Soldier's Load: Sleeping Light.

Recent posts have mainly been about “the soldier’s load”. This blog is mainly about self-defence and preparedness so generally I try to keep things from getting too military. This has been a useful topic, however, since not only does it reveal solutions for civilian application but it also illustrates the differences between civilian and military applications. Today I will look at lightweight solutions to the need for shelter.

    

I recently saw an opinion that if a man who was bivouacking was surprised in the night he would take refuge in the dark of the forest. If a man in a tent was surprised, however, he would tend to take refuge behind the false security of his tent walls. Shelter for a soldier must consider tactical factors. Many of the tent designs a civilian might use are not suitable for military use unless required by a particular environment or situation. 
 

A shelter can be thought of as a sort of sandwich. The uppermost layer is responsible for keeping off the rain, wind and sun. The middle layer keeps the sleeper warm. The bottom layer insulates the sleeper from damp ground and ground chill.

As an illustration of this let us consider how infantry in the American Civil War slept. Men would sleep in pairs, buttoning their shelter halves together to form a “dog tent”. Rifle-muskets might be used to support this structure. A gum-blanket was used as a ground cloth and each man slept wrapped in his woollen blanket. If the shelter cloth had been lost or discarded the top layer of the shelter would be created from the other man’s gum-blanket.

The basic soldier shelter has not changed that much since then. The ground sheet may now be plastic or a foam kipmat. The inner layer may be a sleeping bag or poncho liner rather than a blanket. A basha-sheet or poncho may be used instead of a cloth shelter half.
 

Unlike many civilian outdoorsmen the soldier is seldom alone. The makings of a shelter can be shared between a pair of men. For example, each man needs to carry only one support pole. As an aside, it is amusing how many kit lists I see that list the poncho as a shelter item yet do not include any support poles for the shelter. Perfectly positioned trees or ideal poles are not always to be found! 

Suppose each soldier carries:

• Poncho.
• Support pole sections and pegs. Enough pegs to also secure a groundsheet. A screwdriver.
• Lightweight sleeping bag with liner.
• A ground cloth or kipmat.

 

Probably one man will sleep while the other stands watch. One of the ponchos creates the upper layer of the shelter. The other poncho can be worn by the man on watch if it rains. The other soldier sleeps in the lightweight sleeping bag and liner. If it is particularly cold he can use one sleeping bag within the other. Bulky “three or four season” sleeping bags are not necessary when it is warmer to use two lighter ones together. Giving each soldier his own sleeping bag liner makes sharing a sleeping bag a little more pleasant. 
 

Beneath the sleeping soldier is the kipmat and a groundsheet. He may have placed found materials beneath the groundsheet to serve as a mattress. Kipmats can be trimmed to size to reduce weight and bulk.

A poncho has been chosen for the upper layer since it is the lightest and most versatile option. The poncho can be used as foul weather clothing as well as a shelter. On the downside the poncho is less robust than some of the other options. This is one of the reasons I do not suggest the poncho as a groundsheet.
 

The actual groundsheet could be an all-weather blanket but can be made from any piece of suitable waterproof material. It only needs to be large enough for one or two soldiers to sleep on so can be smaller than a poncho. In the past I have proposed a groundsheet with a brown side and a high visibility side so it can be also used for ground to air signals. 
 

One man carries the kipmat, the other the groundsheet. A bivi-bag for use with the other items may also be carried by the man with the groundsheet. A pair of sandbags are carried for the eventuality that the sleeping man must keep his boots on. A hammock can be carried in environments where such might prove useful. Poncho liners or blankets may be added where the weather requires them.

The above system is designed with a measure of redundancy. The kipmat and groundsheet can be used on their own if one is lost. With only one poncho the bivi-bag still provides some protection, etc. Many of the proposed items can also be used as foul or cold weather clothing. This is why some of the recent posts have been on subjects such as cloaks.

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Kidney Pouches and Combat Order.

Some armies define a soldier’s combat equipment as being three levels.  This paper gives a concise account of the British Army’s perception:

• Assault Order, to provide for operations lasting a few hours. Items needed to “close and defeat an enemy then hold off his immediate counter attack. Weapons, ammunition, water and digging tools”. NBC equipment, communication gear, a flashlight and immediate first aid (field dressings) might also be included here.
• Combat Order for operations of 24hrs/ overnight. Assault order with some food and “just enough clothing to keep warm and dry”. This level might include some provision for sleeping in reasonable comfort.
• Marching Order, containing “all of the man’s issued items that he had in the field.” Some armies have had some very odd ideas what should be in this catergory! The wehrmacht infantryman took to the field with his best shoes and sports kit in his pack. At least this pack was carried on the company wagon.

To the above list I would add a fourth level, the Emergency Order. These are the things you have in your pockets that will be available if your webbing is lost. See my post on “sundries” for suggestions in this direction.

