Day #1 went pretty well and here’s day #2. Today, two lucky readers will receive High Loft Jackets from WT Tactical.
Designed to be worn over body armor, the High Loft Jacket provides ultimate warmth, featuring 6 oz PrimaLoft® Sport synthetic insulation. The shell is made of 70 denier textured nylon, with 330d Cordura® reinforced abrasion resistant panels on the elbows. The two hand warmer pockets are lined with 2 oz quilted PrimaLoft®, keeping your hands safe from frostbite. Two interior mesh pockets provide storage and a place for wet goods to dry out. An adjustable shock cord hem blocks the wind, and adjuster clips are located in the hand warmer pockets to make cinching the wind out even easier. A fully adjustable helmet compatible hood with laminated brim keeps the head warm and protected. A separate collar keeps the neck nice and warm even when the hood is down. The wrist cuffs are adjustable with Velcro® wrist stays and half elastic, allowing the wearer to put a gloved hand in and out.
Don’t forget, today’s winners as well as every other winner, will receive a 2012 Tac Girls Calendar. (Just the calendar, not any of the girls)
To Enter
In the comment section of THIS post here on SSD tell us about the worst weather you’ve ever encountered. In a few hours we’ll close the comments section and randomly select a winner. Remember to use a valid email address so we can inform you in case you win. One entry per email address.
Details at soldiersystems.net/the-12-days-of-tactical-christmas.
Tags: Wild Things, WT Tactical
Working patrol during Isabel in 03 in VA good times
I would have to say the worse weather I ever experienced was in January of 2003 at Ft. Drum, over the course of a week we had weapons qual on a pop up range in 10 below temps with snow coming down such that the 300 meter targets were ghosts if seen at all. Then the temp dropped and most were confined to the barracks due to how cold it was, but see how I had to attend some briefings that I missed earlier, I had to go out in it, brutal.
I grew up in Western NY so it seemed like every year there was a week or so where you didn’t want to do anything but crank the heat and stay inside, but that particular week up in Drum was the worse.
Mine isn’t all that cool or military-esque at all but it would have to be Black Friday 2008. I was one of the tards waiting in line at Best Buy starting at 8pm day before. Thought I was dressed up enough for it but much to my surprise, I wasn’t. I didn’t really know how to layer myself. I just thought, big jackets and some sweats, and I’m good. I wasn’t good at all for the 10 hours staying in line for a $80 item. Not worth it lol.
The worst weather I have ever experienced was in April 2010 during the intense rain that flooded Massachusetts. I was in the Guard and we had to go out and rescue people. The rain and water was so bad that most roads were washed out, and some people were even trapped in their cars after bridges has collapsed. We worked around the clock for several days to rescue these trapped people in the torrential rain.
The worst I dealt with was during a field exercise. It rained non-stop for 2 days and it was a cold weekend in October. Spent the entire time soaked because our wet weather gear was worthless with the amount of rain.
The worst weather i have encountered was in Norway. We had headed over there for winter warfare training and were going through the drills as normal when within the space of a few hours a heavy storm came in and the temperature dropped to -49. Even the Norweign training staff with us had a struggle and in the end we had to dig in and wait out the storm.
It took us another 2 hours to establish radio contact as the radio had all but frozen.
The worst weather I’ve seen was when I moved to Nebraska after I got out, there were five blizzards In a row dumping three feet of snow.
Worst weather ever was driving from Incline Village, NV to Reno down Mt Rose Highway about 7 or 8 years ago. It was snowing like crazy with high winds. The road was mostly invisible and you couldn’t see more than ten feet or so in front of the vehicle. Snow was blowing sideways the wind was so bad. I learned to drive in Tahoe in the middle of winter but that was a bad storm and bad drive.
Me and a buddy of mine with up a mountain in his Toyota on a quest to retrieve a hornets nest in the middle of winter at one point the truck was pushin about two feet of snow and we slid off the trail into deeper snow. and it continued to snow till we were able to get out and we had to build a fire in three feet of snow.
For me it has to be Kosovo, doing OP’s up in the mountains. A week up there in old abandoned farm houses in february. It was so cold that our MRE’s wouldn’t heat and all the water was frozen. After that, the 120+ degrees we encountered in Iraq wasn’t too bad. I’d rather be hot than cold any day of the week!
In December 2010 we had a six day leadership combat training in the heart of Finland. Temperature was around -25 degrees Celsius, which equals -13 Fahrenheit. Having more than a feet of snow, sleeping in tent, and digging mines and combat positions in freezed ground was closest to hell I’ve ever been, but sure made me stronger.
