hhi i am making a list of tips and essential for fieldcraft and thought it would be a good idea to ask on here . so any tips,techniques or essentials no matter how obscure would be really helpful thanks
: )
If I had to offer just one tip, it would be:
Wear clothes appropriate to the weather. Nothing saps morale more than being physically uncomfortable (not to memtion the risk of heat and cold injuries).
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Get yourself a copy of:
Army Code No. 71966 - Cadet Training Fieldcraft and Tactics.
It will tell you all you need to know and is available on Sharepoint.
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Thereās loads of TopTips here tooā¦
Without branching too much into the syllabus stuff and the manual (which wouldnāt count as ātipsā anyway and should only be delivered by FCIs), my abbreviated tips are:
- If you pack it you have to carry it - do you really need it?
- e.g. you donāt need a full KFS, 2l water bottle, pillow, teddy, spare spam, full sized toothbrush/toothpaste/whatever, baking tray, trangia, jetboil, umbrella, GPS, full size mag lite from 1995, ghillie suit, or that 10" machete you secretly got from your cousin
- On the topic of knives, the most you will likely need to cut is some string, so stick with a small one - anything improper WILL be confiscated.
- You donāt need that can of fancy deodorant either - you will sweat, so will everyone else, and itās a good thing. Washing is enough.
- Learn - and use - the layer system
- Donāt break the wet/dry routine
- Waterproof bag everything absorbent or water-damageable, then waterproof bag that.
- When it comes to putting on wet kit or warm kit, any fool can be uncomfortable - if you need it, get it on
- Waterproof = windproof, windproof = warm
Thatās all quality of life stuff, but the most important I have is ālisten to your instructors and put 100% genuine effort into applying what they tell youā. You will learn more and enjoy it more as you will sleep better, cam better, sneak betterā¦ etc.
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Or those of us with the SA(M)07 qualification.
Pffft, embrace full officer mode. No umbrella. Pah.
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Not āorā. Your attempted and irrelevant brag is wrong. Your M Qual doesnāt matter here.
Check the wording in ACFTI 001 and then donāt come back to this thread unless itās with some ātips, techniques, or essential [pieces of knowledge]ā.
Useful if you canāt remember the password though
Iāve deleted the off topic posts. Keep it on topic and civil and if you canāt, youāll be suspended or banned.
Damm.
Feel like I have missed out thereā¦
Oh wait. Nope.
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Thanks for all the replies it was for some new recruits as part of a booklet we are making for for them 
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Let me add one then:
Smocks are not waterproof
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Hereās a few:
- pack everything in a waterproof bag, and put a bag liner (a heavy duty black sack will do fine) in your daysack
- it is fine to use civvie base layers & waterproofs if you donāt have issued/military kit
- if you are going to pack just one ācomfortā item, make it a spare pair of socks
And believe it or not, applying moisturiser at the start of the day will make it much easier to wash off cam cream later!
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Itās not just fine, but Iād go as far as recommending it! If youāre going to be out during any of the cold months getting a nice thermal base layer to put under uniform is a game changer!
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Indeed, you donāt need to buy new stuff, use what you have. The base layers from places like Sports Direct and Mountain Warehouse are perfectly fine for our purposes and can be used for sports and AT too. Just go for black not a bright colour.
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The amount of times Iāve been on a training day/exerciseā¦
āIāve not brought waterproofs/warm layer/berganā¦as they arenāt military coloured.ā
itās an exercise, not a formal paradeā¦ Get a warm layer onā¦
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The best way to remove cam cream is soap and hot water. Not wet wipes.
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Very dissapointed no one has said āAllyness saves lives.ā
Key things with fieldcraft are:
Donāt be lazy, get up, get your kit sorted and yourself sorted properly.
Always waterproof everything.
Look after your feet.
You need more oil on your weapon system than you think you do.
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My top tip: NEVER go full Gary.
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