A Simple Morale Kit, by Jessie Blaine

Having been deployed twice and living through a real-world bug-out situation with my family, I’ve come to appreciate a simple morale kit.  When things get tense, a small kit, that has been well thought out, will go a long way to keeping morale high.

When I put my kit together, I had very specific criteria:

• Only a few items
• Overall weight less than 16 oz
• Personal and meaningful items
• Must fit inside of a zippered pencil pouch

Currently, I keep my gear organized in small, color-coded bags. Most of the bags are zippered pencil pouches and other bags are small, nylon stuff sacks.  All of my family uses the same color code system for storing gear in our packs, as it helps when we need to access another person’s gear.  Standardization and uniformity go a long way in group dynamics.

Here are some of the color codes we are currently using:

Black pouch – navigation kit

Red pouch – personal first-aid kit (not an IFAK)

Blue pouch – water kit

Green pouch – morale kit

Orange pouch- Fire kit

Yellow pouch – Shelter kit

Camo pouch – commo kit

I’ve categorized my morale kit with three intended purposes.  To satisfy my stomach, uplift my soul and to manage my sanity.

Stomach

For my stomach, a small snack goes a long way to boost morale because a simple taste of comfort food is energizing.  I like to have a few things that are here for nothing else but pleasure.  I’ve picked a few snacks that I don’t have very often, but they are ones that I really enjoy.

Typically, I’ll avoid snacks that are moist, chocolate, or sticky.  I tend to keep stuff in my morale kit that crumbles, like small crackers or dry candies work well.  I stay away from the candies that have high moisture and sugar content because they turn into a mess in high heat.  The snacks here are for morale purposes only and I don’t count on them providing any real sustenance.

I’m reminded of the Charms candy that used to be in the MREs.  I hated those things.  Not because the flavor was bad, but because it seems that the heat always turned them into a sticky goo.  There’s a good reason why they stopped putting them in MREs around 2007.

Soul

For my soul, I want to stay grounded with my God, my family and myself.  I keep a small copy of the New Testament to go give me direction.  I keep a few pictures of my family, along with a few drawings that each of the kids made inside of a zip-lock bag.  I have a meaningful poem by Edward Guest that gives me inspiration to always be my best.  I also keep a small, American flag that was given to me during a ceremony; it has special meaning, and it reminds me why we fight the good fight.

All of these items are special to me and in their own way, are reminders to persevere and press-on.

For my sanity, I keep a deck of cards and some dice.  These go a long way to cure boredom, improve camaraderie, and generally pass time.  I anticipate there is going to be some down-time and I want to manage those spaces instead of letting idle thoughts distract me.

This morale kit is small, simple, and lightweight (13.7 ounces).  It’s personal and each item has been selected because I know that it will give me motivation and inspiration.  Don’t overlook basic mental health and simple morale strategies.  When things get tough, we are going to need every bit of advantage that we can get and getting organized now will help you when things are falling apart.

Don’t scrimp on morale.

Jessie

Jessie Blaine is a former Marine living in refuge somewhere in the Lone Star state.  He is in a perpetual state of learning, which is the second-best state to be in, with the Lone Star state being the first.