Recently, my squadron have been doing patrol senarios in the forrest/woods on site and its been impossible to see barriers and steps.
Though our Sergeants say that no light at all is better, myself and other cadets still cant adapt to the darkness, so I was wondering if there is a type of light (colour) that can provide suitable ground lighting, yet isnt obvious to an enemy patrol.
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Red luma chemlights (the break/bend type) but masked with either bodge-tape or gaffa tape.
So that there’s only a thin red illuminating line of light.
Can mark obstacles so that friendly forces are able to see them, but OPFOR cannot.
You can also fabricate your own tactical lumasticks light shader from cigar tubes, or empty recycled whiteboard marker. Twist for more brightness (these used to commercially available - not seen them for years EDIT see below)
Also try experimenting with UV marker lights. They can also be shaded, so that the enemy will have difficulty seeing them, but you can use cheap NVGs for your lead troops
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Darkroom lights might work - though even then I struggle to see when I’m in the darkroom!
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You could always use the “night vision” tactic. Hold one eye shut and covered in a pitch black room for 5 minutes, then cover that eye and go outside for the same amount of time (5 mins) you will have both night and light vision. So you can make the best of both situations, as long as no direct berms are in your eye your night vision will work.
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Thanks for the suggestions/help!
No. The basic issue here is simple - the same light that works for your eyes will also work for the enemy. Worse than that, because the light has to travel from you, bounce off the object and then travel back, whereas it travels directly to an observer from your torch, it’ll be four times brighter for someone who is hiding at a given distance than the illumination that it’ll give you at the same distance.
The light will also effectively make the shadows darker from your perspective, so it will limit your capability even further.
What you really need to do is look in to preserving your own night vision; eg only using red lights during the planning phase so that you’re already adjusted when you go outside.
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Warning warning. Extreme risk to life activity detected!
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When I was a cadet we used to do some fantastic exercises in the Forest Of Dean which includes nighttime river crossings and abseils - hate to think how much paperwork that would require now.
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You make a brilliant point there. It makes more sense than what my Sergeants said. Thank you!
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Thank you very much.