Patrol Basics: How to Sleep in a Non-Permissive Environment, Tips and Tricks

hey what's going on guys it's Adam from Spirit is systems and we're out here shooting another Patrol Basics video for you today we're going to be talking about sleep in a non-permissive environment if you think I should get up now go ahead and uh hit the like button if you think I should take 10 more minutes hit the snooze go ahead and hit that subscribe button I think I'm just going to actually take a couple more minutes [Music] today we're going to be focusing on non-permissive environments uh the next video we'll do semi-permissive environments and the video after that we're going to do permissive environments and the reason that we decided to break this into a couple different chunks is one to make it a little more digestible for you as the audience uh and then also give a clear division between operational areas that a soldier or even a civilian in in some kind of disaster scenario might be experiencing and uh and give you a good way to understand where you know your equipment plugs in and maybe where it doesn't uh but for today's video we're going to be talking about non-permissive so what does non-permissive mean uh it means you know basically not allowing to do something right or not allowing for something to be done so when we use the word non-permissive we mean uh we're in an area that we can't do the thing that we want to do uh as a military so that could be uh the weather could be non-permissive the environment could be non-permissive but generally we're talking about the enemy situation right um the enemy makes it a non-permissive environment and this means that we're going to have to make very clear choices on how we want to sleep when we want to sleep and what tools we're going to use to sleep so sleep is a delicate subject especially in the military uh every Soldier wants more of it and every Commander is trying to figure out how to give less of it to get the mission done uh this creates kind of a flux between you know the lower enlisted guys in the upper echelon because as the dude out on the line holding you know holding the line you're tired all the time there's a lot of work to be done and you're not getting a lot of sleep as a commander you're up there and you are trying to push the mission forward and you need the guys to perform so for the longest time the military would tell you you only need needed 4 hours of sleep in a 24-hour cycle which we know now through you know medical science that 4 hours is just not sustainable for human like human life it's just not you have guys who are operating on four hours of sleep and you start getting diminishing returns pretty quickly a couple days into a 4 hours uh sleep cycle per night guys are going to start falling asleep on guard they're definitely going to fall asleep if they're driving uh it even gets to the point where if anybody hears been to Ranger school or any army School you are going to start even falling asleep while you're walking uh plenty of times I've seen guys literally fall asleep when we short halt just taking a knee a guy will just fall asleep that's not because he's a you know he's weak or anything like that it's just biology your body is going to start forcing you to go to sleep the minute you become inactive because it needs that sleep uh to do some very important repair work on your body at the cellular level so it's going to demand and uh sleep from you and you're basically just going to comply at any given time now the Army has you know done all this research up until now and I think it's FM 7-22 States currently that 8 to9 hours is the new standard for a soldier so in a 24-hour cycle in perfect conditions obviously uh you need 8 to nine hours of sleep to perform at that optimal 100% uh performance rate right I am going to say it's for the guys who served in 1980 and you know all the dudes in the comments who are WWE us every video I'm going to say it so you don't get mad I understand and you should understand that the enemy has a vote in all of this and that sleep will never Trump security it just won't you will always pull security before you sleep you will always have security before you sleep that's just the that's just how it is it's how it has to be because sleep is useless if we're just all dead anyways right so you have to have that security up and we are going to be talking about ways to get optimal sleep in suboptimal conditions because uh the quality of sleep is almost just as important as getting sleep itself so in these videos you're going to learn about the tools some of the techniques and uh some ways to get that optimal sleep so that you can be at the best performance when the time comes all right guys so let's get into it non-permissive environment right let's uh let's set the context a little bit um when we're in a non-permissive environment I really want to iterate this so that guys don't get pissed off in the comments uh thinking that we we were telling young soldiers that they should just roll out everything and sleep uh when they shouldn't be sleeping so this video and the context of this video is is non-permissive uh we we are going to default to the least amount of stuff that we could possibly use uh every time right we do not want to be taking everything out having a yard sale we want to be you know packed up ready to go at a moment's notice ready to fight with that being said uh site selection is very very important right we are uh we're in a non-permissive