Longest Recon

[Slowpoke]

1 quart goes at about 2 lbs. Water is about 7.8 lbs/gal. and 4 qts/gal.

I tried one of those new bladder things when they first got them to us. Must have had something sharp next to it in my ruck, as I was running of the LZ I could feel all the water running down my ass. Never carried one again.

[Chiron]

Damn, I used to know how much a full 1 qt and 2 qt canteen weighed. :(

Ranger Steadfast, The weight of the steel canteens is probleby so close to the plastic ones that they are approximatly the same.

The steel one is probleby more useful for making go juice. The plastic being quieter, maybe?
Thanks for the info Rangers.

I would be scared shitless to hear the noise of velcro being opened when I am trying to be as quiet as possible.

Can anyone tell me how much a water full 1 qt canteen weighs?

Noise discipline was strict when I was in lrsd. I don’t remember how much a 1qt canteen weighs. I would guess a couple of pounds not more. In desert ops while in lrsd we carried 2 2qt in ruck and 2 1qt on lbe for a 36-hour mission. Once that wasn’t enough and the team ran dry. We talked about water re-supply but the mission was almost over and the re-supply could compromise our position so the mission was terminated half a day short. Maybe if we carried 8qts each it would be better.

[Steadfast]

1 quart goes at about 2 lbs. Water is about 7.8 lbs/gal. and 4 qts/gal.

I tried one of those new bladder things when they first got them to us. Must have had something sharp next to it in my ruck, as I was running of the LZ I could feel all the water running down my ass. Never carried one again.

Thank you for your response Slowpoke. I neva knew what freakin water weighed only that it quenched my thrist and made my food taste better. Yeah, we got some of those collapsible 2 & 5 qt water bladders (they definitely weren't canteens). I never used them but I saw other's use them. I preferred the simple green plastic canteen and the versitality it provided moving it between two obects to keep them from bumping.

Noise discipline was strict when I was in lrsd. I don’t remember how much a 1qt canteen weighs. I would guess a couple of pounds not more. In desert ops while in lrsd we carried 2 2qt in ruck and 2 1qt on lbe for a 36-hour mission. Once that wasn’t enough and the team ran dry. We talked about water re-supply but the mission was almost over and the re-supply could compromise our position so the mission was terminated half a day short. Maybe if we carried 8qts each it would be better.

One thing we never liked doing was going to a river to re-fill our canteens. There was always a chance the enemy would see us out in the open. If while we happened to be on a high mountain and there was a stream running down, we would stop and fill all our canteens. I never dumped water from my canteens at the end of a mission. I just filled the canteens that needed filling. I was always very aware of my water and how many canteens were with or without water. It was as important as knowning your azmith.

My water was always cool in the morning and hot by mid afternoon.

[Chiron]

Ranger Pafsanias, We carried 6 qts doing LRS as well. We always had one of the 2 quarts in the center outside pocket of our ruck and usually drank from the man in front of us' 2 qt. We ditched the canteen cups much of the time because they always made noise.

It would be a good idea to modify the 2 qt pouch so that a LRS man can wear them on the pistol belt. I tried this out with 2 , 2 qts and it was fucked up because they sag so much.

I do have a camelback setup and it drips all the damn time.

I was thinking what if you attached a tube to the 2qt canteen cap on the center ruck pocket, ran a drinking tube up the side of the ruck frame over the shoulder and sipped when ever you needed… the only problem would be to control your drinking and not over drink.

Just a thought.

[Slowpoke]

I didn't drink much water on patrols, still don't. Fish fuck in water...that shit's nasty. I packed five quarts and always came back with some canteens full. The only time I EVER ran out was when we got our mission extended.

[Steadfast]

I didn't drink much water on patrols, still don't. Fish fuck in water...that shit's nasty. I packed five quarts and always came back with some canteens full. The only time I EVER ran out was when we got our mission extended.

I never thought that I had to conserve water. I always had plenty. 8 quarts in my ruck, one on my web belt. If I had to constantly think about water......I just couldn't be bothered. 9 out of every 10 mission everything was the same contents wise. I was like a fill in man as I moved from team to team and adjusted with out problems. I don't remember ever running completely out of water, food yes, but water, NO!

