I was hit hard my first few days in the Fleet Marine Force with the things I didn’t know and the things I didn’t have. During my first hip pocket Humvee class, I got yelled at for not having a notebook to take notes. That night I was sent to correct that and grab a notebook, not just any notebook, but a Rite in the Rain book. As an infantryman, I needed a notebook that could keep up with the dynamic and oft miserable lifestyle we lived. Rite n the Rain books are designed for the field and made from a paper that can get soaking wet and still function without issue.
When normal paper gets wet, it rips and tears easily, and in a notebook, wet paper tends to stick together aggressively. That’s not the issue with Rite in the Rain paper and books. They can survive rain, splashes, and even brief submersions. When matched with a Rite in the Rain pen, you can even write in the middle of a storm.
The Rite in the Rain books come in all sizes, and even as loose paper, printer paper, flashcards, spiral-bound books, and more. I use the Soft Cover variants, and the softcover models are specifically designed for the military. I like the larger variant, specifically the Model 980T. This is the tactical model, and it comes with 160 pages and a textbook worth of informational material as well.
The Rite in the Rain Textbook
The Rite in the Rain 980T notebook has a small informational section at the rear of the book. This section breaks down Range cards, sectional sketches, 9-Lines, Medevac requests, Mission graphics, and various metric to U.S. conversion scales.
It’s handy information to have on you at all times, especially in the field, on day 5 of a 10-day training exercise, and you’re brain has already tapped due to exhaustion.
The pages are broken down by solid horizontal lines and checkered subdued vertical lines. On-demand it can become graph paper, and at the bottom, there is a small scale marker that states “1 Square = ___” for tactical drawings.
The page layout makes it easy to organize your thoughts, create reference pages, and take detailed and organized notes. The weather-resistant pages have no problems accepting the ink of regular pens, map pens, pencils, and for us Marines crayons during lunchtime.
One Tough Notebook
The Rite in the Rain Field Book is designed to be tough. The cover is tough and is called Field-Flex and is made to be abused. It feels polymer-like and shirks off water, dirt, and chemicals like CLP. It can be bent and shoved in a pack or cargo pocket and springs right back into action when removed.
A Rite in the Rain notebook is tough enough for months of use in the world’s most challenging places. Pages aren’t going to just fall out at the wrong time, and the book always springs back from being bent. The Rite in Rain books are more than what their name implies. They are the toughest notebooks designed for the toughest jobs in the world.
My current day job is a wildfire mitigation specialist. The best days at work are spent on a controlled burn, and the Rite in the Rain books are golden there.
Oh the Memories
I’ve been out of the Marine Corps for seven years now, and my collection of old Rite in the Rain books act as a journal. They detail classes, training, and even operations I was a part of. I dated most of them, and they allow me to look back at my times in the Marines. I can watch an evolution of my role as a Marine as well as reaffirm my handwriting was always garbage.
These books are plenty tough, and they can take tons of abuse and still spring back as notebooks. Rite in the Rain makes tons of different options, and the Rite in the Rain softcover books are my favorite. To this day, I still keep one handy for daily use. They earned an NSN number and are a must-have for every service member. They are an easy addition to our five must-haves for military members.
You can buy your Rite-In the Rain notebook at your local exchange, or online here.
