Winter clothing

Snow suit	This is the standard white snowsuit used by all Swedish forces in the winter. It consists of a jacket and pants. The pants have no pockets, but they have a slit on each side so you can reach the pockets of your ordinary pants that you always wear underneath. The jacket has 3 pockets, 2 on the left and one on the right. The jacket is closed using a plastic zipper and buttons, and has a hood that you always have over your head. The hood is to avoid wind blowing at your ears, snow coming down your neck and for camoflage. The jacket also has a 'beaver tail' that hangs from the rear of the jacket. You slip this between your legs and attach it to a button at the front, so the wind doesn't pull up the jacket. The entire snowsuit is made of synthetic fibers and is windproof and water resistant. It is very thin (about as thick as a T-shirt), and you will usually wear some type of thermal clothing (see below) underneath. As you can see in the picture, a snow suit doesn't stay white for very long in the field.
Winter boots	Arctic Rangers use two types of winter boots: the standard issue winter boots used by all Swedish forces, and hand made Jörn boots. The Jörn boots are much better than the standard issue boots, and consist of an outer and inner boot. The outer boot is made of leather and rubber, and the inner boot is made of a stiff felt lining. The inner boot can be taken out from the boots to dry them, and you usually have an extra pair of liners so you can wear one while the other is drying.
"Tossu" overboots	These are Finnish overboots, a sort of extra bag you wear over your feet, on the outside of your boots. The top part is white, and the bottom part (the part you walk on) is black. Even though they are not very thick they are very warm, and you only wear them while standing still for long periods of time when it's realy cold, such as sentry duty at night. They are sometimes used when driving a snowmobile.
Winter cap	This is the standard issue winter cap used by all swedish forces in the winter. It is much thicker than the summer version and has very long flaps that you can fold over your ears or fold under your chin when it's realy cold. For some odd reason it is green (wouldn't white be a bit smarter?). The winter cap is used when you are doing low-level physical activity, and should NOT be used while you ski or dig snow. When you ski you wear the summer cap, and put on the winter cap when you take a break.
Ballaclava	This is a "bank robber" type of head cover, which has one big hole. You can adjust the hole, so you either have all of your face free, your mouth covered, or both your mouth and nose covered. As is the case with the winter cap, you should not wear this while you ski, since it is way too warm for this.
Glacier goggles	These are mirror type reflecting sunglasses (see picture above). They are usually only worn in the mountains at the end of the winter, when the sun becomes bright enough to cause snowblindeness.
Winter mitts	These mitts are of white leather, and have straps that you put around your wrists. When you have the straps on you don't have to worry that the mitts will blow away in the wind when you take them off. The straps are also usefull if you get unexpected contact with the enemy: you quickly put your right mitt in your mouth, bite it, and pull your hand away to free yourself from the mitt so you can fire your rifle. Instead of losing the mitts in such a contact they simply dangle from your wrists. The mitts have inner woolen linings that you can take out and dry. You usually have an extra pair of liners that you can wear while the others are drying.
Sniper mitts	These are "3-finger gloves", a sort of mix between mitts and gloves. They are like mitts, but have an extra index finger so you don't have to take them off when you fire your rifle. As with the ordinary winter mitts, these have inner wollen linings that you can remove to dry. When you are in a low-risk area you tend to use the real winter mitts instead of these, since they are warmer.
Thermal jacket	This is a thick jacket made of synthetic fibres. As the case with all other thermal gear, you should NOT wear this while doing high-level physical activity such as sking or digging. When you ski you only wear it while taking a break, and at such times you wear it over your snowsuit. At all other times you wear it under your snow suit, since the thermal jacket is green (hey, don't ask me why it's not white!). It has 2 pockets, but you will usually not have anything in these pockets. It aslo has a hood, which you can use when it's realy cold.
Thermal pants	These are made of the same synthetic fibre as the thermal jacket. They have a long zipper on each leg that go all the way from the ankel to the waist, so you can put them on without taking your boots off. Since they are green (white would be smarter) you always wear them under you snowsuit.
Iceland sweater	This is a special sweater worn by Arctic Rangers. It is made of wool, and is very warm. It is almost only worn when you have sentry duty at night.
Long johns	These are the standard green "long johns" of the Swedish Army. They are made of the same synthetic material as the m/90 field shirt.
Thermal underwear	This is a set of thermal underwear consisting of long johns and a shirt with a full collar. They are white, and are sometimes worn instead of the ordinary green long johns listed above.
Ranger thermal underwear	This is a set of thermal underwear consisting of long johns and a shirt with full collar. They are blue, and made of synthetic material, and can be worn instead of the ordinary thermal underwear.
Wool thermal underwear	This is a set of thermal underwear consisting of long johns and a shirt. The pants have suspenders to hold them up. Since they are made entirely of wool they are extremely warm, and should only be used when you have sentry duty at night.

Back to Equipment