I was thinking what if you attached a tube to the 2qt canteen cap on the center ruck pocket, ran a drinking tube up the side of the ruck frame over the shoulder and sipped when ever you needed… the only problem would be to control your drinking and not over drink

Pafsanias, we did not have plastic tubing as you talk of. The only item we had similar to what you describe was used to house our dog tag chain. That plastic tasted like shit. What you talk about would be more of a annoyance than a help. Invariably our AO's were extremely inhospitible (sp?) to general treking about. We were always in enemy territory. That tube you mention would be just one more distraction. I wouldn't be reaching for a drink of water with our enemy walking by. My thirst would be in watching them, seeing what they were up to, eyeing their weapons, uniforms, haircuts - did they look clean? What were their number? Did the fucker see me? collecting intel. Ain't that right Slowpoke?

[Chiron]

I didn't drink much water on patrols, still don't. Fish fuck in water...that shit's nasty. I packed five quarts and always came back with some canteens full. The only time I EVER ran out was when we got our mission extended.

I never thought that I had to conserve water. I always had plenty. 8 quarts in my ruck, one on my web belt. If I had to constantly think about water......I just couldn't be bothered. 9 out of every 10 mission everything was the same contents wise. I was like a fill in man as I moved from team to team and adjusted with out problems. I don't remember ever running completely out of water, food yes, but water, NO!

I was thinking what if you attached a tube to the 2qt canteen cap on the center ruck pocket, ran a drinking tube up the side of the ruck frame over the shoulder and sipped when ever you needed… the only problem would be to control your drinking and not over drink

Pafsanias, we did not have plastic tubing as you talk of. The only item we had similar to what you describe was used to house our dog tag chain. That plastic tasted like shit. What you talk about would be more of a annoyance than a help. Invariably our AO's were extremely inhospitible (sp?) to general treking about. We were always in enemy territory. That tube you mention would be just one more distraction. I wouldn't be reaching for a drink of water with our enemy walking by. My thirst would be in watching them, seeing what they were up to, eyeing their weapons, uniforms, haircuts - did they look clean? What were their number? Did the fucker see me? collecting intel. Ain't that right Slowpoke?

Good points. The problem we had was the last three years in, we trained for desert ops and those summers in the desert were wicked hot. We did drink a lot. We never saw sweat because it evaporated before you could see it. Big issue in the desert. Once in the desert the opfor were 10 meters away they moved on. (legs smoking buts)

We did a few lrsd in training in the “woodsâ€

[Steadfast]

I didn't drink much water on patrols, still don't. Fish fuck in water...that shit's nasty. I packed five quarts and always came back with some canteens full. The only time I EVER ran out was when we got our mission extended.

I never thought that I had to conserve water. I always had plenty. 8 quarts in my ruck, one on my web belt. If I had to constantly think about water......I just couldn't be bothered. 9 out of every 10 mission everything was the same contents wise. I was like a fill in man as I moved from team to team and adjusted with out problems. I don't remember ever running completely out of water, food yes, but water, NO!

I was thinking what if you attached a tube to the 2qt canteen cap on the center ruck pocket, ran a drinking tube up the side of the ruck frame over the shoulder and sipped when ever you needed… the only problem would be to control your drinking and not over drink

Pafsanias, we did not have plastic tubing as you talk of. The only item we had similar to what you describe was used to house our dog tag chain. That plastic tasted like shit. What you talk about would be more of a annoyance than a help. Invariably our AO's were extremely inhospitible (sp?) to general treking about. We were always in enemy territory. That tube you mention would be just one more distraction. I wouldn't be reaching for a drink of water with our enemy walking by. My thirst would be in watching them, seeing what they were up to, eyeing their weapons, uniforms, haircuts - did they look clean? What were their number? Did the fucker see me? collecting intel. Ain't that right Slowpoke?

Good points. The problem we had was the last three years in, we trained for desert ops and those summers in the desert were wicked hot. We did drink a lot. We never saw sweat because it evaporated before you could see it. Big issue in the desert. Once in the desert the opfor were 10 meters away they moved on. (legs smoking buts)

We did a few lrsd in training in the “woodsâ€

[Slowpoke]

I usually only drank water when we weren't in ambush. In the morning and at night in our NDP, and at noon when Charles was doing his siesta thing (Poc time?) Other than that, I didn't move when we were in ambush, just my head, or hand signals. People ask what it was like, and I tell them "Imagine going fourteen hours without moveing at all, now imagine going three or four days without makeing a sound, no sound at all."

