How Cold Can you Go?

Submitted by SFC(ret) Paul S. Riggs

I recently purchased a "Mickey-mouse" (shorty) extreme cold weather flyers parka with a lie down fur hood.  This jacket is very lightweight, and I believe it is the warmest winter jacket I have ever bought or owned.  The other day I ordered the "longer” style.  The color is sage.  If it is anything like the shorty, I know I will be very pleased.  I would highly recommend either or both to ALL my retired Aviation Buddies.

ED -- The jacket, I believe, that you're refering to is the N2-B extreme cold weather jacket (parka) pictured above.  Rated to -40 degrees it would appear to be plenty warm for most outdoor applications.  I've never had one of these, but I have thought about picking one up from time to time.  Has anyone had any experience with this jacket, or it's longer brother, the N3-B?

According to US Wings they retail at $129 each, though I have seen them in surplus stores for much less.  I would caution you though, be careful what you purchase.  This is a very popular jacket for knock-offs.

Check out the N2-B here.

Forget Me Not

Submitted by Eric Daniel

I came across this the other day while looking for some other kit and I thought it might be worth mentioning as a potential training aid to all of you out there still using the M2 .50 cal.

What you’re looking at is the breech lock out of the barrel extension assembly on the M2 machine gun.  Those of you familiar with the assembly and disassembly of the M2 will remember that it is a fairly simple and forgiving weapon when it comes to taking it apart and putting it back together.  If done correctly, all the parts will simply drop into place.  If you have to force it, tweak it, coax it, or curse at it, you’re doing something wrong.

The only exception I’ve found to this is the breech lock.  The part itself is a forged metal square about 1.5" on a side and .5" thick.  It has a hole through it on the bottom and a notch on the top.  Most importantly, one side of the top is beveled, and the other is not.

THE LOCK MUST BE INSERTED INTO THE EXTENSION BEVELED FACE FORWARD.

Unfortunately, the lock will go into the extension facing either direction and you can put the weapon together with it inserted incorrectly, but you will only get the bolt to cycle once before the entire weapon jams up on you (and you bash the hell out of the “back” of the breech lock.

I came to acquire this piece of memorable jewelry courtesy of my 1st tank commander SSG William Bullock.  SSG Bullock, a hard-charger from 2/2 CAV across the street, was as fine a TC as a new soldier could want.  He was not imposing or intimidating, patient with new soldiers, and forgiving of their mistakes.  So the 1st time I put the .50 back together wrong, there was no screaming, there was no yelling, there wasn’t anything.  SSG bullock knew immediately what the issue was and after finally getting the .50 broken down again, I was re-educated on the importance of attention to detail when it came to the breech lock.

After the lesson was over and the .50 up and running, SSG Bullock told me to get a piece of 550 cord, loop it through the ruined breech lock, and wear it around my neck every time we went to the field as a physical reminder to pay attention to the breech lock.

I found that trick to be so memorable and useful that I passed it on to every new member of my future crews when they made the same mistake as I had and it has been quite successful (except for one Lt. who picked up seven while he was on the tank and finally had to be ordered by our CO to leave the .50 the hell alone.)

Anyone have a similar story?

Supersize it - The Maxpedition Jumbo

Submitted by Eric Daniel

The following was taken from the comments section on the Fatboy versipack entry.  I’ve included them here to make a point.

Amtho: Anybody have a say on which is more practical, the Fatboy vs. the Jumbo?

giantskunk: I have both and find that I carry the regular versipak more often than the jumbo. The biggest advantage the jumbo has, IMHO, is the pouch to carry a Nalgene sized water bottle. There is, of course, more room in the other pouches of the Jumbo version so it is often mission dependant as which I will carry. I will say that if you fill all the pouches on the Jumbo version, you wind up with quite a bit a weight being placed on one shoulder. Also, the regular versipack is great for air travel. I put all my stuff in it for the x-ray belt and get through the metal detector faster. You can easily shove it inside a larger carry-on to show that indeed you have just one and then take it out on the airplane with all the stuff you actually need for the trip like a paperback, I-pod, headphones, tissues, passport, etc. That way, you can leave your regular carry-on with the change of clothes etc. in the overhead. I have had one for several years and taken it to several countries. A good piece of gear.

Amtho: That's the feedback I needed. Buying a Fatboy asap. Thanks.

This exchange illustrates a number of things.  First, and most importantly, the value of articulate and accurate criticism of a product, be it good bad or indifferent.  Second, personal experience is worth a thousand pictures.  In the era of on-line shopping, we often have to resort to making selections based on what we see (pictures) and what we read (product description.)  While this in and of itself is not a bad thing, it can lead us into making less than optimal choices.

For example, as illustrated above, Amtho is trying to decide which of the two packs he should consider, the Fatboy, or the Jumbo.  You can read the literature and see that the Jumbo is bigger, better, stronger, faster (and more expensive) but does he need or want all that?  How much bigger is the Jumbo?  Is it too big?  Giant’s response is spot on; the Jumbo is, indeed, all that, but as he points out, once you fill it up, you’re packing quite the tumor, and furthermore, it is less conducive to air travel than is the fatboy.  Apparently this was the information Amtho was looking for and his choice was made.

When I went shopping for an assault pack I was fortunate to be able to do it hands-on.  I folded, spindled, and mutilated every pack on the rack until I found the one I wanted.  Of those it was probably in the lower half of the size realm, but it was big enough for what I needed to do (I wanted a bag I could shoot and move with, not a dumpster with shoulder straps.)  Direct shopping allowed me to make that choice, but it was Giant’s feedback here that allowed Amtho to make his.

