Field Manual 34-81-1, FM 34-81-1 for short, is a weather-related Army publication. It provides you and your commander with critical weather information that will affect your unit’s operations, systems, and personnel. The weather enables battle conduct and offers opportunities for success, but it also adversely impacts operations by changing conditions (weather forecasters change forecasts periodically). For example, winds aloft that are too cold or too dry can limit aircraft lift capability. Snow, rain, and ice can prevent troops from reaching their objectives. In the desert, strong winds produce dust storms that can last hours or even days.
You and your commander need accurate, timely, and tailored weather data. This manual shows you how to get that information, which will help you make the best decisions for your units. It also provides specific weather-related threshold values for your unit’s operations, systems, and personnel. These thresholds are described in the appendixes, which will assist you in understanding how to interpret and apply them to your unit’s situation. This publication will provide you with the tools you need to prepare your commander’s briefing and improve your unit’s performance in the field.
Fields Manuals FM 34-81-1 are a collection of important publications for Army historians, curators, military enthusiasts, and re-enactors. They cover various topics and can trace the evolution of the Army’s doctrine, organizational structure, equipment, uniforms, and weapons. The field manuals provide essential information about military tactics and procedures for conducting operations in urban areas. They also cover offensive and defensive planning, combat support, and logistics support. In addition to the FM 34-81-1, a variety of other Army field manuals are available in this database. These include FM 100-5, which is the umbrella concept for combat operations and provides a description of how to fight and win on the battlefield, and specialized mission operations manuals specific to a particular area.
For example, FM 34-52, Intelligence Interrogation, is a manual used to train CIA interrogators in the effective conduct of intelligence interrogations while conforming with US and international law. The manual was updated in December 2005 to include a 10-page classified section as a result of the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse scandal. Another helpful manual for the survivalist and prepper is FM 8-36 Aidman’s Medical Guide. This manual is an excellent resource to have in a prepper stockpile as it provides information on emergency first aid, medical care for various types of injuries, wound treatment, and radiation injury treatments.
The Fields Manuals are important for any prepper or survivalist as they provide a great selection of useful information that could be very beneficial to anyone during a crisis. The military field manuals are an excellent way to have a collection of valuable books in your prepper stockpile. They can help prepare you for a wide array of scenarios and are an ideal gift for any survivalist, prepper, or outdoor enthusiast.
FM 34-81-1, Battlefield Weather Effects Field Manual
Inclement weather degrades battlefield operations, affects weapons and other systems, and plays a major role in the effectiveness of troops in the field. This manual provides some of the more common critical weather (and environmental) effects data and applies that information to specific operations, systems, and personnel. Several elements, such as cloud bases, cloud ceilings, and cloud tops, impact different battlefield situations. These include troop and vehicle mobility, maneuver options, air operations, tactical ballistic missile (TBM) employment, and accurate artillery fire support.
For example, low clouds may reduce visibility and the accuracy of target acquisition sensors. They may also cause aircraft to become disoriented. Likewise, heavy rains may cause immobilized soldiers to become targets for indirect fire. The impact of weather and other natural phenomena is challenging for military experts. Weather conditions and forecasts must be accurately and timely interpreted so that commanders are aware of weather issues and are able to plan effectively.
This manual includes reference tables to identify critical value ranges of five basic weather elements: temperature, surface wind, humidity, precipitation, and density altitude quality. These thresholds are based on input from battlefield functional area (BFA) proponents, available data from third-party sources, Army field manuals, and the systematic analysis of weather-induced degradation of operations, systems, and personnel. These lookup tables will help you match a particular inclement weather condition with its associated impact on the battlefield. This correlating process is aided by the weather time-to-decision attributes (WTDAs) derived from these sources. These WTDAs provide tailored decision information to the user and keep pace with commanders’ decision-making cycles.
Weather is one of the most important environmental factors that affect battlefield operations, systems, and personnel. It also strongly impacts the effectiveness of troops in the field. Inclement weather degrades battlefield operations, affects weapons and other systems, and poses a significant threat to friendly and threat tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTP). You must alert your commander of adverse weather effects so they can protect their force against these conditions. Your unit’s weather specialist provides a valuable resource for your brigade and battalion staff in training and combat situations. FM 34-81-1 is a comprehensive field manual that includes some of the most common critical weather and environmental effects data and applies that information to specific operations, systems, and personnel.
The primary focus of this manual is on a set of five basic weather elements that are often encountered in a battlefield environment. These elements include cloud ceilings, reduced visibility, surface wind, temperature, and precipitation. These five elements are measured in terms of barometers in inches of mercury or millibars. These elements are discussed in detail as they are critical to a variety of Army operations, systems, and personnel. For example, low overcast clouds can degrade aerial illumination devices and CAS and aerial resupply missions. They can also cause aircraft engine performance problems and limit the amount of fuel, weapons, and passengers carried on fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft. The five weather and environmental elements that are most often encountered in a battlefield environment are cloud ceilings, reduced visibility, surface wind, temperature, and precipitation. These elements are discussed in detail as they affect various Army operations, systems, personnel, and equipment.