After action report - emergency space blanket

[Tim K]

Got a chance to use a Mylar emergency blanket for real. It was quite an experience. I learned several important lessons.

Got caught in pouring rain in a state of utter exhaustion. Had been up at that point for 40 hours, 26 of which had been spent hiking in very rugged country with a 45# pack. I was totally spent. There was no shelter of any sort available, and I needed sleep right away. In addition to my Mylar blanket I had a fleece pullover, a rain jacket, a poncho liner (woobie), and a warm hat. Temp was in the high 40?s or low 50?s.

When I first laid down in the mud I put the poncho liner over me and then the Mylar blanket over the top to keep the rain off me. That worked surprisingly well until the wind came up. Once that occurred, I was well and truly screwed. The wind blew the Mylar all over the place and I struggled to keep it in place. In my state of utter exhaustion I could not figure out any way to keep any of my gear in place. I jackhammer shivered for 5 hours getting an estimated 30 minutes of actual sleep.

I just ordered a dozen of the Mylar sleeping bags. Had I had one of those instead of the useless blanket, I would have been 100 times better off. I also learned that you?d better have some way to improvise a shelter to keep rain or snow off your head.

Finally, I learned that you should think through your plan of how you intend to bivy in a situation like that in advance. Wouldn?t hurt to practice. In my state of total physical and mental exhaustion I was not thinking very clearly. Not sure I could have done much better than I did, but I could feel that my brain was working slowly. Don?t overestimate your ability to think rationally when you?re spent. Better to have a canned procedure that you can implement and modify on the fly.

[Irving]

That's a good report with great advice. When I train people to inspections, I train them to do them the same way, every time. That way, when you show up on no sleep, hung over, whatever, you can zombie your way through without missing stuff.

My wife used her mylar blanket during a camping trip this spring. She went and slept in the car and said it kept her surprisingly warm.

I've heard all kinds of things about having them next to your skin, or not, and haven't ever used one to know what is the proper procedure.

[.455_Hunter]

Kinda pricy, but seems worth it in a emergency...

https://www.backcountry.com/adventur...l-escape-bivvy

I always keep one in my GHB and one in my day pack when covering any sort of real distance on trail.

[earplug]

While kayaking or boating in cool wet weather I have found a large garbage bag used like a Kilt or poncho kept me comfortable. I premade duct tape reinforced holes and straps. My last Mylar experience was a ripped up mess trying to make a poncho for a kid.

[thedave1164]

We conducted so many casualty control drills in the Navy, that your actions became muscle memory.

So yes, training could save your life.

[Erni]

In that situation eat a power bar first. Hunger compounded with cold and tired will make you stupid.
A small tarp and some cord might have helped but this is based on my readings and not first hand. REI had some fantastic looking 1 man tents.

Curious what you were doing? Care to share?

[ChickNorris]

Competition Dynamics SAC. 10yr anniversary. How was it?!

[Tim K]

I had a chicken salad sandwich I ate as soon as I got to the bivy site. It got soggy, but it was delicious!

I and my teammate were competing in a two man team sniper competition. 48 hours of land nav (map and compass) with shooting, problem solving, and all sorts of other games. It’s called the Sniper Adventure Challenge or, the SAC.

http://competition-dynamics.com/snip...hallenge-2021/

[Tim K]

Xa, the switch from the 36hr format to 48 was quite a challenge. The weather this year was much cooler than last year, so that was very nice. As usual, the course was very long over some damn rugged terrain. My feet got destroyed. I’d planned to doctor them before I slept, but that didn’t work out for obvious reasons. I ended up with them soaked completely through and numb with the cold. Waited to treat them till the sun came up and I could dry them out. By the time I got to them, they were an absolute mess.

Aside from the physical discomfort we crushed the land nav. By our standards, at least. It was our best performance yet. Unfortunately, the poor timing of our planned bivy and the weather wrecked our plan to play the shooting games and we didn’t score nearly enough points to finish well in spite of out good performance in the nav. Some year we will put it all together and put in a non-embarrassing performance. Maybe.

[ChickNorris]

I wish I had the physicality to do something like that.

For curiosity, any chance I could see the equipment list?

I read a couple posts about this past weekend but there hasn't been much said really. Maybe everyone is still recovering.