The Greatest Military Device of All Time

The youngest member of Team Walker is heading off to camp next week for seven days of archery, canoeing, swimming, horseback riding, campfires and general camp goodness. He goes to the same camp I went to as a kid and darned if it doesn’t look pretty much the same. I love the nostalgia.

This year, he asked me to take along one of my most prized possessions – the greatest piece of military equipment ever devised by man: The poncho liner.

This is a device that carried me through many deployments and many tough times. It was warmth at night, shade during the day and camouflage for gear It is lightweight and compresses into a tiny package. Basically, it is a grunt security blanket. In fact, I learned from my older son that it is called a “woobie” nowadays by the hardened commandos of the First Ranger Battalion… and every other grunt for that matter.

The poncho liner is magic. It keeps you at the perfect temperature through some kind of infantry witchcraft. I have used mine in Alaska and in Panama. It added warmth at Camp Ripley, Minnesota in January and covered me during day-sleeping in a hooch on Cato Bay in Grenada.

If it is hot, it shades you from the sun. If it is cold, it fends off the freeze. When it gets wet, it dries quickly. The thing is so versatile I am told it can even be used to line a pancho! How does it do all of this? Magic.

The boy will soon experience the joys of the woobie at camp and I am sure I will need to pry it from his hands when he returns.

Reflecting on the joys of the poncho liner just inspired me to go purchase a poncho liner related piece of equipment that is nearly as awesome as the woobie: The Ranger Smoking Jacket. I can’t wait to get it.