Camping Sleeping Bags Guide

The army sleeping bag is a fairly recent invention.  Prior to the middle of World War II, army soldiers were issued blanket rolls which usually consisted of a ground sheet and several wool blankets.  However, it wasn’t until 1942 that U.S. soldiers were first issued sleeping bags.

Mountaineers and other sportsman had been using sleeping bags for quite a while. In fact, one of the earliest mentions of a sleeping bag is in Robert Louis Stevenson’s Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes. The sleeping bag he used to travel across Languedoc, France was so heavy that it had to be carried by his donkey.

Army sleeping bags have been designed with cold weather in mind, as well as the need for them to be as light weight as possible and easy to get out of in cases of an emergency.  The M-1942 Mountain Sleeping Bag was designed with these factors in mind.  Mountain soldiers had to carry their sleeping bags with them, so they needed to be lightweight as well as durable and warm enough to sleep in some severe cold conditions.  The M-1942 was a sleeping bag that had a feather and down mixture fill and was mummy shaped.  It also had a slide fastener that had a quick release device which would allow the bag to open instantly in cases of emergency.  This was an arctic sleeping bag designed for severe weather.

At the beginning of World War II, regular soldiers were still issued blanket rolls.  Starting in 1944, army troops began to be issued a sleeping bag that was made of the same type of wool as their blankets only slightly heavier.  It was mummy shaped and came with a water resistant case.  It was lightweight and fairly warm and suited the needs for the regular infantry soldiers.  The mummy shape actually helped to save on material and was lighter than carrying several wool blankets as well as being warmer.

A new mountain bag, the M-1949 was issued in 1949.  It was a feather filled, mummy shaped sleeping bag that also had a heavy zipper with a quick release and water repellent bag.  This sleeping bag was issued all the way through the Vietnam War.  In the 1970s some improvements were made to the M-1949 and the Intermediate Cold Weather and Extreme Cold Weather sleeping bags were issued.

The current army sleeping bag issue is the Modular Sleeping System which first came out in the early 2000s.  It consists of four components: two mummy sleeping bags, the Intermediate Cold Weather and Patrol, a bivy cover and a compression stuff sack.  By using the components together, it can be used in extremely cold temperatures.  Outdoors men who venture out into cold and harsh conditions might want to consider an army sleeping bag. You can often find them at army surplus stores.