Mobilized in Britain: ‘cloak-coat’ and ‘dragon fire’ at Interflex ‘forest exercise’

We are camping near the lake. In the morning, fog hangs and swirls on the surface of the water. Today is the last day of the “forest” trip, and we are finally lucky – for the first time in three days, the rain subsided, and then the rain stopped.

As soon as the sun rises over our “Sherwood” forest, thick steam rises from the ground, grass, trees and wet clothes. The rays burn as mercilessly as the cold rain poured down before. Such is the climate and weather of the British island in the middle of the sea.

Illustrative photo / source: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine For the next lesson, the instructors gather at our branch on the lake shore. We wait for several minutes until the other departments come up – they are a little further away, so it takes longer to go.

At this time, we are interviewed to find out how well we remembered the content of yesterday’s lessons. I catch myself thinking that it’s easier to do a task correctly than to explain exactly how and why you do it that way.

It’s not a language barrier – our translators do an excellent job. The point is in the nature of the memorization itself — it happened at the bodily level of muscle memory, so in order to realize it, you must first reproduce the sequence of actions.

Some people try not to tell, but to show. The instructors do not object – in battle you have to do, not explain how you do it. Completing the task is better than talking about it, and the teachers are satisfied with the students, which is exactly what they wanted.

Illustrative photo / source: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine In the end, the whole platoon gathers on the shore and we are shown the content of the next lesson. The instructors remind once again that a good soldier must always take care of himself.

Good health and physical fitness, sufficient sleep and rest, adequate nutrition and comfortable living conditions determine the combat effectiveness of personnel, and hence the effectiveness of combat missions.

The instructors note that in the rain we all got soaked. In addition, they explain, during the hostilities we will have to overcome water obstacles in one way or another, which is why we were gathered on the shore of the lake.

So now there will be hands-on training with elements of immersion in reality and we will be taught how to dry quickly even if we get wet even worse than we already managed to get wet in the rain.

Illustrative photo / source: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine The hint becomes more than transparent – we guess that now at least part of the lake will have to be waded along the shore. “Hell,” I think, “why get up an hour before the official ascent and dry my uniform – I’d rather sleep.”

The next thought is about where the children’s clock is – I have an ordinary office clock and in the rain it has already fogged up from the inside due to excessive moisture, although the hands are still moving. Immersion would leave him no chance of survival.

The intrigue is intensifying, but we still haven’t received the order to swim across the lake or at least enter it. Having understood what exactly we are afraid of, the instructors look at each other conspiratorially and smile.

I watch how the second hand crawls behind the fogged glass, and I decide to drown the watch for good. The house, the mountains and the barn burned down – it was necessary to buy a waterproof one. I don’t want to get into the water in a dry form, but I’m already mentally ready for that.

Illustrative photo / source: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Everything is resolved unexpectedly – another one of the instructors just swims up to us from the depths of the lake. For at least 20 minutes, he watched us from the cold water near the shore.

Now, using his own example, he will show us how to quickly dry soaked clothes and shoes. We will dry our already wet uniforms – there is no need to get into the lake for this.

The technology of self-drying is simple – we have already described it and shown it a little earlier. In about the same way, I dried myself before the general awakening. However, the instructors now show and describe important details that we might not have paid enough attention to.

The basic things needed for drying are a fire source and dry fuel, we have FireDragon – “dragon fire” or “dragon fire” as you prefer. It is desirable to also have some kind of stand on which you can place a mini-fireplace, but in extreme cases, an ordinary stone or brick fragment will also do.

The most interesting element is the “cloak-coat”, which we never called – a poncho, a tent, a cape, and a cover. The variety of names is due to the versatility and multifunctionality of this rectangular sheet.

With the help of a “cloak-coat” you can arrange the simplest shelter – a mini-tent or cover. You can simply cover your equipment and supplies with it, or wrap yourself in it.

A camouflage-colored waterproof “cloak-coat” is necessary so that no one notices you during a stop. It is able to protect both from a torrential downpour and from the scorching rays of the sun.

And during drying, the “cloak-coat” helps to create a special micro-environment around a fighter dressed in thoroughly soaked clothes, in which the high temperature allows for rapid warming, and intensive evaporation – to expel moisture from the clothes.

The main thing is to make sure not to burn the “cloak-coat” with “dragon fire”. But this is already a matter of vigilance and minimally necessary skills. The instructor easily advises on this, as long as his colleague explains the best way to dry the shoes.

Read also: The General Staff showed what equipment Ukrainians receive during training in Great Britain

Finally, we are asked if we noticed the stranger from the lake before he was invited to come out. We did not notice – the instructor was extremely well camouflaged under some branches hanging from the shore and natural garbage.

Careful camouflage in the terrain will be one of our next lessons. The Interflex intensive continues with another day full of activities.