SQ5: So, you've dropped knapsacks...

[Charles Heath]

...and you have the choice of taking either your wool blanket or your ground cloth along with you as you march a few miles on a wet and chilly day (think 40 degrees and light rain), so which would you take and why? You can only take one, but not both of them with you on this hike. You know ahead of time it will be a cold camp, sleeping on your arms in the face of the enemy, and the ground is already sopping wet from several days of rain.

Note to newbies: Knapsacks are dropped now and then, and you might not see them until fixin' to depart for home on Sunday.

[huntdaw]

I'd take a gum blanket. It does provide some warmth although not as much as a blanket but, more importantly to me, it will keep you dryer. If you're dry you can sleep better in the cold than if you're wet. The times I have had to use only one, I have used the gum blanket. Plus, it's easier to fold up and tuck in the back of your belt if you have to get up and move fast.

Ideally, I would partner up with someone and one of us carry the gum blanket and the other a wool blanket and combine the two during a spooning session for the night.

My two cents worth.

[Charles Heath]

Ideally, I would partner up with someone and one of us carry the gum blanket and the other a wool blanket and combine the two during a spooning session for the night.

Spoken like a man who has done just this a time or two. I find three puppies in a pile are warmer than two, and four is even better, but spooning, rolling about at night, and snoring can have pros and cons. Not that I've ever heard anyone snore in camp, that is. :rolleyes:

Possibilities. The 2008 season is just filled with possibilities.

[Silas]

This is frightening me. Boiling cauldrons. BBQ combo plates. No knapsacks. Where's that bounty I was promised when I enlisted? I should have known better....

[Charles Heath]

Silas,

Sure, sure, but does this really beat beyatching about ramming your bayonet or bayoneting your rammer?

[Rankin]

I would take my gum rubber. Speaking from experience.
Jim Crawford
Hairy Nation

[ryanbmm]

I do beleave i would take the gum blanket! Better to be dry and cold than wet cold and no sleep!

[cprljohnivey]

Is there an SQ2 in this somewhere?!?!?!

[pvtbigbottom]

I'm Going to have to agree with everyone here, i believe the better choice would be to take your gum blanket. staying dry will keep you warmer in the end.

Respectfully,

[Rob Murray]

Charles,

I've done a lot of thinking on this. (10 mins.) I think I would take my "blankie". My reasoning behind this is: I attended an event a few years ago in VA., in May, that on Sat. evening the skies opened up and it rained all night. I woke up in an inch or two of water and after wringing out my clothes and sliding into my "gummie" with just trousers on, I found I was getting just as wet wrapped up in the "gummie" as out of it.

If it's really that wet a gum blanket isn't going to keep you any dryer. 3 or 4 layers of wet wool with body heat should keep one just as warm. And if it didn't I'd go find some fool with a gum blanket.

Mr. Comer, I'll share my "blankie" if you share your "gummie". :D

[Moose]

I would have to disagree. Wet wool still maintains up to 70% of its warmth. I would take my wool blanket. More over, I would find a messmate and spoon. Let each of us take one thing, or hell one of us take the blanket and one of us take two rubber blankets, the weight will even out.

Cheers,

[Charles Heath]

Is there an SQ2 in this somewhere?!?!?!

Obviously, darn few play cards, roll the bones, rob messmates blind with chuck-a-luck, etc. (http://www.authentic-campaigner.com/forum/showthread.php?t=14222) :D

[33rd VA Co. H]

I'd take my ground cloth......it's wrapped around my blanket. :D
Rules....what rules.....there are no rules in war.

[AZReenactor]

Oh, bedding down with messmates is the only way to go in my opinion. A healthy mix of gummies and wool around the puppy pile beats a single of either in solitude any day.

That said, I'd personally prefer to take my nice warm woolen blanket since that mule collar also provides a little warmth on the march.

[cprljohnivey]

I see the SQ2 now... wierd... didn't populate earlier.