Some of the worst weather I’ve experienced was also one of the best times of my life. Hiking the Kepler Track in New Zealand in their fall, cold, cold torrential rain and driving wind. Hiking among the clouds, it wasn’t the absolute worst weather, but it was consistently wet and to the bone cold. The hiking built up quite a bit of heat so I hiked in an Arcteryx shell and Icebreaker T-shirt and managed to stay comfortable while on the move. Arriving at the hut well after dark was an alien experience due to hiking in the fog and cloud which took away all forms of reference, until the pinprick of light signaled our destination.
When I was a police officer in Michigan, before moving to Phoenix, I used to have to work wrecks in the worst conditions imaginable. Negative temps, black ice, lake effect snow and ridiculous wind all made it miserable. Now I work in Phoenix and 115 is just fine by me.
Dec 2001, flying in and around the mountains of Afghanistan. Open cabin doors and gunner’s windows due to threat. Viciously cold with the wind chill of flying at speed, with rotor wash. 10 hour sortie to find a Marine CH-53 crash site. Sucked.
Wet, cold, CMTC in Grafenwoehr, Germany. Ugg!! One month of Gunnery on one side of town, then home for a couple days then back to Graf for a month of being in the box. So freakin’ cold that even the Bradley’s couldn’t break the ice.
I would have to say the coldest weather I’ve been in is -67f in Ft. Wainwright, Alaska. The joke there is it all feels the same after -20( and it is pretty true).
But the worst weather I was in during the last couple of years was Jan. or Feb. of 2009 at Ft. Riley. The weather was supposed to be cold and possible rain later that day and it happened to be our weekly road march day for pt. It was around freezing and we started out on our usual 6-8 mile course along some tank trails. As we left the drizzle started and as we went along it turned into rain and eventually into sleet. I was normally allowed to set the pace and as the weather got worse I had a layer of ice building on my Oakley eye-pro and was facing down just to see the little bit of road my headlamp gave off. I continuously looked for the PSG to see when we would turn back. It took a while but eventually he had enough of that and turned us around and the temp dropped and the sleet was off and on the whole way back. Once we got to the company HQ we went inside to change and the only thing the commander was concerned with was why we were back early. I’m so glad I PCS’d from there finally.
-65 degrees arctic survival school in alaska.
Outer Space
Worst weather I’ve encountered was -2 degrees and it was pouring. We were climbing to the summit of Mt. Pulag here in the Philippines and the rain made the going tough and slippery. Climbing in the dark was a bitch but eventually we made it to our basecamp and managed the summit on the next day. It was wet, cold, and miserable all the way up and all the way down.
The worst weather I was in was not so bad because it was -10 F but for the fact that I was more or less ill-prepared. In all actuality the temp was probably just below freezing but…I had to cross a waist deep river and wade to the other side. I sorta almost lost my balance as the water was somewhat swift and I ended up soaking half of my torso and almost got me poor rifle wet!
Thankfully I didn’t actually go under as I was so numb imagining the rest of my body being numb…was not a pretty thought. After getting to the other side in once piece and frozen it wasn’t long before my legs warmed back up and then I was off to finish the rest of the hike!
Yeah I sorta warmed up some as I had to climb a really steep hill side, but all in all my hands never warmed up as my cloths kept dripping on them. That night it took a few hours to mostly dry off by the fire but I was still sort of damp.
I however made the mistake of thinking my bag would keep me warm in a standalone setup. IT DID NOT keep me warm and I woke up freezing. Well I was freezing after I moved my legs which were numb because I slid down hill onto a rock…ohh yes that rock so comfortably nestled in the small of my back.
As I lay there all night long freezing I was woken up to elk barking which I thought was the wolf pack from the night before that my buddy spooked.
All in all though, I could go on but lets just say it was very cold and a learning experience on may levels.
My worst weather experience was on Mt. Katahdin, the northern terminus of the Appalachain Trail in Baxter State Park, Maine. I had parked about 14 miles off the mountian and I hiked to the base (8 miles in) only to be told there were no camp spots available and backwoods camping was unauthorized. I was sent back the way I came to a previous site that had a thru-hiker shelter. When I went to register for the shelter I was told I had parked my car on the wrong side of the river to be considered a thru-hiker and was sent back to the border of the state park to camp outside the boundaries.
My total hike that day was 14 miles, with a net distance from my car a mere 2 miles. Too tired to set up a tent I just laid out in my bag at 8 pm only to awake soaking wet and colder than hell with a torrential downpour at 2 am. I pitched the tent thinking to wait out the rain and sat there wet and cold for 18 hours before giving up and going back to the car.
