This post will cover the US Army Entrenching Tool or e-tool. The e-tool is one of those pieces of gear that you don’t know you need, until you really need it. I think every outdoor enthusiast should have one. I am not advocating carrying it with you on every trip, but if you are “car camping” as opposed to primitive camping, then throw one of these e-tools in your trunk. If I plan on making a new campsite, I take the e-tool with me. If I visit an old campsite for the first time in the season, I take the e-tool with me to clear out new growth, and remove old ashes from the fire pit.

Entrenching tools come from many different manufacturers and from different decades. You can find an older type, with a wood handle, or the most common I see today, is the tri-fold metal handle. There are many cheap fakes from Asia, and many decent “replicas” as well. There is an excellent guide on eBay “U.S. Entrenching Tool Identification — Spot a Fake!“. According to this reviewer, my newest e-tool may be a fake. While comparing it to my old e-tool, I cannot tell any physical differences, except for stamped markings. Overall design, weight and “feel” are the same. There are several types of entrenching tool carriers; the newest type is a MOLLE pouch with buckle closure in the front. I use old-school rubber ALICE carriers with snap-ons to secure the lid. In my situation it makes no sense to pay more for the MOLLE carrier, but a soldier, who may have to hit the ground hard, the snap-on ALICE pouch can come open easier than the MOLLE carrier with buckle closure.

I have used the e-tool in the field as a shovel and a spade. I think for chopping branches, a machete or hatchet are best. The e-tools weakest points are it’s hinged parts, and chopping violently stresses them much more than digging. Size of the blade is good for camp chores like digging a fire pit, or getting rocks out from underneath the tent. One could use the e-tool as a weapon in some situations, it certainly has the weight and the edge to damage flesh and bone.

A few words about using the entrenching tool… There are several hinges, and one plastic nut on the last hinge. Twist this nut counter-clockwise to allow the hinges to work. Once this is done, unfold the e-tool into desired position, shovel, pick, or closed. Twist the nut clockwise till it stops. This will lock all the hinges, and you can use your e-tool.

The FM 21-76 is considered to be one of the ’standard’ survival publications available today. The other ones are Boyscout Handbook, SAS Survival Guide and such. If you are not familiar with US Army’s publishing scheme, I can try and explain it in a few words, based on my own understanding. FM stands for Field Manual; the numbers that follow are for various tasks, skills, and equipment maintenance that may be of use in the field. I beleive the Army uses this system (FM, followed by a series of numbers) for all their field publications. If you do a search on Amazon.com for any of the titles mentioned above, there are plenty of sellers, and links to similar publications. While searching for good survival publications, I found several reviews stating that the Boyscout Handbooks have been revised over the years, and the 1950’s and ‘60 publications are the best.

I like this book because it is compact, and can be put in any backpack or rucksack pocket with ease. There are several concepts covered in the manual. This is not a chapter-by-chapter listing, merely a general summary:

• Survival Kits
• Basic Survival Medicine
• Shelter
• Water
• Firecraft
• Food Procurement
• Edible, Medicinal and Poisonous plants

My copy was published in 1970, so it is outdated by modern military standards. The most current revision has several additional chapters:

• Movement in Hostile Areas
• Camouflage
• Contact with People
• Survival in Man-made Hazards

This is not a bad book to have, just in case you get lost in the woods. At worst, if you are bored one day, and have nothing to do at the campsite, this will make for an educational reading. And everyone could always use a good book every once in a while.

LINK to zipped PDF files of Scanned FM-76, and LINK to a much smaller PDF text version.

This multitool came as a part of Winchester 6 piece gift set from Wal Mart. For $10 for the whole set, I could not pass it up. The craftsmanship and materials do not feel as good as my Gerber and Leatherman multitools, and that’s ok. I beleive that tools should be used and abused, and for the price the Winchester can be beat up without breaking the bank.

It is made from stainless steel, and blades feel sharp enough to do small tasks. There are inch and centimeter markings etched into both sides of the handles, to measure something shorter than 8″. On one side there is a standard blade, a saw blade, can/bottle opener and a flat screwdriver bit. On the other side there is a nice serrated blade, a short blade, and a phillips screw driver bit. All the blades swing out when handles are fully closed, and pliers are not exposed. If you swing the handles open, the multitool becomes needle nosed pliers. This design is comfortable because the inside of the handles are smooth, and edges do not cut into your skin.

The medium ALICE Pack was my first ‘real’ camping backpack purchase. I bought it on eBay, after seeing one of my friends use his on a camping trip. The ALICE pack is a no nonsense, strong and cheap design from 1960s. There were several versions made for the US Army, medium ALICE and large ALICE. The medium pack can be worn without an external frame, the large pack has to have the external frame because of its size. I am not a big fan of external frames, so my pack does not have one. While a vast improvement over a school bookbag, the ALICE pack is not the most comfortable design out there. It is still one of my favorites because of our camping history, and because it is tough. I have strapped tents, gallons of water, firewood, all kinds of things onto it, and nothing ever broke The fabric is very durable, and the straps are extremely strong. I dislike the frameless design because the bag bows out, and sits on your back in an awkward way. The shoulder straps are not heavily padded, and there is no hip belt. With the external frame, you have to use a hip belt, so that may be an improvement in comfort and usability. The stock shoulder straps are about 2.5″ wide, and have less than 1/2″ of padding. When used without the hip belt, all of the weight rides on the shoulders, which makes even a short hikes extremely uncomfortable, and back-breaking. Both shoulder straps have old-school quick release buckles.
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