First SAREX in a few years...

[Duke Dillio]

^^^  +27

I know the mindset.  I loved goin into the field as a cadet, walkin all over the place with big heavy kit, finding out what not to bring next time, sleepin in the cold and figuring out that the cold ain't so great and neither is sleeping on rocks or sticks.  To me, it was always about learning a better way of doing something.  Regardless of the conditions, I always came back.

I tend to think that the cadets haven't changed that much with respect to the mindset.  I have had to remove large knives from LCE's and had to instruct cadets about why they couldn't wear a woodland camo boonie hat or beret in the field.  I have also learned quite a bit from them.  I had a cadet whose brother was a Ranger in Afghanistan.  When she showed up at the meeting spot, she had a full RLCS kit which I was drooling over.  (If only they made it in orange or red....)

I am actually disappointed in the direction that we are headed.  Technology is catching up and missions are fewer and farther between.  I still run FTX's and training for the GTM's but I am slowly acknowledging that the ground teams are slowly fading away...

[docbiochem33]

I just wanted to know how someone had a medium ruck.  We always seemed to find two sizes, large, and "carries the whole house to the field" rucks.

[Stonewall]

I just wanted to know how someone had a medium ruck.  We always seemed to find two sizes, large, and "carries the whole house to the field" rucks.

There was never actually a "small" sized ruck.  They were either "Medium" or "Large".  I supposed the "small" could have been considered the standard issue butt pack, or there could have been something before my time, but I've never seen an official "small" sized ruck sack.

Mediums were too small if you had to put a real sleeping bag in it, along with the rest of your 72 hour gear.  A military issue "mummy" sleeping bag wouldn't even fit in a medium ruck alone and in a large, it took up at least half of the space.

[Luis R. Ramos]

Also echoing Stonewall.

There was supposed to be a small, but which never came out. Just the Medium, to be used with or without the frame, and the Large, which requires the metal frame. Instructions state the metal frame should be always used with the Medium in winter to prevent getting the back wet in cold/snowy weather.

Myself, I always considered the Butt pack the small version. Ten years ago I thought I was able to carry everything for the 24-hour pack in suspenders and butt pack. Now I do not think so, and will redo everything soon...

Flyer

[docbiochem33]

Stonewall,
  The sleeping bag was never supposed to fit in a ruck.  It was carried beneath the ruck with straps.  To keep in dry you used the wet weather bag.  This sometimes made things uncomfortable because if you had the old extreme cold weather bag it was heavy and pulled down on the ruck and your shoulders.
  Then again, all of this made me happy when I went from an infantry unit to an armor unit.  I just threw everything in the track and didn't wear it much.

[Luis R. Ramos]

Another example of training confusing issues... slightly?

I have seen in some of the ES training materials state the reason of the 72-hour packs is the addition of the sleeping bag inside it.

Cannot state which at this time. But will look for it if anything...

Flyer

[docbiochem33]

It will be hard to fit all of the stuff they want you to carry if the sleeping bag is inside.  I do have a CFP90 ruck that has a carrier for the sleeping bag so it stays out of the elements.  It is still on the bottom, but this ruck does keep it "inside" with easy access.

[Stonewall]

I have also used the CFP 90 (acutally used it at Winter Hawk in '02), but with the large ruck (ALICE), the old school mummy sleeping bag generally wouldn't be put in the ruck sack, but in the duffle bag with a whole bunch of other stuff.  Rarely, in the Army, if at all, did I stuff the mummy bag in my ruck.  If so, it must have been mega-cold out.  I quickly learned that buying a 10 degree down sleeping bag was the best option.  I was able to compress it to the size of a football and a half. 

Cool story, I bought that down bag in 1992 at EMS (Eastern Mountain Sports) in Fairfax, VA and as I'm packing my ruck (large ALICE) for this weekend's drill out in the field, I packed the same EMS down bag that I bought way back then, 21 years ago.  It's only supposed to get down to 50 degrees, but you never know.

[docbiochem33]

This is why APC's are a great item.  We used to put the ruck on top and then put our sleeping bags inside when bad weather came along.  Always had a warm place to sleep.  I usually slept in just my winter coveralls and BDU's with a wool blankets.  Some of the NCO's I had thought I was crazy because it was about 20 degrees out and I was fine in very little.

[ol'fido]

Only time in the Army I used a sleeping bag was in OSUT at Benning and in ROK during Team Spirit '90. In Korea, we carried them to the field in duffels. We were doing stay behind ops and so we were basically staying in one spot for 9 of the 10 days of our field problem. Spent one night without them. Brrr. Normally, we used poncho liners and sleep shirts in the field in Hawaii.