Last year in North Dakota we got stranded out for a few.days hunting. Unreal.
I would say without a doubt it would be Kosovo, in Dec 1999/2000! I have been to Germany, Iraq, Afganistan & Korea but nothing beats the wind at the high altitude in the cold.
While probably not the worst weather ever, the weather was only in the mid 40’s, raining, in the Shenandoah mountains… and I was out backpacking with my good buddy who I worked in Iraq with… It was rainy, cool, just that general miserable crap weather to be out in. We had brought our hammocks for camping, and learned a valuable lesson about them and the need for under hammock insulation…as we spent the night freezing our rear ends off all night. Utter, bone chilling cold, worst then we ever had on a deployment, soaking wet in anything not covered in a hard shell was soaked. What few hours we could sleep, we just tossed and turned and blew into our hands all night. We got so cold in not winter weather… I could barely fire up my jet boil for a mug of tea in the morning… we are both experienced outdoorsmen, but learned some valuable lessons that night…
During the snowstorm during October, my unit was at fort dix for FTX, and ended up walking home a mile and a half because the local bus system wasn’t working…. all while my school’s football team was getting trashed.
Worst weather for me was when I was on a Sea tug with my father up north of NY around January 1996. There was a nor’easter and it was cold and wet and the salt spray was horrible. Looking back it was like that show on crabbers in Alaskan waters. I was sick as a dog on top of having to deal with the weather when I had to help out on deck. Ugh.
Afghanistan, 2006 FOB Methar Lam, hail storm were the the temp dropped 20 degrees in a few mintues. wind blew sideways. No one had any cold weather gear were they could get to it. After getting soaked and freezing, we had to endure the 125 deg heat, which made things super muggie and sticky. strangest 30 minutes I had overseas.
Winter in Jalabad in A-stan… brr. Not sure how cold it got… but it sure sucked.
The worst weather I have ever encountered was on the top of Mamouth mountain and it went from being bright and sunny and 45 F and then all the sudden the clouds darkened, snow started falling, and then the wind, eventually we could only see a couple feet in front of us and still had to get down the mountain, deff the worst weather I had ever been in.
Thanks for the contest!
Trevor
Worst weather I’ve ever experienced was during the winter training exercises 2ID holds in Korea. We were providing overwatch during a mission and were instructed to establish a OP on a ridgeline. My spotter and I were both from warmer climates. We hated the cold and thought snow was the most miserable crock of shit ever invented. In the end we resorted to sharing a sleeping bag in the hopes of staying warmer. All you could see sticking out the front of the bag was the barrel of a rifle, a radio antenna, and a set of bino’s.
Needless to say proper radio procedure went out the window and the section sergeant was pissed because we wouldnt stop saying “It’s cold, can we come back to the truck now?” every time we did a radio check.
On a night stake out.
We found some stolen goods in a park. We were expecting the Perp was coming back later, to pick the stolen goods. So we hide with the bikes and waited, and waited.
Then the rain changed over to wet snow. After an hour we had to give up shivering.
Police Bike patrol clothing is not suitable for a stake out on a freezing night.
The worst weather I have ever encountered was a Thunder/Lighting storm while on a 22 ft. catamaran. We had lightning strike hitting the water within 10 feet of the boat. The smell of ozone was pretty heavy and those hairs on the back of your neck stayed standing up.
2nd place would have to be my first tornado – we live in Massachusetts and don’t get them that often. That was scary stuff.
Eric
Winter of ’08 gave us record snow, had several roofs collapse on base. Nearly had to apprehend a LTC for refusing to evacuate his shop.
During a coyote hunting trip to Manitoba, Canada it hit -22F. Even Satan himself was cold. I must of went through 6 pairs of handwarmers sticking them everywhere since I didn’t have enough layers. I always bring extra layers now even in the northeast here.
For me it was a scouting trip. The long weekend started out very wet. Massive flooding almost. We were trenching and doing our best to divert the flooding around the camp. Well the good news is the rain started to lighten up but the bad news was the temps started to drop. The last morning we woke up with snow on the ground and very cold. Was never so happy to be ending a camping trip.
The worst weather I was exposed to was a backpacking trip through the Kern River on the edge of spring. There was still snow on the ground and the road had not been cleared. So we had to start further down the mountain at another trailhead that the one we originally intended to start from. It also happened to be a motorcycle trail, not a hiking trail so there were no switch backs. The trail was just straight up and straight down. It was below freezing every night and I had left my tent to save weight. I was in a hammock so I had freezing air over and under me every night. Every morning, I had to break the ice off my sleeping bag just so I could zip out. It was awesome.
