Mk 5 SERE Kit

As promised, a guide to building your own version of the Survival Kit I've been working on for some years now. The kit is in 3 levels, like Rusty Wiseman would advise, and this is just the start, the Level 1 Kit. What you keep on your person.

Disclaimer

This kit has been tested with some friends in the Wicklow Mountains and in a few other environments with some adaptions and if you intend to build one for use, make sure you test it and it fits not just your needs but also the operational environment in which you intend to use it

Level 1

The full kit.

The full kit seen above is in 3 parts, an E&E set of tools, a tin with the essentials, and the bit on the left is an ISKIT, or Individual Signalling Kit, which has the essentials of signalling.

The Signal Kit

The Individual Signalling Kit or ISKIT.

The ISKIT, or Individual Signalling Kit is comprised of a Blackfolium ISKIT, which comes with the H70 Signalling Panel and the mini Cyalume Chemlight. Added to this is the following:

  1. Signaling Tape.
  2. A UST Star Flash Ultra Signalling Mirror.
  3. A UST JetScream 122dB signal whistle.

It should be noted that UST was bought out by Smith & Wesson in like 2016 and since then, they have stopped making what I would consider to be serious products. I'm not even sure that you find their products inside new production survival kits these days. I recently found a brand new production of a USAF Survival Kit, Individual Airmans, because I know it used to have the UST StarFlash inside but may have something different now. Suggested replacement items are:

  1. MIL-M-18371E Mark 3 Mirror, Emergency Signalling.
  2. ACR Survival Whistle.

The E&E Kit

The Escape & Evasion kit.

The E&E Kit contains the following:

  1. One section of heat shrink.
  2. A titanium split paul handcuff shim.
  3. A padlock bypass tool.
  4. A combination lock bypass tool.
  5. One hairpin/bobby clip with a Russian style handcuff key.
  6. One mini saw and sheath.
  7. One 70mm diamond wire.
  8. On Cyflect signalling patch.
  9. Two sealed medical scalpel blades.
  10. One micro Cyalume.
  11. One combination mini pick kit, with storage.
  12. Four padlock shims.

Imminent Threat Solutions makes the mini pick kit and the padlock and combo lock bypass tools but I don't see them for sale on the store anymore, except for in the ITS SPIE Kit. The scalpel blades are easily picked up in various places but if you want a replacement that works the same way, you can get a ceramic razor blade. For context, you get a stick and jam a blade into a small cut in it, which you then tie with cordage to have a neat little full scalpel for various uses.

The Tin

Everything in the tin.

Storage Items

  1. One large tin with a gasket.
  2. One survival priorities sticker.
  3. One EPDM Ranger Band.
  4. One One-Wrap for the compass so you can wear it on the wrist.

Medical Items

  1. Two cleaning swabs.
  2. Three assorted bandages.
  3. Two blister tape bandages.

Repair Items

  1. Two zip ties (orange pictured but being replaced with releasable zip ties).
  2. One spool of Kevlar line.
  3. Two sewing needles.
  4. One flat roll of duct tape.

I'll be honest, I scavenged the Kevlar line and sewing needles from an ESEE kit... So I've no idea where you get them... But the ESEE kit makes up part of my Level 2 kit on a belt so... That's probably the easiest way to acquire it.

Water Storage & Purification Items

  1. One Whirl-Pool 1 litre stand-up bag.
  2. Ten water purification tablets.

Assorted Items

  1. One ferro rod with a hole.
  2. One ceramic mini knife.
  3. One SOS micro whistle.
  4. One photon micro-light.
  5. Two fire plug tinder.
  6. One fishing hardware tool tube .
  7. One wire saw tool tube.
  8. One fishing line tool tube.
  9. One snare wire tool tube.
  10. One Wrist Compass.
  11. One 25ft hank of Technora cordage.

I don't know how easy it will be to get the specific wrist compass I have, as the one I'm using is the same one that is in the USN/USMC SRU-31/PF General Purpose, Survival Kit, Individual Airman. They can get a little pricy so if yo want an alternative, I've been using a Suunto Clipper Compass on my Garmin for several years now and it's great! Probably a lot cheaper to get one of them than order part of, or a whole kit for one item.

Level 2

Work in progress ;)