I´m civilian, and I only can imagine being a soldier is something special. You need to be willing to suffer in one million ways. My respect!! And alone the fact you did this video outside, while it´s raining, you should get 1000 likes extra. Period. Thanks for sharing your content! Greetings from Germany
The Brecons will teach you about "wet management". Being disciplined and pro active are a help. I'm a fan of "heavy" Goretex when it's driving sleet and rain. How you manage your sweat from working is the other half of the equation. "Breathable" fabrics work in the dry and very cold, not warm and wet. Zip up, cinch up, and don't take your gloves off; well, stop faffing with your kit or the wet will get in. All boots have a hole in. Big subject. An insulation mat is worth its weight in gold.
Field craft and a physics lesson too! Blowing in the dry bag = Bernoulli’s principle 😉 I use a technique with a goretex shell jacket which I find useful when in cold, wet and windy environments if I have to add/remove a layer underneath quickly. Basically I unzip the jacket but leave the bottom third/quarter zipped up, then pull the lapel to the side and off the shoulder so you can pull your arm out, repeat on the other side. You should end up with your jacket hanging down below your waist and your torso uncovered. Quickly add or remove the layer as required then put your arms back in the sleeves, shrug the jacket back on reversing the process so your jacket is back on then just zip it up. This may sound weird but once you’re used to it it’s quite quick. The added advantage is that in high winds your jacket doesn’t blow away when you put it down to put on an extra layer (ask me how I know), it keeps it off the wet dirty ground, if you have gloves or cold hands there is no messing around with doing zips up afterwards. Not sure how useful this would be in a military scenario with webbing etc but when I was doing my Mountain Leader qual (UK civy ML not by any means like RM ML) it allowed me to quickly sort myself out re temp regulation and moisture control with minimum of faffing about. It might be useful to someone?
Fantastic video on a very unglamorous, unexciting yet CRUCIAL topic. Always tempting to power through without rain gear and get the job done despite the weather. But then the rest of your week is f'ked because your skin starts peeling or you get sick.
Thank you for the Video! You are right, sometimes you have to accept, that you will be wet. Especially when marching this is not an issue. But in Rest time it is important to get dry again. Thank you for the video!
Great video. For hands if you are out in the cold/wet gloves will be needed or you will not only be uncomfortable it could be dangerous as you lose dexterity (rain when it is hovering around freezing is the worst). Invest in a wet weather glove that fits inside your rain jacket sleeve (gauntlet styles just funnel water to your fingers). If you get an insulated glove make sure the liner either comes out or you can turn it inside out to dry as they will get wet. If you can't get something like Sealskinz (at the time I couldn't as it wasn't issue), found what worked fairly well was having leather gloves treated with sno-seal or something similar and then two pair of wool liners you could swap out and dry as needed. Basicall treated your hands like the feet. Heard of others who wear neoprene gloves meant for paddlers, again not sure how well it worked as we were not allowed to use them.
this is directly applicable to my life. The last 5 days in the bush has been nothing but rain and slippery blowdown. Don't try to chop devils club when it's wet, it just springs back at you lol
Very good video man! What comes to ammunition: IF you really, i mean REALLY need some batch of ammunition to stay dry, you can seal them with nail polish. Just a thin coat where the bullet meets the case and also around the primer. Some of the surplus ammunition has similar kind of sealant.
Thanks man, solid video, so if dealing with frequent knee high stream crossings with water going over and in the boots i suppose you got to leave the goretex socks on until its time to change socks. One more thing, i see you rocking that virtus 40L and german mat, how about removing the internal spine and stowing the mat internaly as a backer in the main compartment, i've tried this and seems to be alright and seems to allow more space.
Cheers, if you know you’re going to be getting wet often then I’d just wait until I know there’s no chance of water getting over my goretex socks. I’ll have to try that with the pack, I use the matt so often mounting it outside has always been a must for me personally. Glad to have you here, cheers
Did you run the PCS Softie smock at any point in the British army? I'm sorting out a practical loadout for longer hikes (3-5 days) and am looking into both rugged, compact and cheap gear. Personally love using an Osprey webbing belt with the PLCE yoke along with a bunch of GP pouches and a GSR haversack at the back for a cheap alternative to the DZ rig and JayJays gear, have you ever looked into stuff like that?
Nothing more bugs me than sandwich bags getting pulled out of kit. Personal preference, obviously, but all that money on kit and have sandwich bags for waterproofing may aswel buy drybags in different sizes. Great videos on the channel just that pet peeve for me.
Thanks for all those tips!! They're really good! I'd like to know what backpack are you using, I'm looking for upgrading mine and I want some good suggestions about what to pick. Thanks a lot and keep it up with the good content.
