Gunner Pool After Action Report. (7 day BOB campout)

[brownknees]

I’m just the guy writing this post, there were several others without whom there would be no post, or thread even. I want to make sure that each one of the “Gunner Pool Irregulars” is given full credit for the vital input to the things written below. Everyone helped this to happen, and the notes are a compilation of all the group’s knowledge, experience, & effort.
I welcome any comments or additions & corrections from all of them, as I’m sure I missed something here despite making notes as the camp out went on.

There is a lot to cover here, so I split it into sections to make it easier going.
This is the third one of these & this year’s comments build on things found wanting anew. The last two years were a big help in figuring out how much & of what to pack & take. It seems that for me at least I’ve pretty much got the food, clothing & equipment down to a good working balance.
This year brought a new member to the group, & he had different insights &techniques to share, along with some expansions to existing things like radio communications.
We all learned lessons from the last two camps, and this year was no exception. This in itself was interesting, proving that any plan can be improved with experience, and even planning sometimes needs adjustments to make it as functional as possible.

Planning & BOB lists.
Despite having planned & done this several times we learnt one thing over, and added a couple of things to the planning stages.
Each of us thought we were prepped, and each one of us forgot something, mainly because we thought we were prepped. Fortunately it wasn’t anything vital, and we had enough resources as a group to make up any shortfalls.
I’m adding a couple of things to my paperwork, such as if there are multiple possible locations check which maps are packed & change them as needed for different destinations.
We also found out that we all forgot new items, this seems to be because we all “knew” we were packed in advance, at least in my case.

Fire starting.
This turned out to be a hot topic this year.
We tried out several new (to me) items, including C-Ya’s blast match, and a steel match set that FIRESTARTER picked up for us to play with. I’ve been looking at other, compact fire starting tools to back up the Zippo I always carry, & a magnifying lens tucked away in the BOB.
Having had the opportunity to use both the steel match & the blast match I discovered that they are variations on the same tool. The blast match is very easy to use, but has to be in contact with a hard surface to work. The steel match is not dependant on this to use, for me a slight advantage. Both worked really well & allowed several tinder types, both store-bought & homemade to be lit easily.
The nicest surprise is that they are both capable of starting an alcohol stove with no intermediate step; you just strike the sparks into the central pool.
We both tried the magnesium block types & neither of us is really impressed with them. They were harder to use & burned less well than any other type we tried.
The local store had a supply of the now hard to find strike anywhere matches as well. We grabbed them while the going was good & all now have a supply as they came in the big kitchen match sized boxes. I’ll be breaking them down into smaller packs using the old GI match tubes, but with the striking sandpaper removed. The remainder will stay at home as a reserve supply. Again the local store can have some items that make it well worth a visit wherever you are locating to.

I don’t want to steal anyone’s thunder, so I’ll mention that most of the tinder experiments were FIRESTARTER’s, he really lived up to his name this year.
He brought several types & we tested them all, both individually & together.
First the old standby of degreased 40 steel wool. This was ignitable with the tinder strikers, but needed a bit of nursing at first to catch well. It burns short, hot & fast so it needs to be immediately placed under prepared kindling to work to best advantage. It does not work well when wet. We did discover that in addition to the old standby of a 9v radio battery it could be started with a mini (double AA) MagLite that was a bit surprising.
He brought some regular 100% cotton balls filled with Vaseline. These were the hands-down winner! A surprising quantity can be squashed into a 35mm film can, or similar container & they weigh almost nothing.
To use them all you need to do is fluff up a small patch, hit it with a spark source & it lights quickly & easily. The single cotton ball will burn for several minutes & can’t get wet due to the waterproofing effects of the Vaseline.
He also dug out the center part of a commercial fire-starting log. The putty-like substance is a little harder to ignite than the cotton balls, but not much. This also burns for quite a while and was the second favorite.
Each of these could be used either individually, or in combination for the best results. The #1 combo was a part of a cotton ball (easy ignition) & the fire-log compound together.
Our plans for next year will expand on this year’s successes. I’m thinking of card egg carton, cut in sections & filled with candle wax & lint, & FIRESTARTER is bringing a new gadget called a “fire piston”. This uses pre-charred cloth & is quick & efficient, but needs a little practice to get just right. He has high hopes for it.
Again, these are FIRESTARTERS ideas I just helped with & learned from the experiments.