[Steadfast]

I usually only drank water when we weren't in ambush. In the morning and at night in our NDP, and at noon when Charles was doing his siesta thing (Poc time?) Other than that, I didn't move when we were in ambush, just my head, or hand signals. People ask what it was like, and I tell them "Imagine going fourteen hours without moveing at all, now imagine going three or four days without makeing a sound, no sound at all."

Oh slowpoke, you speak in Godly terms! Silence is golden. Even to this day when I walk my dog in the park I curse myself under my breathe whenever I break a twig. Some traits are hard to overcome even to this day.

[Slowpoke]

To this day, people accuse me of sneaking up on them. I tell them I can't help it, that's just the way I am. You know of what I speak, when your life and your Brothers lives depend on it, you learn to be very quiet by habit.

[Steadfast]

To this day, people accuse me of sneaking up on them. I tell them I can't help it, that's just the way I am. You know of what I speak, when your life and your Brothers lives depend on it, you learn to be very quiet by habit.

Oh yes, I am exactly the same way. I used to scare the shit out of guys at the V.A. They would see how tall I was and say, "how does a big man like your self move so quietly?" I would say, "How do guys like you make so much fucken noise?" After a few years I started wearing keys that jingled when I walked so as to not startle anyone any more. Here's one more thing Slowpoke. I didn't want my dog to jingle with his collar, rabies shot tag and license so I taped all items together. I nick named my dog, Mr. Radar as no one could come within 200 meters of us without him looking in that direction. Man I wish I had a dog like this one in RVN. I've had him since the day he was born 11 years ago. He's my buddy fer sure. He's Rollee Pollee. I named him when he was but just 3 weeks old. If I am out walking with him off the leash and I want him to come back on the leash, I just tell him, "Hook-up!" and he comes over to me and I hook-up his leash and he is happy. Sorry for going on but you can see how much I love my dog.

[Chiron]

Was there a prescribed limitation in the amount of water you carried? If you wanted to carry more, were you allowed? How many days were you in the desert on a training mision at a time Pafsanias?

No limit the issue was weight vs heat. We tried going with less each time the missions were only 36 hours. In theory we could do it in the desert with 50C with 6 qts even tried 4 but in my team failed with some 6 and some 4qts. The thing is to train again and again in hot desert conditions until you reach the weight vs heat that you can handle.

The longest I had to sit frozen still under a camo net in the desert was all day. At night we popped out to straighten up. Never had to do it in combat. I suspect we would have gone in at night dug down our hide and come out
36 hours later for extraction. Those deserts allow a very far view and no chance to move around. You stand up in daylight and your team is compromised.

[Steadfast]

Was there a prescribed limitation in the amount of water you carried? If you wanted to carry more, were you allowed? How many days were you in the desert on a training mision at a time Pafsanias?

No limit the issue was weight vs heat. We tried going with less each time the missions were only 36 hours. In theory we could do it in the desert with 50C with 6 qts even tried 4 but in my team failed with some 6 and some 4qts. The thing is to train again and again in hot desert conditions until you reach the weight vs heat that you can handle.

The longest I had to sit frozen still under a camo net in the desert was all day. At night we popped out to straighten up. Never had to do it in combat. I suspect we would have gone in at night dug down our hide and come out
36 hours later for extraction. Those deserts allow a very far view and no chance to move around. You stand up in daylight and your team is compromised.

The Arabic nomads wear layers of clothing to avoid sweating and losing water. Why do you think our military has not copied the Arab style of dress? When you dig down in your hide, approximately how deep are we talking. Do you have some type of overhead cover like a ghili type cover as was done over artillery pieces in WW? I can imagaine that any shinny objects are removed or taped over to avoid giving up your position Pafsanias. And binoculars are carefully used to avoid glass reflecting?

Another item you mention above is the number 50 followed by "C" is this for 50Centergrade, the temperature?

Sorry for all the questions. I have never been in the desert. The only sand I ever saw was at the beach.