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Posted: 2/24/2021 6:10:43 PM EDT
[#1]
Quote HistoryQuoted: You know, the Germans had it down to something of a science, putting zeltbahns together. They could make squad tents with flies and everything! ETA: here toy go http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/2602/7094/products/1975577cd16917028_e16d889f-721f-4dd6-846d-413460403370_1200x1200.jpg?v=1554945912 https://theredguard.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/9/4/11945399/4637182.jpg?720 https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/2602/7094/products/1975577cd168d8061_35fa6b4e-1425-40a7-abf6-abaab40b4201_1024x1024@2x.jpg?v=1554945912 https://www.varusteleka.com/pictures/thumbs500a/1975577cd16918c1d.jpg https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/p7DoVgxGmP1YjXSQmWMPskiW0Ta7gxYRjrw7psdKSUhcMAI6ZgcZVQSWelFSiqb7CcvrYs35Amrx-FWFOQenrqskv5Z005PfIkbxBnJ0NO9oIehjv_VEH4pNasjyt0BD7H4 Zeltbahns |
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Posted: 2/24/2021 6:12:51 PM EDT
[#2]
Bigfoot and butsek comes to mind for some reason...
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Posted: 2/24/2021 6:15:51 PM EDT
[#3]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I think the US military has been using that same design since the Civil War. The wedge shape is the workhorse of the tent world. Wedge tents have been in use as long as humans have been sleeping under animal skins. And the two-piece "pup" tent was indeed used during the Civil War. It was open-ended, though. I don't think the end flaps were added until the Korean War. |
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Posted: 2/24/2021 6:15:53 PM EDT
[#4]
I was able to sleep comfortably in the field at Ft Eustis in 1988. IT was Deecmber and the last night in the field we got a heavy snow. Of course I haven't spent another night in a pup tent.
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Posted: 2/24/2021 6:15:58 PM EDT
[#5]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I thought the same. I love the smell of fresh canvas. OP, where's your little rain trench around the tent?! Where's your battle-buddy?! 
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Posted: 2/24/2021 6:19:01 PM EDT
[#6]
I've slept in those in a foot of snow.
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Posted: 2/24/2021 6:20:36 PM EDT
[#7]
Quote HistoryQuoted: You had an air mattress? I was in 96-98 11B. In OSUT we had the green foam sleeping mat. When I got to Ft. Campbell we were issued an air mattress at CIF. Most of us bought the green foam mats at the clothing sales store since it weighed nothing and could be stored on the outside of the ruck, saving space inside. |
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Posted: 2/24/2021 6:22:35 PM EDT
[#8]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Sometime after I was in my assigned unit the CO decided to have his men partake in a 10 mile march with fully loaded rucksacks (even though we were a motorized unit). A number of guys had the brilliant idea of stuffing a partially inflated air mattress in their rucks to make it look like they had a full pack. All of them got caught at formation before we headed out. Just like EIB land nav-if you ain't cheating you ain't trying! |
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Posted: 2/24/2021 6:23:00 PM EDT
[#9]
My infantry unit had a mix of shelter halves with snaps and others with buttons. You always had to make sure someone in your fire team had one or the other to match up with yours.
