// GEAR · FIELD KIT · UPDATED SEPTEMBER 2026
What To Bring To The Field
The packing list your unit hands out keeps you legal at layout. It does not keep you warm, dry, fed, or awake on night four. This is the short list of things I actually pack on top of it — twelve items, most of them under $30, every one of them earning its weight. No brand paid to be here.
Who this is for. This list is for going to the field with your unit — FTXs, field problems, rotations. It is not a Ranger School, Sapper School, or any other schoolhouse packing list. Every school publishes its own list with its own rules, and there the answer is simple: bring exactly what is on it and nothing that is not.
- Feet first. Foot powder and dry socks prevent the only injury that reliably takes soldiers off the line in field training. Change socks twice a day, powder every time.
- Bugs are a two-part system, not a can of spray. Permethrin on the uniform, DEET or picaridin on skin. That is the actual DoD Insect Repellent System.
- Your headlamp needs a red LED you can reach without cycling through white. White light in a patrol base gets you smoked, and rightly.
- Sunglasses have two separate rules: AR 670-1 governs how they look, the Authorized Protective Eyewear List governs whether they stop frag. You want a pair that clears both.
- Electrolytes matter more than water volume once you are sweating through day two. Salt is what you are actually losing.
- Ounces equal pounds. If you are a grunt you carry all of it, for hours. Every item on this list has to earn its weight.
- The chair is a luxury item. It is worth it at a company CP or a range. It is dead weight on a patrol. Know which one you are doing.
// THE LIST
The Kit, In One Table
Twelve items. Buy all of it and you are a little over $300, but almost nobody needs all twelve at once — the first four are the ones I would not go to the field without.
Tap any item in the table to jump to it.
| What | Why it is on the list | Rough cost |
|---|---|---|
| Gold Bond Medicated Foot Powder, 4 oz | Prevents the blisters and immersion foot that actually take people off the line | $9.99 |
| DUDE Wipes On-The-Go Unscented Flushable Wipes, 30 ct | Ten days without a shower is a hygiene problem before it is a comfort problem | $8.99 |
| Sawyer SP657 Premium Permethrin, 24 oz trigger spray | Treats the uniform. Half of the DoD insect system | $18.49 |
| Sawyer 20% DEET Premium Insect Repellent, controlled release | Goes on skin. The other half | $6.99 |
| Wiley X Saber Advanced | Glare all day wrecks you; ballistic rating means they also stop frag | from ~$57 |
| Princeton Tec Byte, 200 lumen, red + white, Tan | Red light you can find by feel, in the dark, with gloves on | $30.99 |
| LMNT Zero Sugar Electrolytes, Raspberry Salt, 30 ct | Replaces what you sweat out, not just the water | $45.00 |
| Liquid I.V. Sugar Free, Discovery Variety Pack, 16 ct | Same job, less money, more sugar-free flavors | $27.99 |
| Anker Power Bank, 10,000 mAh, 30W USB-C | Keeps a phone or a Garmin alive across a long FTX | $29.99 |
| Rite in the Rain 3x5 Top Spiral, Green, 3-pack (No. 935) | Notes that survive rain, mud, and being sat on | $14.85 |
| MSR PocketRocket 2 Ultralight Stove | Hot water for coffee and for rehydrating real food | $49.05 |
| OneTigris Tigerblade Folding Chair, 330 lb | Sleep and recovery at a static position. Weight everywhere else | $39.98 |
Prices checked 16 September 2026 and they move constantly. Treat them as a ballpark, not a quote.
// 01 · FEET
Feet: The Only Real Casualty Producer
Nobody gets medevaced out of an FTX for being tired. They get pulled off the line for their feet. Trench foot — immersion foot — comes from prolonged exposure to cold and wet, not from freezing temperatures, which is why it happens in 45-degree rain in October and catches people completely off guard.
The fix is embarrassingly old. In the First World War the answer was three pairs of socks per man, rotated at least twice a day, with powder and regular foot inspections by leaders. That is still the answer. It has not improved because it does not need to.
What I actually do
Socks come off at every long halt where the tactical situation allows it. Feet get aired and powdered, fresh pair goes on, wet pair goes somewhere warm against my body to dry — usually wrapped around a canteen inside the ruck. You are rotating, not just replacing, or you run out of socks on day three.
