The RDB tarp hat, so you're not SOL WTSHTF

Owners of Real Deal Brazil recycled-tarp hats tend to be a mighty resourceful lot.

Consider amateur-radio operator Mark Reep of Cherryville, in North Carolina's western piedmont, who shared with us these two shots of his own RDB. The first one, immediately below, is of a very cool hat, if we do say so ourselves, embellished with a nifty homemade hatband made from 20 feet of paracord.

"I love my hat!" Mark enthused in the note accompanying the pictures. Nonetheless, he felt it needed a bit more individualizing. Which brings us to the second photo, of the back of the same hat, which begins to tell a more involved story ...

"Had to make it mine," Mark explained, "so I added a few things I might need on my adventures."

In addition to the homemade paracord hatband (added at least as much for its potential survival benefits as its smart looks), Mark sewed a number of interesting items into the hat itself, under the patches already there. Here's his list:


• A water container and purifying tablets

• Fishing line and hooks

• Snare wire
 Knife

• Signal mirror

• Orange tape

• Whistle

• Safety pins

• Magnesium fire stick

• $20

Then, as you can see a bit more readily, Mark also clipped onto the back of the hat both a compass
 and a mini-flashlight.

"I know when TSHTF I better have my hat on!" he said.

And assuming Mark knows how to use all the stuff he's integrated into his RDB, then we reckon we wanna be hanging with him if ever things really do go to straight to hell!