oozey mess
blake kathryn
hello vonnie
macklin celebrini has autism
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cherry valley forever
Lint Roller? I Barely Know Her
JBB: An Artblog!
JVL
❣ Chile in a Photography ❣
let's talk about Bridgerton tea, my ask is open
if i look back, i am lost
Kaledo Art
taylor price
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Sade Olutola
AnasAbdin
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roma★
ojovivo
seen from Türkiye
seen from Netherlands
seen from United States
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seen from Malaysia
seen from Saudi Arabia
seen from France
seen from United States
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@moatgroup
Be polite to others, until they give you a reason not to be. Be kind with people and property, until they give you reason not to be. Compassion is an excuse to be hard, when you need it to be. There is always a calm before a storm. You must be the calm. You must be the storm. And you must be the sunlight after the storm.
The Moat Group
Don't unpack. Pull it out and put it back. Be ready to leave at a moments notice. "Vanish before you're there."
Sometimes that's all you need. Nothing fancy. Just a pen, paper, and some magnification.
When gear is celebrated over skill...you are in the wrong crowd. Mind over matter.
The Moat Group
If death is imminent... Never. Get. Caught. Alive. Ever. FIGHT UNTIL YOU DIE. DIE WELL.
-The Moat Group
Identifiers
I love tattoos. If I truly had my way, I would have full sleeves. But, there is a reason I don't. It's the same reason I don't cut my hair in a 'non traditional' (buzz, mohawk, etc) manner.
For what this information is worth...meaning...don't be an idiot and use this info to avoid proper authorities....
Identifiers are used globally. They are international. They are interlingual. You cannot escape them...unless you plan for it. Identifiers are what is used to recognize you. Digitally. And physically. We are going to talk about the physical.
Example:
Let's say you are 5'9". Average build. Dirty blonde, average hair cut. All your teeth. No tattoos. No piercings. No need for reading glasses. Maybe some scruff, perhaps even a month old beard. No physical inabilities (limp, etc), no obvious scars, etc. You are pretty average. Hard to distinguish from others. Easy to blend it. AND you have options.
Shaving the beard. Getting some Just For Men for the hair (or beard). Styling your hair differently. Putting on some non prescription reading glasses. Walk with a 'swagger' or limp. A fake earring here or there. Fake tats here or there. You get the point. You have options. You are a blank canvas. The trick is to always be able to go back to that 'blank canvas'.
Think about your personal identifiers. Is it your walk? Your hair style? Tats? Glasses? What never changes about your physical appearance? Can you cover up tats? Sure. That's an option. But what it you have to take that shirt off? What if you have to jump into water? What if the tats are places your can't cover up? (hand, fingers, head, etc). Same goes for piercings. You can always take them out...but the hole is still there.
Now the flip side:
Looking for identifiers. There are the obvious ones (what we have talked about above). Now, for those of you who pursue individuals who are trying to hide... you've got to look beyond the exterior.
Lisps. Speech impediments, twitches, nervous ticks, smaller details. Preferable items (always ordering a specific kind of coffee/drink, etc.) Habits. Anger. Compassion. Things that are not so easily hidden. Things that are molded to the inner character that cannot be changed overnight.
We have teams of analysts working around the clock, year after year, tracking the bad guys of the world. Trust us, they aren't just looking for the obvious. A child can identify her mother or father in a crowd of people. An analyst must identify someone they've never met (most of the time) in a crowd of millions. And often from a desk. Think about that.
Think about your identifiers. Are they harmless? Do they make you a target? If you had too, could you change them?
Food for thought.
Adventure - Be That Guy
Be That Guy.
The Skull Cave. A representation of a lifestyle seeking adventure. Exploring the unknown. Possibly...even the dangerous. But it's not just the physical exploration. The mental exploration as well. Exploring a new idea, or researching a theory can be just as rewarding as exploring that unknown destination. The locations may be different...a library, a desert, a coffee shop, a mountain ridge, the back porch, a boat off the coast of some uncharted island.
The point is...Be That Guy. Be the one that stares something new, unknown, and yes, maybe even dangerous in face. Take that first step into a bold newness. Explore those unknown lands just as much as you explore new principles. Read a new book just as much as you study a new map. Get excited about expanding your knowledge just as much as you do about getting new gear.
We all have our Skull Caves. It's a journey that never ends unless we allow it to end. It's that moving target. That living idea. It's what makes you better. Smarter.
Find your Skull Cave. Stand at the opening. Stare in. Take the first step towards something new. And never look back. Be That Guy.
Elk Scouting Trip
Took 2 days in field with a friend here in CO (martycombs5 on Instragram) and went on an Elk Scouting retreat. We covered some ground and recon'd some great areas to hunt. Below are a collection of pictures taken during the trip. Photo cred goes out to Marty, he captured some great pics.
Kryptek Highlander was the camo of choice. I think you will agree...that stuff just plain works great. I have been on the fence in waiting to get a full kit up (head to toe) for the hunting season. After this trip, after seeing the terrain and how well the pattern works...I am sold.
We used the HSP/Extreme Gear Labs VOCR/D3CR chest rigs as our hunting rigs. I will post up a separate post on how we packed them for the hunt/scout.
Survival Trial
Things have been slammed since the transition to Triple Aught Design. One of the items that kept us busy over the last few weeks was participating in the Survival Trial: VIII Sundowner.