Camouflage & awareness
This was a surprising revelation!
We went squirrel hunting one day. I was sitting with my backside actually on a foot trail back in the woods, and he was about 25 feet to my right. He was sitting with his feet nearly touching the trail, propped up against a tree. A hiker came along the trail & got to within 15 feet of us before he realized I was there. My camouflage was very basic, woodland BDU’s & a woodland boonie hat. I had no other camouflage, including my hands or face, which were uncovered. FIRESTARTER had a homemade smock, in green, grey & brown in a very soft-edged pattern. He did have a bug net, but was not heavily camouflaged. Even after seeing me the hiker was completely unaware of the presence of another hunter, even when he was told that he was only 25 feet to my left!
This was an exercise (unintended) in how observant many are, & makes me wonder if a lot of heavy camouflage is needed, or if the basics will do well in a situation when you are not being actively searched for by experienced hunters. This is definitely food for thought.
I picked up a couple of segments of the leafy netted camouflage nets from the local store, and am thinking of a way to make the bright yellow & blue tent less conspicuous, this is a work in progress, but I have good hopes of it’s being useful, and quickly removable in the event you want to be seen, such as helicopter search & rescue after a disaster event. This kind of builds on the idea of camouflage BDU’s with the orange safety vest that I use when wandering around away from camp.

Food.
We ate very well! We can justify bringing meat, as in an emergency situation we’d not be as concerned with game regulations. But wit this not being such a situation we did not trap or do anything to procure game, other than the licensed squirrel hunt. One thing we re-learned was that trapping is more productive than hunting. Basically a trap line will work for you while you are doing other things, but once hunting, you’re occupied with that to the exclusion of other things.
Bearing that in mind we built on last year’s experience with triggers for traps by getting a hands on exercise in snare making, and use. Again, we did not snare anything, but in an emergency we all now could add this to our skill set.
I added some new dehydrated foods to my usual Zatarans rice meals. The Knorr sides plus packs were a good idea & one pack will feed 2 comfortably. By adding meat this would be even better. As with all dehydrated foods the weight saving is offset a little by the need to find water to prepare them, but I’m going to do a mix of both types from now on due to the much longer shelf life of the dehydrated packs.
One night we made 2 packs of this & were able to comfortably feed 4 people. With additional meat brought in by C-Ya. Venison-o-rama with sides, how bad can that be? We had left over rice & veggies so this was packed in a clean Ziploc & used as a boil-in-bag side dish for the next night.

Hardware
C-Ya brought some solid-fuel stoves, and fuel tabs. We also found a local source (unexpectedly) for Swedish alcohol stoves/cook sets at a very good price. This alone is a lesson. Check local sources for equipment & supplies; you never know what’s just sitting on the shelf at local stores.
We ended up with a set each & as I’ve been a big fan of alcohol stoves for years I became the “expert”, even then I was able to learn something new from FIRESTARTER about starting them.
Filling the fuel stove with Heet yellow we were able to get almost a 45-minute burn time from one fill. This was enough to heat & boil about 1-½ quarts of water for 25 minutes after bringing to the boil from stone cold. The container that holds the stove, fuel bottle, and 2 included cooking pots can also be used to make a very presentable “Hobo stove” as well. Additionally the hooked handle can be used to suspend the cooking pot over a fire, assuming you have a decent pair of gloves to remove it with. All in all a very versatile & durable kit that is well worth the volume it takes up in a pack. The only negative thing we found was that the kit will not latch together! You’ll need some kind of strap to keep all the components packed. I’d personally make some kind of simmer cap; this was one weakness of the kit as it only runs at full tilt. This should be very easy to do, as the cap does not need to be a tight fit over the burner. Any all-metal cap could be cut to make one with minimum effort.
The triox solid fuel stoves are so compact, light, small & simple that I’m going to add one to the butt-pack of the ALICE rig, together with a couple of spare tabs. That way I can make a hot cup of something when traveling light minus the ALICE pack. This is a very handy thing to be able to do on long cold wet days.

