Welcome Preppers and Survivalists,
Today is the second installment of the article "When You're On Patrol ..." from the quarterly publication "Special Warfare: Training the Special Operations NCO." The article appeared in the winter 1990 issue of the publication.
This installment is concerned with "Uniform and Equipment Common to All."
Editor’s note: The following article is taken from B-720 Tips, published in 1988 by the 7th SF Group. B-720 Tips was, itself, based on B-52 Tips, published by the 5th SF Group in 1970, but updated to include changes in weapons, equipment and doctrine.
Uniform and Equipment Common to All
• Wear lightweight BDUs on operations: even when soaking wet at night, BDUs are remarkably “invisible” to night-vision goggles. OG-107 jungle fatigues, however, appear completely black when wet, and a man’s silhouette can be clearly and easily seen by an enemy using night-vision goggles.
• Don’t use luminous tape; it’s easily spotted at long distances with NVGs.
• Wear loose-fitting and un-tailored clothing on field operations. Tight-fitting clothing often tears or rips, allowing mosquitoes and leeches easy access to exposed parts of the body.
• Tuck your jacket into your pants. You can’t use the lower pockets because of your load-carrying equipment anyway, and in a contact, you can temporarily stuff expended magazines inside your shirt.
• Gloves will protect hands from thorns, poisonous plants and insect bites, provide camouflage and aid in holding a weapon when it heats up from firing. Aviator’s gloves work well.
• Sew in a section of VS-17 panel to cover the inside top of your field hat for use as an emergency daylight position marking signal to friendly aircraft. In the center of that, sew a 2”-by-2” piece of USAF “burn tape” for use as a nighttime position marking signal to AC-130 gunships (2” by 2” is the size recommended by the AC-130 low-light/night-television operators). (Note: 1)
• Sew the same signal pattern inside your fatigue shirt, since hats are easily lost in firefights or pursuit situations. (Note: 1)
• Do not hang clothing on green bamboo if you plan on wearing it afterward; the fuzz on the bamboo is just like itching powder. Of course, clothing should not be removed or hung-out on patrol. (Note: 2)
Notes:
1) The typical prepper/survivalist isn't going to have close-air support during a disaster, however; there is the possibility that you or your family will have to signal a search and rescue aircraft during and after a disaster.
2) Here in these United States, we don't have a lot of bamboo to hang your clothes on, however; the recommendation to keep your clothes on is a prudent idea during a disaster.
