For most, winter is the most demanding environment to operate in.

For the unprepared and inexperienced, it can be a nightmare of cold, of struggle against the elements, immobility, misery, even death. And only from the elements.  For the experienced, it provides the exact opposite – mobility, access to water anywhere, a time where working with the elements offers a greater edge in using them to your advantage against your opponents, something known to any guerilla warrior, and a time of beauty and awareness, but also highly skill demanding.  If you are an amateur, even only slightly trained – you are screwed against even moderate experts.  In the following editions of Tactical News Magazine I will write three articles on winter survival, the next will cover WHY you need to know about snow types, shelter techniques that work and which that refrain you from getting wet when building, fires that will make you comfortable instead of just smoke and shivering over a small miserable fire, how to protect your kit and weapon from getting wet or frozen, how to dry equipment in winter, and how to gain the initiative in winter conditions, and ten small secrets sooo essential to winter survival.

If you want to operate in winter, you had better learn to be comfortable first. Or the enemy will simple let you get miserable before anything else.

In all three articles we will emphasize the need to  THINK and to be AHEAD of developing situations by building MARGINS.  PREVENTION is critical in winter as it takes forever to recover back to the outset when you make mistakes.  What is winter?

For some winter is rain. When we talk about winter – we mean snow and freezing temperatures. Oh yes, even way above the Arctic circle coastal conditions can mean rain in winter– and temperatures jumping from minus 25 to rain in day and back – with disastrous consequences if unprepared. And it can be -40° C and a strong breeze on top (not talking minus 40° windchill – I am talking -40° C read on the thermometer and wind on top. Coldest I have had? Around

·      56° C and a light breeze on top. People say high air humidity and wind at milder temperatures is the coldest

·      but only because they were not dressed right. -56 C and a light breeze is amazingly cold, trust me. But you can still do well.

How to stay WARM…

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