Rappelling.
We got to do the practice pitch this year again, as we had an intro for C-Ya. We also found a couple of longer pitches we’ll visit next year. Knots & belay techniques were refreshed, as were emergency techniques & we tried out several different methods of use. Next year we’ll add ascending ropes to the list of things to do. We checked out several types of descendeur with differing ropes. The Petzel types were not really suitable with the thick rope I prefer for use with a “clog” figure 8, but they could be used in a pinch. The slightly thinner ropes were perfect with the Petzel, but ran really fast in the figure-8. Again experience gave us more knowledge of what works & what works well.

Misc.
The more sophisticated stove I added was not a great success! I added a Coleman multi-fuel stove, in addition to the usual alcohol stove and it was less than spectacular. The only non-user serviceable part in the unit quit working on day 2 & although Coleman is going to replace it that won’t help if there is a real emergency. I can’t encourage anyone to take a stove that needs factory service on an emergency camp out where the factory isn’t right there at the campsite! There is a review thread in detail on the stove running right now at the following link.
http://www.falfiles.com/forums/showt...hreadid=238148
A couple of the members of the group have doe this far, far more than we have. They provide a needed reality check to a lot of things we do. Listen to the members with experience, even when they are saying something that checks whatever you’re trying to do, even when they are being the quiet voice of reason. Mot all good advice is loud. After all they have already made all the mistakes you’re about to make & it’s so much easier to listen to the advice of an expert, than to make the mistake all over again!

Conclusions.
Getting together regularly with the group is the absolute best thing you can do! Do it as frequently as possible. We meet only once a year, but the fellowship extends way beyond that. We e-mail, post here on the ‘Files call, & just keep in touch even though we’re scattered all across the country. It’s great to meet up & renew acquaintances.
Your plan is not perfect, no matter how much you’ve adjusted it. Be prepared to revise it again & again. Eventually you’ll get so close that any error will be an inconvenience instead of a problem.
If you have multiple bug-out locations add an item to check maps for each one to the bail out checklist.
Don’t assume you are completely packed, especially with pre-packaged items (like tents). Check that you really, really do have all of the tent components in the bag before departing.
When adding, changing, or removing different items double check that the new items are actually packed.
Don’t be afraid to check out local resources in the area you’re going to. They may have odd the shelf things that are hard to come by at your starting point.
Build a relationship with the local store; you’ll be surprised how helpful they can be even if you’re not a regular customer.
If adding a new item (like a multi-fuel stove) check it out not just once, but several times before taking it with you. If you don’t have time to do this bring the old tried & tested item as well to provide back up.
Probably the most important of all! Build a relationship with others, especially those you’ll be going with. Know the strengths & what you can learn from them as well as what you can contribute to the group knowledge & experience pool. One of our group likes to stay close to camp, even if the rest of us goes off on a trail. This is not a negative thing as he becomes the camp watchdog, and this alone is worth it’s weight as we don’t need to worry about camp being unattended while we’re away.
Making the differences in individuals work together is mostly a question of putting those personal preferences to work for the common good, without making any one member feel “tasked” with something they’d prefer not to do.
Share with the group & learn to work together constructively.
Welcome new members to the group & you will build additional skills as long as the new member isn’t treated like someone ignorant. He may not be aware of hoe YOU do things, but he frequently has fresh perspectives & new skills that the group can benefit from due to a wider knowledge base. We had a new member join us this year & he was a little concerned that he’d be the FNG. He wasn’t, he brought equipment & knowledge that the rest of us gained from & he got back our experience in return. We all benefited from the fresh input.
Each of us missed some detail or other, we were able to pool equipment & resources to mitigate the shortfalls. Without that team effort we’d have all have had a much less rewarding experience.

[Bigger_Is_Better]

BK,
I wasn't there for all of the fire starting. I've got a few accelerants that people generally wouldn't know about. Both of these I learned working construction sites where we burned all of the scrap wood and materials. The first is construction adhesive. While this is still wet it is very flammable. The other is PVC pipe glue. This stuff will blow up if you throw the sealed can in the fire. Very little of it will burn very hot and for long enough to start a fire. I actually thought about bringing some, but didn't get around to it.

