Went over to the surplus shop earlier this afternoon to get some wool blankets and ended up buying myself a nice new, well new to me, surplus Long Back Bergen in OG
.
I've been looking at one of these packs for a little while for transporting timber back from my woods, as I'm always fearful of ripping my Sabre packs that i currently use and a surplus Bergen is going to be one heck of a lot cheaper to replace than a Sabre 75 is.
The extra capacity of this pack will also allow far easier transportation of gear when the boys and i go for a weekend away as they only have relatively small packs and during the cooler months of the year, their packs are a little small for their winter gear, and lets face it, just because this is a 120 litre pack, doesn't mean it has to carry 120 litres of gear, in reality, i'll probably end up using the Bergen, eldest will use my Sabre 75 and youngest will use my Sabre 45, all either with or without side pockets.
Included with the Bergen were the side pouches and the yoke as pictured, sure being surplus there are few bits that are not 100% a couple of broken clips here and there, a bit of frayed stitching and the squaddies name is written in permanent marker in a couple of places, but they are only aesthetics, all of the main clips, zips & buckles are in place and in good working order, those that arent i can replace for very little cost, oh yes the price i paid for the whole lot, £35.00 all in.
.I've been looking at one of these packs for a little while for transporting timber back from my woods, as I'm always fearful of ripping my Sabre packs that i currently use and a surplus Bergen is going to be one heck of a lot cheaper to replace than a Sabre 75 is.
The extra capacity of this pack will also allow far easier transportation of gear when the boys and i go for a weekend away as they only have relatively small packs and during the cooler months of the year, their packs are a little small for their winter gear, and lets face it, just because this is a 120 litre pack, doesn't mean it has to carry 120 litres of gear, in reality, i'll probably end up using the Bergen, eldest will use my Sabre 75 and youngest will use my Sabre 45, all either with or without side pockets.
Included with the Bergen were the side pouches and the yoke as pictured, sure being surplus there are few bits that are not 100% a couple of broken clips here and there, a bit of frayed stitching and the squaddies name is written in permanent marker in a couple of places, but they are only aesthetics, all of the main clips, zips & buckles are in place and in good working order, those that arent i can replace for very little cost, oh yes the price i paid for the whole lot, £35.00 all in.
