Shadow 7D
Member
Look at what the Army uses
honestly, it's pretty much the same tech,except for the sleeping bag (same as the rest, no special arctic bag, but if you are lucky you might get issued the arctic sleep ware)
There's a small stove in the squad tent, it's up the the squad if they want to run it all the time, honestly the tent isn't much more than what Caribou uses, except it sleeps more people, and they TRIED quite a few 'new and improved' except plasticized fabric BREAKS at low temps when oiled canvas or duck is just fine. And thinking of all the crawling around, makes me kinda jealous of Caribous setup. The sides of an arctic tent are NEVER staked, because the tent will burn down in seconds if it gets on fire so you train to roll out, bag and all.The biggest trick on the arctic tent is...Keep the roof low (all your heat rises and you sleep cold) and either make sure you have REALLY good drainage, or prepare your bed WAY before you get close to getting it toasty inside, did that ONCE, was there when it was done against better advice....
see you melt the snowpack and are left with mud, very cold wet get in everything mud, and it'll never dry out
Second thing on guns, esp. the M16/4 if it's hot, keep it hot, if it's cold, keep it cold, if it's gone from hot to cold, you need to shotgun it and clean the bolt and check for ice.
While I can't say 'this is why it won't work' I can tell you cleaning the bolt fixes it...
OH and I did something Caribou called me crazy for... shooting quals at -65... but then we weren't given much of a choice, and I have the lingering after effect of frost nip on my face to prove it.
And like Caribou said, shooting will all your layers on, and (in our case) a vest, makes it 'fun'
speaking of frost bite, hot tip, well 2 actually
Never touch freezing metal without a layer, much like the kid licking the flag poll... it instantly freezes your skin on contact... I could tell by a certain divot people acquired on that field exercise if they were left handed or right handed by which side of the nose it was on. (non military, one way of maintaining a consistent sight picture is by indexing your head position by placing the tip of your nose to the charging handle.)
Second, petroleum products, unlike water don't freeze (ok, so the paraffin - wax will solidify in some grades of diesel) this means spilling fuel on yourself is an emergency.
What did I learn, lots and while I had my doubts, the stuff taught by the army about extreme cold, works, when you are out and about for 12 hours a day that cold... and it's the little the little things that can mess you up, like me forgetting my beanie walking two blocks to motor pool cause it had warmed up to -34, and now I can tell when the temp is below 15*.... it makes my ears hurt. On a curious note, care to guess who the Army learned about cold weather survival from... yeah, the Alaska natives, one of the most effective arctic forces fielded was the Alaska Territorial Volunteers, made up of mostly natives and trappers.
Honestly, having experienced it, I respect the hell out of Caribou, and can tell you that there's a thousand little things that don't make it through, like what it feels like to take a piss with a bit of wind in extreme cold. Or having your coffee go cold in less than 5 minutes and crust over. You want to feel sorry for someone, feel sorry for the crew...
They say that you take 3 times as long to do something in deep cold. OH and batteries, they don't last.
honestly, it's pretty much the same tech,except for the sleeping bag (same as the rest, no special arctic bag, but if you are lucky you might get issued the arctic sleep ware)
There's a small stove in the squad tent, it's up the the squad if they want to run it all the time, honestly the tent isn't much more than what Caribou uses, except it sleeps more people, and they TRIED quite a few 'new and improved' except plasticized fabric BREAKS at low temps when oiled canvas or duck is just fine. And thinking of all the crawling around, makes me kinda jealous of Caribous setup. The sides of an arctic tent are NEVER staked, because the tent will burn down in seconds if it gets on fire so you train to roll out, bag and all.The biggest trick on the arctic tent is...Keep the roof low (all your heat rises and you sleep cold) and either make sure you have REALLY good drainage, or prepare your bed WAY before you get close to getting it toasty inside, did that ONCE, was there when it was done against better advice....
see you melt the snowpack and are left with mud, very cold wet get in everything mud, and it'll never dry out
Second thing on guns, esp. the M16/4 if it's hot, keep it hot, if it's cold, keep it cold, if it's gone from hot to cold, you need to shotgun it and clean the bolt and check for ice.
While I can't say 'this is why it won't work' I can tell you cleaning the bolt fixes it...
OH and I did something Caribou called me crazy for... shooting quals at -65... but then we weren't given much of a choice, and I have the lingering after effect of frost nip on my face to prove it.
And like Caribou said, shooting will all your layers on, and (in our case) a vest, makes it 'fun'
speaking of frost bite, hot tip, well 2 actually
Never touch freezing metal without a layer, much like the kid licking the flag poll... it instantly freezes your skin on contact... I could tell by a certain divot people acquired on that field exercise if they were left handed or right handed by which side of the nose it was on. (non military, one way of maintaining a consistent sight picture is by indexing your head position by placing the tip of your nose to the charging handle.)
Second, petroleum products, unlike water don't freeze (ok, so the paraffin - wax will solidify in some grades of diesel) this means spilling fuel on yourself is an emergency.
What did I learn, lots and while I had my doubts, the stuff taught by the army about extreme cold, works, when you are out and about for 12 hours a day that cold... and it's the little the little things that can mess you up, like me forgetting my beanie walking two blocks to motor pool cause it had warmed up to -34, and now I can tell when the temp is below 15*.... it makes my ears hurt. On a curious note, care to guess who the Army learned about cold weather survival from... yeah, the Alaska natives, one of the most effective arctic forces fielded was the Alaska Territorial Volunteers, made up of mostly natives and trappers.
Honestly, having experienced it, I respect the hell out of Caribou, and can tell you that there's a thousand little things that don't make it through, like what it feels like to take a piss with a bit of wind in extreme cold. Or having your coffee go cold in less than 5 minutes and crust over. You want to feel sorry for someone, feel sorry for the crew...
They say that you take 3 times as long to do something in deep cold. OH and batteries, they don't last.
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