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Mickey Mouse Boots or Mukluks?

I love my flannel shirt. Its fire resistance is far better than the new fleece sweater.

WP anyone?
 
Not to mention that if your involved with explosives you can't wear the fleece (static electricity concerns).
 
Britney Spears said:
CFL:

What about arctic slippers?

I totally forgot about those things!   They're a godsend for chores in and around the tent.

Pappy, and Big Bad John,I had a chance to play around with some Snugpak stuff when I was at a trade show here in VA a month ago.   Really nice kit!   The only thing I wonder about is its durability?   I've used a couple Primaloft jackets from MEC, and while it's very light weight and compressible, they tend to lose their loft after a few washings.  I still would be interested in the Snugpak stuff though...

CFL, I did use the Ice Planet Hoth Stormtrooper hood when I was in.  It was pretty warm, but it would get really wet around the mouth from condensation  and subsequently get all frosty on the exterior.  Not too fun for long-term wear.

If I had an unlimited budget for kit for this Norway trip could wind up costing me well over $1000US.  Unfortunately with my luck I'd spend all that money just to wind up back in Iraq a few months later   ;D

With that said, I'm gonna go with as much of the issued fleece and other stuff, and get my own gloves, balaclava, toque and CF mukluks or some heavy duty civvie Sorels.

If I had the money, what I'd really love to get would be a Kifaru MMR  http://www.kifaru.net/MGemr.htm
to use instead of the CFP-90 ruck that I've got.
 
I absolutely love my fleece neck warmer.  You do get an icy build up around where it covers your mouth but its the cats ass.
 
My two cents on the Mukluks,

    I acquired a set of the issue gore-tex socks and wear them over the inner boot on the mukluk.  Took some experimenting to get the right fit (I think it was size 11 gore-tex socks for a size 9 mukluk).  It solved the problem of the lack of water-proofness of the mukluk itself without compromising the breathing too greatly.

    Was using them back when a platoon comd in a light bn.


 
It would seem to make sense for the CFs to update the Mukluks by replacing the uncoated nylon/canvas material of the upper with a trilaminate gore-tex to keep the boot more waterproof, yet still breathable.
 
I have also heard from some of the quiet professionals that they like the stuff from Under Armor.
 
As long as the weather is cold enough to not have to worry about puddles and the likes, the issue mukluks are great. The only time that you really have to worry is when the weather is only marginally below freezing, and wet snow soaks your boot. That, and running into a patch of overflow can get your boots wet in any temperature. However, as long as you remembered to stog the replacement socks and liners somewhere where you can get to them easily, you're aces. you gotta be quick, though. I did that once in about -35 weather, and by the time I had a chance to replace them, they had frozen so solid that I needed to beath the crap outta them with the tent stake mallet to get them out.  :crybaby:

I cannot say enough good things about the new issued sock system. Everyone is different, but the really thick gray socks are amazing. In fact, I believe thay had to contract out to Norway to make them, as we didn't have the facilities here to make them that thick.
 
CFL said:
Not to mention that if your involved with explosives you can't wear the fleece (static electricity concerns).

Really? How much static electricity does a fleece generate? Any ideas? I know I'm probably being paranoid, but would it present any dangers when fueling with gasoline?
 
Not sure but I doubt its enough for refueling.  Your better off going into the engineer forum.  This was when the fleece was just issued so I'm not sure if they reformatted their policies.
 
I asked a buddy of mine in 2 FER, he says that it is still not allowed to wear fleece around explosives.
 
I have found that while I am undergoing medical treatment, I have a lot of time to catch up on my reading.  After reading the article below, I immediately thought of you Matt!  I hope that you and everyone else finds it helpful.  Courtesy of the "Globe and Laurel"  and "Soldier" magazines:

[size=10pt]Head-to-toe warmth from three new products designed to beat the freeze




NEXT time you go for a stroll in Siberia you might consider slipping the three products illustrated on this page into in your rucksuck, writes John Elliott.

Each will help to keep you warm.
At the extreme end of the adventure business, anyone contemplating a seriously cold environment would do well to look at a new lightweight survival bag manufactured from a British-made material called Reflexcell.

When Royal Marines put it to the test in sub-zero conditions they found it kept them warm three times longer than bivvy bags routinely used by civilian mountaineers.

Gwynedd-based Blizzard Protection Systems Ltd launched a range of Reflexcell products at the Mountain Rescue conference in Bangor, North Wales last month.

It includes a sleeping bag, blanket and jacket, each of which packs down to about the size of a video cassette. The survival bag weighs just 350gm.

