MWR on the Move: From Home Base to Fox Holes, Have Some Downtime, by GuerrillaLogistician
Part Three – Guerrilla Navigation – Learn the Basics because Murphy is Watching
Part Four – “Guerilla Unit Sonar” – The SIGINT Specialist
Part Five – Run Silent Run Deep: The Insurgency Primer to Submerging Under Your Enemy
Reference 7A – Crew’s Mess
https://media.defense.gov/2011/Aug/01/2000233222/-1/-1/0/110731-F-CP197-001.JPG
This is a look into the little things that make life bearable and something you should invest in. One of the significant things neglected by most preppers is recreation. There is a false sense of “you will be too busy to do anything but work,” which is valid to some extent. More so, the work vs. freedom of people these days might make some people think they are being worked to death if things go sideways. The problem is that without downtime, people not only don’t decompress, but they also don’t reset, and that leads to what we call PTSD (shell shock, etc.).
You don’t have to believe me but look at time in combat vs. breakdown in the book Variation in Psychological Tolerance To Ground Combat in WWII. If men were made differently in WWII, why were they also suffering mental breakdowns? Why was it studied? Not only does that book show how experience over time hardens people mentally, but it also expresses how rotations away from combat help. Let’s face it: if you are in a guerrilla environment, you won’t have time nor the capability to retrograde. This means your commander or you must ensure the men around you get stress-free downtime.
People forget how important this can be, but almost every movie always has troops playing cards. While most movie tropes are just stupid tropes, playing cards and militaries go hand in hand. Nowadays, you can buy plastic playing cards that will weather the hardest rain and keep them around. Maybe you will use them to gamble some rations or a less fun job, like dealing with Latrine care. Do you think Liquoredrabbit will be taking care of your latrines? Absolutely not! That is why he wrote the article so you know how to prevent death by poop and poop-loving bugs (check out his articles). Maybe you can use your cards to gamble on getting someone else to do that job. Also, card playing is such a consistent pastime that cards were shipped in care packages with hidden maps to POWs. Cribbage is a big thing on submarines still to this day, which requires cards as well. Like a submarine, you will probably have limited space and resources, so let’s discuss what entertainment you might want to procure before things go wrong.
Cribbage
https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/stacking-the-deck-escape-cards-of-world-war-ii.htm
So, we have talked about cards, but I will add some info. As much as I like playing poker and have some fun stories playing penny poker, it can get boring over time. The best part of cards is that so many games have been developed beyond blackjack and poker. Along with dice, they give you many options even if you don’t gamble for money or chores; it’s a good stress relief. Introducing new games people haven’t played can be fun as well. Maybe even FARO might make a comeback from the Wild West, but remember, the house doesn’t do as well as poker games, etc.
FARO is an all-but-forgotten game that is more balanced than today’s gambling regarding the house vs. the gambler.
https://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-faro/
Have half of a deck or missing cards? How about this and maybe a sleight of hand so you don’t have to clean the latrines?
BRAG is another good game that is very old and all but forgotten. This one is a lot of fun, in my opinion, but it can be a pain to remember the rules, so have a cheat sheet for beginners.
Maybe card games and gambling are not your thing; they sure aren’t mine all the time. Other options exist; they go back centuries in time and are easily made. The link below has a list of games, some for children and some for adults. The further you go down, the more adult the list of games goes, so I recommend you Scroll down or save the information onto a hard drive for later needs. While this might be unusual, these games can be different enough that it will be exciting for some people to have something different.
Old games InfoMEDIEVALGAMES
Now you can stick with cards or maybe make some dominos if you remember how many there are and what configuration you can make dominos out of just about anything. Perhaps you will want to build your own board game; as childish as it might sound, Monopoly and Risk are all played regularly in war zones. There were nights in the MWR tent when men of all ages and jobs came to nerd out over D&D or Magic (a card game). The problem with all these games is that they aren’t packable, so you may want to keep these back in a safe location. You can save some games on a tablet, which might be an option if you can keep the damn thing from emitting a trackable signal. Tablets and laptops can also house tons of videos now, a shift from recent years when DVDs had to be carried in folders and older film-based systems. From 2005-7ish, some bases had an illegal ring of 3 uniquely different 1TB hard drives filled with porn which was a lot of porn back then. There were also pirated movie hard drives that were even more expensive in selection from TVs to Movies; if it could be ripped, it was on someone’s hard drive. That said, old movies can be loaded and transferred, so that is always an option, but talk to your comms guy and make sure your tablet isn’t something that will get you killed.
16mm projector used on submarines from 1943 until the 1980s this one is from the USS Razorback Museum
Books are another big thing to keep around if possible; non-fiction books and paperbacks of any form can be a pleasure to read. When starved for entertainment, a good book can travel many miles, be shared, or traded for other books. You may not have a library, but a series of books passed around can go a long way and be a conversation piece. I won’t go into much detail, and I usually recommend A. American or John Ringo, but that might be too on the nose or way off point for your living situation. Old faithfuls like Herbert, Tolkien, or older Stephen King (ignore his politics for entertainment) are always a good choice. Anything not on point helps a lot, so make sure fiction is also available.
So, what do you do as a traveler who may have to pack their gear? Well, there is a series of small games that are easy to pack. The downside is they have items that are easy to lose. With any game, always have a packing slip with all the items to help if something goes missing. Images of each thing in the game help to rebuild it, and in fact, you may keep the tiny game so you can hand copy a more playable game later. That won’t work well for the magic decks shown, but the compact size this company produces and the fact they give you two decks to play is nice. You could carry a bunch of these with little issue. Even in packaging, they are relatively small, so a nice small case or bag will keep these nice and dry.
The company sells Battleship, Connect 4, etc., so some options exist. Some other companies also sell travel board games like chess and checkers, which have always been a favorite. Some sets are magnetized and cheap to buy. You may not want all these games for yourself, but some would give children a nice little gift in hard times.
Whatever you do or the information you keep, remember that morale isn’t just a word used for your troops’ motivation; it is something you should watch. Things like ice cream during World War II were a significant boost from morale, and you may still have the possibility of making those tasty treats. Alcohol was another beverage that would boost morale for both the Army and Navy before they were outlawed for intelligent reasons that could be debated to this day. In reality, some of these things aren’t entertaining for everyone, and having a diversified set is very helpful. This may also make you consider keeping some old board games in the attic, just in case. Regardless of how you address morale for your people, the core element is to give people some downtime, even if it’s from laborious jobs, including the biggest misfits. Sometimes, providing someone relief is that little edge that brings sanity or camaraderie to a unit.
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About the Author: Patriotman
GUNS N GEAR
