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Logistics
Logistics
The militia is in large part meant to function as a stay-behind force without support elements. The logistics thus need to be about using environmental resources, about using decentralised and quickly evacuated stocks.
First, the vehicles. The militia would not possess any permanently attached vehicles. It would use privately-owned vehicles on exercises and reimburse private costs for this and for travelling to and from training by lump sums. It would commandeer suitable (4x4 or AWD) cars upon mobilisation for war and use stored spray cans for a different matte paintjob. Some pickup vehicles would even be adapted as weapons carriers.
Second, food. This is simple; some foods are incredibly durable (white rice stored dry and cool can be stored for decades and requires no more than water to become edible, for example). Vitamin C supplements can be stored for a long time as well. The actually expensive army-style food packages are not required. So some food (enough for months) could be stored centrally and the militia members could bring along some own stocks as well. To have an autonomous food supply helps staying away from civilians, who are a security risk and could become collateral casualties if the militia is among them.
Third, munitions. I don't consider captured munitions to be very important, thus munitions need to be stored in large quantities and in a manner that permits a quick evacuation of the packaged munitions to hideouts known only to a few people each. Small arms cartridges and mortar bombs + fuses and auxiliary charges would add up to well over 80% of the munitions volume and mass. My preferred peacetime storage site for munitions (and weapons) is to simply store them inside or extremely close to police stations, other police buildings and maybe court buildings.
Fourth, fuels. The usage of civilian 4x4 and AWD cars leads to a mix of petrol and diesel fuels being necessary. The militia might not be able to get much fuel from normal fuel stations when civilians are in need as well, but it won't need much fuel. 100 litres of fuel in jerrycans per car would likely be enough in most settings, maybe 200 litres if deployed into an allied country's rural area.
Fifth, drinks. The tap water may become unavailable in wartime, so simple filtration and disinfection (preferably by boiling) of surface water or pumped water is the way to go. The necessary devices are cheap and small, but keeping a supply of drinking water in jerrycans (diesel, petrol and water having different colours and feel) would be a bit bulky and heavy. It could be stored in hideouts along with fuels.
Finally, battery power. Cars might be used to provide some battery power (a car battery has enough power for weeks of light in a basement hideout), but I'd like to point out the cheap approach of using photovoltaic recharging gear as known from trekking stores. Many tiny batteries may be non-rechargeable and would simply have to be in stock (civilian standard types), but batteries for radios and night vision should be rechargeable.
Personal equipment
I am in favour of using
- a low cut lightweight ballistic helmet with night vision googles mount and camo cover
- a lightweight fragmentation protection vest above the belt (equivalent to only 16 layers kevlar)
- a lightweight NBC hood
- super cheap shooting glasses (ANSI Z87.1+ protection rating only)
The cheap and widespread availability of 30...40 mm underbarrel grenade launchers and other widely available fragments-producing weapons make this kind of fragmentation protection sensible.
- a load-bearing belt for most of the personal gear (only very flat bags in front of belly)
- a small 20 litre backpack that's not meant to be taken into a fight
Most of the load should be on the hips because this is the most efficient and bearable. Legs need to move much forwards and back, and hip loads don't burden the muscles of torso, arms or neck. It is much more tiresome to store mass anywhere else.
- brownish camo pattern softshell jacket
- brownish camo pattern trousers
- brown gloves
- brown balaclava (not synthetic)
- brown lightweight boots
Other clothes including and additional cold weather layers would be private property.
Tents or tarps are not really necessary, as civilian structures and even burnt-out large vehicles can be used for weather protection. In the worst case the cars would be used to shelter from bad weather.
- cushioning insulation mat
- 4 seasons sleeping bag
would be very advisable, as this would turn rather secure urban basements and even small rural sheds into acceptable hideouts.
The most important piece of personal equipment would be the militia handbook, an all-in-one field manual booklet.
Everything else would be small things; militia ID card, soap, toothbrush, towel, tiny LED light, aluminium dishes, lightweight cutlery, large area map and simple compass, a tiny reusable water filter and some tiny typical hiking items.
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I would spare the helmet and the vest, even if it is lightweight. The reason is this: you are sweating in such a vest (dehydration) and the helmet hinders you in shooting and moving and using the terrain to the maximum.
ReplyDeleteFor the camo pattern i want to add an additional thought:
The actual flecktarn camo has 5 colours. If you change this to 4 colours the camo pattern can become more brown and significantly cheaper at the same spot and it would still look like flecktarn. The company which prints the pattern can at the spot print it this way with only 4 colours without any changes, and so the same companies can use this fabric to produce the same uniforms as for the regular troops - but cheaper.
The colours of flecktarn are: light green 15, Olive 20, dark green 35, brown 20 and black 10. Simply give up the olive part and you have light green 15, dark green 35, brown 40 and black 10. The red-brown of the flecktarn is also very good for night camo.
As a replacement for tarps i would recommend ponchos which could also have an isolation coating on the inside - which can improve camo against thermal sight very much. Such ponchos can be produced very sturdy and are very versatile for many things.
The basic frag vet of the 90's weighs about 2.5 kg and actually feels very good in moderate temperatures. Nobody forces them to wear it in summer heat.
DeleteThey would need a night vision goggles mount anyway, so the weight of the helmet is really only the weight of the shell, and that's down to about 700 grams for low cut now.
https://www.avon-protection.com/products/n49-ulw/5222
The only tarp ponchos I've ever seen were really too short for being useful as tarps. Camping outdoors is too risky anyway, so I say no tarp or tent is needed.
About camo pattern; I was mostly thinking of something Multicam-ish, but I have an irrational aversion to the dark (until washed-out) Flecktarn.
Multicam is much to light for eastern poland and also to light for germany itself. And if you change the colour pattern of flecktarn in the way i described, replacing the green for brown and only 4 colours, the pattern would also become brighter overall, but not as bright as the multicam stuff which is a bad camo for european areas.
DeleteFor eastern poland i would regard the original Pencott Greenzone the best available pattern.
About vests: i do not doubt that such vests are lightweight and even comfortable in cold and moderate temperatures, i am wearing such vests every day for 8 hours at least or more. But 2,5 kg are 2,5 kg and i would invest this weight into ammunition as this would be much more important for your militia / guerilla force.
What would be the safest way to store arms that still keep them accessible at the right moment?
ReplyDeletePublic knowledge of stores of high explosives and machine guns will surely result in some interesting arrests
I mentioned that in some part. Ideal position is police station basements or very nearby.
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