CTOMS is the new Crye Distributor in Canada

by The Mad Duo on May 16, 2012 · 1 comment

Attention Canucks (and anyone north of the 45th Parallel North.) Crye Precision has officially designated CTOMS™ as its official associate and distributor for all the sere and brumal wilds of Canada. (Grunts: sere and brumal.) You can check out the Crye Associate page here. CTOMS advises that they’ve had a huge demand for Crye Precision products over the last year, and that demand is increasing. All of the Crye products carried on CTOMS can be viewed on their Tactical Clothing & PPE page. A complete list of Crye Precision products is available at  http://www.cryeprecision.com/.

Those of you living in Washington, Wyoming and North Dakota should be aware that you don’t actually live in Canada, it just feels that way sometimes. Check CTOMS out on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/CTOMS/157551161009359.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mad Duo Clear

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.338 Machine Gun from General Dynamics

by David Reeder on May 16, 2012 · 4 comments

According to their press release, brought to our attention by the Firearm Blog, General Dynamics has unveiled a new medium machine gun chambered in .338 Norma Magnum.

It looks like it is based on the FN MAG / M240 machine gun with a new fire control system, AR-14 pistol grip, M4-style stock and quad picatinny rails.

The .338 Norma Magnum’s performance is very similar to that of the much more popular .338 Lapua Magnum. The .338 NM has a slight advantage in that when loaded with a .300 grain Sierra HPBT MatchKing projectile, its overall length is shorter than the .338 LM loaded with the same bullet…

Read the article in its entirety.

 

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When the iPad does gun runs

by David Reeder on May 15, 2012 · 11 comments

Gridded reference graphics, CAS missions and a successful battle with entrenched bureaucracy: a very interesting article from Disruptive Thinkers:

Most Marine Corps aviators who have served in Afghanistan in a close air support role are familiar with the over 1,000 maps that make up the Helmand Valley.  These maps are made using high resolution imagery with every building identified by a unique number.  Such products enable aircrew to quickly correlate friendly and enemy locations, more effectively providing accurate and timely aviation fires for ground based units. This, in turn, saves the lives of young Americans and their allies.

Until recently, aircrew carried all 1000 map sheets individually.  To find the right one required sorting through 30 lbs of paper to find the appropriate gridded reference graphic for a specific operational area.  In fact, there are so many maps, they won’t all physically fit inside the cockpit — an operational liability if you are told to provide support in an unanticipated area.  Additionally, finding the right map could take several minutes — precious time during a fire fight.

In order to solve this problem, an enterprising AH-1W Cobra attack helicopter pilot, Captain Jim “Hottie” Carlson, developed an application to electronically digitize and stitch these map sheets together so that a pilot could view them on an iPad.

Read the original article in its entirety.

Photo courtesy of Marine Corps Times.

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TEAMWORK

by David Reeder on May 14, 2012 · 9 comments

I used all caps on purpose.

Humble is inadequate to describe how this picture makes me feel. If you’re not familiar with them, go check out Team X-T.R.E.M.E. I’ve been in comms with the founder, a former Marine, and will bring you some more information about them soon. In the meantime, I thought I’d give you some motivation to start the week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For more on Team X-TREME, check them out on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TEAMXTREMERUNNING. Drop by and tell them Kit Up sent you. Oh, and I got this from the Grey Ghost Gear Facebook wall; thanks GGG. Go check them out too, would you?

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Extended Range Operator Pack: Initial Contact Review (Part 2 of 2)

by admin on May 14, 2012 · 1 comment

Continued from Saturday…Read Part 1 here if you missed it.

Today I’ll pick up where I left off Saturday, talking about the other features of the pack (which are impressive).

Inside the main compartment are five zippered mesh pockets and one solid pocket for smaller items. The very bottom of the pack has a sewn-in orange panel to aid in finding items in low light conditions. Unlike with a traditional ruck, where you’d have to dump out the entire contents in search of that one piece of gear only you have that your increasingly annoyed, in desperate need of a Copenhagen fix Squad Leader suddenly needs (not that that has ever happened to me, of course), thankfully the Extended Range Operator Pack allows access to the main compartment through a large zipper closure that can be opened from the top or from the sides. On top is an external zippered pocket that’s ideal for accessing quickly needed items. A length of shock cord with a fastener is routed though the MOLLE /PALS loops on the top pocket, which allows you to quickly secure light weight clothing. Directly below that is a small pouch with a sewn in VS-17 style panel that can be unrolled down the entire length of the pack and secured to the PALS loops with plastic tabs for signaling or road marches. No more PT belts wrapped around my ruck for this Joe!

Side access to the main compartment means a happy squad leader.