Theory and practice often diverge! For most British soldiers in the last quarter of the 20th century there was no real distinction between Assault order and Combat order. (For clarity I am using photos of the 58 pattern webbing. More recent systems use the same design.) Many of the “Combat Order” items were carried in the kidney pouches and poncho roll. These also carried not so vital items such as boot polish! The weight of the webbing with the kidney pouches and contents necessitates that the yoke be more thickly padded and this can interfere with the wearing of some rucksacs. The kidney pouches could not be easily removed from the webbing, so the infantryman went into the assault carrying a significant weight of equipment he did not immediately need. During one assault in the Falklands paratroopers discarded all of their webbing and carried ammunition in their pockets!

The kidney pouches also caused considerable problems with the design of military rucksacs. A good rucksac puts most of the weight on the top of your pelvis. It may have a hip belt to facilitate this. The main function of the shoulder straps is to keep the load in position. Kidney pouches or similar items hinder this. While British army designed rucksacs may resemble civilian models they behave quite differently.

In a recent post we looked at the Vietnam chest rig. This, combined with the grenade carrier and waterbottle on the belt is obviously an Assault order. Marching order was created by adding a rucksac and it will be noted that there is nothing at the back of the belt to hinder a comfortable fit. Note also that the shoulder straps of the chest rig are relatively unpadded too. The NVA soldier does not appear to have a formal means of “Combat Order” but obviously such an intermediate level of load is desirable. See my article on Soldier's sundries. Likely contents might include:

• Compact wash kit and repair kit
• Toilet paper
• Spare socks
• Canteen cup and brew kit
• One or two days rations
• Poncho/ basha
• Sleeping bag/ blanket/ poncho liner
• Poles and pegs
• Ground cloth/ kip mat/ airbed/ hammock.
• Hat(s), gloves.
• Rope

Some of the popular designs of civilian rucksac that have been used by British soldiers have detachable side pockets which can be joined together to create a small pack. The British Army committees in this paper regarded this as an acceptable way to carry loads of less than full Marching Order. Sadly they did not follow on to the logical step of eliminating the kidney pouches.

A pack formed from a pair of side pockets has a capacity of about 20-30 litres. It can easily accommodate the contents of a pair of kidney pouches. They are long enough to hold shelter pole sections. Some lightweight sleeping bags pack down to a rugby ball-sized mass so it is quite possible room for such a sleeping bag can be found inside such a pouch. If a number of accessory patches are fitted to the outside of the pouches items such as groundcloths, blankets, ponchos and kipmats can be tied under, around and between the two pouches. A mesh pocket would allow a towel or poncho to dry.

Such an approach eliminates the need for kidney pouches. It allows the use of more efficient rucksacs for marching order and gives the soldier a true, lighter assault order.

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Vietnam Chest Rigs

Version 2.

Continuing my researches on how to carry equipment. Last night I read a lengthy paper about the adoption of British PLCE. One of the points that struck me was the mixed reviews of the chest rigs trailed. It is probably safe to say that for most readers mentioning chest rigs will bring to mind the Vietnam war.

During this period Soviets and most countries under their influence used belt pouches for AK magazines. The examples below hold four 30 round magazines, although versions holding just three are also known. The side pouch on one of these examples is for an oil bottle. (The East German example with the splinter pattern shows a nice example of “staple and tag” closure, btw.) The North Vietnamese Army (NVA) did make some use of these pouches but a chest rig seems to be a more common option. Understandably such rigs are often termed as “Vietnam”, “Chicom” or “Viet Cong” chest rig.

Commonwealth forces did use some systems that could be termed chest-rigs. One of the photos below shows additional ammo pouches that could be worn above the belt pouches. Certain variants of the battle jerkin used only a pair of pouches on the chest.

It is more likely that the inspiration for the Vietnam chest rig was from closer to home. There are numerous photos of Chinese soldiers in the 1920s and 30s wearing a sort of “apron” for SMG magazines.

Several types of chest rig were in use by the Viet Cong (VC) and NVA. 

The “simplest” was that intended for use with the SKS. This had ten identical pockets. Each pocket could hold two 10 round chargers for the SKS, giving a capacity of up to 200 rounds. The pockets could also accommodate a 20 round M16 magazine so this rig was also used by some GIs or Vietnamese with American weapons. It is probable that some of these pouches were used for other items. They appear to be of a size that can accommodate some designs of grenade.

A variety of SMGs were in use in this conflict so there were also chest rigs designed to accommodate SMG magazines. An example is shown below.

The third type of chest rig was intended for use with the AK-47/ AKM/ Type 56 and related weapons. Typically it had three central pouches each capable of holding a pair of 30 round magazines. One or two smaller pouches were to either side. These could be used for grenades but might have held other items such as loose ammunition, field dressings, cleaning kits etc. It is worth remembering that these items were often produced at a local level or homemade so show considerable variation in both colour and details. Some items had straps that crossed at the back while others are described as having a loop that passed over the head like an apron.