environment we need to be picking somewh where that has a lot of overhead cover if we can uh but also terrain that is inhospitable and somewhere that honestly we would not want to walk through uh if we were on the opposite side right if we were the the enemy in this scenario we want to pick somewhere that we can bed down in that you know no one's going to find us and they aren't going to even care to come looking for us because it's so remote or so isolated uh there so the first thing I'm going to point out out is something that uh you might not expect but if you're an infantry man you probably expect and that's your entrenching tool right uh this is something that uh you should be taking with you uh if you are on that conventional side of things uh maybe not so much on the on the small unit side but definitely on the conventional side and this guy enables us to change the terrain to uh be able to get our bodies below the ground hidden from both uh observation and from fire so the e tool the ranger grave things like that we're not going to get into constructing a ranger grave all that but we will uh show you kind of what it looks like so the e tool is my first piece of equipment that uh is going to be included in my kit on my rock to uh prepare a sleeping position as we scale up right with keeping in mind that my default if the temperature dictates right everything I have here is dependent on the weather right uh if I can I'm going to just sleep with my kit on uh lean up against my rock or whatever lay on the ground and I'm just going to sleep with what I have on and I'm not going to have to adjust my layers for the environment but unfortunately uh the environment has a vote and the temperature is going to change or the weather conditions are going to change and I'm not going to have a choice I'm going to have to seek some sort of uh you know some sort of layering system or barrier to keep the weather the temperature uh off of me so the first thing I'm going to talk about is just the top right I choose to wear a field top because I think there's more utility in a field top than a Combat shirt and this is one of the reasons why uh when I stop and I I dry out this thing is a little bit warmer than a Combat shirt and I can use it in a couple different ways I could actually drape it over my body more like a blanket and uh keep some of that that warmth in so the field top is my first layer something like this schmock works really well as well this is a British DPM schmock uh it's a desert version it's a little bit of a lighter material but uh anybody who's operated in a desert environment knows that the temperature variability is Extreme so having something like this again that I can wear I can sleep in and uh if it if stuff pops off I can quickly uh either take it off or I can just wear it how it is and it's not a big deal I'm not going to overheat in it so something like that is very good very versatile uh then moving up to kind of that inclement weather um wet weather gear is my go-to right so I have a set here it's both a top and a bottom which I recommend if you're doing military operations you should have both uh there comes a point where the biology is just uh you it's impossible to argue with so we can't argue that guys should just suffer and lay out in freezing rain uh they just will not make it they they will not survive the night if they get soaked and the temperature drops below 30° guys are going to start getting hypothermia and they're going to they're going to die uh so we have to let them get out of that even if we're in a non-permissive environment so wet weather gear is the way to do that that right it's lightweight generally it's uh easy to pack and it's easy to get in and out of uh but it also creates that barrier from the element so wet weather gear for its weight is very warm because it is a semi-permeable fabric but it's almost non-permeable that's what makes it waterproof so it creates a vapor barrier uh and it is going to repel water but it's also not going to let a lot of uh uh Vapor out of it either so as you sweat and things like that as you generate heat it's going to stay inside that wet weather gear if you've ever worn a raincoat and then done physical activity uh you've probably taken it off because you started to get really hot well it's the same effect so it's great for sleeping in inclement weather the good thing about it is that you're ready to go immediately because you're just wearing clothing there's nothing on top of you you're not inside of a shelter it's just what you have on uh so always in my ruck sack both a top and a bottom I do recommend uh getting bottoms that are full zip right this this way you can put them on without having to uh take any of your other clothing off or your boots or anything like that so full zip is the way to go uh because you can get them on easily it doesn't matter what uh where you get your wet weather gear honestly I I recommend Surplus for this because the military actually has pretty decent uh gortex weon weather gear uh so the Marine Corps of the army their issued equipment from a surplus store is going to work really well you can get something very high-end like Sitka or whatever that's going to work too but the price differential is is uh quite High being in that almost $1,000 range for uh a jacket and some pants if they're on sale so you're looking at spending a lot of money for wet weather gear when you could just go to the Surplus Store honestly and buy something