Personal Effects

[.45cultist]

Originally Posted by ArmySGT.

Why not a false wall and behind reinforced concrete in the Bolthole? Come back with some sledges and hacksaws and make an opening, get your stuff.

It is one less thing to hide for the location and adds little expense to the Bolthole build.

Boltholes are uninhabitable, but can be excellent storage. The vehicle bay might be the only place to do heavy maintenance on the MPV's. an I beam and put a hoist in the closest cache. A closet sized area for personal effects dry boxes isn't out of the question, but Lonestar would make it annoying if they dally too long.....

[RandyT0001]

Boltholes are habitable. A bolthole may be considered a big underground concrete tent for two to four weeks of camping with the team sleeping in the bags on the pads.

Originally Posted by Rulebook, 4th ed.

While it has lights and power, the bolt-hole has no facilities for extended occupation; most importantly, they do not have sleeping accommodation, running water or toilet and cooking facilities. Added to the fact that bolt-holes are intentionally located in remote areas for security reasons, they would not make good permanent bases, and are not designed to.

Probably do not have the best ventilation system. Just not intended to be used for operations during long periods of time. The ideas of having an I beam set across the vehicle bay for field repairs (the designed plan was to have regional bases handle repair facilities and parts) or erecting large personal effects lockers hidden behind a false wall do not really fit the 'frozen for five years' plan for the Morrow Project. A two liter sized personal effects box for each member is not too big (think of it as the size of a two liter cola bottle). Five liters of volume is what I consider the maximum size for a personal effects locker.

[mmartin798]

Originally Posted by RandyT0001

Boltholes are habitable. A bolthole may be considered a big underground concrete tent for two to four weeks of camping with the team sleeping in the bags on the pads.

Probably do not have the best ventilation system. Just not intended to be used for operations during long periods of time.

I will start by saying I am in the abandon the bolt hole camp. But this ventilation system "problem" is easily solvable. Open the emergency escape, put a vented cap on the surface, make a vehicle door with a vent and put a fan in the escape shaft. All of this should be relatively easy to fabricate from part salvaged from cry tubes and materials scavenged or manufactured from the materials at the site.

[cosmicfish]

I am also in the "abandon the bolt hole" camp - simply put, I just don't see any real advantage to staying there. What does it really offer that the team doesn't already have... a table? It is hard to defend, and the typical team lacks the manpower to defend it or even use it in any real manner while executing their travel-heavy mission. Three guys manning the radio in a bunker would be more useful backing up their buddies 30 miles away in an under-manned MPV.

After some pre-emergence planning and preparation, I would expect SOP to call for the team to emerge, re-bury the entrance, and move on. You can hope that no one notices the scar on the landscape so that you can recover anything left there, but realistically the site is likely to be looted and/or become an ambush site.

[.45cultist]

I was for storage, not habitation, then the airtight seal is an asset. Even if its just next year's crop seed. Or if a cache site is in a lake or river.

[dragoon500ly]

It all depends on the team; a recon team has no need for a fixed base, their job is to get out of the hole and start surveying the countryside, making contact with the locals. A fixed base ties the team to a certain locality, this defeats the primary purpose of a recon team.

A science team would have more need of a fixed base, their task would require lab space, larger amounts of equipment/supplies, ditto for a speciality team.

MARS teams are the odd balls, arguments can be made for large teams, complete with aviation assets to allow them to cover large area, or small teams covering a smaller area, supporting recon teams.

[cosmicfish]

Originally Posted by dragoon500ly

It all depends on the team; a recon team has no need for a fixed base, their job is to get out of the hole and start surveying the countryside, making contact with the locals. A fixed base ties the team to a certain locality, this defeats the primary purpose of a recon team.

Agreed.

Originally Posted by dragoon500ly

A science team would have more need of a fixed base, their task would require lab space, larger amounts of equipment/supplies, ditto for a speciality team.

That kind of ignores the purpose of the Science-One vehicles, and also ignores the distinction between field teams and permanent facilities. The field teams are supposed to be fully mobile, needing only supply caches to do their basic jobs. More advanced jobs are why there are permanently staffed facilities.

[cosmicfish]

Originally Posted by .45cultist

I was for storage, not habitation, then the airtight seal is an asset. Even if its just next year's crop seed. Or if a cache site is in a lake or river.

If it is going to be unmanned and without Starnaman-style automated defenses then you cannot leave anything of value there. You might be able to store seed and other community supplies if you can arrange for the community to guard the site, but anything more is pretty optimistic.