Issued Sleep System-Use and Temp Range

[DropZone]

Recceguy,

I know what you mean, here in Edmonton one or our customers took his Drop Zone sleeping bag to a laundry mat to wash and dry. He washed it without issue and tossed it along with a Drop Zone Squeeze Me and a Drop Zone arctic parka into the dryer.

All were melted including the zippers! (YKK zips melt somewhere north of 450 f)

Anyhow legal action took place and it was discovered that the temp adjust knobs were ineffective and the dryers were set to high....to move customers out faster.
:-\

Kind Regards
Brian Kroon
Drop Zone Tactical

 

[jaawod]

I was on an ex last year using the issue inner, outer, and  bivy bag with a 3 year old canadian tire fleece liner.  We were in a mod tent without heat and on cots.  My bags had not been dry cleaned in 2 years and I was fairly warm at -45 (-55 with windchill  ) wearing only my gitch.  The bags do get a lot warmer after being cleaned, and as always YMMV, but that's my coldest experience.

 

[PanaEng]

They are indeed great bags. My only beef with them is that they do not compact well and are heavy - I guess is the nylon material thickness used and the zipper.

Up in Baker Lake for exercise Svelte Nordique (sp? doesn't that conjure up images  ) in 88 I believe, we jumped in to an air temp of -44 with no wind. It warmed up overnight to -40 but the wind picked up to over 44kn so the wind-chill increased making it feel like -67 (-40 with about 80km/h wind http://www.msc.ec.gc.ca/education/windchill/WindChill_Calculator_e.cfm).
We lost a few people to cold injuries - and a dozer, LAPES in fine but the fuel and hydraulics froze) but we managed to stay in the tents and igloos/snow caves for a few days until it got worse.
The tents were flapping something furious and, even with the snow wall, some guy lines and tents ripped, so the air inside did not have a chance to warm up much. Most of us were cold but we survived fine in those bags.
We used the horse-hair and honeycomb packing for the dozer, grader and other equipment to line the inside walls of the arctic tents plus we used the reflective blankets as well.

cheers,
Frank

 

[daftandbarmy]

Yep, the issued bag had its day, but it might be time to issue two separate bags: one for temperate and one for ECW conditions. Below are a few examples of ECW type bags available on the open market. I've got the MEC bag and have used it at 30 below and it was nice and toasty - and weighs less than 5 lbs/ 2 kg


MEC Thor:
http://www.mec.ca/Products/product_detail.jsp;jsessionid=gRHJJfyGxZyxK5b2JVKQb0J9y6JW1z7Jr3yB2vgh2N9ynRLmmm1s!455273123?FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302701483&PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524442618380&bmUID=1226811462957


Mountain Hardware:
http://mountainhardwear.com/Product.aspx?top=1429&prod=1125&cat=1479&viewAll=False

North Face:
http://www.thenorthface.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=11018&storeId=207&catalogId=10201&langId=-1&from=subCat&parent_category_rn=11749&variationId=80X

 

[noneck]

D&B I agree 100%. I use the MEC Hybrid, it's relatively inexpensive and is rated down to -20. When it gets really cold I just add an inner bag, which is small enought to use as a patrol bag by itself in the summer. The hybrid comes in some great rave colours however no one see's it when it's packed in my biv bag. It's at least half the packed size and weight of the issue bag.

http://www.mec.ca/Products/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524442280153&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302865703&bmUID=1226856312224

 

[daftandbarmy]

D&B I agree 100%. I use the MEC Hybrid, it's relatively inexpensive and is rated down to -20. When it gets really cold I just add an inner bag, which is small enought to use as a patrol bag by itself in the summer. The hybrid comes in some great rave colours however no one see's it when it's packed in my biv bag. It's at least half the packed size and weight of the issue bag.

http://www.mec.ca/Products/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524442280153&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302865703&bmUID=1226856312224

And I bet it's about 1/2 the bulk of our 2 bag system...

 

[Canadian Mind]

And I bet it's about 1/2 the bulk of our 2 bag system...