another penalty on wet weather gear is this one's kind of Burly this is uh this this stuff is Bomb proof it can rain and rain and rain and you just not going to get wet I would prefer for combat operations to have a lighter weight set to be uh completely honest so the wet weather gears there the next uh kind of barrier we have and something that I do not Patrol without so with all of this equipment that we're showing you it's up to you to know contextually how you would apply it uh in the environment that you're in because I can't paint every environment for you just remember like I said before uh sleep and your comfort does not Trump security right so you have to use the right tools at the right time uh but you you do have to survive the night so always keep that in mind but this is something that I keep with me uh no matter what it's always in my patrol gear and that is the Poncho right this is a uh this is a non-negotiable for me because it can cover my body but it can also cover my equipment and keep things dry in that military context I can use it for other things like a litter stuff like that so it's very versatile always in my pack um but it is a poncho so I can put it on like a poncho I can throw it over my ruck sack if it's just torrential downpour but we're still moving I can actually throw it on and walk with it on uh but in the context of sleep I like it because I can pull this out of an external pouch I can drape it over my entire body and all my equipment and if it's raining I'm still staying dry right so half of the battle with the weather is just keeping yourself dry right and that's where the Poncho comes in it's great can make shelters out of it can use it as a ground cloth like we're doing here as well um so yeah the Poncho is uh is absolutely something I would invest in now the military issued Poncho is not bad I personally think the Marine Corps has done a better job with the Poncho than the Army uh it's actually not a poncho they they have a tarp if I'm not mistaken and that tarp is thicker it's a little heavier but it really really works great for a shelter uh or to drape over equipment because it is bigger and it's a little more Burly I think it's worth the weight penalty this one right here is an aftermarket version Uh Kevin who makes this one Bushcraft outfit uh Bushcraft Outfitters so we'll just give them a little call out it's really high quality uh it's a good Poncho snaps together you can wear it in some different configurations so uh I really recommend this guy no matter what I'm doing that's that's coming with me uh because it is just so versatile so we're starting to move up in some of the thermal uh layering stuff again it's biology guys anyone can argue that you're out on patrol you shouldn't have any of this stuff and it just doesn't hold weight when you're in that cold weather environment so they they can argue in the comments but but we're going to show you some stuff that even in a non-permissive environment you might have to have dependent on how cold the operating environment is and this one is everyone's favorite America's favorite the woie this one is uh not the issued WBY this is a aftermarket WBY I used uh this model an older one I actually have it here as well but this one uh in Afghanistan for many years it is a monofilament synthetic fill so this fill is not going to lose its uh insulating properties if it's if it's damp or wet um and it's monofilament which means that there doesn't have to be any quilting on this right so what quilting does is it puts a stitch line to hold that filament in place um without quilting you don't have any cold spots right this thing is a beast uh it's very lightweight and uh I like it because again I can just drape it over my body and then just like the Poncho if something happens I can throw it off and I'm ready to fight immediately I can wear it's not like a sleeping bag that I have to get inside and zip up uh that is you know something I would never want to do in a non-permissive environment uh is put myself into a bag that I can't get out of so this you know is great because I can put it over and then I can throw it off uh if I need to at a moment's notice so the WBY again something that often times Finds Its way into my uh Patrol gear because it is so versatile and lightweight uh so that's the next level there another piece that pretty much is always on my rock uh when I was in Afghanistan and you know not every environment I was in in Afghanistan was non-permissive but it certainly was uh quite often and the sleep pad or more affectionately known as the puss pad if you're serving is uh is a piece of equipment that I think everybody should have uh the disparaging name comes from the mentality that if you use a sleep mat that you are uh a weak person or whatever which I just don't find to be true again when we just look at the truth behind thermodynamics and how bodies transfer heat uh we know that the Earth is bigger than uh the average human being it may not your mom may not have a problem sleeping right on the ground because she's massive but everyone else has a problem right a smaller body is going to transfer the heat to that larger body it's that larger body is going to suck the heat from you uh which again in a warmer environment if you're in a tropical environment you're not going to you're not going to need this if you are in uh a colder environment even out here in North Carolina this morning it's you know 40° now but it was 30 something degrees earlier