Getting to D-Day and Camping Out

Swift Fox 16 will be held at D-Day Adventure Park, near Wyandotte, Oklahoma. An address suitable for mapping and car nav systems is:

D-Day Adventure Park

66800 E 175 Rd

Wyandotte, OK 74370

But Google, and most mapping systems, tend to take you slightly twisty and dumb ways. Sometimes, across things like low crossings that flood a lot. So instead, here's the suggested route from Kansas City as an example of the last bits, at least.

In maps, here's where the park is relative to the local highways. The best Kansas City route comes down OK-137, through the State Park:

Once you get to that area, the easiest way to get to the field is to turn south off US-60 onto OK-10. Take the first left (it's a little ways down there) onto E 160 Road. Turn right across a bridge briefly onto N 670 Road, then left onto E 166 Road, till it dead ends. Turn right (onto Cayuga Road) and look for the large sign indicating D-Day Adventure Park to the right.

Once on site, we'll be checking in by army. Check the map, follow the signs, and don't go to the other army's campsite or parking lot.

Try to park in neat rows, and look carefully at where you have parked. Make sure you aren't blocking others in, or restricting access to buildings, equipment or for other vehicles such as tractors or trucks. Do not block roadways. There are large parking areas available if you have an oversized vehicle or need to unload a trailer. Look around, or ask. 

You are free to camp overnight Thursday, but try to keep it quiet. Many people will be resting from long drives, and we all need to get up real early to get ready.

No campfires, except in existing fire rings (there are a few) and be sure to put them out fully before you go to sleep. Take your tents down in the morning, and stow them and any other equipment you are not bringing in your vehicles. Pick up all your trash, and place it in dumpsters or stow it in your vehicles for after the event also.

There are many buildings, vehicles and other equipment on site. Don't mess with any of it unless we tell you specifically that you may use one of them. Also, do not explore outside this area, and especially do not go wandering off onto the field.


You can download all the above maps for easier printing if you wish to bring them with you.

Prowords

As we put together the commo section of the OPORDS, it seemed like it might be a good time to remind everyone of good radio procedure. If you don't use these all the time, it might be good to brush up on some basics.

So, here's a list that should be pretty much all of the correct prowords for use when talking on any radio system. Spread these around as much as you want, and try to memorize these, and their proper use.

• ALL AFTER - Referring to the portion of the message transmitted after the portion which will be repeated after this proword.
• ALL BEFORE - Referring to the portion of the message transmitted before the portion which will be repeated after this proword.
• BREAK - Brief separation of the message text from other text. Follow by briefly ceasing transmission on half-duplex systems.
• I COPY - Received the following message (followed by read-back of message as received)
• CORRECTION - An error has been made in this transmission. Transmission will continue with the last word correctly transmitted.
• DISREGARD THIS TRANSMISSION - This transmission is in error and should be entirely disregarded. Only used while still transmitting the message, never after it has been received or acknowledged.
• DO NOT ANSWER - Stations called will not answer this call in any manner. Use as the end of the transmission, immediately before “OUT.”
• ENUNCIATE - Receiving station cannot understand, due to clarity of sending operator. Say all words more clearly
• FROM - When relaying a message, the C/S of the original station sending follows “FROM.”
• GOOD COPY - Message received and recorded completely.
• I SAY AGAIN - This station is repeating the transmission or portion which immediately follows.
• I SPELL - This station will spell the next word phonetically.
• MESSAGE FOLLOWS - A message which requires recording is about to follow. The message will be transmitted when the receiving station acknowledges it is ready to record the message.
• MORE TO FOLLOW - Transmitting station has additional traffic for the receiving station.
• OUT - This is the end of my transmission to you and no answer is required or expected. Only the station that initiated the conversation should terminate the conversation and say OUT. 
• OVER - This is the end of my transmission to you and a response is necessary. 
• READ-BACK - Repeat the entire transmission immediately preceeding back to me exactly as received.
• RELAY (TO) - Transmit this message to all stations indicated. The address component is mandatory when this proword is used. E.g. "Relay To X-Ray One Foxtrot..."
• SAY AGAIN - Repeat your entire last transmission.
• SILENCE - Cease transmission on this net immediately. Silence will be maintained until lifted.
• SILENCE LIFTED - Silence is lifted and you may resume transmitting.
• SPEAK SLOWER - Your transmission is at too fast to understand or to record. Reduce speed of transmission.
• THIS IS - This transmission is from the station whose designator immediately follows.
• TO - The addressees immediately following are addressed for action.
• UNKNOWN-STATION - The identity of the station with whom I am attempting to establish communication is unknown.
• WAIT - I cannot respond for a few seconds, standby.
• WAIT OUT - I cannot respond for more than a few seconds. Will reestablish communications when available; stand by. 
• WILCO - I have received your signal, understand it, and will comply. To be used only by the addressee. Do not use with “ROGER” or follow with “OVER.”
• WORD AFTER - Referring to the word of the message transmitted after the portion which will be repeated after this proword. 
• WORD BEFORE - Referring to the word of the message transmitted before the portion which will be repeated after this proword.
• WORDS TWICE - Communication is difficult to receive. Receiving station requests transmitting each phrase (or each code group) twice.
• WRONG - Your last transmission was incorrect. The correct version message follows.