If your don’t know what Survival Trial is, be sure to go check out their website www.survivaltrial.com. In the most basic of explanations, it’s an event (24, 48, or 72 hours) that takes place in a huge designated arena in Northern New Mexico’s NRA Whittington Center. The event will test everything from land nav, shooting, shelter building, stress management, physical capabilities, gear, mindset, etc. Basically it’s in the name…a trial to test your survival skills. The ultimate test. The trial attracts all kinds...individuals and teams. Teams like Hornady and Kifaru to name a few. It's legit.
If this is something you’re interested in, we highly recommend trying Survival Trail. It’s not for the faint of heart, but it will teach you something about yourself. Look into it.
*Blog operations should get back to normal soon. Sept Criterion Challenge is simply postponed and will be launched shortly with an Oct 31st deadline.*
**We keep getting questions on Ramparts. As we’ve stated numerous times, the program (and all others but Criterion) are halted until further notice.**
Be versatile. Being a tacticool, badass shooter is simply ONE ability. What is far more impressive is to go from being a great shooter to being a great business mind. To be a survivalist as well as be able to comfortably mingle within society. To be action oriented but can control yourself to sit still and research. To know your audience...wherever you are. Know when to fight and when to keep silent. To have skill and hold it in until it's needed. Be versatile.
The Moat Group
Solutions: Sometimes they aren't pretty. Sometimes they aren't 'tacticool' or covert. Sometimes you just got to use some ingenuity and get it done. Don't get blinded by tools, gear, and coolness. Sometimes you just won't have any of it. Sometimes all you have is your wits, your mindset, and a cheap pen.
Environment: Is a tricky thing. It can stay stagnant for a long time or change rapidly. It can slowly change or it can change so fast you didn't even have time to adapt to one situation before another one presents itself. It's beautiful and ugly. A beautiful coastal ride south of the border can lead to an urban sprawl in mere moments. Both uniquely beautiful. Both uniquely deadly. The keys to dealing with environments is also uniquely tricky. A few things don't change however. Stay adaptive. Keep the situational awareness up. Train for the worse case scenario.
August winners announcement and September Challenge will be posted this weekend. www.themoatgroupcriterion.us
The Moat Group - Transition Announcement
Effective Sept 15th, 2014
The Moat Group will begin transitioning to our new home……Triple Aught Design.
The Moat Group Blog will remain and continue to periodically post pictures, Guidelines, stories, and quotes as well as remain online for reference material through The Archives. Our programs, videos, and other projects will cease to continue. We will finish out The Criterion Challenge to the end of the year (2014).
What does this mean? Well….lets just say keep your eye on Triple Aught Design for new and exciting things to come in the future. This is a very exciting transition and brings a means to expand ideas beyond the drawing board and into realization. We hope you guys and gals are just as excited as I am for this move.
Thanks to everyone for all the support through the growth of The Moat Group to this point. It means the world to us and we want to continue to help others and share knowledge. This move allows us to do this on an even larger scale. This is not the end. Do not worry. This is simply the next phase of accomplishing our goals collectively. The work and contribution we will be conducting with Triple Aught Design will be very noticeable and will hold to the same values we have here at The Moat Group. Keep your heads on a swivel. Great things are on the horizon.
-The Moat Group
The trick is to be the guy they never expected.
While everyone is pointing attention to the burly dude with tats, beard, ball cap, and sunglasses....the small, unsuspecting, friendly, teammate you didn't expect....has just killed you.
The Moat Office (Work Space Theory Applied)
I was having a conversation over dinner and whiskey with good friends about the physical 'work space'. Much like the theory of keeping your weapon in your 'work space' so you can 1) keep situation awareness down range 2) conduct a task on the weapon. This is how we approach the physical 'work space'...a place in which business is conducted.
It's a place to go and conduct a task. It's also a place to go that helps keep things in perspective (keep situational awareness down range). It should be a place that promotes these actions. A place that touches you on a different level intellectually, perhaps in the decor (having past achievements on display, favorite brands on display, touching moments, etc), perhaps in the trainings space (open room to spread out and get off the chair). Sometimes these are referred too as 'Man Caves'. I don't buy into that because a man cave (in my mind) is where I go to veg out, relax, unwind. My work space/office is a place I go to get work done. To prep. To reflect. To be top of mind. To be productive.
If you find yourself struggling to conduct business, reflect, get ideas, and get actual work conducted, consider changing up your work space. Just like when operating a weapon, taking your eyes off target to reload...you could quite possibly just lose the target in the process....
Letters From Readers
We get a ton of emails on a daily basis. Some are simple gear questions, some are situational questions, and some are stories on how Moat has had an impact on their lives.
Although we do not/cannot respond to all emails, we do our best to read them overtime and apply them to how we continue to conduct ourselves.
We are not perfect. We makes a ton of mistakes. But we try to learn from them. Nor are we special. Just ordinary dudes trying to do extraordinary things. To help others. 99% of the time it is a quest that provides little to no TRUE feedback. The other 1% we get these letters. Letters from readers national and international. Telling us how we've impacted their lives.
There is no greater reward. Thank you to all of you readers out there. And a special Thank You to those that share your stories with us. You all have a frame hanging in The Moat Offices with your story in it...a daily reminder as to the importance of continuing to grow, share, and learn...together.