"DRASH" (Or "Why I think I've gone crazy and everyone else is sane")

[armyvern]

I think a mod tent is just as vulnerable to bombs and bullets as a DRASH. Its only slightly more robust than it when dropped. You can take 3 hours to set up a whole CP worth of mod, or take 30 minutes plus an extra 10 to make sure the DRASH comes off the truck carefully.

Yes, there may be better tent systems out there. But lets be honest, the CF isn't going to buy them for us. DRASH is far superior to mod unless you're hurtling it out of the back of a HLVW or MSVS, but that's solved by spending a little bit of time sweet talking a mat tech to make you a ramp to roll it on and off. You won't convince me to go back to mod tent.

You forget that you belong to the largest 1st Line Unit in the entire of the Canadian Forces. We have resources here when we move that others simply do not; especially ResF Units. They don't all have the benefit of HIABs and or forklifts/zoombooms  and troop redundancies when they move like we do here.

And the darn stuff is still a drain on us Sp sqn purple people for maint and admin - even those Mat techs getting sweet talked. 

As for what the Cf will buy ... It'll buy what you require, and what you/your unit can support if you do your specs properly. I guarantee you, that you don't have DRASH now because someone said "I'm buying DRASH and wrote the specs that way". PWGSC would have halted that on the spot.

 

[lethalLemon]

This is the second time you have mentioned "3 hours to set up a CP with Mod Tentage".  I am curious as to how big you are building this CP?  I have worked in CPs quite a bit and running out three or four sections of Mod, or a Penthouse, have never taken 3 hours.  The "Hubs" at Div Main and Div Alt may have taken up to three hours, but the "Hubs" have all been replaced by Containers dropped by PLS.  So I am curious as to how big this CP of yours is and how many people are setting it up.  With enough people who have set up Mod Tentage before, as you would find in the CP group, you should have the tentage up in approx 45 min.

I'm having a hard time understanding too... I've set up a 3-section mod tent with 8 people in 45 minutes in the bitter cold of an early Spring morning... as a cadet.

 

[PuckChaser]

This is the second time you have mentioned "3 hours to set up a CP with Mod Tentage".  I am curious as to how big you are building this CP?  I have worked in CPs quite a bit and running out three or four sections of Mod, or a Penthouse, have never taken 3 hours.  The "Hubs" at Div Main and Div Alt may have taken up to three hours, but the "Hubs" have all been replaced by Containers dropped by PLS.  So I am curious as to how big this CP of yours is and how many people are setting it up.  With enough people who have set up Mod Tentage before, as you would find in the CP group, you should have the tentage up in approx 45 min.

IRU CP for Op Cadence was a Penthouse with 7 sections of mod.

 

[SevenSixTwo]

Why do the people hate the DRASH? I like it and it sets up fast. It's much better in my opinion than the Penthouse. However, I will admit it breaks. Me and three other guys on the hard points (Let me emphasize ON THE HARD POINTS not anywhere else) and two bits snapped just by lifting it up for no reason at all using it the way it was designed to be setup. I also noticed it had about 8 other broken parts once packed away. However, yes it does take basically 8 people to pack up and put away. However, once you have the damn thing up it's great to put things up like lights, computers, whatever you want and it was very warm inside.

Granted, I have never sampled something on the market similar to a DRASH. So I am biased.

 

[lethalLemon]

IRU CP for Op Cadence was a Penthouse with 7 sections of mod.

Ah, makes sense

 

[Swingline1984]

You had a tent. Try sleepin in a slit beside your (armoured fighting vehicle) leopard
in a six inch trench (required) on dismount. Tarp-sleeping bag-roll the other half of
tarp over you. Or on the rear deck on said AFV. Better yet inside on a 6-7 week ex.
Just sayin.
Scoty B
more to follow: you work with what ya got ,,,make the best of it or improvise, or make
suggestion to improve what you have to work with.

We're talking strategic CP infra here.  These tents are not for sleeping but to house all the C2ISR kit and absurdly giant TV screens for the boss (these structures only keep growing).  As for being uncomfortable in the field I've spent many a day sleeping rolled up in a cam net in the back of a line clack in between installations and I'm sure PC has similar stories so don't go all "my dad can beat up your dad" on us.  As for "suggestions to improve", they have already been made and that is why the Army is buying a new type of tent (sorry forget the name).

 

[George Wallace]

IRU CP for Op Cadence was a Penthouse with 7 sections of mod.

