What enviroment is the toughest to fight/train in?

[A Can of Man]

Jungle is absolute hell.
It's true. You have to cut off all your hair if you're going to be out there for a long time. Your head under the hair is the first thing to get very very stuffy and is a nice home for stuff that want to suck blood out the top of your head.. And yes, just by going out for a 15 minute trek will have leeches sucking on your ankles.
I solved this problem by wearing thick socks.
Not to mention the other bugs chewing bits off you.
Misery is a jungle. This is why in most jungle areas populations never got really large until recently. Also why in Southeast Asia, countries and kingdoms were defined by populations, not by lines on the ground.

 

[egoz]

That isn't just in urban settings.

yah, i kind of figured that, but i wanted to add in some stuff about constantly having to clear buildings and things of that nature. which is why in urban combat you have such a higher likelyhood of getting killed.

 

[A Can of Man]

Actually that's what I meant. It might not get you muddy, it might not get you as wet. But chances of you getting killed here is higher than most other places.
A close 2nd or maybe tied could be jungle.
But street fighting has got to be the worst.

Yeah I know. Just that the conveniences of not getting all wet and covered in cr*p are compensated by a much higher casualty rate. Not to mention if you're attacking, concealment could be a huge problem.

You can get just as wet. cold/hot and covered in cr*p fighting in an urban enviroment as you can any other. Each one has it's own particular dangers and discomforts.

 

[Snauhi]

if you vote jungle then you havent been in Finland

 

[A Can of Man]

I guess if it snows out too much, EVERYTHING stops. However, I think it makes you and the enemy on the ground more vulnerable to air strikes. It's much harder to hit stuff in the jungle.
So if you have air superiority, fight in the winter could actually be good. Everyone's stuck, but you're the one with the strike ability. In the jungle, it's hard to hit anything because of the canopy cover.
Not to mention no matter what the conditions, you're not going to be bringing your tanks around, as well as most of your heavy weapons. So it's a disaster to attack in. Unless your enemy picks a nice little spot that floods, is surrounded by swamps and is surrounded by hills (Dien Bien Phu!) attacking is ridiculously difficult.

 

[Snauhi]

I guess if it snows out too much, EVERYTHING stops. However, I think it makes you and the enemy on the ground more vulnerable to air strikes. It's much harder to hit stuff in the jungle.
So if you have air superiority, fight in the winter could actually be good. Everyone's stuck, but you're the one with the strike ability. In the jungle, it's hard to hit anything because of the canopy cover.
Not to mention no matter what the conditions, you're not going to be bringing your tanks around, as well as most of your heavy weapons. So it's a disaster to attack in. Unless your enemy picks a nice little spot that floods, is surrounded by swamps and is surrounded by hills (Dien Bien Phu!) attacking is ridiculously difficult.

In Finnish army then its summer you ride a bike and then its winter you ski.

 

[A Can of Man]

Yeah but in winter your trucks and other vehicles will stop.
Then again so are those things in a jungle unless there's a road... which will be an ambush trap because there's not many roads out there.

 

[LIPS]

The hardest to train and fight in is Complex Terrain.

 

[SAINT]

Thick jungle.. you can't use tanks and armored vehicles.
The fight is solely dependent on infantry.

terrain there is muddy and full of unfriendly insects, reptiles and weather.
These are the natural elements to fight first before fighting the human enemy ambushed behind the trees...

It's primitive environment...

 

[AussieNick]

I think you'll find any landscape that conspires against you is going to be considered "hard" to fight in. Personally I think urban is a very difficult environment to fight in because it is not one that conventional warfare has learn't to deal with very effictively. In saying that you can also have an urban situation within arctic/desert/jungle climate conditions.

I just believe that with the potential problems of civilian population, multiple levels and facets of fighting, and the propensity for I.E.D's, road side car bombs, suicide bombers etc etc etc plus the issues of landscape and weather make it the hardest to fight well in (in a conventional sense anyway).

It may be more comfortable to live in (e.g. down time between fighting) in comparison to arctic for example, but I'd rather be fighting in dense jungle than clambering through ruined buildings dodging suicide bombers whilst having the civilian population get in the way.

 

[EuroSpike]

I was just wonderin from your personal experiences.

Urban is physically tough but arctic and winter are the most uncomfortable but man gets quickly used with them.

The best thing in winter is no mosquitos or other bugs and less sweat and dirt, and the worst thing is taking naps isn't possible because snow and frost and that makes lack of sleep worse.