Worst weather I have been in has to be our trip on the Appalachian trail in February of 2008. Our group got stuck in a whiteout on one of the balds right past the Spivey Gap. Visibility got so bad we had to send a rope from the first man to the last man just to maintain accountability until we reached a lower elevation point. Got everyone down alright, but it was a hell of a descent.
Worst ever… Arctic Norway in a CH47 forced down by weather… a cold night and a shed load of snow but the next morning was totally stunning!!!
I was on a winter camp out a few years back. we got a late start up the mountain like 8pm late. It was a pretty bad blizzard but we were getting up the trail well enough. After about four hours of sweaty snow shoeing we came to what looked like the saddle we were looking for and my buddy said “ETA 10 Minutes”
Well in the nastiness and low visibility of the blizzard we missed a switch back and weren’t even close.
In the fiasco of the trees I had become dehydrated and over heated. I had unzipped my coat to cool off and started back up the mountain in the right direction. I wasn’t really paying attention to my physical condition until I realized how tired and cold I was. I had fallen behind and was becoming hypothermic, I got to the point that I was to stupid to zip up my coat and just wanted to set down and rest for a while. I realized what a bad place I was in and forced myself to keep going.
My buddy’s eventually found me and luckily we were not far from the Yurt and they got me warmed up and I was OK.
When you get so cold that you dont feel cold anymore its good to have friends to bail you out.
The hurricanes that came through northeastern US this past summer was some of the worst weather I’ve ever delt with. Flash flooding, hazmat calls due to flooded out facilities, and power outages left us pilled up with back-to-back incidets and may without power for quite some time.
On patrol with a RG31 rollover in -50C weather. Luckily it was just in training and no one was injured but it still sucked.
Last day at COB Speicher before we handed it over. Sandstorm moves in at 1300 and it’s suddenly nighttime. No worries apparently,MEDEVAC still green so we loaded up and went to JBB in a sandstorm. I always hated my ACU IOTV, so naturally I was thrilled when it became Coyote brown over the course of the next 8 hours (sure did take that long).
Blizzard in Illinois, 1984. Couldn’t get out the back door because the snowdrifts covered the back of the house.
Mine was on a EP security detail in New Mexico. One second it’s 80 with not a cloud in the the sky, and the next we were in a blinding sand storm. Then to top it all off soon as the sun went down the temp dropped and it snowed a good 4 feet. We had to run counter ambush drills the following day in snow and ice.
Worst weather I’ve seen was returning to Chicago from my parent’s house in Michigan. It went from no snow on the ground to knee-high snow in what seemed like minutes while we were driving. My wife kept bugging me to stop so she could use the restroom. I told her we needed to travel just a little more (despite barely being able to see past the end of the car). When we did finally stop, we realized that no more cars were coming through. Asking around we found out they had actually closed down I-80 and we were the last car to make it through that night.
It was 1982 in Sardinia and we were doing night patrols. Skies were clear while were out. When we got back to the area we were setting up for night, the clouds started moving in and temp was dropping. We set up in our individual positions, i.e. no tents It started raining and continued all night. The temps we also steadily dropping. I didn’t get any sleep that night. It was way before all the cool gear that is out there now to keep you warm and dry. It got so bad that I thought about going over to where our tracks were set up and climbing underneath one. I got through the night but still think about it now when I’m out at night in the rain. Semper Fi!
Spring 2005 somewhere in the Pacific Ocean around Indonesia aboard the USS Essex.
It was monsoon season I believe, and the rain was so hard, if you weren’t under a cloud, you could literally see a wall of water where there is one, especially if the ship was headed right for it. That was just with low winds. Once the wind picked up, the ship is in the middle of the storm, and you are out there: a measly poncho did nothing to prevent you from getting drenched from all sides.
Being cold is one thing. Being cold, wet, and blown by colder wind is another.
Then you have to worry about the ship rocking like crazy and NOT falling overboard.
On a deer hunting trip in Northern AZ when I was younger. Snowed like crazy, truck got stock, ran out of propane for the heater….good times!
Had to be the winter of ’96 on the DMZ in Korea. Somewhere around -20F. I sure don’t miss that place!
The worst I have been in would have to be dead of winter (10f) with a wind of around 20mph and pouring rain. Was working a two car head on wreck, bunker gear was soaked, so it was even worse, was out in that weather for around 4 hours for that wreck, and around 16 hours total that day working multiple other wrecks from all the ice and rain.
Got caught camping in a thunderstorm with heavy wind and rain. Tent beside us was destroyed by lightning but thankfully was empty except for some gear.