the freedom shelter and sleeping bag

THE BEAUTY OF THE ECOTAT FREEDOM SHELTER

But first a testimonial.

Hi Jerry,

I wanted to let you know that the booties are a hit with my girlfriend.

She's loving them. She likes the socks. I haven't used the socks yet, but I will after the 9th when deer season opens in Minnesota. I've used a mitten (Kodiak) a few times when I'm reading outside, it's been around 30 degrees F a few nights so far, after 15 or 20 minutes that one hand in the mitten holding my e-reader is HOT. I'm looking forward to using them once winter gets here.

I just ordered a pair of fishnets and a boomerang hand warmer to use during deer season, no cold hands or other body parts for me this year.

The hand warmer and mittens will keep my hands warm and I'll be wearing my Lamilite socks, an old pair of Herman's Survivors (US made, no Gore-Tex) and my mukluks on my feet, they won't be cold either this year.

Sitting in an enclosed deer stand doesn't involve a lot of movement, and there isn't any buildup of moisture so I've been able to get away with a blaze orange blanket wrapped around me to stay warm. I've been thinking of making a wraparound blanket from Lamilite with blaze orange nylon as the shell, that may be a project for next year. Two jacket liners under my blaze orange usually do the trick though.

Jack

I wrote back to jack I would make one of my poncho liners with the international orange fabric for $150.00.

FREEDOM SHELTER

Ron Asher was the creator of the Freedom Shelter in 1984 I believe. It is a brilliant feat of engineering. He made it as I was told for the military. Aside from it being a single person tent it could convert to a raincoat/cagoule type of garment.

I do not know how well if at all he did with his sales, but I do know he was bought out by a retired Marine Corps Colonel Richard Haislip. He was the designer of the Freedom Shelter sleeping bag.

Richard called me, introduced himself and told me he had done his due diligence about insulations and decide that the Lamilite was the insulation he wanted in his sleeping bag. He sent me the pattern and a sample he put together. Kok cleaned it up and we sent him a finished product to okay. Today we make the bag the same way we did in 1994 WHEN Kok made the first one, which is when we started our relationship which lasted about 20 years when Richard retired, but we still have our relationship and I keep Richard appraised of how well his products are doing. I essentially inherited the sales of both products.

Richard came to me in the early 2000’s asking if I could/would make the shelters because the factory he used was sold and the new owners did not want to produce the shelter. That is how I wound up making them. That is the reason I know what Ron’s brilliant feat of engineering he did. I spoke with him once or maybe twice years ago and if I asked his background, I do not remember what it was.

Shortly after we made the first bag for Richard, he told me he had an order from the Marine Corps for about 3000 shelters and bags to go with them. This order was for Force Recon. Unfortunately it turned out to be the only major size order that Richard ever received from the Marine Corps.

Then he had many orders from the U.S. ARMY for the shelters. Turned out that the Army adopted the shelters as part of survival kits on Army aircraft.

Richard told me that no Army aircraft could leave the ground unless there was one shelter per person on board the aircraft. Over the next 5 years I produced probably 1000 to 2000 shelters.

But the number of sleeping bags with or without shelters was very spotty.

However, since I have offered these products on the Wiggy’s web site sales of the bags have picked up especially with hammock campers because the bags could go around the hammock negating the need of the under quilt.

As I see the two product’s I believe they are possibly the best two products made for individuals who like to go into the bush solo. Before I continue it should be understood that I did not create either of these products, but I simply became the manufacturer and seller of these products. Now to continue I believe they are the most versatile products because they can be used in the conventional manner as sleeping bag and tent. But, if you want to or need too, they can become two articles of clothing, the sleeping bag as an insulated poncho because the bag has an opening in the center seam in the center of the bag to put your head through. The shelter becomes a rain garment with a hood. It easily fits over the sleeping bag when in the poncho mode.

If you go into the search box, type in freedom shelter you can find more information about it as well as see additional pictures. The color choices are ACU Army camouflage, dark green, tan or multicam at a higher price.

You can find the freedom shelter sleeping bags in the sleeping bag section. There are three available a summer weight, an ultra-light 20 temperature rated bag and a super light 0-degree rated bag. over the years I have been making these sleeping bags I have been contacted by many of the Marines who were issued these bags, I believe mostly the super-lights and they worked very well for them. I do not believe they will perform any different than the standard ultra-lights or super lights.

The National Stock Number for the Ecotat Freedom Shelter personal survival shelter system is 8340-01-360-4427

The 40-degree sleeping bag NSN is 8415-01-416-6216

The 0-degree sleeping bag NSN is 8415 -01-417-4001

I added the ultra-light after the fact so it does not have an NSN.

For military purposes I believe it should be the syst