View Full Version : Gas masks and carriers
AngelsSix
05-22-2005, 20:04
Anyone have any info on the latest and greatest?? I have been poking around for a new mask carrier for the old MCU-2P we carry. I have serious problems with the original carrier when I was in the desert training and am determined to get a new one. Any suggestions/feedback??
NousDefionsDoc
05-22-2005, 22:56
http://www.soegear.com/store/
It won't let me link the exact page. Look at the menu on the left. Says gas masks or whatever. The AF pukes are buying the open top one. Call SOE, they're good people and the kit is top knotch.
Rotor Strike
05-23-2005, 14:09
http://www.soegear.com/store/
It won't let me link the exact page. Look at the menu on the left. Says gas masks or whatever. The AF pukes are buying the open top one. Call SOE, they're good people and the kit is top knotch.
I am one of the Air Force guys that owns one of the improved open top drop leg carriers and it is the shit. Wore it for 6 months straight in Iraq. I won't use any other method any more.
AngelsSix
05-23-2005, 16:41
muchos gracias senors!! I am all over it. :lifter
Being old fashioned and coming from the $72/month army I always found it best to stick with military issue, especially when deployed. Resupply, repair and replacement are at military expense. Perhaps it is just a vocal minority but it seems to me that there arer entirely to many troops equiped with their personal kit.
I admit to having a BAR belt in Vietnam but I inherited it from a dead buddy and passed it on to my eventual replacement.
I am sure there are people on this forum who have had the sad experience of running on a team where everyone had a different weapon with different ammo. That made it quite difficult to share ammo in a fire fight.
The Reaper
05-23-2005, 18:40
Terry:
I understand your concern, but when I am betting my life on a piece of gear, I want the best I can afford. If I can find a gas mask carrier that lets me concentrate on the mission, instead of it flopping around, and get it out and on three seconds faster than with the issue, what is not to like?
When you were serving, choices in gear were pretty limited. Now, I can get ammo pouches from at least six different sources, each with some special feature that would make it better than the issued. The Army takes 30 years to buy new gear, and the same piece is issued for the infantryman, the truck driver, and the MP. As far as the Army is concerned, one size fits all, and it all comes from the lowest bidder.
As far as weapons go, there is a lot less of that than there was in VN. No one can bring a privately owned weapon with them, get an antique out of the Arms Room, or have Dad mail them one. On an ODA, there is one (possibly two) types of pistols, the M-4/M-16/M-203/SPR, the M-249 SAW, the M-240 MG, and possibly the M-24 Sniper system. 9mm, 5.56, or 7.62. There may be a shotgun or suppressed SMG for special purposes.
Hope that helps.
TR
I understand your concern, but when I am betting my life on a piece of gear, I want the best I can afford. If I can find a gas mask carrier that lets me concentrate on the mission, instead of it flopping around, and get it out and on three seconds faster than with the issue, what is not to like?
okay, so riddle me this...what does the chain of command have to say about that sort of individuality...? for 22 years, i caught shit from every 1LT, CSM and O6 who felt like they had a say for where i put stuff on my LCE...no kidding...an O6 in Somalia had nothing better to do than worry about the fact that i wore my strobe on the right side of my body instead of my left (not SOP...told him the f*ing SOP didn't account for left handed shooters...)
so is it okay to be left-handed, use your good stuff and leave Uncle Sugar's garbage at home?
if that's the case, can i come back in?
NousDefionsDoc
05-23-2005, 19:02
Everything but the left-handed thing is cool... :D
The Reaper
05-23-2005, 19:04
okay, so riddle me this...what does the chain of command have to say about that sort of individuality...? for 22 years, i caught shit from every 1LT, CSM and O6 who felt like they had a say for where i put stuff on my LCE...no kidding...an O6 in Somalia had nothing better to do than worry about the fact that i wore my strobe on the right side of my body instead of my left (not SOP...told him the f*ing SOP didn't account for left handed shooters...)
so is it okay to be left-handed, use your good stuff and leave Uncle Sugar's garbage at home?
if that's the case, can i come back in?
