I own both the black Crusader cup and the standard "silver" Crusader cup. Lotta folks may wonder what the difference is.
The black cup is for those who are primarily interested in appearances. It's for folks who are mostly interested in what "looks cool". They want their mug to match their black water bottle and look all tactical and whatnot.
The black Crusader mug is the exact same cup as the "silver" cup, except that it is painted with a sort of teflon-type black paint that peels and falls out of the interior in little specks and flakes the more you use it, and those specks and flakes get into your food which you eventually ingest. You'll have a harder time finding and purchasing this mug, and you'll pay more for the privilege of ingesting those little specks and flakes.
What's more, the regular "silver" Crusader cup - which you'll have an easier time finding and that'll cost you slightly less - gets black on its own after just a few uses on the campfire, anyway.
In short, there is absolutely no practical reason whatsoever to insist on the black Crusader mug. It was the first one I bought - way back in the day when I was much younger, and much more concerned about appearances and being "cool" - but it is inferior to the regular "silver" Crusader mug because of the negative issues the black paint creates.
Gettin’ outta the glorious rain in the glorious backcountry with my glorious dog
I found this video interesting as it relates to conversations we have about the true nature of things, what is really important and what is not, and how little importance some things have depending on the needs of the moment.
For example, this guy and his fellow soldiers, while being shot at would just dump their blankets - the blankets were totally unimportant to the immediate goal of staying alive. This meant later suffering, but at least they were alive.
I think about this sort of thing all the time when seeing guys building elaborate, beautiful shelters in the woods. When you’re hungry and lost, or simply traveling through the wilderness, nobody is going to care about building an elaborate shelter. You’re only going to care about conserving energy and using energy for only things that are absolutely necessary in any given moment.
This means sleeping under a rock outcrop, or a fallen tree, or just trying to get through the night under your sweater and some leaves you scrounge ...