Say's it is only rated to -20. I'll keep my issued bag, even though it has it's own problems:

I used to simply slip into it, then into my inner bag, then my outer bag, but found I could never fully slip into the outer bag for some strange reason. So I tied all the bags together with the attached straps. Now the liner only comes up to my chest, the inner bag is just short of my shoulders, and the outer bag goes just over my head. I'm 5'10." So did I simply not assemble them right, or are there different sizes to the bags and fuck up when issung me my bag, or is this normal?

Really, those problems only cause mild discomfort for me, and a bit of a pain in the ass when getting in/out of the thing and when it comes to stuffing socks/underwear at the foot of the bag to keep those warm for morning. Even without the hood (thanks to the overly large outer bag) I've slept comfortably in -40 not including the windchill, though I did have a lean-too constructed over my head, and spruce/pine bows plus the air matress below me.

 

[PanaEng]

I used to simply slip into it, then into my inner bag, then my outer bag, but found I could never fully slip into the outer bag for some strange reason. So I tied all the bags together with the attached straps. Now the liner only comes up to my chest, the inner bag is just short of my shoulders, and the outer bag goes just over my head. I'm 5'10." So did I simply not assemble them right, or are there different sizes to the bags and frig up when issung me my bag, or is this normal?

I'm 5'10" also and never had those problems - I also tie the bags together.
Check that they are what the tags say they are (inner/outer). I think there is a short and a long version so check they are the same size.

cheers,
Frank

 

[Canadian Mind]

Just checked:

NSN 8465-21-842-6078
Sleeping Bag, Outer, Cold Weather

NSN 8465-21-842-6079
Sleeping Bag, Inner, Cold Weather

Both also came from the same production run in November 2006, unless I'm reading the numbers wrong. The only possible indication of size I found was an orange tag with some faded numbers on it stitched onto the inner bag. Couldn't find one on the outer bag.

 

[geo]

Colour blobs (red/orange & green) were a way to visually ID inners from outers

 

[Nfld Sapper]

And I thought all the tabs where a give away for the inner  ???

 

[geo]

Inner had tabs on both sides....
Outer had tabs on the inside

That too - but, if they are rolled up & in QM, it's a lot easier to ID the inners from the outers by the colour coded blob

 

[Canadian Mind]

Alright. Any idea where I can check for the size?

 

[geo]

Size ??? I always thought it came in only one size.... "TOO"

Too small
Too big, and
Too tight

 

[Canadian Mind]

Well my liner is too small, my inner is about right, and my outer is too big. So I guess you're right there.

 

[Brigitte]

I'm going up north to Chisasibi for a week and it looks like the temperatures are gonna be at around -40 at night time. I was initially planning on bringing both the inner and outer sleeping bags with bivy bag, ranger blanket and liner, but that takes up too much space. So instead, I want to bring all that minus 1 sleeping bag. But I'm not sure which is warmer, the inner or the outer? Anybody have any recommendations for which sleeping bag I should bring and which I should ditch? Thanks!

 

[MikeL]

Looking at your posts, it appears you are pretty new, are you fully trained? Bring what your instructors/section commander tells you to bring. For the field, especially in the winter, do what the experienced Soldiers are telling you.

Personally, if it is going be -40 I'd use both sleeping bags. If it gets too warm, you can always unzip it.

Also, I assume you have the issue CADPAT ranger blanket/poncho liner? If you have that, you don't need to bring the green liner that you got issued with the sleeping bags(which I thought you had to turn in, when you get the ranger blanket).

 

[Lightguns]

Bring what you are told to bring.  Stop playing games with your survival on an exercise in a remote area.  Army has better things to train for than evacuating your frozen rear end!

 

[Jarnhamar]

If you're inside an arctic tent 2 sleeping bags *could* be too warm, however you should still bring both of them.

Bringing one of those $4.00 reflective emergency blankets might add a bit of warmth too in an emergency. I taped one inside one of my ranger blankets and it works really well. 

 

[Brigitte]

I'm not on BMQ, I'm fully qualified, and as for what we were told to bring, we were only given a brief kit list. All it states in terms if sleeping bag is bring whatever works for you. I've used the outer sleeping bag on other winter ex's and it was alright. I was wondering if the inner was warmer though, that's all. But thanks for the info, I'll probably bring both.