After Breakfast - THIRD HERD Bunkroom

May 17, 2026 1:40 am
https://i.imgur.com/Jgl4pUX.jpeg

McBride lets everyone eat at a leisurely pace. As the group finishes their meals, he gets them together and moved back to their racks. As they walk in, LT Thrace is there with some papers and hands them out to each person.

McBride speaks as he walks between the bunks, "What you have in your hot little hands is a list of the gear you will need in order to be successful on the upcoming mission. What I need from each of you is to go over your current gear and mark down what you are missing. Take your time; make sure you have everything. Mark down on your sheet what you need to complete the issue. I need all sheets, with your names, returned to me by 1600 today.

https://i.imgur.com/JlhSimyt.jpeg DA3645 Fronthttps://i.imgur.com/VsIivWHt.jpeg DA3645 Backhttps://i.imgur.com/6fLyIt9t.jpegDA3645 Addendum

"Then, right after tomorrow’s breakfast, we will all bundle back up and go back down to Brigade and visit our friendly Central Issue Facility, where we will all get the balance of the equipment we need to pick up.

"You will receive some of the best gear the Army has to offer you. While at CIF, you will have the opportunity to learn a few facts about the new gear. You will also get an opportunity to draw a few extra pieces of snivel gear. Do not pass those items up.

"Our mission is a Long Range Patrol. Long. Range. That means we won’t be back in our nice warm bunks the night after we step off. We won’t be back the next night, either. Or the next night."


McBride continues to walk through the bunk area as everyone begins going through their gear. "I hope you get the idea. Once we leave the wire, we could be out for more than two weeks. So there should be no illusions about misery. However, you are in luck, because misery loves company… and you can all keep each other company!"

McBride ends that line far more upbeat than anyone thinks he should. He turns to LT Thrace. "Anything else, L.T.?"

Thrace shakes her head. "Nothing more until the initial brief tonight."

McBride nods knowingly. "Alrighty, then. Noon chow is 1130-1330. Don’t miss it. Evening chow is 1630-1830. Everybody’s sheets will be in by then. After evening chow, Major Lee Adams will come by for our initial briefing. I expect everyone to be awake and attentive for that." McBride looks around the room, checking to see if anyone is looking lost. Satisfied, he says, "that is all for now. Carry on." He turns, boots clunking on the plywood flooring and joins Thrace, as they walk to the back.
May 17, 2026 2:30 am
OOC:
hmm where are the lists? The images are not available. Are you sending them to the players in a PM?
May 17, 2026 5:30 am
OOC:
The row of pics right after he says he needs them by 1600. DA 3645 Front, Back and Addendum. Please refresh, log out and log back in, and let me know if you still can’t see them.
May 17, 2026 5:38 am
OOC:
I can see them... can I read them? That's another question.

Switched to PC, images are still to small to read. It’s like an image of a thumbnail not the image itself.

Yeah even if I save the image and open on another app.
Last edited May 17, 2026 6:03 am
May 17, 2026 6:20 am
OOC:
Hmmmm. Well, I’ll post the full-size pics then
https://i.imgur.com/GTnKihc.jpeg
DA3645 Front
https://i.imgur.com/mYVrU1R.jpeg
DA3645 Back
https://i.imgur.com/pS0UXaI.jpeg
DA3645 Addendum
May 17, 2026 1:50 pm
OOC:
Do we have to list all of this stuff on our character sheets and factor it in as weight? They might have some streamlined items in the book, but I don't know for sure what you want us to put in for book equivalents.
Jason let a long whistle out on scanning the list.

"They're well-stocked here, even more than I expected; how they have functioning Pricks is beyond my understanding. I'd have thought the EMP would've knocked them all out...no mercy for the wicked, we're going to be lugging a decent amount of gear..."
May 17, 2026 3:48 pm
Wolfe nods his agreement, "I haven't seen some of this stuff in nearly a year. This is...big. They're putting a lot of faith in this group."

It was a statement of fact, nothing more but it was hard not to feel a weight of it as well. The briefing would be the place to get the full details.
May 17, 2026 5:33 pm
"I will collapse under the weight of half of the stuff." Anastasia says putting the papers down. "This amount of things will require vehicles I thinks and vehicles require fuel."
May 17, 2026 6:05 pm
OOC:
A quick explanation as to why there seems to be so much gear. This is a combination of factors that just happened to intersect.

First, the mission you are being set up on is considered by Brigade to be high enough priority that several stops are being pulled out.
Second, a vast majority of this gear just came across on the recent mass airlift.
Third, you’ll be told a bit later that if you already have equivalent equipment, then you won’t get issued the "new stuff".


To answer the question regarding putting all this stuff on your character sheet, I would say since they are posted here, don’t worry about transferring everything. Just keep track of losses. The Squad-Level Equipment will be assigned at either CIF or during the next few days before step-off.

As for encumbrance, you may have noticed that under Squad-Level Equipment, there are 5 Ahkio Sleds. These are sleds designed to help transport heavy, bulky equipment in very snowy environments. They are toboggan-style sleds and can be pulled by one or two soldiers, although standard procedure is to have one soldier connected to each corner for control. I will have a "standard load" figure posted when the group goes to draw the equipment so folks don’t have to try to calculate encumbrance an this equipment list.
there is a bit of this that is ‘factored in".


May 17, 2026 7:07 pm
OOC:
Vest - Load Bearing is body armor?
May 17, 2026 7:25 pm
OOC:
No. It is the updated version of the Alice Load Bearing Equipment (LBE) or "web gear". I believe the Marines have a specific name, 782 or "deuce" gear.
May 17, 2026 8:04 pm
Cristea studies the papers in silence for rather longer than seems necessary, expression becoming incrementally worse with each page. Cold weather gear, arctic tents, sleds. "Long Range Patrol" it really is. He lowers the stack slightly and looks over the top of it at McBride with the expression of a man who has just realised his surgeon has just arrived at the "do one" stage of "see one, do one, teach one." "I see." He does not seem reassured. Turning another page...

