What to bring to the Field- Tips and Tricks

[Dkeh]

Shemaghs are great for most things. It's just one of the things I learned from the Gan - they can keep you cool, undusted, and warm all with one piece of kit

This is the reason I love it. Warm, cool, dry, bug free, etc.

+1 to the OPI for recommending this piece of kit though.

'
Cheers!


Now, lets get back on track With all of the experience in this thread, i'm sure others have tips and tricks on what to bring to the field, how to stay comfortable, how to cut weight, etc.

 

[Spooks]

-I have found that a small pillow gives you a much better sleep in the field than bunched up cloths or a stump. You don't need your king-size pillot from home, but there are nice ones that are like 16"x10" (guesstimate)

-1 deck of cards in a section. Passes by slow Ex's nicely and creates group cohesion

- Dental tools! They help you clean your weapon in ways that I couldn't even imagine before (esp great fr garrison cleaning)

I'll think of more later.

 

[Miller97]

I wore mine once for a field ex and got jacked up for it and the whole reason was because "I never had a tour so therefore i havent earned the right to wear it"  therefore mine stays in a drawer at home

 

[The Bread Guy]

- Dental tools! They help you clean your weapon in ways that I couldn't even imagine before (esp great fr garrison cleaning)

Or an old shaving brush

 

[Dkeh]

Fair enough.

 

[Redeye]

US PXs sell little "combat pillows" that crush down to nearly nothing but still work pretty good. It's a good little piece of kit especially for MTTs.

Also, PackTowels. Small, dry fast, take up no space in your kit. And they can even add a little extra warmth if someone turns off the heater in the transient tents, I learned on a recent trip I was on.

Miller97 - if anyone gives you shit about a shemagh, invite them to, ahem, copulate with their headgear.

 

[Dkeh]

I picked up a small pillow in the Meaford Canex, and (ladies, please excuse me) it feels like a breast. I feel like I am laying on my girlfriends chest when I sleep. It makes it quite hard to wake up in the morning.

On a side note, 84mm concrete rounds after they have been fired smell EXACTLY like sour cream and onion chips (the casing, not the actual round). I thought I was going crazy, but I kept walking up to people and saying "Smell this". Same answer from 5 different people.

 

[Jarnhamar]

Cool thread, interesting reading with lots of great points.

- Leave the Rambo knife at home. Your job is not to stealthily creep up on sentries and cut their throats.

Disagree with this depending on what your job is.  In the light infantry one of your best options is to quietly take out a sentry.  If you can take out an OP or sentry and sneak your platoon or company that much closer to the unaware enemy before you engage them so much the better.

I wore mine once for a field ex and got jacked up for it and the whole reason was because "I never had a tour so therefore i havent earned the right to wear it"  therefore mine stays in a drawer at home

Well brother, now you know better. 
Having a tour doesn't mean shit. There's lots of clowns with tours who sat with their thumbs up their ass. Wear the shemagh because it's a useful piece of kit and not to look cool and you're good to go.  It's up to new privates and corporals to challenge that "you didn't earn it" crap.

 

[Dkeh]

Disagree with this depending on what your job is.  In the light infantry one of your best options is to quietly take out a sentry.  If you can take out an OP or sentry and sneak your platoon or company that much closer to the unaware enemy before you engage them so much the better.

I'm just saying, in the field on an FTX or the like, you don't need a 12" KA-BAR

 

[Jarnhamar]

I'm just saying, in the field on an FTX or the like, you don't need a 12" KA-BAR

Plus they work like morale patches  ;D

 

[Robert0288]

I picked up a small pillow in the Meaford Canex, and (ladies, please excuse me) it feels like a breast. I feel like I am laying on my girlfriends chest when I sleep. It makes it quite hard to wake up in the morning.

I got one of those pillows.  It's been with me everywhere I've been since.

 

[twilrecce]

Depending on the reliability of your QM or RQ a machete can come in handy for certain tasks

 

[Tank Troll]

Sorry for getting every one wound up about the shemagh, but just saying to watch out about it. I got mine in Bosnia in 2003 from the 9th/12th Lancers when I was on exchange with them. I've worn it forever, no one said a word to me till I was at the School in Gagtown, some Infantry WO jacked me up saying that I couldn't wear it because I hadn't been over to the sandbox. I just laughed at him told him to get of my tank.

 

[daftandbarmy]

1. Primary weapon and bayonet, cleaning kit with lots of oil
2. Grenades
3. Ammo for primary weapon
4. Ammo for other weapons in the platoon
5. Ammo for other weapons in the Coy
6. An overwhelming desire to slay the evil doers and then roll in their entrails
7. Water
8. Maybe some food
9. More ammo, just in case they're not getting the hint
10. A shovel
11. A secondary weapon (apart from the bayonet and shovel that is)
12. Other unimportant stuff

:camo:

 

[Pieman]

My troop had a kit list for winter and summer. I stuck to that. Only thing extra I would bring is some candy, wet wipes, hand sanitizing gel. Did I need all of that? Hell no. Why did I bring it? Because they told me to. I don't think Combat Engineers had the same flexibility with regards to kit like the Infantry, or perhaps it was just my regiment that operated that way.

After that, I would bring books, a small labtop, PSP, and whatever else I could to keep me from going insane from boredom. Some exercises are great and you are super busy, others were those of those kind of Ex where you sit on your butt 99% of the time.

 

[aesop081]

I don't think Combat Engineers had the same flexibility with regards to kit like the Infantry,

We did, in both engineer regiments where i served. Of course, if you were a complete new guy, you didn't have the same flexibility as others until you proved you could take care of yourself and bring what was needed.

These days, i just need to bring my reservation confirmation number and decent dinner attire.

 

[Pieman]

One field troop I was in said 'Just bring whatever you want to take'. Then the SSM found out and snapped his crayons. Ha, I really was thankful I followed the kit list that day.

 

[Tank Troll]

The reason there is kit list is a stated by CDN Aviator I've had troops show up for EX with no sleeping bags or rain gear or winter coats because it is only a weekend Ex and they planned to sleep in the vehicle with the heater running any way. At which point it became a dismounted EX and everyone went in to OPs.

On the same Note when I was with the Strats we went to Bosnia with 3VP all of Recce Squadron didn't take our Rucks as it wasn't on the kit list. Their CO lost his noodle We brought an extra kit bag instead.

 

[cupper]

Way back in my day, we had the old combat scarf to fill the same role as a shemagh.

I miss mine today.

 

[daftandbarmy]

Cool thread, interesting reading with lots of great points.
Disagree with this depending on what your job is.  In the light infantry one of your best options is to quietly take out a sentry.  If you can take out an OP or sentry and sneak your platoon or company that much closer to the unaware enemy before you engage them so much the better.

And you've done this lots, right?

The best reason to bring a big honking rambo knife is to split kindling, which is important if you're canoe camping.  :