The “clang” sound of a platoons’ worth of e-tools pounding stakes into the ground at Ft Hunter Liggett CA will resonate in my head forever. I remember being comfortable in them, especially as damp and cold as it was in Monterey Co at night. Morning revile was a rude experience half of the time, depending on the time of year. At least we slept in GP Mediums at Camp Pendleton, which was nice until it was time to take them down and then it was a working party to clean them off prior to turn in. At MCMWTC in Bridgeport CA, we had permanent GP Mediums with winter liners. They still were cold enough that we used the rubberized WP bag that we carried our sleeping bag in to slip over the foot end of our bags so our feet would be somewhat warm. The gear issued now like the Eureka! (or whoever won the latest contract) combat tent and Gor-Tex boots, clothing, and cold weather gear is so much better than the Korean War-era gear that was still in the system in the 1980s. Off topic, but the military clothing store at Ft Knox Ky still had some WWII era items like web gear in stock at various times in 1987. |
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Posted: 2/24/2021 6:23:44 PM EDT
[#10]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Beat me to it good sir! Those fucking things were a pain in the ass. Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: 2 shelter halfs. Worthless except for laying out for inspection, using as a tarp, losing the pins, poles or rope, and taking up room in your barracks wall locker or a trunk at home. Beat me to it good sir! Those fucking things were a pain in the ass. And unnecessarily heavy. A second poncho and some 550 cord was lighter and more useful. |
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Posted: 2/24/2021 6:24:45 PM EDT
[#11]
Quote Historygona need a bigger gun.
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Posted: 2/24/2021 6:24:58 PM EDT
[#12]
Flashback to my 1st year in Boy Scouts 1967. Our troop went camping once a month, regardless of the weather. That year all we had were surplus shelter halves...let’s say it was a character building exercise...
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Posted: 2/24/2021 6:29:00 PM EDT
[#13]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Marine infantry. What do I win?Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: Quoted: I still like shelter halves and canvas tents in general. Unless the bugs are bad, I much prefer them to nylon "land warts". You can rig them as a lean-to, also. When weight isn't a factor, like car and canoe camping, I still use them. If a storm is forecast, sometimes I even pitch one in my front yard just to have a thermos of tea and read a book and listen to the rain on the canvas. My $27 Walmart tent is 1087% better than a shelter half in every way. The cheap nylon foot print I have makes a better lean-to and weighs a few oz and could fit in a cargo pocket. Hell, just a gortex bivy and sleeping bag is 587% better. You weren’t a ground guy in the .mil were you. What do I win? I thought you were the guy that crashed the F-4 for some reason. Now who is that? 
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Posted: 2/24/2021 6:29:05 PM EDT
[#14]
Can you sleep horizontally when you’re soaked?
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Posted: 2/24/2021 6:31:59 PM EDT
[#15]
OP, good effort for your first time. It needs to be much tighter though. I used one at Parris Island in USMC bootcamp. Slept in it for a week, with another recruit, our rifles and our gear. I used it again a couple of times at AT in the Army NG. They perform well if you leave everything but the canvas at home and just wrap yourself in that.
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Posted: 2/24/2021 6:33:27 PM EDT
[#16]
Quote HistoryQuoted: My pops had several WW2 style pup tents. I spent many a night camping in the backyard. This. Lots of Great Memories! I preferred to run a line between two trees to avoid the poles in the center (easier in & out & more room). Spent many nights in boy scouts and back yard camping with my buddies when younger. BIGGER_HAMMER 
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Posted: 2/24/2021 6:35:51 PM EDT
[#17]
Quote HistoryQuoted: We had them, never said we used them. They were worthless for sleeping on even when they didn't leak from holes and punctures. https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/24334/US-Army-Air-Mattress-Surplus-Vietnam_jpg-1839627.JPG A-Haaa!!! The Infamous "Rubber Bitch" 
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Posted: 2/24/2021 6:35:58 PM EDT
[#18]
Used them.
A tarp from harbor freight would be preferable. |
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Posted: 2/24/2021 6:37:04 PM EDT
[#19]
Quote HistoryQuoted: /media/mediaFiles/sharedAlbum/bubbles_zps5bf5952f_GIF-110.gif I thought you were the guy that crashed the F-4 for some reason. Now who is that? Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: I still like shelter halves and canvas tents in general. Unless the bugs are bad, I much prefer them to nylon "land warts". You can rig them as a lean-to, also. When weight isn't a factor, like car and canoe camping, I still use them. If a storm is forecast, sometimes I even pitch one in my front yard just to have a thermos of tea and read a book and listen to the rain on the canvas. My $27 Walmart tent is 1087% better than a shelter half in every way. The cheap nylon foot print I have makes a better lean-to and weighs a few oz and could fit in a cargo pocket. Hell, just a gortex bivy and sleeping bag is 587% better. You weren’t a ground guy in the .mil were you. What do I win?/media/mediaFiles/sharedAlbum/bubbles_zps5bf5952f_GIF-110.gif I thought you were the guy that crashed the F-4 for some reason. Now who is that? Started as a grunt, ended as a pilot. What do I win? |
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Posted: 2/24/2021 6:37:06 PM EDT
[#20]
Takes me back to my childhood. Dad brought one home in the 60s and it was practically my room as long as the weather permitted sleeping outdoors.
