[Future Snake Eater]

Thought you all may find this interesting...

[billorites]

'Excuse me! The army couldn't afford drapes? I'll be up at the crack of dawn here!'

[5by5]

Great. The 10th Mountain Div can't handle altitude. Maybe they should go back to the mountains...

Camp Hale, Colorado where the 10th was founded is at 9500 ft. Nearby mountains go to 14,000. Fort Drum is what, 600?

Yeesh.

[HiJinx]

Great post, thanks for the information!

[fnord]

bump for later (needed) reading.

btw, can you say where this came from, or vouceh for it's authenticity?

[Jabba the Nutt]

The 10th Mountain Division is based at Fort Drum in New York. Heelllooo! There aren't high mountains in New York. They should be moved to the Rocky Mountains and based at least at 6,000 feet.

[KellyAdmirer]

I visited Camp Hale recently. It is still very much available. Beautiful valley. Perfect for training the current soft "mountain" troops.

Btw, I went from sea level to altitude for the first time last year and experienced only minor indigestion and occasional shortness of breath. Had no problems climbing the many 12-14k mountains around there.

[RightOnline]

Interesting. Bump. Assume you took notes? :)

[redhead]

""Bunch of guys" had Acute Mountain Sickness."

I've had this. Occurred around 10,000 feet. Felt all the symptoms: sweating, faintness, racing heart, nausea, dizziness. This is NOT a fun experience. Water is very essential in preventing this, believe it or not (maybe something to do with blood pressure at high altitudes. I don't know...).

[300winmag]

D: Soldier load was from 75-110 lbs. Many felt they had too much weight to move efficiently in that terrain at that altitude. Rifleman carried between 10-14 30 round mags plus 2 mortar rounds. Saw gunners carried around 1600 rounds and M240 gunners around 1200. Three days of rations and water were packed along with the assortment of cold wx gear, batteries, etc.

A radical redesign and rethinking of clothes, armor, and LBE is needed. Anything held close to the body and immobile is going to be easier to hump than something floppy that zigs when you zag.

Perhaps everything should be designed around the body armor. A cavity on the inside for an IV bag and water bladder. Also space for a kife/survival kit/extra magazine. Stuff you want with you at all times, and can keep warm with body heat.

On the outside, standardized attachment points (something other than alice clips) that take modular pouches, racks, radios, etc. Perhaps the only thing on straps might be some sort of ruck that can be dropped for heavy action. Everything else is the kind of stuff you want to stay on you in a firefight.

I don't have all the answers (or even all the questions), but it seems like we could be close to some sort of revolution in combat gear.

[WIladyconservative]

Can someone explain to me what he means when he says *cotton kills*??

[PatrioticAmerican]

interesting.

[HoustonCurmudgeon]

Thanks for the post. The guys I talked to say they were out of shape, ill equipped, and had far too much to carry. They almost had their rears handed to them and we are lucky they didn't end up in real trouble.

It seems they only train once a year away from NY and that's not at any great altitude.

[Basil Duke]

When discussing sleeping systems, the article mentions that none of the men wore cotton tshirts to bed because "cotton kills." Anybody know what that means?