#ecwcs

Preamble Since we’re still balls deep in winter here in Washington state, I figured I’d take you all through some of our cold weather gear so you know how your ass-freezing soldier characters are faring in the winter. 

So while everyone gets standard issue junk in processing/basic training, we don’t actually get the majority of our gear until we go to CIF, or the central issue facility. The gear we have assigned varies from helmets to sleeping bags, and it’ll probably be more gear than you can fit in a dufflebag, something between sixty and one hundred pounds of gear, (or more depending on your unit) which is quite a lot on top of everything else you’ve got to carry. Finally, when we either leave the military or leave our duty station, we have to go through CIF to return all of our shit, and if we’re missing any of it or it’s effectively destroyed we have to pay for it. CIF won’t even accept our returned gear unless it’s been cleaned, and I mean Cleaned. So some of the things assigned in the “Cold Weather Gear” series will be personal gear, meaning the soldier keeps it, and some of it will be CIF, meaning it’s not rightly theirs. All of Part 1 is gear you keep; levels 4 and above are CIF.

The items listed in part one will not be CIF, but be prepared when the next post comes along. The current cold weather gear in the military is ECWCS, or Extended Cold Weather Clothing System. We’re currently on generation III. I’ll be describing most everything in this post from memory, but if you’d like to check my research you can find the technical manual for ECWCS here.  Please keep in mind that the wear of these uniforms is covered in the above TM and AR 670-1, but when I say “usually,” that’s a highly subjective term. One unit’s “usually” might be another unit’s “never.” Your chain of command will be the ones to decide what uniform is worn and when. And because everyone has to look the same, sometimes a unit might have to downgrade from one cold weather level to another if but a single soldier is lacking a piece of equipment. Meaning if one guy lost his fleece, none of the rest of us get to wear one. So go ahead and torment your soldiers by having one jackass show up to formation without a fleece so that the rest of your characters get to freeze. Or maybe not. You’re the writer. If you ever have precise situations in which you need help, remember you can always message me and ask. Level 1 The first gear we’ll discuss is the ECWCS Gen III Light Weight Undragonarments. 

Warm? Yes. Fashionable? No. Colloquially, these are also referred to as “silks,” due to their silk-like material, and “ninjas,” because you can’t normally tell if someone is wearing them under their uniform.  Also because the black version looks kinda like a ninja getup.

Hey hey let’s go kenka suru! Taisetsu na mono “protect my balls!” Also called “polypro” because polypropylene.  Ninjas are level 1 cold weather gear for a reason: you’re supposed to wear them first when it’s getting cold. They’re discreet and don’t restrict movement, although especially once you start getting sweaty they can get a little itchy. But on that note, they make it easier to recycle uniforms in the cold. We might start wearing silks around 50 degrees Fahrenheit, but it depends on the unit. Cold Weather Survival 101 tells you to keep your clothes as clean and dry as you can. That can be hard in the field because you can’t always carry spare changes of clothes with you. But because your sweat and garbage is trapped by the ninjas, when you need to get fresh clothes on, you can just take the ninjas off and your ACU jacket and trousers are in better shape than they would be.  Level 2

The next gear we’ll be discussing is the ECWCS Gen III Midweight Undragonarments

Yes; they really do feel as comfy as they look. These are also called jammies, due to their softness and resemblance to pajamas, (can you technically use them as pajamas? No. Will you? Yes.) and waffles, on account of their waffle-shaped pattern, as you can see more clearly in this close-up.

You may be asking, “Specialist, why on earth did you post a picture of an actual waffle?

Waffles are also worn under the uniform like the silks are, but unfortunately, they are not nearly as discreet or maneuverable. Waffles are thick can lead to you feeling a tad sluggish, and especially when you’re wet you can feel weighed down by them. They’re ten times itchier than the silks, and they definitely do not breathe, but they’re also ten times warmer. They’re unbelievably cozy at cold temperatures, but they’re also very fat, even when rolled tight, and can take up a lot of room. I used to use them as pillows in the field they were so fluffy and thick. Some people report that they hardly notice them on, and some flat out refuse to wear them because they feel so restricted. Generally waffles will be worn at colder temperatures than ninjas, probably when it starts getting to 40 and lower Fahrenheit.

Level 3

The next piece of clothing is the ECWCS Gen III fleece cold weather jacket. We covered this clothing in a previous post, but in case you missed it:

Unfortunately, this one ISN’T as warm as it looks.

The fleece has three velcro patches on it:  The square patch is for ranks The strip under the square is for your name The strip on the other side is for the U.S. Army.  The fleece is typically the furthest you get along with cold weather gear except in more extreme climates. We usually start pulling it out around 30 Fahrenheit assuming there’s no rain or sleet, and sometimes the fleece is expected to be sufficient even in subzero temperatures. The rest of the gear is so bulky and inconvenient we don’t like to wear it unless we have to (more specifically, our CoC doesn’t like us wearing it unless we have to).

The fleece is the subject of MUCH debate. No one can seem to figure out what the proper wear of the fleece is: over the ACU jacket or with the ACU jacket removed. I’ve been in a unit that says the former and a unit that says the latter. My husband was also in a unit that said the former.

In short, the regulations do sorta specify that the ACU jacket should be removed when wearing the fleece. You can check this yourself in the TM i linked earlier. To be specific, it recommends that it works better when layered with other ECWCS layers rather than cotton, aka ACUs. But it’s definitely one of those AR rulings that is not hard or fast and I’ve known NCOs to override the regulations in favor of common sense.  Let me be real: for level three cold weather gear, and for the level of cold weather that’s usually the highest we get to, the fleece is really not that warm. It’s definitely better than nothing, but it’s not windproof (despite claims) and it’s not waterproof (despite claims) and it’s itchy and it’s just overall not that great a jacket. Taking the ACU jacket off before putting the fleece on is supposed to keep us warmer, but I beg to differ. 

To Be Continued? Anyway, if there’s one thing you should take away from the ECWCS system in general, it’s that the whole point to the ECWCS system is that the cold weather gear works best in layers.

I’m not gonna say it.

All of these layers can and often should be worn underneath each other. The ninjas are moisture-wicking and can help with the sweatiness of the waffles which can supplement the not-very-warmness of the fleece. Plus, having multiple removable layers is also Cold Weather Survival 101. Do you think we’re even close to done? Heck no! We’ve got four more levels of warmth to address, not to mention other cold weather accessories like gaiter necks and gloves. But that’ll have to be saved until part 2, which you should hopefully see some time next week. 

Thank you for reading Cold Weather Gear Part 1! I hope you learned a little something and that your poor soldier characters won’t have to freeze TOO much.