Quite recently, WOFT posted on The Campfire, asking about what kit the military carried. Although post was on the Campfire, I think this is the correct forum for this as it is specifically survival gear.

On Sunday nights on BBC 2 in the UK there is a series called "SAS Survival Secrets" presented by the formidable Eddie stone. On the first episode he listed the equipment he carried in his webbing. I wrote it down as I thought it might be of interest to some of you. Here goes:

350 rounds of spare ammunition
Grenades for the M203 launcher
White Phospherous Grenades
Fragmentation Grenades
5 spare magazines for his rifle
GPS
Silva Type 54 compass
Whistle (his was the metal pea type)
TACBE (ground to air Tactical Beacon)
Weapon (His was M16)
Right angle torch with button compass in the base
Spare button compass
Spare rations
Waterproof bivi bag
Infra red strobe
day/night flare
Water bottles
Metal mug
Fixed blade knife (not sure which type-possibly K-bar)
Various tourniques
Scissors
Forcepts
Blister kit
Sutures (seemed to be lots)
Antibiotics
Folding saw (opinel)
Pieces of rubber (burn well)
A filter bottle - PentaPure sport (seemed too big for webbing)
Mag/flint block
Tampon (tinder)
Various survival bags (orange plastic and space blanket type)
Folding knife (Opinel)
Wire Saw
Heliograph (signal mirror)
Fishing kit
Snare wire
Multitool (Victorinox Swisstool)
Button compass
Head Torch (unsure which, adjustable angle)
Neoprene gloves (warm when wet)

All this was held in 95 webbing and Opperational waistcoat (assualt vest)

Man, the bunnies are in real trouble around this guy. I never understood the phrase "spare ammunition" though. Thats like the investment scams term " excess income."

Just out of curiosity, did he say how much all that gear weighed? And how good could he move? I know redundancy is good, but he seems to have gone overboard in the knives and such category.

He didn't say how much his belt kit weighed, but he did say that all his gear weighed the equivelent of three 5 year old children. I'm not sure how much that is though.

I saw that programme too. Not sure of the weight, but ONE five year old gets heavy on the arms after about 5 minutes, but I guess he's not carrying it with his arms....

Ditchfield: did he say if that was his standard equipment or mission specific? I know he was talking about adapting what he carried depending on the mission, especially regarding MRE's.

we must keep in mind that this is a soldiers rig. That probably explains the emphasis on weaponry and ammo. I would suspect that this individual is in better physical condition than the average office worker in North America - by a wide margin. If I were operating in a military capacity I wouldn't worry much about the weight of apare ammunition - I'd probably simply fill every pocket, pouch, pack, spare nook & cranny with all the weaponry I could in order to prevent becoming engaged in a fire-fight without any fire.

The rules in the SAS (which are different from other Regiments, and which I've been shown first hand) is Ammunition First, then more ammo, Mission Specific Equipment next, then water, then food then clothes. Basically they don't give a toss about eating or being dry necessarily as long as they've got ammo for the gats, some explosives and probably a laser designator - excellent. <img src="images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Thanks for posting that Ditchfield!

Interesting. That train of thought can probably be traced back to the famous "mad minute" practice that placed the highest value on the soldiers that could put the most bullets through air at a time.

I noticed that he likes his compasses as well <img src="images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Chris

We go out on missions and expect/have to be resupplyed there is no way to carry enough gear to fight effectively and carry everything you want/need for an extended time. Chris

Aah, Yes, the Mad Minute - we love that.

But please note in the British Army the air might be full of bullets, but they're AIMED bullets.

That is probably accurate. The Brits carry a lot of stuff on their web-gear. A while back I posted a list of what our guys generally have, here it is (if the link works):

http://www.equipped.org/ubbthreads/showt...=true#Post14437

Just a question. Why carry one of them big and heavy right angles torches? I was given one of them myself from an ex SAS person - among a whole lot of other stuff - and found them obsolete compared to what is available today.
also this guy did he carry a PSK aswell? I doubt it looking at the list but i think it would have been a beter option in IMHO. Reason: you've got everything in one place - more control but of course more risk.

A good idea though is the compass(es) in addition to the GPS.

Just my 2 cents

Ryan

Angle torch attaches to the shoulder strap of your LCE and provides forward light during march without you holding it and also makes you more visible. Also the design is more natural to hold if you have to. It won't roll down the table and they can be stand upright. Also usually you have colored lenses already supplied with it so you don't have to go and hunt for them (aka spend extra cash). Something really usefull that I was told when training in urban warfare is that when peeking from the corner you expose your head (unless angle mirror is used) and your hand (if using regular flashlight). Enemy will aim at the source of light. Using angled torch allows you to see and not stick out your fighting hand. Also when signaling from the trench you don't have to expose your hand. I saw a AA version of those lights which were very cute.

Yes they are heavy and they need to be redisigned but they work so I don't think military is in the rush. Especially since so many soldiers go out and buy their own lighting systems out of their own pocket.

Matt

"you either carry to much ammo ( wenn you don't fight ) or you carry to little" or something like that...

Matt,
most useful thanks. Although I think that many jobs can be taken over nowadays with a head torch. But of couirse not in a tactical environment.

reinhardt

Minute I got out of the service I switched over to the mag light and photon LED. Now I use headlamps, and small flashlights. I think if the army went out of their way and utilized zipka LED headligth and packed it with set of lenses and web/belt/magnetic clip it would be a perfect solutions (and lightweight) for the troops.

That does sound more than reasonable, and probably cost-effective as well. The problem with a lot of military gear is they have the "not invented here" mentality. If it doesn't come out of Natick or Aberdeen (in the US) or some similar place, it gets ignored by the military bureaucracy, which forces the troops to buy the stuff they really need on the "civilian" market. Sad, but it has been that way for more than 200 years.

In reply to Reinhardt (good to see you back on the forum), he did carry a PSK as well. It was the BCB go-pack and some of the gear he listed was from that kit. This means that he did not infact list everything he carried.


Oh yes, the SAS are the creme de la creme of the British armed forces (Although i'm sure they're nothing compared to in the US, because all your forces are the special forces <img src="images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />).



The belt kit is pretty standard as it is mostly survival and escape and evasion gear so is therefore not mission specific. However lots of the rest of the kit was. The mission they were doing was an offensive OP (i.e. they were setting up an observation post but would react with force if needs by, in this example, a renegade general) this means that a lot of the gear they carried was specialist. e.g. spotting and night vision scopes, entrenching tools scrim and camoflage, chicken wire to hold camoflage and most importantly a A1 sniper rifle.

Hope this is all helpful.

Post deleted by Chris Kavanaugh

Yes they are bought in the first PX you see when you get off the bus after collecting you advance money and gettign your "need" list for basic. In Ft. Benning they had a "special" PX for recruits which only carried basic stuff such as shoe polish, sneakers, atheltic socks, envelopes, etc etc. Many of us were unaware that you can get anything else plus it would be of no use anyway since we had to be uniform and have the same equipment.

Matt

Post deleted by Chris Kavanaugh

I went in 1997.

Matt