I'm going to record here the lessons I'm learning about my AO through various patrols that I'm doing in all manner of weather and conditions to become very familiar with my immediate surroundings.
Rural Living Perimeter Patrols (RECCE) is a crucial skill to have in SHTF and this is me "doing the things" that are needed to become proficient.
I haven't taken patrolling seriously since I was a Grunt in the 1980's for Uncle Sugar, and in all reality, I think I take it a lot more serious now to tell the truth.
02.13.23
Rain / Hail / 44F - 1 mile round trip
Slow and steady, with lots of listening stops.
CONS:
My tracking skills suck!
I started off with a wicking shirt, fleece jacket, OCP Smock. BIG MISTAKE! Way too warm after 1000 yards, took fleece off and stuffed it in a garbage bag kept in the smock for a debris bed then placed under a fallen tree stump. I lost it!Need to mark deer trails around property.
Because that's how anyone will approach, the tangle foot is horrible and going cross country would be like running through barbwire.
Bring a small pack always.
To allow stowing gear layers when not needed, and more water.
Water goes fast.
Bring twice of what you think you need even on cold days. I had 1 pint and drank it sparingly, but after that...? Will be using a camelback in a small assault pack in future.
My British Smock has a wire that goes through the hood, or at least it DID! It's getting replaced with 550 cord soon, it causes a "hard collar" that you don't notice until you try slinging your rifle on and off a few times and it hangs up.
Velcro is SUPER LOUD no matter how smooth you think you are being. Will be working on that on gear in future. If it's something you get into and out of (water for example) NO Velcro!
MUZZLE COVER... Get one! Even though I was very observant to keep the muzzle clean, it's a lot of wasted energy that can be solved with a good ole shoot off muzzle cover or 100mph tape.
Placement of speed reload was such that the scope rubbed and clanked on it during movement. Stopped and re-positioned so it was away from rifle scope and there is a flap over the mags near the scope to put cloth between the two hard surfaces. Flap covers are the Bomb!
Only negative I have on the 1pint "pilots flask" I was using, is that the cap is not tethered. Not thinking, I dropped the lid on the ground. Will be adding a dummy cord to it.
PROS:
Muck boots are the bomb in Winter and for tangle foot vines.
Hard knee pads... always!
Flip up scope cover is the bomb in rain and doesn't take but a second to open. It's staying.
1-10X LPVO is worth it. Being able to zoom in on (past 4x) buildings to see if anyone was there as I approached was nicer than I thought.
The ground cover hides your boot prints very well this time of year, only on the deer trails could I see my prints.
I'm quieter than I thought. Saw a Doe and little one 100 yards out before they saw me or heard me. Those quick ear movements really catch your eyes. Think about that when you move your head to scan.
Major tangle foot vines everywhere, almost had to cut way out at one point.
Speed reload hitting scope.
Repositioning of speed mag.
02.26.23
Rain / Sunny / 44F - 1 mile round trip
Today I decided to see how someone coming off the nearby Freeway might follow easy game trails into the woods behind my property. Wanting to see what natural approaches exist.
Kit was British OCP Survival Smock, Bastion Gear Chest Pack and a TT Assault pack with water.
Facing freeway.
Viewing from freeway side.
Following the trails from the freeway, I was able to walk down to my house without my wife hearing or seeing me, even though she knew where I was coming from and was looking in my direction as I approached, she did not notice me until I broke cover 30M from her.
I did ID one good OP/LP that covers 2/3 corners of the property as well as an Eastern approach that was recently clear cut. With (2) OP/LPs I can cover the property pretty well.
Next time I plan to ID funnel areas for trip wire noise makers to alert the OP/LPs of someone's approach when we enter WROL conditions.
PROS:
Silent movement gets better on each patrol.
While it was cold, I tried out GI Wool inserts with chemical rubber gloves over top. Works great to keep hands warm and dry. Might try large leather overs for protecting the rubber gloves.
Having a fixed blade handy on the Bastion Gear Chest Pack proved it's worth when I tried to "cross county" uphill through blackberry bushes.
Wore the CP and a small assault pack with 3ltr water. Makes a good neutral balance and the water was welcomed, a little more strenuous trip this time.
Ran scanner while moving and found that the earpiece is just loud enough to hear when tucked in my jacket and volume at full blast. Walking with it in the ear messes with the natural hearing.
CONS:
Tried to "cross country" where I should not have. I will not try that again. It came to a crawl of two paces, cut a hole, two steps, etc. etc. Had to use walking sticks to make it up the hill.
Went to put on my gaiters and found one of the zippers broken. Wore one to see the difference and I came back with one dry leg, one soaking wet. Ordered a better set immediately. OG Outdoor Gaiters
While bushwhacking with the knife it flew out of my hand and luckily was only at my feet and not thrown down the hill I had made 20ft of progress on at the time. I would have been mighty upset if I had to go back down after it. Added a tether to it.
03.10.23
45F Light Rain - 1.8 miles round trip, 1mph
Decided to take a trip over the hill behind my property and set My X-Band Repeater Setup at the crest to relay comms to base. Worked well, only had it at 8ft in the tree. The other reason for the trip besides familiarization of my AO, was to see how my camo and recent rifle paint job blends in.
The cleaning kit was stuck in the case while traveling, the radio was clanking with each step, something I should have caught with a gear check before stepping off, but I didn't do one.
