I knew an officer in Vietnam War who did two tours enlisted before he was commissioned. He refused to allow his troops to take ponchos to the field. He believed that warm, dry soldiers were the first to die in a firefight. I read a letter he got after he returned. The troops thanked him for keeping them alive.
“He believed that warm, dry soldiers were the first to die in a firefight.”
I have spent a fair amount of time in a poncho. Never would have described myself as “warm and dry”.
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.
This is one of those “the troops should be miserably alert” things.
“I knew an officer in Vietnam War who did two tours enlisted before he was commissioned. He refused to allow his troops to take ponchos to the field. He believed that warm, dry soldiers were the first to die in a firefight. I read a letter he got after he returned. The troops thanked him for keeping them alive”.
What an idiot and I find it hard to believe the troops thanked him
Us Grunts in Nam used our ponchos as tents during monsoon season. We tied off the four corners and bent a branch down and attached the hood to the branch and the branch kept the poncho taught. With a poncho liner we stayed warm and dry. Two Grunts could fit under one “hootch”.