Make a sentence out of the following words : written, Not, the, worth, on, paper, it’s.
Anyone with normal adult level of common sense and basic nav skills does not need BELA
Bivvying up? Bashas? Paracord? Bungees?
Sounds like something a military themed organisation might do. Which explains why the ACO Hogwarts don’t like or understand it.
I must have some sort of cadet forces PTSD induced amnesia because I have no recollection after 32 years of cadetting ever seeing a death or injury caused by bashas, bivvies or bungees*. Not even a case of mild hypothermia, because we always had a cold weather plan should the temp drop in winter/spring/autumn FTXs (Troop shelters, blankets, build a fire etc;)
[size=2]*Hateful things. 6x 2.5m of double knotted paracord attached permanently to corner and middle loops and a packet of 99p glow in dark tent pegs. Job jobbed.[/size]
[quote=“RearAdmiralScrinson” post=21313]What is much overlooked essential bit of kit, are bivvi poles. extendable. When you just cant find a tree or in an area with no trees! [/quote]Never needed the 2 bivvy poles I bought and don’t use them anymore, as they were no better at the job than a stick found lying around. Agree that double knotted paracord is best, and is pretty much the SOP in the field Army now. It’s easy to put up at dark o’clock and easy to take down in a hurry.
Anyway you can crudely basha up without trees or poles against a wall or hedge, or use your bergen, stood up at one end and tack down the other end. (Sometimes used as an emergency shelter for a casualty.)
[quote=“bucketofinstantsunshine” post=21711][quote=“RearAdmiralScrinson” post=21313]What is much overlooked essential bit of kit, are bivvi poles. extendable. When you just cant find a tree or in an area with no trees! [/quote]Never needed the 2 bivvy poles I bought and don’t use them anymore, as they were no better at the job than a stick found lying around. Agree that double knotted paracord is best, and is pretty much the SOP in the field Army now. It’s easy to put up at dark o’clock and easy to take down in a hurry.
Anyway you can crudely basha up without trees or poles against a wall or hedge, or use your bergen, stood up at one end and tack down the other end. (Sometimes used as an emergency shelter for a casualty.)[/quote]
All good! I do disagree with the bivvy poles, a good bivvy pole beats a stick anyday and minimises ground sign, (aye in a harbour sounds a bit silly and anal)
Having bivvied up in several places where sticks were sparce or a not even in a forest I prefer to have them and not need them then need them and not have them.
while the emergancy shelter is handy and I have used it before, its crap in bad weather!
The knotted.cord was passed onto me by a cpl in basic and commented on it coming from the jungle. Came in handy when I was there, until I got myself a hennesy.
[quote=“MattB” post=21726]Yeah, finding the perfect stick isn’t always easy - especially if you harbour up in the dark![/quote]Is there any other time you harbour up, except in the dark? (even though the Red Book JSP535 tells us we must not!)
One thing I noticed about knotty para cord: It doesnt sag when wet like bungees can do. Another reason why it’s superior to bungees.
So what’s the latest on this? Anyone know? Not heard a peep since the interim report and procedures.
Interestingly I noticed the other day our ACF detachment we share a building with have withdrawn all ponchos and now issue 2 man tents to presumably get around the same problem…
[quote=“pEp” post=21929]So what’s the latest on this? Anyone know? Not heard a peep since the interim report and procedures.
Interestingly I noticed the other day our ACF detachment we share a building with have withdrawn all ponchos and now issue 2 man tents to presumably get around the same problem…[/quote]No. We have no bivvying ban. They just have 2 man tents.
[quote=“pEp” post=21929]So what’s the latest on this? Anyone know? Not heard a peep since the interim report and procedures.
Interestingly I noticed the other day our ACF detachment we share a building with have withdrawn all ponchos and now issue 2 man tents to presumably get around the same problem…[/quote]
The ACF still use bashas. We do sometimes use tents for non tactical exercises or have them pre setup on the area and use them for 1 night if the cadets arrive too late to setup bashas, but that is the exception rather than the rule.
Use of bashas is a requirement of the APC syllabus and has not changed.
Except there kind of is…as far as I know the ban is still in place.
What is supposed to be happening is a “exercise commander” course which you must have been on to run an exercise. When this will happen I don’t know, but that’s the latest info I have.
Yes, that’s similar to the briefing I had from Sp Comd recently. Essentially the ATC incident has led them to wake up and realise they have an activity which has a risk and for which there is no training - not just for the ACO but for all cadet forces. They have been relying on ex-regulars/TA and those ‘trained’ by other CFAVs in the field, and they are massively exposed if there is an accident.
As such there is going to be a significant tightening of this area, though ACF/CCF(A) are not subject to a ban and CCF(RAF) can bivvy if they do so with their Army section and approved by the TSA.
One area they are looking at is equipment. This may be a problem for ATC. The plan is for ACF and CCF(A) to be scaled for bivvying equipment, and this and only this is to be used. This is a problem for CCFs many of which have their own perfectly good but unapproved equipment. I am lobbying for an approval process to prevent perfectly good equipment being thrown out because it is not from an approved source…
When you say “bivvying”, I assume you mean bashas? I think ACF counties are already scaled for bashas as our CAA has plenty that get issued out to cadets. I would be surprised if they aren’t as they are required equipment in the syllabus!
We have our own that we issue, but they are the current issue item as the civvy copies are always crap. We have a few old ones but they aren’t issued for use as a shelter
Interestingly I have not heard anything through the ACF of this incident which is very surprising. We received a new gas cooker policy a few months back after some non-cadet people had an accident with one!
[quote=“pEp” post=24045]Except there kind of is…as far as I know the ban is still in place.
What is supposed to be happening is a “exercise commander” course which you must have been on to run an exercise. When this will happen I don’t know, but that’s the latest info I have.[/quote]Well - there is no official paperwork stating that a ban exists.
Whether or not you could actually get approval for something outside that which was previously banned is another question entirely.
What is supposed to be happening is a “exercise commander” course which you must have been on to run an exercise. When this will happen I don’t know, but that’s the latest info I have.[/quote]
What is supposed to be happening is a “exercise commander” course which you must have been on to run an exercise. When this will happen I don’t know, but that’s the latest info I have.[/quote]
What is supposed to be happening is a “exercise commander” course which you must have been on to run an exercise. When this will happen I don’t know, but that’s the latest info I have.[/quote]
My FMS bods were told there was a new FMS policy coming out at the end of February, which was going to clear this up.
Personally I don’t get why there is this need for special rules. IF they’d applied similar rules that have applied to AT for donkey’s years, wrt qualifications and experience then FMS wouldn’t have got itself into this mess.
But it was always treated as a ‘fun activity’ carried out mostly by people with little or no real experience of it, with a desire to play soldiers, thus appealing to the inner child among many staff who like the idea of dressing up like a builder, crawling around in the mud, sleeping under a sheet and applying face paint, rather than a serious aspect of military life and training. But then maybe the ACO’s refusal to allow some realism to come into play has spawned this mindset, which created the situation for the incident last year.
Now they are trying to play catch up (with the usual urgency) after that incident and unless they get it right I can see FMS becoming almost non-existent as an activity for a good 12 months, as people try to get qualified. Just another one to add to the list. I’ve already got a lot more AT activities planned and in planning than we would ordinarly in case the FMS goes to pot.