The Q&A portion of the Wild Bunch Dispatch will be held on this page from 6pm to 7:30pm (Mountain Time) today. Any questions you might have on the 56th issue please post here and I will try to answer them to the best of my ability. Some ground rules:
1) Please stick to the subject matter of the newsletter.
2) This is not a debate forum. If you have some concerns I’m happy to address them, but I can’t get into a long circular debate while other people have questions.
3) If I do not respond to your question immediately, don’t freak out. I’ll get to it, don’t worry.
4) Try to keep to one or two questions each time you write a post. Please refrain from essay-long multi-question posts. It is much appreciated.
I will begin discussion at exactly 6pm Mountain time. Looking forward to your questions and thoughts on the Wild Bunch Issue #56. The next issue of the newsletter will be released on June 6th. If you missed out on this discussion you can still subscribe for the next issue and participate. For more information on how to subscribe, visit the link HERE.
Regards,
Brandon Smith, Founder of Alt-Market.us
Discussion on Issue #56 is now open.
Brandon, have any 3rd parties tested and verified the performance your thermal camouflage ghillie? Looks like a useful piece of kit, but I’ve only seen it advertised on your site.
You can see the video of the testing here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rW0upku1HIQ&t=4s
The original video was taken down from the Oath Keeper YouTube page but it had almost a million hits at the time. I have had thousands of customers over the years and none have ever complained about the suits performance. Right now I only have the shelter systems available as materials have gone way up in price and have been harder to get for the ghillie suits.
As far as blending into the environment goes which do you think is superior: the camo patterns used by hunters or the ones used by the military?
I actually like the camo patterns used by Sitka and Kuiu and the quality of the fabrics in terms of weather resistance is far superior to anything the military has. That said, I also like multicam and the new ATACS patterns are pretty awesome for most applications.
What is your biggest concern as far as surveillance technology in combat…?
Thermal was my biggest concern for a long time, mainly because it makes any movement in open areas impossible for low tech insurgents, and it greatly reduces your options in terms of forward observers and snipers. Luckily it’s still rather expensive and is not in widespread use in any military, including the US. You might find one thermal scope or binoculars among hundreds of troops. My invention of the thermal ghillie makes that advantage basically useless. My other concern is actually the use of GPS tracking devices hidden within military equipment. Guerillas usually survive by taking the enemy’s supplies, but a modern insurgency would have to use frequency scanners to detect GPS devices before moving any enemy gear off the field. Otherwise, they might be able to track you right back to where you live.
What do you think of the idea of inventing your own camo pattern?
That would be interesting. I’m not really sure how to begin doing that to be honest. Textile manufacturing is all handled overseas, but I suppose I could do a design on the computer at least. I really hate most snow pattern camo. I think it could be done much better than what exists right now.
Agreed. I think single colors work better for places with lots of snow or sand anyway as there’s not a whole lot of color there to begin. Plus making your own pattern would help distinguish yourself and your comrades from the enemy.
True. That’s why I do like some of the new high end hunting patterns as they are similar to military patterns but distinctive enough to distinguish your allies from your opponents. I will look into camo design though; I think that would be fun to try.
In your response to Mako, you mentioned having frequency scanners. Where can one find those and which are the better brands? (I just did a quick search and most of the hits were for finding bugs in your home)
If you want to find ANY device, you would need a spectrum analyzer to detect different signals from difference devices, but this equipment is expensive. The best low cost device I know of is the Siglent Technologies TG Spectrum Analyzer, which costs around $1200. If you know what you are looking for the costs go down a little. Modern military tracking equipment will probably use the two designated GPS frequencies, which are L1 (1575.42 Mhz) and L2 (1227.60 MHz). Look for an RF sweeper that specifically looks for those frequencies and you should be in good shape. Some of these devices are cheap crap and some work; be sure to do your research.
Thanks
Discussion is now closed on Issue #56. Thanks to all those subscribers who participated. If you missed out on this issue or would like to subscribe to The Wild Bunch Dispatch to receive future issues, visit the subscription page HERE.
Issue #57 will be released on June 6th.