It looks a bit like a more sophisticated version of the â Å“space blanketsâ ? dished out to runners at the end of the London Marathon. But instead of a single layer of foil, there are reflective surfaces encasing a layer of air. Like the marathon runner's blanket, the surface is waterproof.

As well as being tested at temperatures of -13C in Arctic Norway, the kit has been used in field conditions over the past four years by UK rescue teams, mountaineers, emergency planners and medical services.

The foil survival aids are available in Army green as well as silver.

Derek Ryden, who founded Blizzard, said: â Å“Our survival bags outperform single-layer space blankets and plastic survival bags in every respect.

â Å“They are small enough to slip into a first-aid kit or backpack, can be deployed in seconds and re-used many times.

â Å“Military vehicles and aircraft can carry dozens in a small space.â ?

More info at www.blizzardpack.com

If Derek's blanket doesn't reach down to your toes, the battery-powered Footwarmer from Cheltenham-based Footwarmer Ltd could be the answer.

It provides up to 11 hours of soothing heat via a soft pad which you insert into your shoe and is supplied with an adhesive strip that can be used to attach the pad securely into the boot or shoe.


The business end of the device is a two-battery (AA) pack you strap to your ankle or boot by means of a Velcro strap.

More info at www.foot-warmer.ltd.uk

And finally, SealSkinz have added a fleece-lined, breathable, windproof cap to their range of waterproof socks, gloves and other garments.

It can be adjusted to protect the ears and neck, and the wired peak can be pulled down to protect the eyes. It has been tested in temperatures down to -5C and found to be effective.

More information at www.brandnation.co.uk
 
Big Bad John said:
It can be adjusted to protect the ears and neck, and the wired peak can be pulled down to protect the eyes. It has been tested in temperatures down to -5C and found to be effective.

-5C? Got to be a typo...
 
Good info John. 
Didn't President Jimmy Cater tell us we here in the US were going Metric? 

I think all of us men would approve / back the metic system, hell 20 cm sounds way better then 8 inches....

old fart funny story next:

once apon a time I was young...  i.e. the 1970's...
My goverment decided to intorduce me to the wonderful country of Korea...
Hell it was a free boat ride, now bad could it be?
(Actually it was / is a turely wonderful place, I loved it.)
But cold it could be.  Expeically for Marines stationed in sunny Okinawa Japan.
The Corps does indeed have a sense of humor.... one day in sunny 80 F Oki and a week later chilly Korea...
we laughed a lot at those -30 F below daytime temps...

Well one day we where sitting around in our un-heated tents, (long story saved for another day) with a few days off while 1/2 the company went on liberty.
While 1/2 our friends where warming themselves with cute korean girls in some far away city... the rest of us drank our "beer ration"
whoooo hoooo 2 beers a day and heated up our c-rations. Good times  ;D

Well one of our young PFCs was a quiet lad from the wilds of Montana....
a tad bit stranger then the rest of us, we agreed the sheep where glad he joined up.
Well here he was messing around with a space blanket.... nothing really odd there, they work nicely...
what got our attention, peaked our 2-beer soaked curioristys so much was he was cutting it up into peices...
and sewing them back togarther into a wearable garment, odd we all thought even for this young cowboy from Montana
to be doing on his time off.  Someone was about ready to go get the Doc (our beloved Navy Corpsman) and have this PFC escorted
to the padded tent down at Btn HQ when he stood up and put it on.  A gold/silver foil suit......  not quite Marine regulation.
If he had put on a matching tin foil hat we would have been on the dirt rolling in tears laughing.....

But a few days later when we where back out in the field and the temps had dropped even more there was that PFC with a warm sh**-eatting grin on his face
in the foil suit under his camies (BDUs).  He may have crinkled when he walked, but he walked warm.
While the rest of us froze our butts off as the wind cut though us like a knife we wondered who had the last laugh.

Improvise, adapt, overcome.  Semper Fi




 
Until recently, Australian winter kit consisted of the fol:

Dont get me wrong, it does get cold here, often to -10C in some areas, and in the Southern Alps sometimes over -20C.

However its usually about 0Cto -2C with high humidity, and its a cold that goes thru to your bones.

- wool gloves
- AUSCAM jumper
- AUSCAM japara (rubber wet weather jacket)

As of earlier this year the above was replaced with the fol:

- AUSCAM gortex japara
- AUSCAM gortex wet weather pants
- polar fleece jacket in kahki

As for head protection, there is nothing   shy of a floppy bush hat, but numerous 'private purchase' stuff, such as touques and balaclavas ranging in colours from AUSCAM to OD, and black.

With this type of headwear, its at the RSMs discretion, and the usual rule of 'may only be worn between sunset and sunrise' is adhered to.

Cheers,

Wes
 
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