Posted on 11/01/2022 6:07:13 PM PDT by Redcitizen
And an early loss of fine motor skills that might make building a fire possible.
That’s really playing the game! Most likely, everybody knew about it and expected it to happen.
I never had to deal with the weather during Air Force Tac Evals at Hahn AB, lol, at the Wing Commander's direction. I was in "the hole" for as long as the alert was on, usually 4 days.
I was one of two officers in my battery with a TS, the other was the Battery Commander. The issue was settled on my first trip, during a NATO Tac Eval. I happened to be in the Eagles Nest, briefing him on the location of our Vulcans and Chaparrals. An NBC input was dropped then, and the Base Disaster Preparedness Officer, a Captain, was intimidated by the 4 or 5 full birds present, and he made the wrong recommendation, to go Alarm Red, i.e. full protective gear and mask.
I spoke up, "Sir, may I make a recommendation?" As if 5 AF Colonels are going to listen to an Army 2nd LT...lol. I gave him 3 reasons to go Alarm Yellow, no masks, no protective gear. As he said, "I like that, let's go Alarm Yellow". As he said that, I saw the NATO Team Chief nodding his head in assent.
15 minutes later, the Wing Cdr's voice boomed out, "as long as I'm in command, whenever there's an NBC input, I want that Army Lieutenant up here." So it was for the next 18 months, I'd bring 3 sets of fatigues and a shaving kit to the Wing CP.
Add the black watch cap and thermal underwear with Goretex pants and we'd really be warm and dry.
Guys looked "thick" until we got indoors.
The M58 Field Jacket was also authorized too.
When the commander fails to take care of his troops, his troops will reciprocate at every chance. Egotistical dumb a55!
For many years now, Special Forces soldiers have worn pantyhose under their pants in cold weather. Works like a charm. But made me wonder why nobody ever invented a long sleeved pantyhose like upper body undergarment.
Of course the life expectancy of such garments is short, but that’s the price you pay to not have hypothermia.
And an early loss of fine motor skills that might make building a fire possible.
/\
Thanks for that point.
It should have been number 1 on my list.
Been 30 years since I had a bad case from riding a motorcycle at night in January from Lapine to Silver lake eastern oregon.
I actually stopped half way to try and make a warming fire and couldn’t operate a lighter due to no fine motor dexterity in my hands. Ended up just hugging my engine head for a while.
A ways down the road I quit shivering and started getting warm and knew I was in trouble.
When I got home I dropped my bike from forgoting to put kickstand down, then tried to walk through my door before turning the door knob.
Tryed to run a hot bath but it felt scalding,,, then ran cold water and even that felt scalding but I got in it anyway and opened the drain and slowly turned the hot on .
I was very close to death that night.
.
My platoon in Panama was required to take our ponchos to the field but we were not allowed to use them. Our platoon sergeant believed that (hypothetical) enemy forces would be able to hear the rain bouncing off the ponchos and that would give away our position. We got rained on a lot.
Probably why it is not to be worn as an outer garment. Underneath a windproof and/or rainproof garment it makes sense.
Im glad you survived. Close call.
We had a high-profile missing person in the Oregon woods, years ago. I know the guy that cut his trail while he was being sought. He found where he’d crossed a road and was starting to shed his shoes and clothing because he felt hot. It was beginning to snow, so they called him off the trail, knowing the guy was too far gone to save.
Now the masks were difficult, but everything else was sweet. It was always raw and damp in Germany at night during Fall & Winter. Those barrier articles were terrific for retaining body heat.
The LTC has forgotten the First Commandment of Military Leadership: Take care of your troops!
Back in Desert Storm 1991, I wore those NBC garments.
As you say they really retained. I was ripe after 3 days of sweating in them in the desert when the ground war kicked off. And I was only driving, not walking in them.
Im glad you had a different experience with those.
Has this commander counted the strawberries?
The field jackets we were issued in 1966 were OK for cutting the wind, but it was the fleece liner that kept us warm in winter. If it got REAL cold we had Parkas.
I kept my field jacket and liner when discharged and wore it in shop work for years.
Then one winter, I looked for my field jacket and found the wife had thrown it away as it was really wore and tore.
I wa very upset, not over the field jacket as you could buy one at any army surplus store, but it was the LINER I wanted to keep. THOSE were really hard to come by.
This is one of those “the troops should be miserably alert” things.
Former Army mortar-man here. It has been my experience that dumb-assed officers and CSM’s power-trip and if they don’t like something, rationality be damned!
My 1st 3 years in Fort Wainwright doing PT and field time; you had a uniform, but you could adjust it to how you were feeling. As long as it was in good shape and a military uniform, no problem.
I came back 2 years later, and if you deviated from the uniform, you could get an article 15. I sweated my ass off during PT, then subsequently froze my ass off because of sweat, because jack-wagon officers and CSM’s who thought they knew it all. They were responsible for many cold weather injuries and yes, hot weather injuries during the ass-biting cold weather because of their idiocy. I despise power tripping clowns ever since.
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