All this takes us back to the point of posting gear personal experiences here.  If you’re using something and you want to either tell the world it’s the next best thing since drinking beer straight from a bottle, or to avoid it as you would the plague, post it here.

Check out the Maxpedition Jumbo here.

Eureka I’ve Found It!!

Submitted by Eric Daniel

After doing the piece on the Army’s new shoulderbag, and reading the feedback that it got, I decided to go on walkabout to the garage and do a little dumpster diving to see if I could dig this gem up.

After a week or so I found it; my old, Vietnam-era (M1961 Combat Field Pack) “butt pack” I used to use with my LBE back in the late 80’s.

Now, to be sure, I’ve newer BPs in my collection, including the camouflaged nylon variant of the M1961, as well as the MOPP suit bag, but the reason I went looking for the canvas M1961 was because, in addition to the ALICE clips on the “back” of the pack (to clip it to your pistol belt) the M1961 has a pair of “tabs” on the top, which most folk used to attach the back clips of their LBE to. 

Well, take away the pistol belt and LBE, and clip the shoulder strap from the 2-quart canteen to those tabs, and voila, you have a CLS-sized shoulder pack that you can sling too and fro to your heart’s content. 

Another nifty feature the M1961 has is a couple of ALICE capable “slots” on either side of the bag, which are good for holding on to a pair of canteens or what have you.

Be forewarned though, the M1961 is strictly “old school.”  It’s made of OD green canvas and is not MOLLE compatible.  It will, however, survive a drop from 6’ onto concrete and total immersion in salt water for 30 seconds, so it’s pretty durable.

A question for you “old timers” though.  What’s the purpose of the rubberized nylon “throat” in the bag and what are you suppose to do with the row of eyelets on the right side of the bag flap?  I usually stuff the throat down into the bag before I fill it and use it as a liner for additional water protection, but I’ve no clue what those eyelets are for.

Get an M1961 Pack here

Big Bad Bag Balm

Submitted by Eric Daniel

“I gotta tell you boys, the next reporter who asks me how hot it was over here, I’m going to bust him right in the mouth.”

These were the parting words MG Ronald H. Griffith, CDR 1st Armored Division, had for us as we departed Saudi Arabia following the conclusion of the 91 Gulf War, and I couldn’t have agreed more.

We arrived in December of 1990 and as soon as we hit the ground it started to rain.  Everything, our gear, our equipment, and our weapons, got soaked.  Moreover, it never quit raining.  It rained so much that our clothes started to rot.  We began to think the presence of so many BDU wearing soldiers (we hadn’t been issued DCUs and would not receive any till the night before we flew home) had confused the clouds and fooled them into thinking that we were a bunch of wayward shrubberies in need of a little irrigating.

When it wasn’t raining, it was bitterly cold, and dry, and windy, and it was this that proved more destructive than all that water.  Now, as a 3-year veteran of Germany I’d been exposed to a whole lot of wet and mud, and I’d been Bavaria cold, but I’d never experienced an honest to God high desert cold, like you get out at NTC or up in Yakima (where I lived for 3 miserable years) so this was something new.  The cold dry wind literally desiccated my exposed skin; my lips chapped, and the skin in my finger joints cracked and bled.

The only thing I could think of doing was to rub some GAA (Grease, Automotive and Artillery) into my hands and put my nomex gloves on.  I don’t think the GAA helped my hands heal but it did do a fair job of keeping sand and grit out of the cracks and eventually I recovered.

Lesson learned.

Thanks to that Gulf War experience, I learned the value of hand cream.  Moreover, the stuff I’ve come to swear by, thanks to an ex-wife with a horse addiction, was Bag Balm, a lanolin (wool wax) based product originally developed for the dairy cattle industry.  It’s just the thing for treating cracked skin, irritations, minor cuts, or rashes, and it is easily absorbed by the skin.

It’s available in a small “person sized” tin, a larger “cow sized” tin, and a “dairy farm” sized tub.  My recommendation is get the “cow” tin, but get it from a feed store or from an on-line vet supply store, don’t buy it in the cosmetic section of your local store (where you’ll find it 3x as expensive.)  Also, as an additional lesson learned, this stuff can become quite fluid when it warms up (think Baghdad/Barstow/Badger Gap warm) so either keep it in a Ziploc bag in your CVC bag or put some into a squeeze tube for use on the road during the summer.

Learn more about Bag Balm here.

For Those Left Behind

Submitted by Eric Daniel

ED --  I got sent the low-down on these items straight from the Author.  I haven't played the game or read the book, but I thought the idea compelling enough to post it here as an option for all of you who are either deploying, deployed, or know someone "over there."

When a parent is deployed, children suffer in ways that aren't always obvious. Using a book or a game as springboards to conversation have been proven time and again as ways to get a child to open up.

With the release of her book “My First Deployment” and “Mail Call! The Military Deployment Game”, Navy wife, licensed therapist, and mother Lisa Stillion gives caregivers and parents the tools needed to make this happen.

In “My First Deployment”, a rambunctious little girl named Allie radiates a range of emotions when her father leaves for a military deployment. Exploring the causes and effects of separation anxiety, “My First Deployment” encourages creative ways for children to express thoughts and emotions, and gives grown-ups easy ways to help young ones cope with the loss they feel.

“Mail Call! The Military Deployment Game” is designed with the family in mind as players chase each other around the game board, trying to get a care package assembled and mailed out to a loved one.  “Mail Call!” helps military families maintain strong family ties through understanding and sharing.  “Mail Call!” can be played competitively or as a team (cooperatively) where there is no winner or loser.

Get the book and game here