The cheapest insurance on this entire list.
Medicated talc, four ounces, fits in a cargo pocket. It handles moisture and the itch that comes with it. Powder before you put the boot on, not after — you want it between your skin and the sock, not sitting in the bottom of your boot. One bottle covers a two-week rotation with plenty left over.
Check price — $9.99Leaders: foot checks are not a nice-to-have. The historical record is blunt about this — units that inspected feet on a schedule had dramatically fewer cases than units that told soldiers to take care of their own. Make your team leaders look.
// 02 · HYGIENE
Staying Clean Enough To Function
This is the one nobody writes about and everybody needs. On a long rotation you are not going to be clean. The goal is narrower than that: stay clean enough that you do not develop a skin problem that turns into a medical problem.
The two places that matter are your feet, covered above, and everything the Army politely calls the groin area. Chafing there escalates fast, and it escalates worst on exactly the people who are too proud to mention it.
Unscented, and the unscented part is not optional.
Individually wrapped so they do not dry out after you open the pack on day one. Get the unscented version — a fresh-linen smell carries a surprising distance in a treeline, and you are already fighting a losing battle on signature. Thirty of these live in my assault pack and I use two or three a day. Pack out what you pack in.
Check price — $8.99// 03 · INSECTS
Bugs: The DoD System, Not Bug Spray
Most soldiers buy one can of whatever is at the shoppette and call it handled. The Army actually has a defined answer here, and it is a system with parts, not a product.
The DoD Insect Repellent System is three things working together: permethrin on the uniform, DEET or picaridin on exposed skin, and the uniform worn correctly — sleeves down, trousers bloused into boots, undershirt tucked. Worn loose, too. Mosquitoes bite straight through fabric that is pulled tight against skin.
This is not a comfort measure. The Army rolled out factory permethrin-treated OCPs specifically as a force health protection measure, and Army studies on tick-borne illness found treated uniforms measurably reduced risk.
Goes on the uniform. Never on skin.
One 24-ounce trigger bottle treats several uniform sets. Spray it outside, hang the uniform, let it dry completely before you wear it — a treatment lasts roughly six washes. If you have factory-treated OCPs you can skip this, but check, because plenty of issued sets are not treated. Treat your bed net and the outside of your sleep system too.
Check price — $18.49This exact product is the one DoD names.
Twenty percent DEET in a controlled-release lotion, which is the specific formulation cited in the DoD insect repellent guidance for roughly eleven hours of protection. Lotion beats aerosol in the field — it does not drift onto your optics or your weapon, and a small bottle lasts. If DEET eats your gear or you hate the feel, 20% picaridin is the approved alternative.
Check price — $6.99DEET degrades plastics. Keep it off your optic housings, your watch crystal, and anything with a clear polymer lens. That includes your eye pro.
// 04 · EYE PRO
Eye Pro That Is Actually Legal
There are two separate rule sets here and soldiers constantly confuse them.
Rule one: AR 670-1 governs appearance
Eyeglasses and sunglasses have to be conservative and must not detract from the uniform. Lenses in traditional shades — gray, brown, dark green. No red, yellow, blue, purple, bright green, or orange. No mirrored lenses, no conspicuous initials or designs on the frames, nothing so large or so small that it stands out. Sunglasses are authorized in garrison but not indoors and not in formation unless they are medically prescribed.
Rule two: the APEL governs whether they stop anything
The Authorized Protective Eyewear List is the separate list of eye pro that has passed military ballistic testing — ANSI high impact, velocity testing, and the MIL-PRF spec. Oakley, Wiley X, Revision and ESS all have APEL-approved products. A pair of $20 gas station sunglasses might satisfy AR 670-1 and will do absolutely nothing for you when a track throws a rock or a blank adapter comes apart.
Clears both rules in one purchase.
Wiley X has been building to the Army standard since the APEL existed. Get the smoke or bronze lens, not the mirrored one, and you are inside AR 670-1 on appearance and inside the ballistic standard on protection. Price swings by kit — the two-lens sets cost more and are worth it, because clear lenses at night are the difference between wearing eye pro and pretending to.
