Back when I was a young, high-speed STRAC trooper in the U.S. Army, I liked going to the field. I mean I really liked it. For an aviation troop, of course, this is sheer blasphemy. Who in their right mind would want to live in a rice paddy when you can have the comfort of thousands of square meters of concrete parking ramps, the hangar, showers, etc??

You see, years of CAP indoctrination had made the field fun for me, and when we went to the boonies, even with our "double-headed Winnabago" Chinooks, I went in comfort and style. While my comrades were constantly complaining and making do with their stock GI issue gear, I had all kinds of tricks and gear to make my stay in the field enjoyable.

The way I kept on top of the hot tips & tricks for comfortable field living was with these little green books I'd picked up in the PX: The Ranger Digests. "Ranger" Rick Tscherne has published 9 of these babies since their inception, and each one is jam-packed with goodies, ideas, diagrams and just plain common sense skills for working and living in the field. If you're a Snivel-Gear Commando like I am (See our series "How I Got the Thousand-Yard Stare" from Winter Hawk 2002 for an explaination), you'll appreciate all of Ranger Rick's ideas. I still have two or three Ranger Digests tucked in the top map flap of my 'ruck, for easy reference. Hooah.