Tactical Wisdom: Winter Preparedness

Originally appears on Tactical Wisdom and authored by my friend Joe Dolio.

As I write this, word is coming out that NY Police are finding bodies frozen in vehicles all along the highways in areas impacted by the storm. Buffalo is finding frozen people buried in the snow. It’s a horrible tragedy, but all the more so because it was 100% avoidable.

Over the weekend, we also saw mass looting in Buffalo and the stories said, “People turn to looting when stranded without supplies during blizzard.” That’s fake news, for sure. For 10 days, the nation was warned ad nauseum about the coming blizzard and frigid temperatures. The only reason anyone was without supplies was willful negligence. I’m sorry for those who died, but it’s absolutely true.

then if anyone hears the trumpet but does not heed the warning and the sword comes and takes their life, their blood will be on their own head.

Ezekiel 33:4

We have become soft. Humans survived thousands of years in the cold and heat. Our modern lives of convenience and comfort have made us forget that Nature exists and will try very hard to kill you if you don’t give it the respect it deserves.

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What do I mean by use becoming soft? We live in climate-controlled bubbles of 66-70 degrees Fahrenheit year-round. We leave our climate-controlled homes, get in our climate-controlled cars, and drive to our climate-controlled offices or shopping centers. Our exposure to Nature is the walk to and from the car.

Step one in winter preparedness is acclimatization. Start getting used to the cold. Your body has mechanisms to protect you, it’s just forgotten about them. I live in Michigan and am constantly shocked at the number of people who live here who can’t handle the cold. I don’t wear a jacket until the air temperature is below 32 degrees. Then, I wear a light jacket until under 20. The first step is train your body to get used to cooler air. The same applies in the summer.

The next step is to understand layering. We live in a consumerist society which believes that if we just buy the biggest and heaviest winter coat, we will stay warm no matter what. Unless you are just going to be standing completely still outside, this is actually COUNTER-PRODUCTIVE. Let me explain…

I learned cold weather survival at the USMC Mountain Warfare Training Center. It’s among the best places in the world to learn about cold weather survival. There I learned that if you are just wearing your big, heavy parka, and you are exerting yourself even just by walking, you will soon overheat and start sweating. You will eventually unzip that parka, and cold air will hit that sweat, making you actually COLDER than if you weren’t wearing the parka. Heavy and high-loft gear is for when you are standing still.

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Instead of buying one heavy item, invest in a layering system. Begin with some type of silk-weight base layer with wicking properties against your skin. In the US military system, they call them exactly that “silk-weight base layer”. The purpose of this is to provide a light layer to trap body heat that also pulls moisture from sweat and condensation away from your body to prevent accidental cooling. That’s the first layer.

Next, add what we call the “Mid-weight” layer. These are also moisture-wicking and can either be worn alone or over the silk weight, depending on how cold it is. Mid-weight is generally polypropylene or similar. The idea is to be cool, but not cold or too warm. If you feel “warm and cozy” while standing still, you are wearing too much, as you will overheat when you begin moving.

If it’s very cold, use the mid-weights for the base layer and add on a “waffle-grid” layer. This is a layer with a grid that allows pockets of warm air to be trapped, keeping you warm. These come in various thicknesses, so I keep on hand a mid-weight and a heavy-weight version. I generally wear the heavy-weight ones when standing still or sle