There are a lot of things you can use an RE Factor reminder band for, and not just for incidents of friendly platoon rivalry elastration.

“That’s a cool bracelet Slim, where did you get it?” Slim sneers at Swingin’ Dick. Slim Call, as many know, is not a huge fan of ‘man jewelry’, whereas Swingin’ Dick Kilgore often looks like one of Alaric’s Goths.

“It’s not a bracelet,” Kilgore replies scornfully. He is sitting atop an old Spam can they’ve rattle-canned and built into an ammo vault. “It’s a fucking ‘reminder band’ and I got it from RE Factor. Remember the SF bubbas that build the paracord bracelets with survival kits built in? Those guys – and by the way, we should visit them.”

Slim nods in agreement, looking wistfully into the distance. He knows the RE Factor dudes quite well. He knows how they roll.

“Hot wenches, adult beverages and ordnance?” he says. “We’re Oscar Mike.”

Pipe-hitters: elastration.

Most of you probably remember the old yellow ‘live strongly’ one-nut bands that were in style around the same time as those ‘I support the troops’ car magnets.These reminder bands are similar, just not stupid.

See, all of you douches that spent $1 at a gas station on those magnets to feel like you were helping out: care packages would have been better and understanding current events would have been better still. Anyway, that trend came and thankfully went. We here at Breach-Bang-Clear like funny shit, and of course the shit that actually matters to us. We never got on board with most of those “’how your support’ campaigns out there because we believe actual involvement is more important than a check written, or coins tossed into a cup. Any idiot can share a Facebook post that says “share if you agree.”

Whoa. Your commitment is astonishing.

Anyway, that’s probably why all us minions were so surprised to see Swingin’ Dick and Slim sporting these Reminder Bands. The team at RE Factor is all about supporting good causes and remembering those that sacrifice every day. The proceeds of their Charity Bands go to supporting some of our favorite foundations, and their Survival Bands are worn by countless door kickers downrange not just as a fashion accessory but as a mnemonic device should everything turn south.

Knuckledraggers: mnemonic.

These are pretty damn cool, mostly because they have pertinent messages embossed into them for the warfighter. The “DAS DICKE ENDE KOMMT NOCH” band is probably our favorite, and as soon as we saw it we knew we needed a couple. This band was made to honor the First Special Services Force, AKA: the Black Devils Brigade from WWII. Want to know what it means? Go to RE Factor’s website, and find out. It’s pretty damn cool and old school bad-ass!

With the selection of Reminder Bands, RE Factors offers, we were also curious to see them popping up elsewhere, and not just on hairy wrists. They have a few other alternative uses that might be of interest to you. Years ago, while overseas we noticed the trend of dudes putting tourniquets on their carbine stocks with rubber bands, an idea we reckoned was a good one – until we actually tried it. With daily use in the rough conditions of Iraq and Afghanistan, rubber bands just don’t last very long. They dry out quickly in the heat and become brittle very quickly, after which they simply snap off. We lost a handful of tourniquets trying this “cool guy” technique before giving up on it as impractical (and maybe a little stoopid). We liked the idea though since it kept extra TQs handy, but there wasn’t really a good way to execute until we started to see hitters using the reminder bands, which are thick and strong enough for this application. 

Another use is to put it on your carbine to mark it as an “index point” on the stock for acquiring proper cheekweld, particularly when using magnified optics. Simply side the band where you rest your cheek – but be careful not to let it interfere with the charging handle. 

Lastly, at some point, everyone has been “hung up” by their weapon sling. This is a particular hazard for dudes rolling in vehicles all day, that might have to bail out at a moment’s notice. The long nylon loop of a 1 point or 2 point sling likes to catch on a multitude of objects, at best slowing you down and at worst getting you killed. When you are not actively using the sling, go ahead and fold it up alongside your weapon. Reminder Bands will retain the sling.

There are no doubt other non-ornamental uses we haven’t thought of, though ornamental is necessarily a bad thing. If you’ve been using one, what have you been using it for? Let us know what you think. You can find RE Factor (a member of JTF Awesome) online here, on Facebook here and on Instagram here.