Whatever you buy, buy a retention strap and an anti-fog cloth with it.
Check price — from ~$57// 05 · LIGHT
Light Discipline And A Real Headlamp
The headlamp you bring to the field has exactly one hard requirement: you have to be able to get red light on the first click, in the dark, wearing gloves, without cycling through white first. Every headlamp that fails that test will eventually white-light a patrol base, and the person holding it will hear about it for the rest of the rotation.
Red preserves your dark adaptation and carries far less than white. Blue-green is useful for reading a map because it makes contour lines pop. White is for inside a vehicle or under a poncho, and even then you think about it first.
Red on first press, and it is built like a brick.
Two hundred lumens of white when you need it, dedicated red LED you reach without cycling, and it takes AAAs — which matters more than it sounds like, because you can scrounge AAAs anywhere and you cannot scrounge a proprietary rechargeable at 0300. Tan body so you are not the one soldier with a bright blue headlamp. It survives being dropped, sat on, and rained on.
Check price — $30.99Bring spare batteries and know where they are by feel. A headlamp that dies during a night land nav lane is a lesson you only need once.
// 06 · HYDRATION
Water, Salt, And Why You Cramp
By day two of hard work in heat, your problem stops being water volume and starts being electrolytes. You can drink correctly, force water the way you were told, and still cramp up and get a headache, because what you are actually short on is sodium — and drinking plain water dilutes what little you have left.
This is also the mechanism behind the rare but genuinely dangerous overhydration cases the Army briefs every summer. More water is not always the answer. Salt is often the answer.
High sodium, zero sugar, and it works.
About a gram of sodium per stick, which is well above most sports drinks, and no sugar to upset your stomach on a ruck. One stick in a canteen at the midday halt on a hot day changes how the afternoon goes. It is expensive at roughly a dollar fifty a packet, which is the honest knock against it.
Check price — $45.00The budget answer, and it is a good one.
Less sodium per serving than LMNT and a wider flavor spread, at roughly half the price per stick. If you are an E-3 buying your own field kit, start here. The gap between "some electrolytes" and "no electrolytes" is much bigger than the gap between these two products.
Check price — $27.99// 07 · POWER
Power That Lasts The Whole FTX
Do not buy the biggest battery. Buy the one you will actually carry. A 20,000 mAh brick is a pound of dead weight that lives in the bottom of your ruck and never comes out; a 10,000 mAh unit fits a cargo pocket and gets used.
Two phone charges, fits a cargo pocket.
Ten thousand milliamp hours at 30 watts over USB-C, which is enough to bring a dead phone back twice with margin, or top off a handheld GPS. USB-C in and out means one cable for everything. Put it in a ziplock — not because it will get rained on, but because it will get rained on while you are asleep.
Check price — $29.99Check your unit policy before you bring a personal phone to the field at all. Plenty of rotations run phones-in-a-bag, and a charger is useless if the phone is locked up at the company.
// 08 · NOTES
Paper That Survives The Rain
Every leader above you will give you information verbally, once, in the rain, at night. Frequencies, call signs, grids, timelines, the five-point contingency plan nobody wrote down. Regular paper turns to pulp in a cargo pocket in about four hours.
The 3x5 fits the pocket. That is why it is the one people actually carry.
Genuinely weatherproof — write on it in a downpour and the page survives. The green cover is the subdued option, and the three-pack means you have spares for your team leaders. Pair it with an all-weather pen, because a standard ballpoint will not write on wet paper and a pencil smears. Number your pages and date every entry.
Check price — $14.85// 09 · HOT FOOD
Hot Food And Hot Coffee
Straight talk before the recommendation: a stove is not a patrol item. MREs come with flameless ration heaters for a reason, an open flame is a thermal and light signature, and most field problems have fire restrictions that your leadership will enforce. If you are moving tactically, the stove stays home.
Where it earns its place is everywhere else — a company CP, a range detail, a support position, a gun line, the second week of a rotation when morale is the actual limiting factor. Hot coffee at 0500 in November does something for a section that no amount of leadership does.
Small, boils fast, nothing to break.
