When you bring power into a tent and the equipment is within arm's reach of the metal parts of the tent, then they should be bonded. Why? Suppose you were to rig a light to the tent pole, and somehow the hot conductor got loose and came in contact with the metal pole. Unless there is a low impedance path to complete the circuit back to the source, then the pole will stay "hot," meaning it has a voltage on it. So the next person who comes along and touches it will complete the path to ground through their body, and they will be shocked. In Earth Grounding and Bonding Pamphlet: A Guide to Proper Earth Grounding and Bonding Methods for Use with Tactical Systems, published by the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM, 1998), it says, "Personnel can sustain much worse injuries when contacting two metal surfaces at different potentials with bare hands (a low resistance path provided across the chest) than by contacting a surface energized to ground while wearing boots (a high resistance to earth). For this reason, equipment and shelters located within arm's reach of each other (6-8 feet) must be bonded together to eliminate any hazardous voltages that may develop between them should a fault occur." …Any metal part within arm's reach of the electrical system should be bonded to insure it remains at ground potential.
From "Focus on Fundamentals" by Richard Cadena, PLSN, June 2010
