 It's cold out there boys, don't freeze your balls off. Hey everyone, Dylan Schumacher, Citadel Defense, and we are here to talk about layering. This is my personal system that I found for layering that works pretty well across a pretty good range of temperatures and it really just comes down to three simple pieces which is which is why I like it. So I'm going to share it with you, it's again just what I do, your mileage may vary, you might have a better system, you know, let us know in the comments but we're going to show this to you. Now listen, this isn't like hats and gloves and boots and socks and like all the other like cold weather gear stuff, we're not talking about you know, Gore-Tex layers and rain protection and stuff like that. We're just talking about basic bare like layering, okay, and making sure that you don't freeze to death when the weather gets cold. I am from the north, I grew up in Minnesota and I understand cold. I've come to find that basically there's like winter in Minnesota and basically nowhere else, it's an exaggeration, have a sense of humor. Let's talk about the three kind of basic layers and why this works, right? So your first layer and the first basis of my whole system is the smart wool base layer. This is a 250, they have like 150, 250, 350. This is just the 250, it's 100 percent marina wool and it's just a base layer. It's pretty thin base layer. Huge, huge fan of this. I'll put a link in the description box below for this one. It's an affiliate link but I really like this. I like four of these. I became a huge fan of that particular piece when I was at a SNS training solutions and we were running around and it was like, I don't know, 50, 55 degrees, 60 degrees and we're patrolling and then we're running and fighting and we're patrolling, we're running and fighting and then we're stopped and so it's a very, you know, seesaw level of activity and I was perfectly comfortable the whole time and that severely won me over to that, okay? Now, so first layer, base layer, marina wool in this case, right? Now again, you choose, you do you but I really like that thing. The second piece is what we're just going to call our exterior layer, okay? So this could be your field shirt because it'd be your field shirt if you want to roll that way. I have a smock out here right now. This is a British field smock. So big fan of the smock. I like the smock because it's great for like when things get inclement weathery. It has a hood on it. It has a bunch of pockets. It's pretty puffy so you can stuff other layers under it. I'm a big fan of the smock. I just I think we need to do the smock more. If there's some kind of American textile factory that you know that I can talk to about improving the smock, you let me know because I got some ideas. So those are the basic two layers. Again there's three but those are the two that can really get you between like I'm going to say 20 degrees you know and up okay with just that marina wool layer and an exterior layer. Again I think picture poison. I like the smock. I've run it just in a field top before. I have the Russian top suit thing. I can't think of what that is thing is called but like the I want it Gorka. I think it's called the Gorka suit. I have that. That works great. You know whatever your poison is. I've worn this particular jacket. This is a Rothko field jacket. I've won in Woodland too. This one has a little bit of insulation, a little bit of repellent. It has a hood right so again it's kind of that exterior layer and then if I run a good base layer or two as we'll get to under it I'm good right. But having some kind of exterior layer whatever your preference is a good solid base layer again like that marina wool. You can run down to 20 degrees. Remember you're going to have kit on. You're going to have a ruck on. You're going to have your chest rig, your plates, you'll have a helmet right. You're moving so you're generating a lot of heat and because of that like I said with with less gear than you think you can really cover yourself between that that 20 to 60 degree range. I was out the other day with some boys and it was like I don't know high 20s low 30s windy super windy. You know it was like I don't know 20 30 mile an hour winds. I mean it was windy and we were out walking around dreary overcast and all I had on was the marina wool layer and and that smock and I was great perfectly comfortable whole time. No problems right so you need a lot less than you think you do. The third piece is some kind of mid-weight layer. Now for me that's just the this is the equics level two waffle top okay you can pick something else whatever but some kind of mid-weight layer to double up your insulation and really again you're going to be able to ride that down until like that zero sub zero temperature range. When you have three layers like that and a good exterior layer smock you know coat like this maybe even your field top you can ride it down pretty cold a lot colder than you think you could because again you can have kit on you're moving. Now if you stop maybe you need some kind of you know big overcoat to carry that you're going to throw on overall of your kit right maybe you have some kind of Gore-Tex layer that stuff in your pack that you're going to throw on over your kit to try to trap more heat in whatever that you can do that when you're stationary and things change but I'm talking here about patrolling active work you know moderate to high levels of activity with breaks in between right and in that I think you really just need three layers and when you get beyond that you start you know turning into a marshmallow man so I try to keep it pretty minimal. Now you notice I've talked about all tops right the only time I'm going to put a second layer on my legs because by and large I'm just running normal pants down to about 20 ish degrees I'm just running normal pants when I was out the other day in this dreary you know windy day I ran just my pants I didn't have any insulating layers on when it gets colder I'll run either you know the equics two pants or I have a set of long underwear that'll run right but something like that when it gets below that 20 degree mark that's typically where I'm going to say okay I'm going to put something else on my legs just because it's it's getting pretty cold out right you got to remember your legs are huge muscles all the blood is flowing there they're carrying yourself around right so you're like your skin might get a little chilly but by and large like you're not your legs are not going to freeze right when it gets down below that 20 degrees that's really for me again your mileage may vary that's for me just more of a comfort layer at that point okay I'd hate to get in kind of you know frostbite layer on my or frostbite on my skin or anything like that and that's a comfort preventative measure as things get colder and again if I'm triple layered on top you know I have a long underwear and I have pants on man we can we can ride that down pretty cold again at that point it's going to be less about your layers and more about your extremities you know or your gloves squared away do you have good face protection and you have a hat on like are your boots solid give good socks those are going to be the real key things at that point because your fingers will get cold your toes will get cold your your nose will get cold right those will be your issues not really your layers in your core right your core is the last thing to get cold we want to keep our core warm because then it allows better blood flow and everything but when it starts to get that cold with those three layers you're going to be just fine it's just a matter of the extremities and stuff like that so I hope that has been helpful I hope that gives you some ideas on how to layer your system let me know if you got a better one I'm always open to improving how I do layers but this is what I found that works best for me to keep moving stay in the fight and stay just you know a little bit comfortable and warm so I don't phrase it that because the cold is an enemy just ask the people who fought in Stalingrad do brave deeds and endure