Clothing- Other than switching the actual bag of my BOB, there are other small changes. I will be adding my cold weather synthetic gloves, which are far more effective in the cold than my torn up desert flyers gloves. I will be adding more socks, and those will be wool or my winter weight Under Armor socks, which made my Oakley Assault boots bearable during the winter in Afghanistan. I am also adding a set of ECWS base layers. I I don't generally like to layer up my legs too much, but I will wear a pair of lightweight polypro pants, and a newer "waffle" top. I don't generally keep a lot of clothing in my bag, but during the winter, it pays off. In the summer, you can make do for 72 hours in one set of clothes, and most likely anything you wear on a day to day basis will do, provided you wear sensible shoes. You won't like it, for sure, but it is doable. However, in the winter, when most people are wearing jeans or sweatpants and a hoody or jacket, because they only have to make it between the heated home, to the car with heat, to the restaurant with heat, extra cold weather clothing is a MUST in the BOB.
Calories- During the summer, hydration is the most important factor when moving on foot. During the winter it is important too, but water doesn't help your body create heat. Calories do. My food section will be plussed-up with more calorie dense foods. Unfortunately, I generally strive for a Primal/Paleo-esque diet, low in carbohydrates, high in protein and fats. That makes food choices difficult, because as we know, most backpacker and bug out foods are heavy in carbs and are heavily processed. Truthfully, in a bug out, I am willing to let go of my super healthy diet, so that I can pack calories and stay warm. I would like to carry AT LEAST 3000 calories per day... and that is low on the spectrum. MRE components and meal replacement bars will make up the bulk of my food. As always, I have brew kits for tea and hot chocolate, which can do amazing things for you in the cold.
Shelter- During the winter, getting out of the weather can make a huge difference in survivability. I always have some shelter elements in my BOB, but during the winter, I will add my USGI canvas shelter half. This isn't the best way to go, but I know it works. I am hoping to do a few weight and space saving modifications, primarily by switching out the heavy issued stakes for some nice new lightweight backpacking tent stakes. This should save a lot of weight and space, along with switching out the standard braided rope for some 550 cord. The nice thing about this shelter is that I can set it up as a lean to if for some reason I am alone, or I can snap it into my partner's setup to give us a full tent. Fire and natural materials for insulation will also help to keep warm and conserve calories during a foot movement, but I know two people inside one of these pup tents will increase the temperature inside significantly.
I will also be adding my Military Sleep System and my Thermarest sleeping pad. Yep... count the pounds with me. I haven't weighed the bag on its own, but the figure I got of the internet was 11 pounds and some change. Not ideal, but I can survive most weather in Missouri using this bag. The sleeping pad weighs almost nothing, but it is bulky, and will snag if I have to move through brush. I am pretty sure it is a Ridgerest model, so it doesn't have a whole lot of R value (insulation) but it will keep me just a bit further off the ground. I am going to experiment this winter with wool blankets and long fires, to see if I can make do without the bulky sleep system when I am doing a "non tactical" trip through the woods.
Other improvements to my survival system for this winter will be adding some US issue wool blankets to the truck. Those, along with the gear I keep in the Battle Box (look forward to that post soon), would ensure that myself and my family would make it through any sort of break down scenario in the vehicle. Luckily, there isn't much chance that we would have to wait long for help, but it is a peace of mind thing, and the Battle Box supplies work quite well into my "get home" strategy.
There are a few items I am looking to pick up. I would like to find some winter over-whites, like military units would issue for winter camouflage. I am going to make winter camo covers for my ruck and my rifle as well, just for fun.
I found the need for leg gaitors last winter. I have a tendency to just head out into the bush, wearing whatever I may be wearing, and those could be jeans, BDU's or Columbia hiking pants. Some gaitors would do a lot for keeping snow off of the bottom of my pants, keeping them dry, and keeping snow out of my hiking shoes. Another item I have been looking at is the military extreme cold weather mittens with liners. I live in Missouri, so of course I'm not dealing with Arctic weather conditions, but if I have to sit still for a long time, I think the mittens/liners would be superior to normal gloves.
Please feel free to leave comments and suggestions. Let me know what changes you are making in your gear for the winter weather.
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