How fast I can dig foxhole is proportional to the amount of lead coming my way, and how big the explosions going off around me are.

Pretty damn quick.

 

Not in my terrain. There is nine times more rocks per cubic yard than there is dirt.

 

Not quick enough to duck bullets if they're already flying my way.

- OS

 

It is only a foxhole if you expect to have to fight from it.... if it is for hunkering down purposes you can take a bit of time, but should be able to do it in less than 10 - 15 minutes for a basic, and then use more time to expand as necessary -- expand this one a bit --- how many people have actually dug any sort of below grade shelter and used it for a few days.......?

 

from personal experience, not fast enough.............and never deep enough........You dont do that fast and you dont dig a fighting hole one the fly and under fire........frankly if you try, its just a shallow place for the other guy to fill back in with you..........get my drift:xeye:

 

In New England it could takes days dam rocks.

 

Same for the California foothills only it's shale. Those gold miners were a tough lot.

 

Since every expert says all you need is a plastic trowel for your BOB,
I bet it would take awhile.

Do you play fast draw with your mates too?
Throw knives as fast as you can?
Reload your choice of weapon in the fastest time?
Change your underwear lying down?
Pitch a tent in shortest time?
Practice makes perfect. Speed kills too.
Sometimes slow and steady saves the day.

 

Here in Turdville Tennessee you need dynamite in most places. This could precipitate a suicide charge.

 

In our soil, about three hours...the time it takes to go and rent a backhoe. Soil here is rocks and more rocks.

 

It's all sand here. You could dig the hole pretty quickly, but it tends to fill itself back in just as quick. It gets annoying.

 

You don't dig a foxhole unless you need protection from incoming artillery. In most SHTF cases, what you really want is a "hasty fighting position," basically a shallow trench with a mound of dirt in the front or sides.

 

+1 for the Ranger Grave, they take about 30min to dig

An actual foxhole takes a motivated person about 2-3 hours. You'd be surprised what you can do to save your own ass.

 

I let the artillery rounds dig it for me

 

Fox holes are for hiding. I'd rather scrape out a fighting position.

I've dug both and prefer to not spend much time in either.

 

In the Idaho mountains??? A month of Sundays. Rocks, rocks, and more rocks, embedded in packed sand and clay. I'd need my own backhoe.

 

This discussion puzzles me. Why would you want to dig a fighting position? These things are designed for members of a military unit to take cover from shrapnel from indirect fire weapons and from machine gun fire, and typically only when trying to hold a defensive position where an assault is anticipated. If you're just by yourself or with a few friends/companions, you're much better off using your time prepping multiple hasty postions along a line of retreat or getting on the offense to disrupt and engage opposing forces. Modern engagements employ manuver warfare tactics: shoot, move, communicate. If you're gonna dig a fox hole, you might as well call it what it is: your grave.

ken

 

This discussion puzzles me.
ken

Then you're gonna be puzzled by many threads.
Might keep your thoughts to yourself and not post.
I've got a bitten tongue several times.

 

Perhaps you could save some digging time and build this little shelter i found.

http://www.hedgehogleatherworks.com/Debris-Hut-Part-2-s/74.htm

Just be sure to build a raised platform inside to let water run underneath not over you

 

Have backhoe, two minutes. But, if I am with the backhoe, it makes pretty damn good cover without having to lay in the dirt.

 

Less than 5 minutes :

Of course it'll take another 5 minutes to hook up the backhoe.

Now if there was just some way to keep the sand from collapsing and the water from rising. I'm just 5 feet above sea level so it stays wet just under the surface all year.

I'm thinking push up a berm instead.

Step 1. start the D6.

#2. choose a spot.

#3. drop blade.

#4. take foot off of decelerator.

#5. raise blade as I compact the berm by running back and forth with the dozer.

Answer 2 minutes. :

Did you want a roof and electricity it it as that would add another 5 minutes or so :

 

Had to dig a foxhole in basic for FTX. All was good till we hit the Georgia clay. Needless to say that foxhole never met standards. The drill sargeant came by, complained it was to shallow. I asked him to try to sink a shovel into the ground. Told me the hole would be fine and to carry on like it was a real foxhole and add the cover.

Fastest hole dug was when we asked the engineers to use the backhoe. Cover was provided with a piece of "c" shaped metal. All we had to do was fill some sandbags for the cover and dig out the grenade sumps. Took about 30-45 minutes smoking and joking the whole time.

 

1-2 years trying to dig a hole in this caliche crap in the desert of AZ

 

Under fire pretty darn quick!

 

E-tools are too heavy, so I don't bother carrying one.

 

DUMB!!!!!!!!!

 

Pretty damned fast, I have dug with my helmet, e-tool, and even Kabar.
If I am really motivated to not die I can dig like an armadillo.

 

ROGER THAT Doc!!!!:thumb:

 

Woody

Up here in the dark and scarey woods, we got these things called logs. They are plentiful. We also have a bunch of the vertical versions called stumps. I was going to dig a hole for a tree last summer...after getting down about 3 inches I decided it was a job for HE, either mechanical or chemical. I did manage to use the shovel as a pogo stick for a few hops, before falling over!

 

Up here in the dark and scarey woods, we got these things called logs.

Bullets go through logs and trees, that is concealment not cover.


The Marine Corps digs fighting hole, because fox holes are for hiding. I guess I could do it pretty fast still. Got in trouble in Iraq for digging one because of all the UXOs where we were.

 

Well, if the fox holds still and doesn't fight back too much... :

 

You dig down to about armpit height and then for a length of about 7 feet if you do it right. And you try to put your hole behind something like the edge of a boulder or behind a real thick tree to aid a little bit in camouflage and bullet deflection. Once you have that depth and length, you improve upon the basic foxhole into a fighting position and then build it into a decent bunker with overhead protection from enemy fire and bad weather. Later on if a trench gets laid into place, you connect your hole/fighting area to a nearby trench. Slowly but surely you improve and expand right up until the time that word comes down to get ready to move out again. Then you fill it all back in and cover up things that you won't or can't take with you.