Can still smell the canvas. |
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Posted: 2/24/2021 6:37:30 PM EDT
[#21]
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Posted: 2/24/2021 6:40:28 PM EDT
[#22]
Quote HistoryQuoted: That thing is the personification of the military making camping miserable. We had a FTX in SC in the middle of August and they forced us to keep one end of the thing closed. Turned it into a fucking oven. No sleep. 0/10, absolutely would not use again. ETA: Oh! The poles are absolute shit and will break if you look at the wrong. Have fun. Uniformity of functionality. |
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Posted: 2/24/2021 6:40:29 PM EDT
[#23]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Just a test set up. Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: I thought the same. I love the smell of fresh canvas. OP, where's your little rain trench around the tent?! Where's your battle-buddy?! I’m down to see this trench with wooden plank walls and walk ways, sand bag roundabouts. |
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Posted: 2/24/2021 6:43:00 PM EDT
[#24]
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Posted: 2/24/2021 6:43:18 PM EDT
[#25]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Marine infantry. What do I win? |
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Posted: 2/24/2021 6:43:36 PM EDT
[#26]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Trying to turn in my gear during outprocessing was among the worst experiences I ever had in the Army. I had heard CIF was full of dicks, but no one really prepared me for how bad it was. Shit I had literally never used since it was issued to me, they would reject for being too dirty. I'd get sent back outside, scrub all the rejected shit with random cleaning products, wait in line again for anywhere between 30 mins to an hour, then get a few new items accepted and repeat the whole process again with the rejects. It took about two and a half entire days to turn my gear in and I became convinced they were just flipping a coin for every item. After the first full day I inquired if they could just send me the bill for the shit they wouldn't take. I still remember the guy getting a smile on his face as he explained how I could do that, but it would just keep me there even longer. If there is a hell, I imagine it being something like CIF. Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: Those stakes better not have any dirt on them either when you trued them back in  Trying to turn in my gear during outprocessing was among the worst experiences I ever had in the Army. I had heard CIF was full of dicks, but no one really prepared me for how bad it was. Shit I had literally never used since it was issued to me, they would reject for being too dirty. I'd get sent back outside, scrub all the rejected shit with random cleaning products, wait in line again for anywhere between 30 mins to an hour, then get a few new items accepted and repeat the whole process again with the rejects. It took about two and a half entire days to turn my gear in and I became convinced they were just flipping a coin for every item. After the first full day I inquired if they could just send me the bill for the shit they wouldn't take. I still remember the guy getting a smile on his face as he explained how I could do that, but it would just keep me there even longer. If there is a hell, I imagine it being something like CIF. Supposedly, the CG of Fort Benning sent his aide to get a full set of gear issued from CIF and set it in the corner of his office for a period of time and then sent the aide to turn it in, exactly as it had been issued, and raised Holy Hell when CIF rejected it all (told to me by his driver a decade and a half ago). |
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Posted: 2/24/2021 6:47:51 PM EDT
[#27]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I'm down to see this trench with wooden plank walls and walk ways, sand bag roundabouts. |
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Posted: 2/24/2021 6:49:58 PM EDT
[#28]
Quote History
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Posted: 2/24/2021 7:01:51 PM EDT
[#29]
That isn't a tent. Thats just a shitty tarp that looks like a shitty tent from the outside.
