Infantry Small Packs Explained!!

Infantry Small Packs Explained!!

 

So What is it?

 An Infantry small pack is what every soldier carries into battle, and indeed carries with them at all times! In this post I shall exaplin the contents and why it is all there!

 How do I look...?

On the right is an action shot of me with my small pack on my back.

As you can see it's mighty full, and barely closes! This is common and is supposed to be like that.

So What's Inside Then?

Here is the general contents of my small pack!

As you can see imediately, there is a water bottle in the pack. British soldiers were allocated two full bottles of water a day. This is to be used for drinking, washing and cooking.

There  are a pair of mess tins, into which your emergency ration fits to keep it protected. 

The wash roll in the centre of the picturecontains the following:

• Knife, fork and spoon
• Spare boot laces
• Shaving brush, shaving razor and blades
• Brass button polisher
• Comb
• Foot powder and Soap
• Clothes Brush
• Boot Brush and polish

And thats just the wash roll!

Seen at the bottom of the picture is my shaving mirror and Housewife kit. A Housewife kit, for those that don't know, is a sewing kit carried by all british troops, whether in the army, navy or air force!

To finish off my small pack, you can see my scarf and trigger finger mittens. These are standard mittens but with an index finger to allow for firing rifles, and for general dexterity!

Finally (just about), is my groundsheet. You can see this folded under the top of my pack in the first picture, it opens out into and 8'x2' sheet, which is used for sleeping on when on deployment, its also a great rain shield for a leaky gun pit (speaking from experience)!