Top soldiers come to Iqaluit for arctic training

It's a good thing their starting to pay attention to our north but I hardly think a 3 day field trip is going to teach them how to survive there.
How about 6 or 7 week's?
Just so they know what the guys are going to have to go through because the canadian extreme weather gear they issue the military is shit,the U.S. stuff is a bit better in some aspects but they fail in most area's too.
I hit both us and Canadian army surplus stores for when I worked up north for winter gear before I realized I would die relying on it.
Stick them on the tundra for 2 weeks with some rangers and they would come back all in furs.

The best was a safety guy came up with these U.S. military arctic air boot's complete with an air pump which froze at -40.
He only lost 2 toes on each foot,it evened out at least.

New stuff we got isn't bad. I had the opportunity to test out the current IECS gear at -37 ambient recently. It was only that night that it was that cold, following nights being only -30 and -27 ambient, but even with alot of standing around I didn't have to throw on my Parka or the Snowpants ontop of the Gortex wind Jacket and pants (had the fleece, thermal underwear, and issued T-shirt and boxers underneath.

On my feet I had civilian sports socks and woolies inside the mucklucks. My feet still got cold, so I think a footwear upgrade is in order for arctic operations.

The arctic mittens were fine, even with the outer layer covered in diesel fuel (don't ask). With a smaller, lighter pair of gloves underneath for work when I have to take the mittens off, I figure I could go -45 to -50 ambient with the things plus inner gloves. The Gortex waterproof gaultlets are shit though, my hands froze in those even above freezing, and dexterity is shit.

I also don't understand why the Parka and Snowpants aren't in a white-grey-black sceme of CADPAT. The only time you would ever wear them is Artic ops, mountain ops, and winter ops where there is a fucktonne of snow and ice on the ground, or there is no vegitation to stand out against. Green, brown, an black cadpat really isn't a good camo in that, and niether is the artic whites, which are too white compared to a snowy background of snowy forests and praries or high-altitude mountain ranges. Only place the whites are good for is the artic.


These are my opinions based off of my experience working with our kit in training exericises here in Petawawa and in Gagetown.

Good for any temp's,beaver mitts,there huge so you can wear mitts inside them.This is what the guys usually come out with.
I did find the US mitt's better then the Canadian one's even though they had fake fur on the backs of both of them.

Most of those army boots didnt do well after -40 but not much does at that temp.
The Sorels good for -100 were only good for -60,they tended to crack right about that temp.

Fur still kicks ass.

Winters in Gagetown are a joke...

The Canadian mitts you are reffering too were the oven mitts on the inside with the leather and polyester mesh on the outside right?

and yea, the fake fur sucks. I use em as snot-rags



They are, but when the gautlets fail to perform at the end of September or start of October, nevermind into November and December, and then out here in Pet. in January, one has to conclude they are a joke too.

Try this when you wake up to the sound of pop exploding and your boot's are frozen to the floor and you beard is frozen to the breathing hole in your sleeping bag and your diesel heater has died and it's time to make that run to the camp kitchen in the middle of a screaming ground blizzard. ! lol!

you love that thing, don't ya?

Our kit is supposed to be good down to -60ish with windchill. So yea, no, it fails at those temps.

They are, but when the gautlets fail to perform at the end of September or start of October, nevermind into November and December, and then out here in Pet. in January, one has to conclude they are a joke too.

The American one's have instructions on the inside on where to place your trigger finger,there probably old stock,they must have better stuff by now.

dude, american underwear has user instructions.

You had to be there bud.

No one's ever stayed at a remote camp that far north in that area after september.

Except me. I got suckered into staying xmas and new years and it was many days of that.
9 of us.

Genuine Saskachewan seal skin bindings

These are the US Mitt's I got from the GI Gen army surplus store.
They werent bad,they went allmost up to your elbows but the faux fur on the back would freeze when you tried to wipe the snot off your nose which runs 24/7 in that temp.