It's good stuff. Very cheap if you look in the right places, and it's built for a fuckin warzone so it lasts years. Just be careful not to wear fits that make you look like youre on a 'tactical grey man in the corner of Burger King' kinda vibe. Unless you are on that vibe. In which case, respect. Someone has to do it.
Combat boots last forever, they're heavy as fuck but to get civilian boots that are as tough as they are you have to drop like $300. Military camo is also great, it's made of rip stop fabric and treated with fire removedant so it won't burn.
I've never found plates at a surplus store but finding stab proof vest is fairly easy. They easily fit under a shirt and supposedly will stop a .22, great for protests.
As for helmets if you plan on wearing one be sure to train with it on, they are super uncomfortable and can lead to neck problems if worn for a long time without strengthening your neck.
Another thing you can sometimes find is sunglasses. Oakley and a couple other brands make ones that are rated to stop shrapnel and buck shot. Just make sure you know what you're looking at so you don't get ripped off.
If you're planning on doing backpacking or other activities that require a lot of gear web vest are perfect, every surplus store has tons of those.
If anyone has more questions about military gear hit me up, I have a ton of experience.
Cool that military camo is made of a material that can straight-up remove the fire instead of merely impeding it.
I tried once. There is a milsurp store near me.
It just had fake natzi medals, astronaut ice creama and cheapass toy airsoft guns. Shit suckedOver a decade ago I bought a cool USSR surplus belt off of ebay. This was before I was into commie stuff. Wish I still had it. It was kind of a stiff and annoying belt to wear but it had a badass hammer and sickle logo on the buckle.
Not as bad as you'd think, I never got any comments really... I think it would be worse these days actually since fox news has gone full pants on fire hysterical about socialism and communism.
I've seen a few people wearing ushankas around with the hammer and sickle, I asked one guy about it and he was like "i just think its a cool hat". He didn't seem to have any concerns about it. I think you can just feign ignorance if you wanted to avoid a confrontation.
shopgoodwill.com has some smaller items occassionally. Helmets, older style ALICE kit, plate carriers wind up there too.
unfortunately its an auction site and the shipping will probably be kinda high due to the weight/bulk of some of the items though.
They also have great deals on musical instruments. Way fewer bids than ebay and if you swoop in within the last minute you can usually win.
I thought all those closed down. Haven't seen one in ages. They used to be a fixture of American life, but I suppose the military just sets things on fire rather than give them away these days.
