Gear Up or Gear Down?

16/05/17 at 9.00am   /   by Rob Ski   /   6 Comments

Class FL 1“What plate carrier or chest rig and what pouches you use?” – Guys, here is my perspective on this.
Do simple test. Put 65 lbs ruck on your shoulders, take 10lbs weight to your hand add water and ruck for 12 miles in 3 hrs.
You will quickly learn to appreciate every ounce of weight on you.
I see people coming to our classes with all the plate carriers, chest rigs, loaded with all the pouches and all that good stuff, only to see that equipment mostly dropped to the ground only after few hours of use. Not because our classes are physical, but because they never used that for more than hour at the range, because they never moved with it and etc…something to think about it.
In self defense scenario at your house, most likely you will end-up barefoot in shorts and you will be lucky to have spare mag on you.
In “oh shit apocalypse now” scenario, think about what you really need to be as mobile as you can with minimum resources on you. All that “hi speed” gear is awesome, but don’t forget about water and food…every human has a limit. Know your limit.
Please let know if you have any questions.

6 thoughts on “Gear Up or Gear Down?”

  1. Great points. Conditioning is very important, and practicing like you will fight is important. Dont overly rely on “tech” gear. It will fail on you at the most inconvenient time.

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  2. Rob, love your comments. The unfortunate truth is that many shooters ignore the physical conditioning side of preparedness training. Good physical condition, and I am not talking about being able to ruck for 10 or 20 kilometers, impacts just about every aspect of shooting – unless you shoot from the prone supported or bench supported positions all the time. Gear that improves your shooting is great and it is important, but so is good physical conditioning so you can run through combat shooting drills without passing out.

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  3. All my ammo is mag loaded in my old USMC LBV, Glock .40 cal n’ AK that is. Couple extra boxes of 7.62, batteries (AA, CR2032s, 123s).1 DOS MRE and water, which could stretch for 3 days. Plus medical kit w/ basic meds (need to get a hand on some anti-biotics). Also, about $400 worth of gold in grams. Only about 30lbs. Could easily stuff another 20lbs of MRE/water.

    Also, think about your family. 12 miles in 3 hours will NOT happen with a Mom and 2 young boys. Spread load extra supplies for what they can feasibly carry. Then again, if you have to trek 12 miles you are probably not bringing the fam along for the trip!

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  4. I’ve been working as a military contractor here in Kabul Afghanistan with the Afghan National Police for the past 17 months. I live outside the wire and I am armed with the standard M4 rifle and the M9 Beretta pistol. I was issued by the Army a standard ballistic vest with full Kevlar and SAPI plates. Quickly I abandoned that equipment in favor of a lightweight HSGI Woosatch plate carrier. My current rig has been taken down to bare essentials: 3x single mag pouches, IFAK and a spare pistol pouch with a Leatherman tool inside. I also wear a belt rig with 2x pistol mags, 2x rifle mags, dump pouch, IFAK and pistol w/holster. The issued SAPI plates each weigh over 9lbs, so the rig is heavy. I found using double mag pouches on the front of the rig obstruct my field of view when looking down. Also, the greater the profile of the rig the more difficult it is to get into and out of vehicles especially for the driver. Overall, with my complete rig and gear bag I am carrying 70+ lbs of gear for normal operations. This is stripped down to essential items only. Like you, I do PT all the time and I have observed many shooters in the US are overweight. Many seem to imagine a gun battle is a static exercise where their shooting abilities alone will keep them alive. This is not the case, and I’ll add that simply standing and wearing this gear for long periods of time is exhausting.

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    • You are right on the spot with comments about PT, weight to carry and etc. People don’t realize this, but fitness is a “must”. I can’t stress this out. Even without the gear, just spend whole day walking with rifle and shooting from different positions and most people will be exhausted (i see this in our classes all the time).

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