you will go hypothermic just from laying straight on the ground so you need this thermal barrier and all this is doing is it's creating an air pocket between you and the ground right it's making it harder for the ground to absorb that heat uh this one is a thermarest this is again the one I used for many years in Afghanistan I like it because it's extra wide uh and again that sight selection right looking for uh somewhere to lay down I'm going to find the the flattest spot I can I'm going to try to use this if the situation dictates uh but I can also just sit on this right I can literally take this in the rollup form and just sit on it to keep myself up off the ground lean against my rock sack go to sleep that way uh very versatile tool uh I cut it down for my length I'm not very tall so I don't need a 7ft sleep mat uh so you can cut you know pieces off it it's closed cell foam which means that unlike the issued Army Sleep Pad bugs are not going to get inside of it like sand fleas and stuff like that we also have the Marine Corps issued version here thanks Kevin um this one is great because it's an accordion right uh I like the accordion design because of speed it also has the ties built into it to keep it nice and tidy so you're not uh fighting with it all the time it's all built into it again the Marine Corps totally uh owning us on equipment selection which uh you know whatever is what it is so sleep pads I think they're important again contextually if I think I'm going to get attacked probably not going to deploy the Sleep Pad uh but if it is one of those things where we're just in that environment but we're undetected and we're somewhere or we think we can pull them out absolutely going to tell guys to use it and contextually again if it's very very cold and we're up north we're probably going to have to use it we're not going to have a choice so that's the things you have to keep in mind is that we're showing you all these tools but it's up to you to select when to use them and when not to use them so getting up into the the the big boy thermals right again this is stuff that may be non-negotiable dependent on the environment you're in so here in North Carolina right now where it's uh again it's 30 to 40° in the morning probably not going to bring this with me uh it's just too too much weight too much bulk and the temperature is just not there for me to need this now if we go up further if you're in say Alaska and you're out on patrol in a non-permissive environment you're going to have to have some stuff like this there's just no choice the good news is that whoever your opponent is is also going to have to have these tools they're also going to have to follow the same weather rules as you so you have that going for you but things like the Sleep Pad the poncho liner all of that's going to find its way into my ruck sack if I'm in that cold weather environment so this is just the level seven parka I like it because uh it's a garment I can wear when I'm say I'm pulling Sentry Duty or something like that um I can wear it while on guard but I can easily take it off if a fight starts so I'm not overheating it's very long so I can sleep in it and that's where you know this video talking about sleep using this as a sleeping garment almost like a sleeping bag right I get all those benefits of being wrapped in something that has high Loft in it I can zip it up I can put the hood up and I can kind of cocoon inside of it and it's so long especially on somebody who is shorter like me I really can get almost my entire body inside of that garment uh we also have a a Outdoor Research uh Colossus parka same kind of theory but this one's a little it's it's cut to be more like a coat but still you can put this on wrap up in it I like that again you can just unzip it and take it off so we're sleeping we're nice and warm oh no we're getting attacked just rip it off and throw it on the ground and and fight so those are two great options more traditional coat options Uh Kevin was kind enough to loan us some of his Hill People Gear uh Mountain sarapes which I think is a great option something that I had seen before but I have never really I had never really used uh but these things are awesome and the reason why they're awesome is that they're a poncho that's a wubby that's a poncho but it could also be a wubby again so you can use this uh you know you say you're on guard you can throw it on and now you have your body you're kind of in that thermal layer but you can easily just pull the whole thing off your body and get right into the fight and then say you're off guard now and you're going back behind the line um you can turn this into basically a sleeping bag and you can get inside of it and and sleep inside of it and it comes in two sizes there's a there's a large and kind of this medium size so you have or a large and a small I guess uh one is going to come more closer to your hips the other one's going to drape closer to your knees depending on your height obviously uh so if you want one that isn't quite as long you can you can have that uh great garments and a and honestly the theory is there for me having something that I can wear but then I can also use as a as part of the Sleep System as well if the situation permits uh there and then uh the ruck sack so something that people might not really consider to be part of the Sleep System but I do I like the Alice pack uh for patrolling because it's just a beast really in every aspect but for sleep I like