Building the Jedi Persona – 4: Hard Kit

The assembling of appropriate items of ‘hard kit’ is the point at which we move from only having a outfit to truly having a cohesive Kit. Using pieces of gear that are what they are (in the list below, only the comlink is a prop) makes a kit functional and brings it into the realm of living history. Let’s see what I mean:

III. Belt Gear:
(above, from left):
Leather ammo pouches:
I definitely did not want to use Prequel-era cast resin belt pouches boxes. Since I’m approaching the Episode IV period, I felt it was appropriate to bring in leather WW2-era milsurp items, as widely depicted throughout the Classic Trilogy. This is likely WW2 or postwar eastern European or Soviet Bloc manufacture (Serbian?), and were gifted from a friend during one of his downsizing purges. I’ve seen folks use them for Jawa chest rigs as well.

Inside are 4 sliding-lid metal tins (a hair larger than an altoids tins) I found on Etsy:
-fire (Bic combustion device, cotton balls/petro jelly, and River Birch bark)
-first aid (band-aids, gauze pads, antibiotic ointment packet, iodine)
-Silva compass and TP
-wallet (with barred Resh symbol for Republic credits): ID, ca$h, plastic, library card, car key, monkey tool… I Really need a credit chip and/or counterfeit Imperial citizen ID card.

Trowel:
This is a made in USA ‘U-Dig-It’-type folding trowel in a heavy vegtan leather sheath (Velcro closure). It may seem like an odd item to carry on one’s person, but as this persona is coming from an agricultural context, I felt I needed something to visibly denote that vocation. This sturdy trowel comes in handy for transplanting seedlings as well as digging catholes in the woods (Leave No Trace!)

Ammo pouch:
This is a Soviet ‘kirza’ (faux leather) pouch designed for use with Simonov rifle stripper clips. As I happily discovered, it is the perfect size to hold my datapad and a 400-calorie ration bar.
I’m desperately curious to find out if I can replace the ration bar with an A99 Aquata rebreather—but have been unable to find any mention of dimensions for those. (Any help would be appreciated!)

Multitool:
(Gerber Compact Sport Multi-plier 400) – I’ve been carrying this piece of equipment for 17 years, so it is quite authentically aged and distressed! The scissors’ spring is broken, and one of the bit drivers has a chipped tip, but otherwise it has held up remarkably well. Considering making up a new sheath for it from the same leather I used for the trowel sheath, but I like how completely battered the black nylon one has become over the years.

Comlink:
This is the top half of an old audio-recording pen. It looks comlink-y, has buttons and a belt clip, so it works for me! I opted not to carry one of the comlinks built using a Gilette razor, as this impression is meant to be operating ‘on the lam’ during Palpatine’s purge, and I felt that using a Prequel!Jedi comlink would be too identifying—better to blend in and use something more generic

IV. Field gear:
Hydration needs:
My water container is a WW2 British OD enameled water bottle. It hangs in a carrier made from cannibalized P37 webbing and hemp canvas, RIT-dyed dark brown to match this kit’s other soft goods. It holds about a liter.

The carrier features a patch to designates my branch of the Service Corps; I chose to use the Girl Scouts ‘plant culture’ patch, which to me looks like a pair of non-human hands growing a plant via the Jedi consitor sato technique.

I’ll admit: the early 20^th century-ness of the enamel canteen doesn’t ‘read’ GFFA very much, but I need a container that I can boil water in, I already had this kicking around, and something as mundane as a canteen is exactly the kind of thing we have very little (if any) evidence for in our sources.

Satchel:
Over one shoulder is slung a modified US M17 gas mask bag.
I removed the original webbing attachments (which became a strap for my mandolin) and replaced it with a leather belt from the Dollar store for a shoulder strap; it stayed like that for almost a decade, when I re-replaced the belt with some vintage webbing (different from the first) to make it less ‘Indiana Jones’ and more ‘GFFA surplus’.
To match the rest of my field gear, the bag and sling were also RIT-dyed dark brown. It closes with three ‘Lift-the-Dot’-type snaps, which are known from 32BBY:
The satchel contains some combination of: extra pint of water, one or two 400kcal foodbars, water flavor packets, binoculars, hand sanitizer, spare firesteel, more FAK supplies, signal whistle, spaceblanket, bleach and iodine tabs for water purification…

I hope this gives you an idea of what a functional belt kit can look like!

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