One of the things to note about these items is that “chest rig” is something of a misnomer. Often you see the pouches worn quite low on the torso. A sort of “combat cumberbund”! Perhaps this transferred some of the weight to the pelvis? Rigs such as these can be worn either high or low, depending on physique, preference, type of rucksac worn etc. NVA/ VC seem to have kept their actual waist belts relatively uncluttered, often with just a grenade pouch and a canteen. Items not needed in the assault seem to have been carried in the rucksac rather than crammed into belt-mounted butt-packs or kidney pouch equivalents.

The Chicom chest rig has inspired a number of other designs. The Rhodesians often encountered enemies using this equipment and developed their own version with four or five pockets for 20 round FAL magazines.

The South Africans also adopted the chest rig. The 83 pattern shown below has a smoke grenade pouch on the wearer’s right and two smaller pouches on the left. There are small fittings that can carry a flare, pen, knife or small flashlight. A rather clever feature is that there is a map/ document pocket behind the magazine pouches. On the other hand the sides seem to have some excess material.

Some commercial imitations have possibly tried to incorporate too many “bells and whistles”. Some have ignored that a chest rig can also be a “belly rig”. Another problem is the chest rig is often seen as additional rather than alternate carrying capacity.

The Chicom chest rig is very much a compact assault order carrying ammo and grenades and little else. When you start adding pouches for waterbottles, mess tins and rain-proofs it become something else. The main improvements I would make over the original designs is provision to carry a couple of field dressings. I’d also add provision to carry a small fixed blade knife on either the left pouch or left suspender, a snaplink/ carbineer for empty magazines and a small pouch for a flashlight.

The chest region is often shadowed so a chest rig should have a light base colour to compensate for this .

As mentioned above, VN examples often resembled a sort of combat- cummerbund or “belly rig”. A moment’s thought will confirm that you do not want the openings of your ammo pouches up at nipple level or higher, if you are carrying them vertically. You don’t have much choice with the long AK magazines, admittedly.

Many (western) chest rigs simply try to carry too much, hence problems with crawling, which is your primary means of not being seen or shot!. Don’t use pouches that hold more than a pair of magazines each. There are a great variety of options out there commercially. Some can be mounted horizontally or slanted on the chest. The under-arm or hip positions proposed in a later blog is another option. Basically, the chest/ belly rig should only carry a reasonable amount of ammo. You can mount your “pec’ knife;” on it (see Survival Weapons or Crash Combat), a shell-dressing or two and a snap link for spent mags. If you have a compact cleaning kit, such as in a discarded flare container, this is a logical place to carry that too. You will not need the latter in a hurry so it can be stowed on the rig somewhere out of the way. Provision to add other items temporarily can be included.

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Project Camelbum.

“Are you a doctor?”

I had heard the same question a number of times that day. Finally I had worked out the reason. It was a day so hot the locals were bothered by the heat. I was using my three-litre Platypus bottle. The drinking tube projected from the top of my daysac and was clipped with the bite valve near my collar. Many of the locals had come to the conclusion that I was wearing a stethoscope, and must be a doctor!

Platypus are a company that makes flexible waterbottles similar to the better known Camelbacks. I’ll use “camelback” as a generic term for water bladders of this type.

Since their introduction camelbacks and similar designs have widespread use by both civilians and military. Watch footage of troops in Iraq or Afghanistan and you are likely to spot a drinking tube.

Most camelbacks are backpacks. They are either incorporated into packs, carried in packs or worn as packs. There are a number of situations where a military user may have to operate without a pack, even one as small as a three litre camelback. There may not be time to unpack a camelback from a larger pack. It is standard practice for soldiers to carry water in their belt order for such instances. Commonly this is in the form of one or two one-litre waterbottles. Such bottles are not without their disadvantages. Typically they are rigid and if the soldier falls upon one or rolls onto it he can injure himself. If the bottle is only partially filled the sloshing of the water may be audible and reveal the soldier’s position. Drinking from a bottle usually involves removing it from its pouch. Some designs have a mug that fits over the top of the bottle and this must be removed before the bottle can be removed from the pouch.

Suppose there was something like a camelback that could fit on a soldier’s belt order instead of waterbottles? Being a bladder there would be less airspace inside and sloshing noises would be reduced. Such a system would be compatible with a drinking tube and bite value. The wearer could drink whenever he needed to with minimum hassle. The bladder would have some give should the soldier fall on it or roll on it. Perhaps there would be a pressure release valve that would prevent the bladder bursting if it was severely compressed?

I did a little bit of searching and discovered there are bumbags that include water bladders. Cyclists and runners use them but military users seem oblivious to their potential. The designs I came across tended to be 1.5 litre capacity and were only available in non-tactical colours.

Today I tried another track. Two-litre capacity bladders are available. Some are sold on their own as a replacement part. If I acquire one I could then locate a bumbag or similar that could contain it. A bumbag seems like a likely carrier since they come with their own belt and quick release buckle. If necessary they can be worn suspended from a shoulder or hung from the neck, which may be more comfortable if sitting in a vehicle for a length of time.

Keep reading the blog for further progress with this project.

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