Packing Lite

You can always tell the boots from the seniors by how Marines pack for the field. When you’re new, you think you need everything that CIF issued you every time you go out. By the time you’re a few years in and have been on hundreds of field-ops, you basically barely bring anything other than the bare essentials.

In Hawaii particularly, the field was warm and moist day and night. You certainly didn’t need the many layers of your sleeping system to keep warm at night. Once you embraced sleeping with nothing more than a bivvy-sack (the waterproof shell) and your ISOMAT, you reached true enlightenment.

I’d recommend not skipping some kind of outer shell though. Aside from keeping dry, Hawaii is home to Scolopendra subspinipes, otherwise known as the giant fucking centipede.

I’ll never forget being on a field op in Hawaii once when a giant centipede bit one of our Marines on the face. He woke up the whole platoon screaming and his face swelled up for days. 😂 https://t.co/hlvbox8nkU pic.twitter.com/JenPaon1Fe

— Maximilian Uriarte (@TLCplMax) July 16, 2022