1. Commander Klick having fun in the snow, going prone and keeping low! The snow rifle is a scoped Japanese Type 99. You can have even more fun learning to use snow shoes. Then you are capable of going where no one else can go, and being where no one expects you to be, and able to train when you might otherwise be snowed in and sitting on the couch. It's a great way to break cabin fever in the middle of winter too, and a good way to stay in shape. Do it!
2. Pay attention to details when putting together your cammo outfits. Except for the brown gloves, the Commander would almost be invisible. This was a photo session mistake, Commander Klick never would have made such a tactical blunder on an actual mission! No WAY!
3. This is all the gear a KISSATA member needs. With what you see here one could fight, survive, or escape and evade for days at least, and longer depending on one's survival skills. By keeping one's cammo clothes in the pack, one just grabs the pack, gun and ammo, and is out the door and "good to go" in less than a minute. But don't forget to put your boots on. We don't need no stinking forts, bunkers, compounds, or stockpiles of weapons and ammo. Rifle is a semi-auto AK74, aka the SAR-2.
4. Some essential gear layed out for your inspection. Left to right, combat knife, compass, GPS, "big eyes", multi-tool, flashlight with red lens, bug juice and radio. U.S. Army survival manual does not go in the pack, but you do have one, right? The combat knife is important, not so much for playing Rambo, but to cut poles for emergency shelters, splints, etc. For detailed information on gear...get the book!
5. KISSATA patrol is slow business. Here point man gets down to look and listen for a while before cresting a hill. He will move ten feet, get down again, look and listen, and repeat the process until he can see completely over the horizon, and down the hill. Slack man is about 50 yards behind him, and Tail End Charlie is 50 yards behind slack. Point man (or woman) sets the pace, and when Point gets down, so do Slack and Charlie. Communication is by hand signals, even if radios are carried. Radios are NOT for CHIT CHAT!
6. Old surplus rifles are not ineffective or obsolete. They are powerful and accurate. These Russian rifles just about shot this tree in half. (this is the back half, target was on the other side) This means they can penetrate hard cover very well. An M16 or AK74 would not be able to do this. I don't believe an AK47 would shoot all the way through this tree either. A 7.62X51mm probably would. The short rifle is a M44, and the longer rifle a 91/30, both are Mosin-Nagants. They both cost under $100. Keep it simple AND cheap!
7. Commander Klick and Capitan Pato in the "Duck Pond", a forward listening post on private rural property. Notice again how hands really stand out without gloves or cammo. Capitan Pato is armed with the riot or combat shotgun. Klick holds a previously unissued and unfired K98k/M48a. He has now issued it to himself, and shoots the heck out of it, and it shoots good. Fixed positions are not part of the KISS concept, but an LP such as this, on your own property, can provide some private security for your home or retreat. Be sure it has a good escape route though, and can be quickly abandoned, or it could become your death trap.
8. Cammo is an art, but it's not an expensive art. Pastor Pete here made his outfit from surplus BDU's, strips and wraps of burlap, and a touch of spray paint here and there. You can see how well it blends in, especially considering he is standing in the open. Good cammo is only half the trick, you have to work the terrain, stick to cover, go slow, and stay low. Don't "skyline" yourself, pilgrim! Cammo is also season specific, in most areas. The Pastor has his rifle burlap wrapped, which does not work for me, for a number of reasons, "but to each his own". Pastor's rifle is a LongBranch No.4 Short, Magazine, Lee Enfield.
9. The riot or combat shotgun loaded with buckshot can be utilized by a rifle team (Learn more about weapons in the KISSATA handbook!) in very brusy areas, or areas with pockets of brush, or for taking a dwelling or building. It can be a great asset. However, be sure your shotgun is fitted with rifle sights, and sighted in with slugs. Otherwise you will be limiting one third of your team's firepower to very close range. For ethical hunting, slugs only have about a 100 yard range. In a fire fight slugs would be effective out to 200 yards. Buckshot is about a 50 yard proposition.
Within the KISS concept, the latest whizz-bang high capacity fast shooting weapons are not required. In fact, an AK, AR15, FAL, M1A, G3, etc. would be considered the "Squad Automatic Weapon", within the KISS concept, when the other two team members had rifles such as the Mosin Nagants in the picture above. The bolt-riflemen/women/persons might even carry extra ammo for the semi-auto person, and actually operate within the SAW concept, even though we are actually talking semi-auto here. The important thing is that a rifle can be quickly reloaded, which is a feature of almost all military type weapons of whatever vintage, and something lacking in most "sporting" rifles. Having said all that, let me say that if you already have a state of the art rifle that's great. I really like the AKM, SKS, G3, FAL, etc. What I am trying to say is that a new member does not have to bust the bank buying an expensive rifle, and three people who are EXPERT with the SMLE, for instance, would be a MAJOR MALFUNCTION for an enemy no matter how whizz-bang THEIR rifles were. Just ask the Russians who fought in Afganistan.