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Posted: 2/24/2021 7:11:16 PM EDT
[#30]
I had a 1950's U.S. surplus pup tent.
My dad was a CWO4, and shit like that could be had for the asking. I also crates of K-rations. Spent many nights in the back yard in my pup tent eating k-rats and armed with a BB gun. |
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Posted: 2/24/2021 7:11:45 PM EDT
[#31]
Quote HistoryQuoted: To protect me from Bigfoot? Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: I'm down to see this trench with wooden plank walls and walk ways, sand bag roundabouts. Not you, Bigfoot wants to shack up with Evelyn in your tent! |
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Posted: 2/24/2021 7:17:05 PM EDT
[#32]
I had a couple pairs.
Iirc I gave one or both away. Ran across some pole sections and the stakes, The stakes are about the best tent stake made......well unless you are humping a shelter half that they won’t let you sleep. I wouldn’t ever choose to use one again,......well unless I used it as tarp over firewood. |
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Posted: 2/24/2021 7:23:00 PM EDT
[#33]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Yup, needs a poncho as a ground tarp to get the full effect though. |
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Posted: 2/24/2021 7:23:14 PM EDT
[#34]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Yup, needs a poncho as a ground tarp to get the full effect though.  Attached File |
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Posted: 2/24/2021 7:29:06 PM EDT
[#35]
Quote HistoryQuoted: /media/mediaFiles/sharedAlbum/bubbles_zps5bf5952f_GIF-110.gif I thought you were the guy that crashed the F-4 for some reason. Now who is that? Are you implying that a Marine Grunt can't crash an F-4? |
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Posted: 2/24/2021 8:21:27 PM EDT
[#36]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Trying to turn in my gear during outprocessing was among the worst experiences I ever had in the Army. I had heard CIF was full of dicks, but no one really prepared me for how bad it was. Shit I had literally never used since it was issued to me, they would reject for being too dirty. I'd get sent back outside, scrub all the rejected shit with random cleaning products, wait in line again for anywhere between 30 mins to an hour, then get a few new items accepted and repeat the whole process again with the rejects. It took about two and a half entire days to turn my gear in and I became convinced they were just flipping a coin for every item. After the first full day I inquired if they could just send me the bill for the shit they wouldn't take. I still remember the guy getting a smile on his face as he explained how I could do that, but it would just keep me there even longer. If there is a hell, I imagine it being something like CIF. First times goes at all my CIF experiences. 
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Posted: 2/24/2021 8:31:37 PM EDT
[#37]
Other than basic I’ve slept in one two nights in the snow.
Some ducking general decided that it was dangerous to sleep on the vehicle. Fuck that, frogging cold. I’m a tanker, we had heater’s for a reason |
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Posted: 2/24/2021 8:36:09 PM EDT
[#38]
Man. Fuck those piece of crap shelter halves. Pure dog shit. Have fun!
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Posted: 2/24/2021 8:44:13 PM EDT
[#39]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Man. Fuck those piece of crap shelter halves. Pure dog shit. Have fun! Have to agree. Was issued them but never used one except during OSUT. I did winter cycle so it was always soaking up rain during road marches and being an all around pain in the ass. |
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Posted: 2/24/2021 8:47:32 PM EDT
[#40]
Quote HistoryQuoted: they went to the little worthless foam roll up mat. Thats all we had. |
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Posted: 2/24/2021 8:55:45 PM EDT
[#41]
I slept in one of those on a Boy Scout camping trip in the 80s. It made me long for my $28 nylon tent.