We had a jerk for a Battalion CSM who was obsessed with that. He tried to make life miserable. I finally pointed out to him that this was not the Ranger Battalion, and that the Team Sergeant and I would be responsible for what our guys wore in the field.
Given the latitude I have seen, as long as you are getting the mission done and do not violate any regs, or flaunting it in anyone's face, and can be IDed as an American soldier, you can wear what gear (particularly load bearing) you want in the bush.
Just my .02, YMMV.
TR
Everything but the left-handed thing is cool...
my grandmother used to worry about that...hand of the devil' she said...'best hand God gave me' i said...
Given the latitude I have seen, as long as you are getting the mission done and do not violate any regs, or flaunting it in anyone's face, and can be IDed as an American soldier, you can wear what gear (particularly load bearing) you want in the busit all began innocently enough...TO&E weapon for a PSYOP Det. Cdr. is an M16...the company commander deployed commercial and had no pistol...bring me a gun says he...no sweatie-dah says me...i arrive in Mogoville with a rifle and a pistol...well, it seems the Marines didn't want anyone in country unarmed, so he was issued a pistol on the Boat...the Marines didn't want the pistol back until the deployment was over, so i had a pistol and a rifle...it seems Colonels at 3rd Army HQ had never seen a field grade with a rifle...but the first guy to confront me was an O6 in the USMC who thought i was hot-dogging...in what would have been a career ending move for a Marine officer, when he confronted me, expressed concern that just because i was an Army officer, that didn't mean i could do as i pleased in a USMC JTF (at a staff call, after i had just ended a short tour of the nicer side of the city, essentially doing what FS doesn't understand), i asked him if HE had been off the embassy compound yet...as the commercial says, his response was priceless...a couple days later, the O6 from 3rd Army asked if i was authorized both a pistol and rifle...i told him no, my TO&E weapon was a rifle and i was stuck with the pistol...he didn't believe me (i probably wouldn't either), checked with SOCCENT who told him to shove it and i had two new enemies for life...then he saw the pistol on the left side, along with the strobe light (i still have no idea, other than for the sake of SOP, why folks in PSYOP have strobe lights at all...maybe so the medics can find them after an admin jump)...he damn near went apoplectic...
truth be known, i had a better time making friends and influencing folks off the compound than i did on...
Of course we had the M-1 at the time but we were taught that there were no left handed shooters in the army. It was supposedly because of the trajectory of the ejected shell. Today it seems like there are more lefties than righties. Is this a fact or is the film being reversed which I don't think is very likely with digital photography?
Even in my day we tended to have two sets of TA-50. One set for show and one for go. As TR says there weren't many choices of purchaseable equipment available and we were "poor" compared to the present day soldier. $55/month jump pay almost doubled my pay. :D I was in for the first "big" pay raise and the pay for a Pfc over three was raised to $124 per month. Whoopee~~ :lifter If you budgeted properly you could get a haircut every Friday, quartermaster laundry, maybe one night in town per month and a pitcher of beer per week in the EM club.
I don't guess this has anything with why I joined SF except to emphasize it sure wasn't for the money. :D
I don't guess this has anything with why I joined SF except to emphasize it sure wasn't for the money.
it has even less to do with gas mask carriers, but in my case, it has alot to do with me joining SF...as long as i could do what i had to do with what i was given, i never met a team sergeant that gave a rat's ass where i hooked it up on my LCE...the only location sensitive items we carried were one-time pads and first aid kits...those had to be found in the dark, in a swamp, with a drive on rag over the eyes....and we practiced it...
The Reaper
05-23-2005, 19:50
Terry:
The M-16A2 and M-4 have built in brass deflectors, for left handed shooters.
TR
Terry:
The M-16A2 and M-4 have built in brass deflectors, for left handed shooters.
and they work alright...
my father served during WWII and Korea, using an M1 in both conflicts...left-handed...he carried an M1 Carbine in Vietnam...he didn't fully trust the M16 and since he was an advisor to Ruff-Puffs, he had a choice...
Let me correct myself. While in Germany in 64-67 almost everyone on a team had a pair of custom fitted, hand sewn mountain boots made in Lenggries. IIRC they went for around DM120 which was $30 in those days. They never saw polish. We used a German concoction called Leder Fett. :lifter