"From the items listed here, it would perhaps be more efficient for me to mark the things I actually possess." Tapping the paper with a thin finger just once. "At present I appear to qualify for..." his eyes narrow slightly, "...scarf." Without looking up he adds to Anastasia - "Miss Kharchenko is correct, this quantity of equipment implies either vehicles..." He bites his lip. "...or a worrying degree of optimism."

He continues scanning the sheets. "Still...I could do with some new socks."
May 17, 2026 8:26 pm
Packratt66 says:
OOC:
No. It is the updated version of the Alice Load Bearing Equipment (LBE) or "web gear". I believe the Marines have a specific name, 782 or "deuce" gear.
OOC:
Good ole seven eight deuce

If memory serves it wasn't actually a 782 though back in 97, but an LBV 88. The corps still refers to modern FILBE as 782s because tradition.

I did not see any rules for load bearing equipment, but anything to decrease encumbrance would be good. Even though McCain can sprint with his current load, less is more.
May 17, 2026 11:54 pm
OOC:
A word of warning, the GM is an old 172nd ID vet and knows a little of artic warfare and this equipment.

All I remember form my 2 months at Greely for a test of the Abrams was that it was extremely cold and we had to be very careful during the test.

Anyway a good visual primer is the US Army Northern Warfare Training Center pamphlet that is stock full of images to help out. It explains a lot of this equipment. Like all Army training materiel, of course it contains all the 'nice' cold weather injury images up front so you take it seriously.
If anyone has an issue with the link, let me know off list and I will shoot you a copy.

For your viewing pleasure is a few images of 25th ID and/or 11th Airborne Soldiers with the gear. Use the images as a source of to help you visualize the gear and I assume the weather, conditions, etc.


https://c8.alamy.com/comp/2H0F1M6/soldiers-of-headquarters-and-headquarters-company-181st-multifunctional-training-brigade-compete-in-the-300-pound-ahkio-sled-pull-event-of-cabin-fever-21-feb-19-2021-at-fort-mccoy-wis-cabin-fever-is-an-organization-week-created-to-keep-soldiers-active-during-winter-conditions-while-promoting-health-and-wellness-to-ensure-maintained-readiness-2H0F1M6.jpg

https://media.defense.gov/2016/Jan/13/2001334721/-1/-1/0/160109-Z-HS490-001.JPG

https://api.army.mil/e2/c/images/2018/03/16/510440/max1200.jpg

https://api.army.mil/e2/c/images/2018/03/16/510439/max1200.jpg
OOC:
To the GM - The ECWS III is the old pre-2005 version, right??
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/Rc4AAeSwEZVpg5fF/s-l500.jpg
so it is woodland camo Gortext jacket and pants, the old bearsuit top, etc. BC the items you listed are using the new names for the newer generation of extreme cold weather gear. So which is it?
Sorry I am a visual guy.
May 18, 2026 12:30 am
OOC:
Damn… busted. And double busted. Well, most of the ECWCS stuff came out after I got out of the Army, so I couldn’t use my own recollection and I was having problems finding a pre-1999 list. But give me a day or two and I’ll try to get the period-correct list to you.
May 18, 2026 12:47 am
OOC:
Wasn't any arctic camo pattern til 2007 in the corps. Just called overwhites. I confess I do not know about the Army patterns.
Rooster was going through the papers wondering how Charlie had so much stuff. His earlier suspicion was nagging at him as he noted the load bearing equipment. He whistled low as he saw the full kit. "Shi' thatsa whole month salary at my paygrade." He said ticking off the boxes for goggles and a load bearing vest. He ticked off the box for Yaktrax, his own set had been wasted weeks prior on his journey to Cludj. Then ticked off the box for batteries and NV Gear. "Whoa y'all got rechargeable batteries? I shoulda joined the Army." He wasn't talking to anyone in particular, more amazed at the quality difference and technological disparity between the Marine Corps and the Army. It wasn't surprising, but a bit frustrating to see how big a difference money made.

He scrawled in the notes "Interceptor Body Armor and SAPI plates."
Last edited May 18, 2026 12:48 am
May 18, 2026 1:04 am
Glad we gettin taken care of before we get sent out into the cold! Must be important if we got a goody list to cherry pick from before we go.

Shoulda brought tools…
Bledsoe mused as he looked over the list. Guess there ain’t much chance of a vehicle fallin’ out of the sky and into our laps though. Prolly make too much noise for what we doin anyways.
May 18, 2026 3:30 am
Anastasia starts ticking off items she thinks might be useful, long underwear, undershirts, fleece, socks, gloves, the white out gear, snow shoes, that sort of thing. She makes sure everything is compact enough to fit into her bags or under her jacket. Her refugee persona has been carefully curated and she does not wish to undo it.
May 18, 2026 7:25 pm
Cristea walks alongside Anastasia and crouches briefly to retie a bootlace. Without looking up he murmurs quietly in Russian: "Are we patrolling the mountains...or planning to live in them?"
May 19, 2026 12:02 am
Justin took the list without a word and began looking it over. The clothing section hit him. The cold weather gear only served to remind him of home, of Canadian winters, and of the life he was trying to get back to. Somehow, this felt as if it was carrying him farther away.

He had not seen this much proper gear in a long time. Lately, too much was taken from the bodies of the dead. Taking from enemies was one thing. Taking from allies never sat right. Here, at least, the gear was being offered. So he marked what clothing and gear he thought he could carry and supplement what he already had.

Out there, it would never be enough. It never was.
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