Biouvacing and living outside (with guns)

Yeah it's better than nothing. And way better than an electric shaver. Nothing like having whiskers ripped out cause the heads are clogged with cammie stick.
 
Well, when Drill Sergeant tells you to shave, you dont ask questions. It doesnt matter if it makes sense to me, I am but a lowly trainee...

Besides, discipline must be maintained no matter what. If we quit one aspect of personal hygeine, why not quite all of them? Or quit maintaining our uniform and equipment?

Oh, and correct me if I am wrong 13, but dont NBC masks fit less tighly if the user has facial hair? Wouldnt want to get a nasty surprise...

As far as warm water, we may as well make it comfortable right? (Its still 20 Degrees out...)



I usually carry almost exactly that, only no self medications (basic training). My gold bond powder is usually meant for my feet and not my crotch though. Is there a greater need for that in a jungle temperature?

You are required to perform personal hygene when out in the field, it doesn`t matter what type of weather that you are in. And yes you are correct that one of the main reasons for shaving is due to proper sealing of your protective mask in a NBC environment. Some of the covert units that operate behind enemy lines tend to practice blending in with the local population and in most cases especially in the Middle East the males have beards. As you grow in your military experience while going out in the field you will learn all the tricks that work for you so that you are always in compliance. Let me also add that you can pick up battery operated shavers that do a pretty good job out in the field.
 
If you wanted to use an electric razor you'd have to remove some of the cammo though. Lotion takes off the grease pretty well. Like 03 mentioned, I'd imagine just shaving it right through would jam your shaver.
I guess it's not a problem when you're in a tank but outside, I would prefer nothing that made a loud buzzing noise.
 
If you wanted to use an electric razor you'd have to remove some of the cammo though. Lotion takes off the grease pretty well. Like 03 mentioned, I'd imagine just shaving it right through would jam your shaver.
I guess it's not a problem when you're in a tank but outside, I would prefer nothing that made a loud buzzing noise.

The noise level really isn`t to bad, even on occasion when we were up in the dagmire`s along the DMZ we would cammo up along with the tanks, I found that baby wipes unscented worked great for removing cammo paint, dirt and grime. Hey - another good trick for the field.
 
The issue bug juice takes Cammie stick off quick. And I 'm with you on the buzzing noises in the boonies.

It's also more of a priority when your mounted in a tank or another vehicle and you have a couple or 4 5 gallon jerry cans of water and a water buffalo following you around in the log train.

When your humpin and you've got water you can carry on you, it becomes more of a hydration vs shaving issue. I got chewed by some Arty capt once because I was in his pos with a three day beard and a soft cover. He couldn't understand how my Company commander would allow his Marines to walk around without a fresh shave. My skipper showed up and his beard was thicker than mine. Ended that.

Seems guys with an ample supply of water worry more about shaves than guys who wonder about the resupply birds.
 
I've tried wet tissues vs lotion and tissue and the lotion and tissue works way better. If you have to put on any face paint later on try wiping it with lotion and tissue. A standard Nivea will do just fine. I'm assuming RoK grease sticks and US grease sticks are made up of the same stuff but they're probably close enough.

Still a huge hassle the whole beard thing. Maybe there is a reason why people who live in the jungle don't wear any real clothes and don't have beards growing on them. It's not backward, it's called smart!

In RoK bootcamp, they intentionally give you very little water. It'll be steaming hot outside (Pohang is VERY hot these days) and the water supply will be extremely limited. Chances are you may just get a cup of water all day. But your body gets used to that too. You learn to hydrate mostly from soups which I think have some kind of salt tablet effect because we weren't passing out or anything. I normally drank lots of water before but that changed things around. Adjusting to that was a real ***** but it was well worth it. Reduces the amount you have to drink when you're actually out. I think when I was well into my service there were more days when I got all my hydration from soups than when I actually went for a glass of water. It's amazing how well the human body can adapt.
This may sound weird but we actually did not have drinking water at the mess hall. We did have one water filter at our barracks but I didn't use it much.
 
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All infantry units that I worked with were mounted infantry either traveling in M113s or Bradleys, so yes we always made it a point to carry at least 20 gallons of potable water per vehicle, in Iraq I jacked that amount up to 30 gallons due to heat conditions. I always carried at least 3 containers of baby wipes per field rotation due to how dirty/dusty I would get riding in the cat birds seat (TC position) while manuevering my tank and tank platoons.
 
That's why it's great to be mechanized.
When the SHTF, we were expected to not even have trucks. Which was why I thought our by the book loadout was overelaborate. We really should have emptied out half the stuff we had and focused on food and water instead because that's exactly what we were not going to get. You're not exactly going to get a lot of food from North Korea either. Unless you ate people.
On top of that Korean field rations are terrible. Only one type allows you to eat it without boiling any water (i.e. lighting a fire). And it feels like you're just having a small snack. When I went on leave, I bought some MREs off the black market and sent them to my squad so we'd have something else to turn to for at least one or two meals when the SHTF. A new model has come out which is self heating but knowing our supply hierarchy it'll never make it to the Marines.
 
+1 to baby wipes, also the liquid insect repellent works great to dissolve the camo sticks, helps while applying if you don't have a lighter but I've never wanted to waste that much to get the stuff off. Stings like a mofo after shaving...it's great.
 
Are your bug repellents also the lotion type?
Didn't want to be using those to get rid of cammo only because I didn't want to face any issues with side effects. Also we didn't have enough bug juice to go around all the time. Lotion was plentiful and could be bought anywhere so we used that. Better on the skin as well.
 
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