Two half pockets  located on the sides near the bottom of the pack with two compression straps above would make storing long objects like tripods and spare barrels ideal for those serving as assistant gunners.  On the reverse side of the main compartment is an integrated hydration pocket capable of taking a 100oz bladder. The drink tube is routed through a hidden port and secured to the shoulder strap with a plastic fastener and shock cord retention device. The outside is covered with rows of PALS loops to attach external pockets, a name tape length strip of hook and loop tape, and four compression straps with two on the bottom and two to a side.

Side access to the main compartment means a happy squad leader.

Signal panel storage.

Panel fully deployed and secured.

For me, the Extended Range Operator Pack might just be the ultimate ruck for military and civilian use.  That being said, I don’t think it’s jumpable but I could be wrong since the last time I was on jump status was 1995. I’ll leave that for you Airborne, Ranger, and SF cats to decide. I am looking forward to getting out in the woods with this thing to see how it performs over extended periods of time.  Who knows, maybe I’ll just take off into the mountains, find me an orphan boy that doesn’t talk, an Indian wife, build a cabin and trap beaver all because of a box from Tactical Tailor.

The Extended Range Operator Pack comes in 5 colors (Ranger Green, ACU, Coyote Brown, MultiCam and OD) and retails for $372, currently on sale for $298. The Extended Range Operator Pack is available here.

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Extended Range Operator Pack: Initial Contact Review (Pt 1 of 2)

by admin on May 12, 2012 · 8 comments

A little over a week ago I found a box on my doorstep from Tactical Tailor. It contained their Extended Range Operator Pack in the always attractive Ranger Green.  This being my first Tactical Tailor product, I was very excited to look it over and start testing it as soon as possible. However, being a family man and a responsible adult, well, most of the time anyway, I couldn’t just load the pack up and head up to the mountains like Jeremiah Johnson  no matter how much I wanted to.  Using my military training I adapted and overcame the situation. Loading the large main compartment – 3,142 cubic inches–with everyday household items like a 24-pack of water bottles, a bag of flour, and a very large box of garbage bags, I now had a respectable 35 pounds to hump around …while I cooked dinner.

Cooking on hard mode.

This gave me a good idea of how the pack rode and felt while performing actives other than long movements.  I was impressed at how comfortable it was with that amount of weight. Cinching the built in waist belt immediately took the weight off my shoulders, transferring it to my hips, while the contoured  shoulder straps kept the pack snug against my back and close to my center of gravity. I never once felt off balance even when twisting or turning rapidly in the confines of my kitchen.  I wish I could say as much for the dinner.

Tactical Tailor Extended Range Operator Pack

Tactical Tailor Extended Range Operator Pack, front/strap side.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next day found me on a 6 road march with the same load… and pushing my daughter in her stroller.  Here is where the combination of the shoulder, sternum, and waist belt all coming together to make wearing this pack not exactly pleasurable, but certainly a less painful experience than it would have been with a large ALICE pack. The shoulder straps and waist belt are lined with an Air Mesh material that provides good padding and a surprising amount of airflow. As the miles progressed I did have to make some minor adjustments, but nothing that couldn’t be done on the move. The packs internal HDPE sheet–that’s High-density polyethylene for you Grunts like me–with aluminum stays for rigidity makes the load bearing ability of this pack really shine through.  The weight is there but it doesn’t beat your back to death the way an ALICE pack would when moving fast.  However, with the body of the pack snug against you, heat does build up despite the Air Mesh padding on the main compartment.  Still, I’ll take that over the bouncing of a traditional ruck…

More to follow…

R2A

 

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The DEFILADE from MADCAT

by David Reeder on May 11, 2012 · 2 comments

Defilade – noun -
1) The arrangement of defensive fortifications to protect against enemy fire
2) To shield from enemy fire or observation by using natural or artificial obstacles.

I met up with the owner-operator-pilot behind MADCAT Aviator-Operator at the Border Patrol SOG Conference recently. Note: I don’t count helo pilots as zipper-suited sun gods, personally. He was okay. Anyway, he showed me around some of his gear, including this Defilade pack made for MADCAT by Fight and Flight Tactical. I’ll let him explain it. I apologize for the bad video quality. My camera went bosoms up so I did it all with my phone.

The pack has undergone some evolutionary changes since first conceived, including:

* Changed ITW Surface Mount Buckles to ITW QA Surface Mount Buckles
* Adjusted deployment loop size and position for better ergonomics
* Reinforced shoulder strap upper connection
* Lengthened sternum strap to facilitate the use of The Defilade as an improvised plate carrier
* Increased tailgate loop Velcro size to 2″x6″ for standard size LEO patches

Purchase your Defilade at http://www.madcatao.com/.

Check out MADCAT (https://www.facebook.com/madcataviatoroperator) and Fight and Flight (https://www.facebook.com/FightAndFlightTactical), they’re good folks. Even if one of them does where a zippered nomex suit.

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