Roughly three ounces, folds into a case the size of a deck of cards, and brings half a liter to a boil in a few minutes on a standard isobutane canister. A dedicated boiler system is faster and quieter in wind, but it is three times the price and far bulkier for the same result. You need a canister and a metal cup; the canister is the part that will not fly, so plan to buy it locally if you are flying to a rotation.
Check price — $49.05Check the rules first. Burn bans, fire risk levels, and unit SOP all override anything on this page. Ask before you light anything.
// 10 · THE CHAIR
The Chair: Earn It First
I am going to be honest about this one because the internet is not. A field chair is a comfort item. It does not make you better at your job. If you show up to your first FTX as a private with a chair strapped to your ruck you are going to have a conversation with your squad leader, and you will deserve it.
That said: at a static position, over a two-week rotation, getting your body off wet ground during your rest cycle is a genuine recovery difference. Sitting on the ground in the cold pulls heat out of you the entire time. Two pounds is a real cost and it is sometimes worth paying.
Two pounds, packs small, holds a grown man in kit.
Rated to 330 pounds, which matters because a lot of ultralight chairs are not built for someone in full kit dropping into them. Packs down to about the size of a water bottle. Available in subdued green, which is the version to get — the bright colors are a nonstarter. Read the room before it comes out of the ruck.
Check price — $39.98// LOADOUT
Where It All Goes
Kit you cannot reach is kit you did not bring. The rule is simple: the more often you need it, the closer it lives to your body.
And the other rule, the one that matters more the farther you walk: ounces equal pounds. Lay everything out before you pack it and ask what happens if you leave it. If the honest answer is “nothing,” it does not go in the ruck.
| Where | What lives there | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Cargo pockets | Notebook and pen, headlamp, foot powder, a few wipes | Reachable without taking the ruck off |
| Assault pack / top of ruck | Socks, electrolytes, charger, eye pro case | Needed at halts, not on the move |
| Bottom of ruck | Stove, spare uniform, the chair if it came | Static position only |
| Left at home | Permethrin | Uniform gets treated days before you leave, not in the field |
Waterproof everything that matters before you go. Dry bags are ideal, contractor bags work, ziplocks work for small items. Wet socks in a ruck make every other pair wet.
// QUESTIONS
Straight Answers
How many pairs of socks should I actually bring?
Six for a week, eight to ten for a two-week rotation. It sounds like a lot until you are rotating two pairs a day and drying the wet ones against your body. Socks are the single item where I have never once wished I brought fewer.
Are sunglasses authorized in the field?
Yes, and in the field the appearance rules matter far less than whether they are ballistic rated. AR 670-1 restrictions on conservative lenses and no mirrored finishes are written primarily for garrison. In a training environment your leadership cares that you are wearing approved eye pro at all. Wear it.
Can I bring a personal knife, multitool, or headlamp?
Almost always yes, but it is a unit call and it is a packing-list call. Check your published list and ask your squad leader. Nothing on this page overrides your chain of command.
Is a stove worth it if I am going to Ranger School or a similar course?
No. Do not bring anything that is not on the packing list to a school. School packing lists are enforced literally, and showing up with unauthorized comfort items starts you off on exactly the wrong foot. This article is written for unit field problems and FTXs.
What about a sleeping pad?
You are issued a sleeping mat separately from the sleep system, and it is adequate. If you are buying one thing to sleep better, buy a better pad before you buy a chair — you spend more hours lying down than sitting up.
Do I really need permethrin if my OCPs are factory treated?
No, but verify rather than assume. Factory-treated uniforms are labeled. If yours are not, or you are past roughly the wash count where treatment fades, treat them yourself.
// SOURCES
Insect repellent. DoD Insect Repellent System, Defense Centers for Public Health – Aberdeen, and U.S. Army reporting on permethrin factory-treated uniforms and the MilTICK tick-borne illness study.
Eyewear appearance. AR 670-1, para 3-10, wear of eyeglasses, sunglasses and contact lenses.
Ballistic eyewear. Authorized Protective Eyewear List (APEL), PEO Soldier; ANSI high-impact and MIL-PRF-32432 testing.
Foot care. Published clinical literature on trench and immersion foot, including the historical prevention record — three pairs of socks per soldier, rotation twice daily, powder, and scheduled leader foot inspections.
Prices and availability. Checked on Amazon 16 September 2026 and subject to change.
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