My unit is going to be deploying again in the fairly near future and I am looking to upgrade my gear. Our battalion is fairly lenient when it comes to getting your own equipment, and needless to say I despise the issued molle ruck. During any kind of extended ruck march with it I am constantly trying to tighten the straps back down as they constantly loosen, and by the end of anything over 4 miles I am in all kinds of pain. I've tried moving the pack up and down on the frame and made different adjustments to no avail, it's just awful no matter what.
That being said, I'm starting to do some shopping. A lot of guys in my unit are running tactical tailor modified ALICE rucks and seem to really like them. I have used an ALICE ruck in the past myself, and while it was a heavy pack, it was at least reasonably comfortable. I do like to do backpacking on my own time and have an older Dana Designs pack (the precursor to Mystery Ranch) and I love it. I can really load it down and it still stays very comfortable. That's lead me to look at Mystery Ranch, specifically the mountain ruck. I'm kind of shying away from some of their other packs as I don't want to go too "operator," I'm just a grunt and don't want to go too far away from a standard issue look. That being said, if there's a compelling reason to look at one of their other packs over the mountain ruck I'd certainly consider it.
Any recommendations based on what I've described above? The price tag on Mystery Ranch packs is hard to swallow, but then again tactical tailor isn't that much less. If there are any other companies out there that I should be looking at please let me know, and I would love to hear personal experiences from you guys.
That being said, I'm starting to do some shopping. A lot of guys in my unit are running tactical tailor modified ALICE rucks and seem to really like them. I have used an ALICE ruck in the past myself, and while it was a heavy pack, it was at least reasonably comfortable. I do like to do backpacking on my own time and have an older Dana Designs pack (the precursor to Mystery Ranch) and I love it. I can really load it down and it still stays very comfortable. That's lead me to look at Mystery Ranch, specifically the mountain ruck. I'm kind of shying away from some of their other packs as I don't want to go too "operator," I'm just a grunt and don't want to go too far away from a standard issue look. That being said, if there's a compelling reason to look at one of their other packs over the mountain ruck I'd certainly consider it.
Any recommendations based on what I've described above? The price tag on Mystery Ranch packs is hard to swallow, but then again tactical tailor isn't that much less. If there are any other companies out there that I should be looking at please let me know, and I would love to hear personal experiences from you guys.