If it took more than 45 minutes to set up 7 sections of Mod, I would say that someone was fornicating the pooch.

I don't dislike DRASH.  I just find it is not as 'sturdy' and versatile as Modular Tentage.  DRASH does have places that it can be very useful, but it will also not be fitting in many more places.  I would also hate to have to set up DRASH in a wooded area that was not cleared and leveled first by a Coy of Engrs. 

I would say that Mod Tentage is more durable, easier to repair/replace parts, and more flexible than DRASH.  DRASH is custom built for its various functions, and not often interchangeable in those functions.  You won't find a DRASH shelter used for a CP, and then later used as a repair bay for vehicles.  You can set Mod Tentage up to suit your needs as opposed to adjust your needs to the tentage (DRASH).

 

[George Wallace]

IRU CP for Op Cadence was a Penthouse with 7 sections of mod.

.............And they didn't have much in that tentage or their hard shelter (in Blackdown Cadet Camp) as everything there was remoted in from the container. 

 

[PuckChaser]

Siting the DRASH is simple if your Sig O did a proper CP recce. I know that's a stretch... ;D

The only thing I don't like about the DRASH is the fabric could be a little more tear resistant. But that would add to the weight of an already heavy piece of kit. Mod might be easier to repair, but that's because you have to repair it all the time. The only time I've seen Mod not leak is because the pieces were brand new. Mod's great for tossing into a truck and making an abolution point or mess tent, but if I have to work on shift for 12 hours a day on radio watch, I'd prefer to be in a DRASH complete with floor and heater/AC system.

I set up the CP about 15 times, we definitely did have have that much tentage. It was our field CP, the Blackdown CP was just because someone wanted it running and we barebones'd it with just a Penthouse. Don't get me started on that container though.... amazing capabilities (From TACNET to CSNI to HF) and I would love to have one, but the accreditation process and the hoop jumping required to get it running was just insanity. I was looking for a thermite grenade near the end of June to use....

 

[armyvern]

Siting the DRASH is simple if your Sig O did a proper CP recce. I know that's a stretch... ;D

Fenced-in compound parking lots are good.  :blotto:

> 

 

[PuckChaser]

Fenced-in compound parking lots are good.  :blotto:

>

I think that's whats actually being taught on BSOC now, sadly.  :camo:

 

[George Wallace]

:nod:

Cuts down on running out all that Razor Wire, if there is already a fence.    ;D

 

[Swingline1984]

Fenced-in compound parking lots are good.  :blotto:

> 

I agree; devil and all.  Does anyone actually see much hiding in the bush in our future (although I would never be so presumptuous as to say "never").  KAF is probably the model for most future wars where you seize an airfield and build on it.  The tents, if any, soon giving way to hardstand.  In these instances DRASH would probably do us proud as it would most likely go up and by the time it came down be ready for life cycling anyway.

 

[George Wallace]

I agree; devil and all.  Does anyone actually see much hiding in the bush in our future (although I would never be so presumptuous as to say "never").  KAF is probably the model for most future wars where you seize an airfield and build on it.  The tents, if any, soon giving way to hardstand.  In these instances DRASH would probably do us proud as it would most likely go up and by the time it came down be ready for life cycling anyway.

>

Already planing on "training for fighting the Last War", as they say.

;D

 

[Swingline1984]

...and now that I've come full circle and managed to argue both sides of the issue I should probably call it a day. 

 

[SevenSixTwo]

Fenced-in compound parking lots are good.  :blotto:

>

Oh jeez *face palm*. At the very least I heard the Reserves are trying to go back into the field this year and avoid parking lots.

 

[dan7108]

DRASH = Tacvest

Penthouse/Mod = Chest Rig

 

[SevenSixTwo]

DRASH = Tacvest

Penthouse/Mod = Chest Rig

Wouldn't Mod = Tacvest since they are both full of holes?

 

[George Wallace]

Any piece of kit that we have is crap to the persons who don't know how to use it properly and maintain it properly.  Every piece of kit that we have has its place and use.  If it is not used as it is intended then it will fail you.  DRASH has its place, but its place is not universal.  Mod Tentage is more flexible in where it can be used, and a much simpler system to maintain, repair, or replace.  If you want to compare apples to oranges, then go a head, but it doesn't help the discussion.  (Silly me.  We are comparing apples and oranges - DRASH vs Modular Tentage.)

 

[Swingline1984]

>

Already planing on "training for fighting the Last War", as they say.

;D

Well hey...the WW2/Korea model served us well for 50+ years.  ;D