it because one I can use the frame uh to drape my Poncho over uh my body and create kind of an air pocket over my face so I can put my Poncho over it's raining it'll help shed some of that rain away from my body and keep me dry um I can use my hip belt as a pillow right so if this is propped up I put my head here have that Poncho draped over it and I'm sitting pretty good if you add in the Sleep Pad you got kind of this nice uh you know sleep setup like almost like a tent but something that I can get off immediately uh if I need to I also like it because it gives me access to my uh essential kind of rain gear Poncho items on the outside of the bag without opening it uh so I have my Poncho in the center my pants on one side and my top my rain top on the other side which uh makes it very easy for me to pull that stuff out get into it and then p put it back in without having to make a lot of noise or uh do a lot of movement so that's the the ruck sack an important and Hearty piece of the Sleep System and I always forget this piece I don't know where I put it all right all right all right found it found it all right we got it one last thing I want to talk about I will not shut up about the bug net I refuse to be silenced mosquitoes everywhere hate this one trick so when we think of sleep gear everybody thinks of blankets and sleeping bags and you know pillows and things like that um I think of the bug net right if you've ever been uh somewhere where there's a lot of bugs nothing will prevent you from getting a good night's sleep uh than bugs literally attacking your face the entire night so just a simple you can go to REI or whatever Moose Jaw you can go there you can buy a bug net it's a head net right goes over your head and you can put this on and I a warmer climate and it's no big deal it's not going to prevent you from doing your job it's not going to make you slower at doing anything but it will keep insects off your face which if you're in a swamp and you just got to lean up against a tree and and catch some z's you just throw the bug net on over your uh over your head and put some gloves on and you're good to go you have your field top on you're not going to get eaten alive by by bugs all night all right guys so we talked about equipment uh now we're going to talk about kind of sight selection and just some considerations for your sleep area so in this scenario we're just going to say that we have security pushed out and uh you are one of the lucky Chosen Few who are have been told to you know go establish a little bit of a of a sleep area and bed down so that you can then uh initiate your rest plan and uh start the guard rotation so we have security out so keep that in mind now to touch on though if if we were in a small unit and there weren't a lot of there wasn't a lot of Manpower uh again we're going to revert back to that I'm leaning against my rck I'm leaning against another guy I'm not taking anything out and I'm just sleeping in what I'm wearing uh I'm doing the minimalist approach that I can but you guys don't need a video on how to lay flat on the ground and wear all you know wear all your kit and go to sleep that that is that uh most auster most non-permissive en environment kind of uh footprint that we would be leaving so now we're still in that non-permissive environment but we do have security kicked out and you might be in this uh non-permissive environment for months so you're going to have to sleep at some point uh so a couple of considerations one are we going to take our kit off are we going to take our helmet off are we going to take our chest rig or our plate carrier off are we going to take our boots off things like that those are all contextual questions uh I will tell you if I feel at all like there is any contact that could be imminent I am not taking my boots off I'm sleeping in my you know in everything I have uh I'm keeping it on because at a I want to be able to wake up and go at a moment's notice uh but eventually even then guys are going to have to take their boots off uh I just recommend that maybe sleeping is not the best time to do that uh chest rigs helmets weapons right again again contextually if I feel like a fight's coming I'm you know I'm going to be wearing my stuff but again you're not going to get as good as sleep so if there's if there's any margin of safety I'm going to take my chest rig off take my helmet off uh and I'm going to place those to the side of my sleep area now those items are going to be placed in the same spot every time that I uh go to bed right every time I set up a sleep area I am going to choose very deliberately how my chest rig is where my weapon is where my helmet is that way it's repeatable and it's the same every time uh that way if I'm startled awake I grab those two things and I can go as for my helmet um I actually strap my chin strap to the chest rig so that I can grab just the chest rig and just my rifle and I can uh I can get out of there uh another thing that I want to talk about is the tidiness of your sleep area so you want to have only the items out of your ruck that you are using everything else gets packed back inside the ruck sack and your ruck sack gets closed and all everything tightened down and ready to go uh the reason being that if you are startled awake and we have to you know get out of here we have to break contact you might be leaving behind a Sleep Pad you might leave behind your your wobby or your puff top or something but you have everything