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Posted: 2/24/2021 8:58:48 PM EDT
[#42]
Gross
Get a surplus improved combat shelter. Awesome tent |
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Posted: 2/24/2021 9:00:07 PM EDT
[#43]
Quote HistoryQuoted: That's me, too. Started as a grunt, ended as a pilot. What do I win?Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: I still like shelter halves and canvas tents in general. Unless the bugs are bad, I much prefer them to nylon "land warts". You can rig them as a lean-to, also. When weight isn't a factor, like car and canoe camping, I still use them. If a storm is forecast, sometimes I even pitch one in my front yard just to have a thermos of tea and read a book and listen to the rain on the canvas. My $27 Walmart tent is 1087% better than a shelter half in every way. The cheap nylon foot print I have makes a better lean-to and weighs a few oz and could fit in a cargo pocket. Hell, just a gortex bivy and sleeping bag is 587% better. You weren’t a ground guy in the .mil were you. What do I win?/media/mediaFiles/sharedAlbum/bubbles_zps5bf5952f_GIF-110.gif I thought you were the guy that crashed the F-4 for some reason. Now who is that? Started as a grunt, ended as a pilot. What do I win?See, I think you were really a pilot all along, it just took you awhile to figure it out while hanging out with the grunts. That explains you liking the shelter half.
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Posted: 2/24/2021 9:03:12 PM EDT
[#44]
Man, I have had a lot of folks come into the store, see those and have "story time" commence with "When I was at..."
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Posted: 2/24/2021 9:05:01 PM EDT
[#45]
I slept in one of those way back when. My buddy and I froze. I am not going to lie, there was some cuddling that night.
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Posted: 2/24/2021 9:10:45 PM EDT
[#46]
Quote HistoryQuoted: See, I think you were really a pilot all along, it just took you awhile to figure it out while hanging out with the grunts. That explains you liking the shelter half. Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: I still like shelter halves and canvas tents in general. Unless the bugs are bad, I much prefer them to nylon "land warts". You can rig them as a lean-to, also. When weight isn't a factor, like car and canoe camping, I still use them. If a storm is forecast, sometimes I even pitch one in my front yard just to have a thermos of tea and read a book and listen to the rain on the canvas. My $27 Walmart tent is 1087% better than a shelter half in every way. The cheap nylon foot print I have makes a better lean-to and weighs a few oz and could fit in a cargo pocket. Hell, just a gortex bivy and sleeping bag is 587% better. You weren’t a ground guy in the .mil were you. What do I win?/media/mediaFiles/sharedAlbum/bubbles_zps5bf5952f_GIF-110.gif I thought you were the guy that crashed the F-4 for some reason. Now who is that? Started as a grunt, ended as a pilot. What do I win?See, I think you were really a pilot all along, it just took you awhile to figure it out while hanging out with the grunts. That explains you liking the shelter half. |
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Posted: 2/24/2021 9:13:03 PM EDT
[#47]
I remember using those shelter halves back in basic training. When I got to my unit, we did a lot of multi day field exercises, but I quickly learned to set up a poncho tent (hooch) instead. Then I picked up a spare nylon poncho and always kept it in one of the outside pockets of the alice pack. I prepped the spare poncho with 550 cord lines on the corners and some spare bungee cords. It got so I could set up a poncho hooch in barely a minute or so.
The nylon poncho was actually my favorite piece of gear, since it could be a canopy shelter as well as worn. With the snaps on the poncho you could also fold it in half and use it like a sleeping bag cover, but it did not breath at all so you had to keep some parts open for vents. Back from the time when we still had those d-cell angle head flashlights always clipped to your LBE. I think that flashlight was also used since the civil war like the shelter halves. |
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Posted: 2/24/2021 9:13:33 PM EDT
[#48]
I still hate shelter halves.
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Posted: 2/24/2021 9:18:05 PM EDT
[#49]
In spite of all the bad stories, I will take it camping in a few weeks. I'll do a thread with pics and AAR.
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Posted: 2/24/2021 9:23:07 PM EDT
[#50]
Put a graphic warning in the title! My eye started twitching when I saw that shitty monster. Basic at Ft. Sill in June with someone jammed in there with me and camped in a swampy area. Worst night of mosquito bites in my entire life.
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