Planning a little trip that screams going light. But, one guy is going to take a RGSh-30, and I am going to strap-on a GP-25. This is in addition to normal fare.
3 lbs for the GP, so yeah that’s a bit extra. Never heard of that other thing, it looks like an interesting piece of kit.
It has been around for quite a while, maybe 8 -10 years. Rounds weight about a pound. Going to take ten.
I don’t want to go asking you too much about it on here, but I can imagine what that little trip will involve. Things going well overall there?
Going pretty good. Got an extra day of R&R so the drones could take a peek. We all want to be stepping on dicks, but we get hiking trips. Once the new super mutts get here maybe we will get integrated closer with trigger pullers.
You mean at where you guys are headed?
Yeah.
Apparently some of the people they have been “mobilizing” have zero military experience, and have been sent straight to field units in Ukraine. I guess the expectation is that they will “learn on the job”. Priceless.
Well, it is possible to learn on the job, if you live long enough. But that kinda depends on a decent support system and experienced NCOs.
It doesn’t seem from here like they have much of either of those.
No. Not their present doctrine.
Oh well. Wood for the chipper.
It might turn out to be fun, until it gets nauseating. Not sure if they have plans for taking in a lot of white flag folks…they probably do.
Ukraine is apparently advising them by different means to surrender as soon as they can, to spare themselves. I suspect that a lot of them will, unless they get shot from behind in the process.
Hard to say what will happen. I hope they start thinning them out while they are en-route, just to give them a taste of the game. But, top notch system ammo may be too valuable top use for that…like Killing a roach with QEll’s scepter. Well, guess that is Charlie’s now.
Yeah, it’s the end of an era, maybe in a number of ways I guess.
We are living in interesting times.
Is cooling off here substantially, and into the rains. The CW (cold weather) gear I brought is long gone. Have managed to cobble together some workable stuff – for now.
Gonna be lots of cases of orco-thermia since they seem to be marching to their deaths in street clothes and trainers.
We have an app to help them cool off…fast.
Eating some kind of oatmeal with apples and fried ham. Large ham chunk fried and dripping nice brown stuff. Wish I had a cathead biscuit to stick it in. I am sure this oatmeal was constituted with apple juice. This is taking the health kick a bit too far. More ham less fruit.
I am good with water, and maybe milk. Beer would be better than AJ.
I can’t stand apple juice. Ever since I was a kid I just couldn’t tolerate it.
What I do miss is V8.
I have that every day with lunch, the low-sodium type.
I have to go with the full salt, and maybe a touch of Vodka….
The regular stuff definitely tastes better. I try to keep my salt intake from getting too high, have a tendency towards the BP creeping up a bit.
Mine is low, if anything. I seem to have inherited relatively low blood pressure and a low heart rate.
One thing here is we are getting plenty of supplies. No more scraping and taking insane risks to steal ammo off dead Russians.
Like every fracas, the issue is to carry everything you might need, but not knowing what that is, and no way being able to load for worst case. My take is to make a determination, right or wrong, of the threat, mission duration, distance covered, weather constraints on personal performance, then load what best meets that.
Some constraints are in the summer you have to haul more water, unless you know it is available, and in winter you have more clothes to haul. Not having to haul water is a huge plus, since fresh water weighs over 8 lbs per gallon, and you have container weight and bulk.
And, as anyone knows who has been out in the field with no direct support, you have to balance all the kit bulk in a way you can move easily and quietly while walking, crawling, crossing rivers and possibly shagging ass.
Carrying water in a pack, stacked low, on your back is the best way, that is for reserve water. I carry one canteen on my belt, the rest in the pack. easier to crawl and go low, and you can ditch it quick if you need to.
On this trip, I know water is available that can be treated. So, I carry a few empty containers. The reason is I know we have to cross a river, and each empty container creates neutral buoyancy on a full one. That makes the pack lighter. It is not 1-1, but just enough.
As I empty full ones, the pack gets lighter, and when I refill, I am back to sorta light. I never have a super heavy pack. It does take away from ammo space, but that is light compared to water and can be carried elsewhere to balance the load.
The reason for carrying water at all when you know it is available is you have to assume you might get locked into a location where it is not available. In the summer this is very important.
In Vietnam, a SEAL team got trapped in a swamp with a large NVA force completely surrounding them. It was a one night op, and they ended-up spending three days, just heads above the water at the bank. They ran out of water and had to drink out of the swamp. Knowing the area they were in, that had to have been hell. Pissing and shitting in the water you were drinking, covered in leeches, surrounded day and night by the NVA just yards away, and losing body heat slowly but surely.
Bet they made great BUD/S Instructor cadres!
I think most of them retired or quit after Vietnam. One of them wrote a book.
That’s a special kind of hell alright.
Forgot to mention the mosquitoes…Lol!
Like sprinkles on a really shitty cupcake.
I can remember mosquitoes being so thick in my face I was breathing them in. But, I experienced that as a kid in Borneo, so was not so stressed about it.
It’s almost like you had your own mini-version of the jungle phase of Selection as a kid!
I was a rotten little fucker, and I loved the jungle. Still do.
BTW, an empty quart container, sealed, will neutrally float roughly 2 Lbs of weight. You can also multi-task empty containers to pack light stuff like socks and light clothes. As long as they stay dry, they weigh little. For reserve, I am using wide mouth Nalgene bottles, the rectangle ones.
So, sometimes I have a tendency to over-plan. But, I have seen some weird shit happen……
I prefer to carry mags, but you can only go so far there. Loose rounds have to be carried, but you have to bunch them and tape them to prevent them from rattling. Masking tape works best. It is easy to tear away, and unlike duct tape, leaves no residue on the cartridges.
Using tape that leaves residue, you gun will surely jam. Rubber bands also work very well. A lot of polymer mags around, mostly Bulgarian it seems. They are light, and although I have not seen it, I hear of feeding issues. I think the issues with them are temperature stability and flex.
Well, time for a morning nap. Will have to sleep enough today to make-up for tonight, and maybe two or three days ongoing.
Ukraine Volunteer Transcripts 