Military Tents

Actually many special operations soldiers can buy any civilian shelters they want.

I think THAT is the question: What shelters do SOF operators usually buy on the civilian market for long range patrols? I'd venture that tarps may be the most common shelter.

I guess I am curious why they use such heavy tents when their are so many lightweight versions out there. The only thing I can think of is most tents are made in asia and the military only buys goods made in the usa.

I do not know in the present case, but more generally there is sometimes a good reason for military gear to be heavy-duty (and therefore heavier).

* Sometimes the gear is being used by someone who may not care about being very careful of it. Unfortunate, but that is just being realistic.

* Sometimes the situation is, let's say, a bit urgent and there may be more important things on one's mind than being careful of his gear. For example(not a tent), if you think I gave any thought at all to any of my gear when I had to dive into three different holes on the way to supper one night, then think again. Pure instinctive reaction — I did not even consciously think about which hole to dive into, much less my gear or whether I would get scratched (I did).

— Bob

The 4 man cold weather tent "used to be" a 12 osy canvas duck cloth, with about 3.5-4" high walls and a cone-shaped top that pitched with a single center pole. (It essentially looked like a circus tent.) The top was lowered at night to reduce the area that needed to be heated. These tents are probably what matches the 21 lb weight spec you are seeing – but since they were carried by truck, it didn't matter.

The old "man-carryable" tent was a "shelter half" with 2 16" pole sections. Essentially it was half of an A-frame tarp, where the ridge line buttoned to another one to make a whole. It was a lighter 8osy canvas, and only weighed ~ 2 pound.

The "artic gear" tent was a 140 denier nylon 8 pole tunnel/dome type of thing like you see on all the Northface "attacking Denali" advertising.

The "jungle" tent was the jungle hammock. I think they are still sold.

First of all, most procurement of military tents happens on a "lowest bidder" basis. So, the vendors don't have to make a perfectly good tent, they simply have to make tents that perfectly comply to some specification written by some guy who really doesn't have to carry the thing.

An example (from the old days) is the army's canvas shelter half. What if you have nine troops in your squad? Eight of them will share halves. What will the ninth one use?

Most military tents are of the type that can be rained on and shot at, rolled up wet, and then stored until needed again. So, they don't get the best of care as compared to an individual civilian who has to buy a tent with his own money and repair it or replace it when there is a problem.

–B.G.–

The tents used by military are not for just hiking around with. Most often tents are set up for an extended period to act as home, such as at a forward operating base. When in situations where a tent would be nice that luxury is just not afforded. Most of the time you find yourself sleeping where ever it is safe to do so when it is safe to do so. You may get the luxury of using a poncho and poncho liner as a sleeping bag but even this isn't that common, usually you just lay down and try and close your eyes and let your body rest for an hour or so.

"and the military only buys goods made in the usa"

Wellllll, not exactly/not always……

I am sure they use bivi bags alot too… I was just trying to make sense of it all but I guess thats hard to do when the people that run the military don't make much sense.

The Eureka! TCOP and ICS2000 can be pitched in fly only configuration, cutting the carry weight if you needed to. I also believe the Catoma Stealth tents can also be pitched in this way.

Rumour has it that Dick Cheney has recently purchased a sewing machine and is considering a cottage industry set up.

The CDN Military uses Integral Designs MK tents and bivvies.

> I guess I am curious why they use such heavy tents when
> their are so many lightweight versions out there.

My shelter in Nam was pretty light — when on patrol my poncho was my shelter. It never occurred to me to see whether the Army had a tent to take "backpacking".

— Bob

i know that some tents are being made by Orc. industries, recenty w.l. gore
had displayed a prototype single wall dome tent, specifically desinged for military
use. v.