or a manual exists I name it. Where none exists I say so. Number one costs eighteen dollars and is the most beloved object in the whole system. Prices are what I actually see on the shelf, and eight of the eleven are under twenty dollars. ⏱️ CHAPTERS 0:00 The couple at the register 1:20 The pattern, once you see it 2:18 Why the good one is invisible 3:13 How I know 3:50 Counting down from eleven 4:24 11. The wool watch cap 7:26 10. The steel ammunition can 10:47 9. Cushion sole wool socks 13:46 8. Genuine 550 cord 16:36 7. The tri-fold entrenching tool 19:45 6. The stainless canteen cup 22:47 5. The cravat 25:32 4. The wet weather bag 29:01 3. The Gore-Tex parka 32:20 2. The wool blanket 35:25 1. The poncho liner 38:59 One-breath recap 39:50 The one thing to buy this week 📖 THE MANUALS AND SPECIFICATIONS TC 21-3, the cold weather soldier's handbook: layering and moisture management, which is why the wool cap and the parka work the way they do (items 11 and 3). FM 21-10, Field Hygiene and Sanitation: foot care gets its own treatment, because an army that cannot walk is not an army (item 9). MIL-C-5040 Type III: the actual specification for 550 cord. Nylon kernmantle, seven or more twisted inner yarns, 550 lb breaking strength. Count the yarns before you pay (item 8). FM 5-103, the doctrine on fighting positions: a document about how fast a tired person can move a specific volume of earth, which is the design brief the tri-fold shovel was answering (item 7). The extended cold weather clothing system is the parent system for item 3. It is a system name, not a manual, and the shell is not the warm layer. The steel can, the canteen cup, the cravat, the wet weather bag, the wool blanket and the poncho liner are judged on what they are built from and how they are built, not on a manual number. Nobody ever wrote "woobie" down in an official document either. I checked. ⚠️ A WORD ON ADVICE Everything here is sourced. When I cite a method or a standard I name it. Buying advice is my own opinion from using these things, not a recommendation for your situation, and I do not give benefits advice on individual cases and am not accredited to. For your own claim, talk to the VA or an accredited representative. Wade Merrill is a fictional character. No real person is depicted or impersonated. #ArmySurplus #SurplusFinds #GearThatLasts