Aaron

[Firestarter]

This year was pretty informative I'll agree. I was able to brush up and learn more on rappeling technique thanks to brownknees, and learned some tricks about the alcohol stove set up as well. I did not realize that the yellow bottles of HEET were virtually the same as denatured alcohol. I think that we also discovered that the HEET burned cleaner and left much less soot on the bottoms of our mess tins.

These alcohol stoves are a must! They are inexpensive (see C-Ya's post in the gunner pool thread), light, and run with an extremely low light/smoke signature, and are virtually silent. The boil of the water is louder!

The radio set up that C-ya had was very interesting! I'm interested in learning more about it in the future! He also gave me one of the small trioxane stoves. These also are very light and would make a nice addition to BOB or other survival style kit. Again silent with a very low light/smoke signature.

One other note of personal interest was SmokeEater2's knowledge of beekeeping. I have been interested in purchasing a single hive and giving it a try myself. Honey is one of those perfect foods. It never goes bad and also has antiseptic properties. His knowledge of honeybee behavior was eye opening. I never realized exactly how complex these small social creatures were until talking with him.

It was certainly good to see old friends and also form new friendsips. The biggest takeaway for me personally is the comradery and cooperation that these events inspire, even though we may only meet once a year.

Overall an excellent trip! I'm looking forward to next year already!

[brownknees]

I can't see a practical way for me to keep bees, but you're right about the information. I never gueaased that you could, or would need to, do "updates" to hive queens. Even less wolud I have guessed at the methods & techniques involved.

I think that this is the greatest strength of these trips. We get information where we didn't even think about the questions, much less the answers. The varying backgrounds & experiences definately add up to a view that is deep, as well as wide.

[Aifwikir]

Next year I plan on teaching everyone how to hunt with dynomite!

Bury the sticks (4 each) just under the surface dirt on a game trail. Wait for the deer (hog, squirrel, Fugwit) to walk over them. Set them off!
It guts it, skins it, cooks it and it's ready to eat when it hits the ground!

No more messy cleaning and cutting, just grab a handful and start gnawing away.

I love the out doors!


Aif

[kalliste]

My thoughts on the camouflage issue.

Remember that if you're facing people who are actively looking for camouflaged humans it will be somewhat different. Soldiers spend time on exercises against other soldiers wearing camouflage so they do know what to look for and how to spot soldiers laying up.

That said, you don't need to paint your face totally - just break up the outline a bit with a few streaks of dark mark-up, same for hands.

Dark black stuff can be quite distinctive in the woods - real blacks are rare in a natural setting. Black combat boots are often the thing that you can see leading your eye to the rest. I really don't understand why the military is so into black for boots, brown is so obviously a much better colour.

In the dark, especially in woods, with unaided vision chances are you may not see somebody lying on the ground in dark clothing until you step on them, unless it's a very clear night and/or the moon is very bright.

The eye picks up movement pretty good - especially at night, so staying still when you're under observation or moving very, very, slowly is the way. (Freeze in place if a flare lights up.)

I only ever used 1st Gen NV kit and although it was impressive for its day, you really need people to move to see them. Of course, modern military and police kit is considerably improved. Thermal imaging sights are extremely effective. They used to be inordinately heavy and noisy but the modern versions are just getting better and better. Camouflaging your heat signature is quite a challenge. You can rent thermal imaging cameras nowadays, perhaps you should try one out next time you're out.

OPFOR would be using thermal imaging cameras and NV equipment, wouldn't you say?

Fact is, most people walk around with their heads up their arses. Quality soldiers will be a lot more alert and observant than the average joe ambling through the woods. For sure facing Brit Paratroopers on exercise scared the crap out of me.

[brownknees]

Some good input there.
I agree about the boots, mine are brown leather/camo fabric.
Also I agree about the movment part of your comments. We were both sitting very still, hoping some tree rodents would pop up to be popped off.

You mention the difference betweek "plain ol' folks" & professional soldiers, and again, I agree 100%. There is no way we were goning to be missed by a trained searcher, actively looking for us. My observation was basically to point out 2 things. Firstly as you say "Joe" is massively unobservant, secondly the "dated" nature of woodland seems very adequate for avoiding "Joe".