Remember to jump up and down listening for noise.
Can you see the antenna?
CAMO CHECK
Rifle only in this pic... find it?
Artistic moment when your camera falls over as it's timing down.
PROS:
I think the camo is working and the paint job on the rifle will suffice.
The new gaiters from OTTE worked perfectly as was expected.
Found the other side of the mountain has newer planted trees and because they are so close there is no undergrowth to mess with, just nice smooth mossy paths.
Radio repeater worked as expected, there would be no comms without it.
The more "patrols" I make the better I am at knowing where I will come out if I head a certain direction. I'm starting to see the deer trails and know which go where. Even spotted my old boot prints from last time.
Will be making some felt slippers in future to hide prints.
Pack Contents:
3ltr bladder w/ mini-sawyer setup to filter/fill into bladder, NBC attachment
Poncho with casualty blanked sewn in for thermal cover, 25ft ridge line.
My X-Band Repeater Setup
Cleaning kit
MRE
x3 Spare AR mags
Bump Cap w/ PVS14 in Faraday Bag attached to outside
Chest harness is dialed in.
Map, tools, compass.
Multi-tool, lighter on re-tractor
x3 AR mags
1 qt canteen
HAM Handi-Talkie
x2 smoke grenades
x20 round mag of sub-sonics
Oil bottle for bolt
Roll of electrical tape
IFAK
CONS:
Sometimes walking down the side of the road is a necessary evil. I crossed out of the nice newer trees into an older area with lots of ground fall and tried to handrail the road. With as much debris and tangle foot there was, it took 3 times the amount of time to cover the same 100 yards and it sounded like a "bull in a China shop" no matter how quiet I tried to be.
Heating issues, even though it was 44F, sweating was going on. My wicking layer was doing well and I was not beyond comfort, but my glasses were steaming from time to time. I need to find a good coating to prevent this.
Rain on my scope objective. I removed the cap when I painted it and decided I don't like the cap while shooting, but now I'm back to the issue of rain pooling on the objective. I plan to go with a bikini cover in the future so it protects the lens but is not in my sight picture when shooting.
Forgot how much water sloshes in canteens when half empty. Not bad, but hearing it bothered me. I do like the new "old school" canteen holder on the chest rig. Very quiet and secure.
04.29.23
62F Night Patrol w/NODs - .8 miles round trip, 0.5mph
This was my first night patrol under NODs consisting of moving up hill and through underbrush (tangle foot, poison oak, blackberries) and boy did it SUCK!
I learned something new though. If you walk up to a briar-patch and stop to listen, eventually the birds sleeping in it will fly out and scare the crap out of ya! LOL
I purposefully went in my normal dark earth tone street wear to see how much it reflected under IR and had the wife take a picture before leaving as seen below.
The moon was very bright (73% illumination) so it looks like daylight in the pic, but notice how well the rifle and helmet scrim and Multicam pack work. Next time I will use my Multicam BDU for comparison.
PROS:
I learned that using this method to get into an OP/LP is not efficient enough to justify the trouble. Would be better to move at sunset and risk visual detection when the world is still settling down than at 2300 when everything BUT ME is quiet.
Learned that IR compliant clothing is a real thing, and glad I bought some BDU's to negate this.
Learned the importance of "weightless" weapon carry (letting it ride on CH in choked up position) and being able to check the safety from both sides with an ambi-safety.
Only landed on my ass once, it is steep and slick even in the day, so I was proud of it only being once actually.
Since light discipline was not critical, I played with the IR light to see if it helped to look into shadows and discovered that 90% of the time just the PVS-14 was a better contrasting image that I could "see" better than the big lite shutting the NODs down and losing contrast. The tendency to light everything up for ID was removed from me on this trip.
The IR laser works great with the NODs without using the IR Light, allows easy targeting without blowing the contrast out of the NODs like the light does. I can see were the SF Vampire will be handy IF absolutely needed, but don't see a lot of places where it would be for patrolling.
Found that the SF Pressure pad positioning kept from IR NDs happening, good thing.
Pack with Source Bladder is THE WAY over a canteen. Quiet, easy to use.
New Tactical Assault Panel (TAP) chest harness was great, but does not play well with Battle Belt, which I'm not a fan of anyway.
CONS:
Depth of Field is an issue and found myself "high steeping" over low obstacles "just in case".
Update: 05.14.2023 DIY NOD Mod - DOF Adaptor
Rifle got heavy because I was not shifting my grip, concentrating on the terrain instead. The front VDG was holding all the weight until I started holding it by the magwell and chocking up on the gun, resting it on the chest harness.
The Battle Belt SUCKED! It was creating a pinch point between it and the chest harness and sliding off my butt without suspenders. Was fine around the yard, but when you are not able to concentrate on your gear, you realize how often you must be making micro adjustments, because without them, the gear moved too much. It's GONE FOR GOOD! Will add the S.O. Tech flat IFAIK to the empty space of the CH as it's the only thing I need from the belt, I will try the pistol carry on a paddle holster with the CH next time.
Forgot my hard shell knee pads and gaiters.
Ticks got me. Will have to remember DEET and the Shemagh (wetted) as it was a bit warm, Summer is finally here. The Shemagh would have been nice when my glasses fogged over using the FLIR on my right eye with PVS-14 on left, steamed up quickly and took a while to dissipate. Adding anti-fog spray to pack might be a good idea also.