Re: As Promised... Pics of my Vest..
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: doorkicker</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Rtgfi</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> If your going to keep that crusader sword on your rig, id move it to the back. Get it as close to/halfway underneath the hydration pack as possible, with the handle facing down. </div></div> WTF?!?!?! </div></div>
Think he means like the one on the back right side of my vest.
It's a Grayman pounder mounted in a Red Hill Sheath inverted w/ molle locks. It is not intended to slit throats or defend myself if I am attacked, it is a tool. Tough and beefy and used as such, cutting brush, digging holes, smashing things, prying, cutting a few things etc. It's flat, so it doesn't interfere with the gunslinger II that I pack my rifle and equipment in. Because of the gunslinger I can't put anything with any thickness like pouches on the back of my vest. It isn't light but it doesn't weigh too much, and doesn't take up any valuable real estate since I couldn't reach around that far to get something out of a pouch very easily. But reaching backward w/ my thumb up it is very easy to get out, just pull down. Easy to put back in, just took a little practice and now it goes in easy, just reverse the process and shove until it locks in. I have had it for more than a year and a half, I have put a ton of miles on it hiking in rugged terrain in grows, in town on warrants, etc. and it has never come out unless I pulled it out, no problems with retention. Do I use it a ton? Not really. But I use it more than you would think, and when I have needed it, it was right there. No digging in a pack. I love the packs, but the more tools I can get on my vest that don't interfere with my mobility the better. Plenty of times I have to quickly deploy w/ my AR as a spotter or on different situations w/out the pack, and it will be on me and not in the pack which is still in my trunk. I don't mount it on the front, as it would take up valuable real estate and hangs up in the brush when low crawling either forward or in reverse. Hangs up a little on my back if I have to go in reverse through thick brush, but those situations have been rare (plus in blackberries you could be wearing teflon spandex and you would still get hung up). People look at it funny at first, skeptical that it can be pulled out or put back in, but when I show them how it works they realize how easy it is. Others on my team have started carrying their bigger knives in this manner also. Is it too big? Probably. Are there other tools I could use instead? Maybe, but they would need to fit flat to my vest and be easily accessible and not take up real estate on the front. It fits the purpose well. I have been looking at getting a little smaller fixed blade for my setup but no money for it now. But when I do, it will be most likely mounted in a red hill sheath in the same spot. And when that day comes the pounder will find its home in my gear I use for hiking/camping, so I can still use it for chores in the outdoors. Can't say enough good things about the sheath and the knife, they have done me right.
As far as hydration, the vests we have made always have the integrated bellows style hydration pocket on the back so we can throw a bladder in real quick or not. Depends on your AO and what your role is in response situations. There are plenty of times we are called to armed subjects who fled from pursuits into the woods, as we are pretty rural. In those situations it is an AR or M-14 show, with no packs. It is nice to have the capability to slide a bladder into the vest quickly since in those situations we will be pushing brush potentially and historically for hours, and we will need water. But in a quick deployment on perimeter on an armed barricade in town, I don't worry about it as I know I will have resources I can depend on, plus I carry water in my pack. I know it streamlines the vest a bit, since it takes away an extra layer and the molle mounts it would take to put a hydration carrier on the back. I will always want the option of throwing a bladder on my vest quickly.
I agree w/ doorkicker, get mount a tourniquet and some quick clot gauze somewhere accessible to you, might save your buddy's or your own life.
All of us on perimeter set up our vests similar to Insayn's in that no matter how many mags or whatever you carry, make the front as flat and uniform as possible to make going and staying in prone as comfy as possible. Use the vest to your advantage, I have my two pistol mags mounted on the left side of my vest so if I am in standing position I can rest my left elbow on them to assist with supporting our ridiculously heavy bolt guns. But we only have one vest, not two, so we carry more than we would if we were only perimeter because we are thrown into multiple roles and need more equipment as a result.
There is an unlimited amount of ways to set up your vest because everyone does different things, operates in different areas, deals with different things, and uses different tools. Use this forum to gather information and look at how different people set things up etc. but remember you have to set it up so it works for you, and we don't know exactly what you do on your callouts and at work.