As to this question. I'd have to go with carrying an extra haversack. I am sure I can rely on the kindness of strangers to share a blanket with me if I am totin extra food for them.

[Abrams]

Wool blanket-some warmth while wet.

Maybe it will stop raining, and if not, I wager I could find a covered spot, or someone to share their gummie if I share my blankie, as long as they don't know how loud I snore... :o

[DJCasey]

I agree that the wool blanket will give you more warmth, but once that sucker is wet, it gains a lot of weight that I would rather not carry on the next days march. Wet gum blankets don't pick up too much weight and they dry in a few seconds in the sun or held near a fire. I think I would go with the gum. I may not be as warm, but I think I would be more comfortable the next day with dry(er) clothes and a lighter load.

[Kevin O'Beirne]

E-gads, it's a darn good thing these questions are being asked now.

Few posts above "get it"--meaning, reenactors should "pard up" with a comrade a lot more often than is often done. Dropping packs and you can only take the blanket or the gum? Answer: You bring the gum, I'll bring the wool, and we use 'em together.

At Rich Mountain 2006--yes, the event with the infamous "camp outdoors overnight in chilling 63-degree temperatures while your blankie and knapsack remain miles away at the base of the mountain"--when we dropped packs most of our company was bright enough to retain our gum blankets (after all, it WAS raining at the time...). That night, in anticipation of frigid, Arctic-like temperatures in July, three of us, each in possession of a gum blanket--laid down together. Two blankets lengthwise kept us off the ground (which may have, gasp, had some residual moisture in it on the mountaintop!), and one gum went over us "cross-wise" to keep the upper body of the three of us warm. Being the guy in the middle of that arrangement, I was too warm that night. Moral of the Story: Pooling of resources works well.

Reenactors need to plan in advance so that pards/comrades, and messes jointly cooperate to bring and carry the stuff that makes life "on the march" a bit more comfortable.

[Charles Heath]

File "partner," mess "mate," and some other words come to mind, along with some orders that were given on a regular basis by a fine fellow in blue, back in the day. Not to give up any secrets or anything like that.

Hmmmm, I wonder how cold it gets in New Albany, Penna., in late August?

[MassVOL]

Rubber Blanket
- I was at rich mountian
- Rubber blanket is lighter even when wet will dry fast and keep in body heat
- see the first.

[toptimlrd]

Partnering up, sharing supplies, spooning.......egads, whoda thunk it?:p

[Charles Heath]

Robert, people who will combine the contents of several haversacks will sometimes not see the light when it comes to sharing resources for getting some sleep at night. Maybe this worm will eventually turn.

[DougCooper]

Have a great letter from a Capt in the 1st Minn on a 5 day recon in light marching order Sept 20, 1863. They were ordered to take gum blankets but were specifically told to leave wool blankets behind. I figure that decision was time of year/temperature related. Might have been different in February with wool instead of gum.

I like the mess mate sharing plan.

[Kevin O'Beirne]

I like the mess mate sharing plan.

Some of us are faithful to our spouses. Some are "free-thinkers". :D

[Charles Heath]

Kevin,

Is this coming from the same fellow who made a slight typo about "wives," as in the plural sense, that set the Winter 1864 listserver to chuckling in a big way? Hmmmm.

The cold weather isn't always the problem, as sometimes dampness from nearby bodies of water penetrates most everything.

[mslaird]

I would have to agree that wool would be a better choice for the cold and wet if I were limited to only taking one. The painted groundcloths and gum blankets would probably not help with keeping dry all that much and wool does retain warmth reasonably well when it is wet. As for the weight of the wet wool, if it is raining that hard, everything is going to get heavy fairly quick. If you are exhausted from marching all day, then you can sleep through just about anything.

[Parault]

Gum Blanket,and partnering up..........no brainer for me. Even if it is just two gum blankets,that beats one any day.

Been there,done that,bought a T-shirt.