else you can grab it and you can leave uh so keeping a tidy area is is very important um another thing that you might consider doing is a technique called hot swapping uh hot swapping is very very effective because you essentially take you know one to however many guys and you combine your sleeping equipment uh for those who are sleeping and then those that are on watch don't have that equipment right so if you can imagine if there were two of me here and then there were two put you know sleep pads there were two wubbies then when one guy was on guard and the other guy's sleeping he now has double the Sleep equipment uh you know that he he's utilizing so he's warmer and more comfortable uh a little story so in Afghanistan at the very beginning of a mission a very long 45 day uh operation in the mountains I was hot swapping with another guy and in the middle of the night he had rolled off of my sleep pad uh and a helicopter came in to drop off supplies and it blew my Poncho and my Sleep Pad off the mountain uh never to be seen again I actually got charged for it later on when I was leaving the Army but uh the point of that story is that keeping a tidy area and making sure your stuff is secure is very important and very practical it's not always going to be an emergency that uh takes your stuff away it may just be the wind and all of a sudden you don't have a a poncho anymore um another consideration is if you are a specialty troop if you have a machine gun or a mortar tube or any specialized equipment uh you are going to have to be securing that equipment possibly on the line uh or at your sleep uh site with a poncho right so whenever I had a machine gun or anything like that I would actually carry two ponchos you know one of them would be sacrificed for the machine gun and the other one would be part of my uh sleep kit so the whole point of sight selection is looking for the most comfortable place that you can find within the left and right limits of security right so you know it may just be a rock pile you may not have a choice it may be uneven terrain but if I have a choice I'm going to pick somewhere that is relatively comfortable I'm going to try to find some piece like this tree right here uh I'm going to some piece of terrain that I can you know conceal my body uh with cover and concealment if I can find cover great if not just concealment that way again if I'm startled awake I have something that I can maneuver around to fight around uh the worst case scenario is that you are asleep and then you get attacked and you have to wake up and try to orient towards what's going on uh potentially reinforce the line or fight in place so I always want to have some kind of terrain feature to to support me you know if I can if I if the uh situation dictates I'm going to pull my e tool out and I'm going to dig a hole and uh also known as a ranger grave approximately my height and width and deep enough to get me off of a flat surface a technique that we uh use heavily in flat terrain or if your uh if your primary non-permissive concern is artillery you want to get yourself below the ground so that you're not taking uh shrapnel while you're sleeping and one last consideration is to uh let the you know the guards know where your position is your sleeping position position you should be Consolidated with the rest of the guys who are uh sleeping or the guys that are coordinated to be on your fighting position you should be Consolidated so that the guard can come and he can wake you up in order uh of guard watch and also if you are the guard take into consideration that you are in a non-permissive environment and maybe when you wake people up you choose uh you know kind of a light method of waking them up uh instead of startling them awake I mean it is a bunch of 18year olds with machine guns after all so you should uh you should consider that they might be a little afraid and if you kick them awake you might not get the response that that you want there so yeah guys that's site selection and uh those are just some tips to help you pick somewhere comfortable and to maximize the amount of sleep you're getting and the quality of sleep that you're getting while still maintaining that security posture needed to fight at a moment's notice so all right guys that concludes this video this segment uh tune in to the channel because like I said there's going to be a couple of these videos on sleep uh non-permissive is kind of a weird one right because the technique really is sleeping on the ground uh and bar and using the you know the minimum amount of equipment that you can uh so you know tell us what you think in the comments see if we missed anything tell us your techniques and uh as always I appreciate you guys taking the time to to watch and we'll see you next time all right guys so every video I'm prob I probably will always forget something and a very critical part of your non-permissive sleep system is the beanie cap or the watch cap and gloves uh again if you're going to have to be spending the night out something I always carry with me is the watch cap and a set of nice gloves so if you've made it all the way to this point in the video all the way to the very end you get the little ex ra nugget that nobody else got and we appreciate you for uh sticking around

Channel: SpiritusSystems

Views: 1,660,867

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Id: KO9s1qV7xVM

Length: 35min 4sec (2104 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 09 2023