The thought here was about the need, if any, for the more exotic camo setups currently so popular.

As you remark there is so much more to be concerned with if actively avoiding well equipped, trained professionals.

[kalliste]

Soldiers in my time were trained to add local vegetation to their clothing and equipment to break up their outline and blend in with vegetation, if necessary re-doing it as you move over patches of ground with different vegetation. We carried big rubber bands, and e.g. strips/circles cut from inner tubes, to be able to attach stuff to our equipment and clothing. Some people sewed tabs to their combat jacket to aid attaching material. Doing this in the field can be extremely time-consuming, of course, so it depends on the tactical situation as to how far you take this. Snipers are extremely anal about it, hence the gillie suit fetish.

The different patterns of camouflage. I did look into this quite a bit at one time. There has been an awful lot of research on it none of which, as far as I can see, has been conclusive as to what might be the one true way. Interestingly, in WW2 many American units stopped using camouflage outfits in Europe because they were too often mistaken for SS troops by friendly forces. (Not just a problem with troops, aircraft ended up being painted with highly visible markings in preference to subdued colours during and after D Day.)

The modern digital pattern camou used by US Forces is meant to be the optimal general purpose compromise. Of course there's no such thing. But as a base for applying local materials to beef up the camouflage maybe it is good. The other extreme is the realtree patterns that exactly match the vegetation you're hunting in. That is doubtless extremely effective if you know where you're going to be at all times but is, of course, limiting as well. Interestingly, colours like bright orange can work extremely well in some circumstances when used to help break up outlines.

The answer, I'm sure, is to get out in the field and try out stuff given the equipment and materials available to you. Improvise, adapt, overcome, as they say. The British DPM pattern has been around a long time but is surprisingly effective in temperate woodland.

[cpd109]

Good info on the cotton balls & vaseline. I'm going to look into that soon since I have plans to walk out if need be. I also have an alcohol stove from a boat I used to have. I chose an alcohol stove because on a boat, you can put out a fuel fire with water. However, it is hard to see the flame. Anyway, china mart won't sell but a quart of alcohol at a time, citing the Dept of Justice rules. I found it at Lowe's and Home Depot by the gallon though, and cheaper. China mart- go figure.
Thanks for the info!

[C-ya]

BK,

Nice summary. I really enjoyed being part of it this year, and look forward to becoming a true "irregular".

I learned quite a bit about my own gear, which is the point of this exercise. Excursion. Expedition. Nah, vacation!! I learned what of my kit worked, how it worked and how it didn't. BTW, my shower works fine! Of course, I bought it 6 or 7 years ago. I'm looking forward to packing a proper BOB based on your experiences. Thanks for doing the dirty work and letting me mooch. Firestarter, great tips on starting fires. I'll be adding the vaseline/cotton combo to my gear.

Firestarter cooked a great tenderloin before I got there, but they managed to save a couple of pieces for me. Talk about eating right! Man!! The venison tenderloin, backstrap, brats and summer sausage I brought was enjoyed by all. Glad to share, guys! I also brought a few MRE's from a box dated as received by me 9-02 and they were still great. Stopped me up with regularity, as expected. Which isn't a bad thing, when you have a self-composting toilet that reeks just walking up to it. Think of a Porta Potty that ain't "porta" with a tank about 3 times as big.

BK and Firestarter, the ham radio hobby is great, both as a hobby and a means of SHTF comms. As is often said, "When all else fails, there's ham radio." The Technician license (the first level) is very easy to get. Morse code is no longer a requirement, but certainly suggested. There are radios for every budget, both the handheld short-range stuff and the 'round the world HF gear. Antenna's (antennae?) can be as simple or as complex as you like. When you guys (or anyone else) get ready to pursue it further, I can provide a few pointers like websites to study and research gear.

Again, a great time with a great group of guys. As BK stated, learn your kit, learn yourself and learn your potential partners. These yearly camp outs are a great excuse to have fun while learning some valuable info.

[brownknees]

Stopped me up with regularity, as expected. Which isn't a bad thing, when you have a self-composting toilet that reeks just walking up to it.

See.....You really are an "Irregular", it's the MRE's