Thursday, January 16, 2014

3/1 at the Jungle Warfare Training Center. Photo by Lance Cpl. Stephen D. Himes

The desert is hard.  The jungle is harder.



Sidenote:  This might be a goofy question and if it is forgive me...but I wonder how those camelbacks (the entire system) hold up in those conditions...and would you really want to be sucking water from a hose that has been immersed in that filthy muck?

12 comments :

  1. They stay sealed and do not let in that muck.

    As for the nipple you just wipe it off first with your glove then drink from it.

    First thing i noticed is no armor or eye pro. I have never seen anything that can keep eye pro from fogging up on a sweaty Marines face in still jungle air.

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    1. wow! DIDN'T CATCH THAT! i wonder why they're letting them run it hollywood? i guess they're worried about heat casualties or maybe concerned about some of the water obstacles. i hope there is a different reason but who knows.

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  2. I can't add anything on those conditions, but I use a bladder-and-tube a lot backpacking. Three large advantages--
    1. It packs better
    2. It's (almost) hands-free -- you don't have to drop what you have in your hands to drink.
    3. So you can drink on the move.

    Disadvantage-- Sipping is not the same as actually drinking.

    The guy in the photo needs to clip his tube up on his chest somewhere. You hate to lose your nipple and lose all your water.

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  3. I'd like to point out that while wiping off the nipple might remove the mud, it's not going to get rid of the bacteria, viruses, and protozoa that live in jungle water. Thus diseases like dysentery are common.

    At the end of the day you guys do what you gotta do; just saying.

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  4. the nipple has a cover (if it hasnt broken off) that keeps it free of the muck, i like them, keep the sand and crap out of your water. as for sipping the water, thats better sometimes than acutally drinking it, lets your body process it instead of dumping parts of it, which is what happens when you just pound water.

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    1. now that i didn't know. is the cover robust? and how does the current gear stand up in the jungle environment?

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  5. After a day or more in the field everything will be covered by that jungle muck, wiping off just wipes in on. River crossing exercises means getting diluted jungle muck everywhere from lips to arse whole.
    You become immersed and intimately a part of the jungle landscape and it's many denizens both large and small, mean vicious or parasitic.
    JOTC Panama Canal Zone, mid 70's.

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    1. yeah and if the water gets contaminated they're gonna be shitting the same consistency as they muck they're wading thru!

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  6. If the USMC wants jungle training, they should ask the French Foreign Legion. They still conduct Jungle Training.

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  7. I would be more bothered by the mud and sand getting into the M16s. Yes, the dust covers were closed.

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    1. i think the idea that the M16 is a fragile and temperamental piece of gear is outdated. getting them gunked up with mud and sand all on them is really common place when you're actually getting after it and if you're shooting more than blanks i've never seen one go bad.

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