Re: Chest Rig, Battle Belt
I suggest having the belt and chest rig as separate pieces of gear. While I like the SOTech rig, it's more of load bearing gear to me. I'm sure this opinion will differ.
I have the SOTech but have it set up for long range shooting where everything is carried on me.
For modularity, I would suggest a basic Tactical Tailor chest rig with the ATS hydration sleeve you can add/remove when its needed via the H strap on the back.
The belt you can use a HSGI/ATS/Eagle and put a good belt like an OSOE Cobra/Wilderness/etc underneath it. Get some Emdom suspenders and put what you NEED on your belt.
My TT chest rig has 4 single AR magazine shingles on it and that's it. The belt has my pistol holster on the right side at about 2:30, ATS med pouch at 5:00, Emdom dump pouch at 7:00 and 2 AR single AR mag shingles at 9:30. I can go completely prone and have nothing in front of me, as well as being able to access every pouch while prone.
Best part is, if I drop the chest rig, I still have the basic utilities on my belt.