 

[Charge 7]

I voted for arctic. Not only because as somebody else already pointed out, the weather can seriously degrade and even break your equipment but because exposure can kill you in minutes. Jungle and desert heat can certainly kill you, but not quite so suddenly. I have winter warfare experience via our Winter Mountain Warfare course here at the Mountaineering School. I wasn't assigned to the cadre but worked as part of an MTT (Mission Training Team) Also worked on the biathalon course for a number of years. I, like Redleg, come from a northern climate and am more used to colder temperatures than many others. It can get as low as -40° here that's both Fahrenheit and Celsius (they meet at that temp). Though the worst I can recall being out in the field at was about -20° F or -28° C.

Some links of interest:

http://www-benning.army.mil/AMWS/
http://www.ausa.org/www/armymag.nsf/0/CB7550841A3BBEEA85256BF800753B05?OpenDocument

 

[Chinaman]

urban definetly, any bullets that hit concrete or bricks could take pieces off it and it would become sharpel, it would have twice the impact

 

[A Can of Man]

para, that's actually not as bad as tree burst. Or loose rocks on the ground. Those make deadly shrapnel.

 

[fusion]

Hi Guys
How about the highest battelfield in the world , Siachin betwen india Pakistan and China.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/siachen.htm

 

[Pollux]

i also voted for winter.
i did my ranger training in the alps during december at -30°C and a fierce wind.
the bad is if you move a longer time during marching or running, you begin to sweat...and if you stop moving, you get cold cold...very cold. the water in your canteens or camelbacks freezes. Starting a fire is extreme difificult, with frozen wood.
you even can hardly move your fingers, becaus the snow on your gloves freezes.
a comrades finger had to be taken off, because of frostbites, and it took 2 months til i felt my fingers again.

so in my opinion, the most difficult condition is winter combined with mountains.

 

[Snauhi]

i also voted for winter.
i did my ranger training in the alps during december at -30°C and a fierce wind.
the bad is if you move a longer time during marching or running, you begin to sweat...and if you stop moving, you get cold cold...very cold. the water in your canteens or camelbacks freezes. Starting a fire is extreme difificult, with frozen wood.
you even can hardly move your fingers, becaus the snow on your gloves freezes.
a comrades finger had to be taken off, because of frostbites, and it took 2 months til i felt my fingers again.

so in my opinion, the most difficult condition is winter combined with mountains.

wow thats bad. Germany need better winter clothing

 

[EuroSpike]

"the bad is if you move a longer time during marching or running, you begin to sweat...and if you stop moving, you get cold cold...very cold. the water in your canteens or camelbacks freezes. Starting a fire is extreme difificult, with frozen wood. "

Not bad and quite easily solved problems. Wear only lightly while moving: t-shirt, polo-shirt, camojacket, snowsuit and long underpants are enough (i quess they are quite same stuff like ours). That keeps you warm enough and you won't sweat too much. When you stop for longer time for a pause for example, wear parkas or other warm fatique coats and unwear them when the pause ends. And keeping legs warm and dry are very important too. 8)

To prevent water canteen to get frozen, keep it under your clothes. You can hang it from a button hole under your jacket and you get it easily out to get drink. The worst misstake is to keep it in combat belt or even hanging outside without cover from any pouch.


"and if you stop moving, you get cold cold...very cold. the water in your canteens or camelbacks freezes. Starting a fire is extreme difificult, with frozen wood.
you even can hardly move your fingers, becaus the snow on your gloves freezes.
a comrades finger had to be taken off, because of frostbites, and it took 2 months til i felt my fingers again. "


Somehow the most of all military gloves are piece of s*it in winter use. Gloves should warm hands but not prevent to use weapon. I have found common thinsulate leather gloves the best. Costs about 5e from the nearest store.

If gloves don't warm enough, the best way to avoid frostbites is just keeping hands in pockets or under clothes to warm them always when using them is not needed.

 

[beardo]

im thinking artic...nothing is as bad as being absolutely freezing and knowing you might have a firefight..and have to move your frozen hands lol

not looking forward to this when i go in:

 

[Charge 7]

Um, ouch. Brrrrrrrrr!!

Yes, EuroSpike most military gloves suck. I always liked my old trigger mittens, but I imagine they don't issue those anymore. I used black thinsulate lined Goretex ski gloves in my latter days.