Load Carriage Options - Steven Hoober

As we've discussed in principle a few times already, integrating load bearing gear and your pack is an interesting exercise. If you've never done it before, it can be challenging and annoying to get it all fitting right.

Instead of just pronouncing the principles at you, and saying "try it out first" we're going to share with you some examples from the staff. First up, Steven Hoober's rig.

***

For this event it turns out I didn't have an LBE that would work. My "universal" chest rig wasn't really good with 7.62 mags, so I had to make something else real quickly. This went through a couple iterations already, but I think this is the final one:

  

It is an older (so simple) Tactical Tailor padded battlebelt, two Tactical Tailor triple M4 pouches (hold two FAL mags perfectly!), and a variety of admin pouches. I mostly forget who made them and now they are mounted it's hard to tell. The harness is a cheap French surplus one I've used because it's an H harness, simple, and un-padded. H harnesses are more stable than simple Xs so when I unclip the front, it stays in place, without flopping or twisting. Much easier to pick up off the ground and put on than my previous harness was as well. 

I added some inner-tube keepers to the back, even though the French seem to trust the velcro alone, and I glued a little glow in the dark tab to the crosspiece on the harness. I've never had too much glow on the back of anything.

Note that I have put the whole load on the sides, so I can lay down prone, and wear a pack without having to move or dismount gear. Also, as an officer I am carrying a handgun, and have the Safariland UBL to drop it down well away from my LBE, without the need for a leg strap. More on that in a minute. 

The big pouches to the back are filled with water now, but I plan on carrying an assault pack with a Camelback inside and using those for other stuff like grenades. So first, I need to make sure the assault pack works. 

In this case, almost perfectly. The natural position of the shoulder straps on my Lightweight Assault Pack are just outboard of the H harness on the LBE, and since my arrangement is a belt worn high, not even the sternum strap (I like those to keep it all in place) gets in the way of actual LBE gear. I also will mostly use a RAID modded BDU blouse with arm pockets instead of chest pockets, so can get to my stuff there easily still. But what about the ruck? 

This is a bit harder. The pack is a Kifaru Zulu G1. The shoulder straps work fine, riding the same place as the assault pack. But the waist belt takes some threading. The tall sustainment pouches drop below it, so I needed to bring the belt up under them. Note in the photo above since I was posing I forgot to tighten up the load lifters; it'll actually ride up against my back. And I'll probably have a lot more stuff in it, so it will be somewhat taller. 

Also, ideally my LBE would ride about 1" higher. I have always worn my hip belt higher than most, so YMMV but I needed to bring the LBE higher to make the ruck ride right. This works fine, but it does make the front LBE harness a bit loose. If I have something heavy in that one strap-mounted pouch, it would not be great on the march.

Lastly, you have to un-ruck about as carefully as putting it on. I always try to do this, so my straps are in the right position to put it back on, but here I can also snag the waist belt clip on top of the holster. Not a problem once you know, and now I make sure to get the waist belt free before dumping the pack itself, but you have to know the first time.