I posted a story on Military.com this morning about the Army’s plans to outfit the ranks with permethrin-treated Army Combat Uniforms. I’m still on the fence about this one.
On one hand, I think it’s great that uniform officials claim that factory-treating ACUs with permethrin will solve past problems of under-treating or over-treating uniforms when using the Individual Dynamic Absorption Kits to apply permethrin.
In some cases, these individual treatment kits result in the permethrin being too concentrated on random sections of the uniforms. This led to contact dermatitis and other skin rashes, according to PEO Soldier officials. Treating uniforms with permethin at the factory level provides consistent coverage that’s strong enough to kill crawling insects but safe for everyday wear, PEO Soldier officials said, adding that the Army’s Surgeon General approved the treatment method in 2008.
Soldiers deploying to the warzone have been wearing flame-resistant ACUs that have been factory treated with permethrin for the past two years.
I have never worn permethrin-treated uniforms of any type. But even though 25 years have passed, I can still remember plucking blood-bloated ticks from the darkest regions of my body after spending a week in the bug-friendly hinterlands of Fort Bragg. Back then, I’m pretty sure I would have been happy to wear something like the Army’s new ACU-P.
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Kit Up! The D27 Tourniquet Admin Pouch from Legion Firearms and First-Spear. Photos by 21ST Century Gunfighter.
Legion Firearms is about to release a new of kit that promises to be both extremely effective in the field and one of the most impressive examples of cross-branding in the industry to date. It was designed by Jason Crosby for Legion Firearms, built to their specs by First Spear, additional T&E provided by 21ST Century Gunfighter and approved for use by Pocket Doc of Dark Angel Medical. Now all they need is marketing by Weyland-Yutani and the peerage would be complete.
The item in question is called the D27 (as in Delta-Two-Seven) Tourniquet Admin Pouch. It’s was designed to work from the center line on a wide array of body armors and plate carriers (carrying a primary tourniquet on the center line where it can be reached by either the left or right hand of the individual operator is becoming an increasingly frequent SOP in some tactical circles). It’s snag-free, protects from the elements and has a quick-pull tab do you can deploy it quickly (the tab tucks away so it doesn’t deploy accidentally). In addition to the tourniquet, there is ample space for small general purpose type items and references (9-line cards, rescue blade, etc.)
The D27 was developed by Sgt. Crosby, a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, based on a preliminary design he stitched together himself while deployed. The pouch is the genuine result of an evolving requirement they had in his former platoon (he’s now teaching mounted gunnery at Ft. Hood as a battalion master gunner advisor).
His platoon had, like most others, adopted SOPs to the location of aid items, standardizing the location of their IFAK and bleeder kits with a TQ located centerline on their armor. He advises that for his individual needs, when they were in the built up environment of eastern Baghdad in ’08 and ’09, that having a TQ mounted horizontally high on his chest worked best. They were encountering lots of EFPs and suffering catastrophic amputations and were going through lots of TQs. Because of that, and the dictates of the AO, they preferred an assaulter type configuration, with open top mag pouches and the like. He made a few hook panels with shock cord attached to the pile field found on most admin pouches and it worked out well.
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Grunts: the directions are below. READ the directions before asking questions. Failing that, contact these guys on the U.S. Army Infantry Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/11series. Don’t forget to moisturize your knuckles. That lotion is good for more than how you’re currently using it.
Contest Rules: To enter you must be a verified Infantry Only user on the forums and post a reply to the contest forum.
1 randomly picked member will receive:
- Magpul AFG2 grip
- Magpul RSA
- Original S.O.E. Tan Bungee Sling
- 2 Patches from American Infidel
Contest is open until Sunday, May 13, 2012 23:59 PST. Winner will be picked on Monday. Instructions on how to become a verified member can be found at the forums at www.11SERIES.com
The Mad Duo: We fight evil, so you don't have to.
Got some stank rolling off the other boys in the MRAP? In your hooch? Maybe need to do something to overpower the smoke coming off the burn-shi**ers? Get ya some VICTORY SCENT air fresheners. There are a number of new styles coming out in March, including INFIDEL WHISKEY (cinnamon), UNCLE SAM (vanilla) and a “new upgraded” PINK MIST in cherry. THAILAND OR BUST is nautical breeze, and there’s a GET OUT OF NJP FREE (ck splash) and of CHAIR IS AGAINST THE WALL in that ‘new car scent’. There are more coming, apparently.
Kit Up! Check out the taglines on these scents...
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The first time I heard the term MOTOtarded was at the Weapons Training classroom at Horno in Camp Pendleton (not sure if that’s the right name; there was aging stand and spoorpit right next to it, and we were right around the corner from the PX); I had to have someone explain it to me. Back then I had no idea what moto was, or why you made fun of it. That was 
where I saw a Marine NCO pitch an M249 into the unexpecting arms of the PFC who’d left it six paces away on a table, knocking him ass over appetite..I remember thinking, I can’t decide if that pisses me off (remember where I come from) or if I’m jealous I’m not allowed to do that back at my squadron. It was where I learned that Long Rifle (what we would call Range Control where I work) takes a great, appalling delight in f&$#ing over Marines who ought to be training instead of playing stupid pattycake games, and finally, it’s when I observed that the term Terminal Lance is something Marines who hold that exalted rank take a perverse pride in. Terminal Lance, the cartoon by Maximilian Uriarte, USMC, is an ongoing cartoon strip that captures the stupid vaguaries, assorted miseries and occasional mysteries (like the fascination of phallic artwork) of grunt life, while maintaining that strange delight Marines (particularly non-POGs) take in just how miserable [click to continue…]
PEO Soldier’s top individual equipment buyer, Col. Bill Cole, told us yesterday during a media roundtable that the service will soon field one of two versions of a new Mountain Combat Boot design intended for wear in the hot summers of Afghanistan.
The original mountain combat boot had a requirement for an all-leather upper and Gore-Tex lining. The new boot — one version made by Wellco another made by Belleville — have Cordura uppers and no Gore-Tex lining, increasing breatheability and cutting down on sweaty feet.
Each Soldier deploying to Afghanistan will be given one pair of each — one winter, one summer variant — of the Mt. Combat Boot, “that way they’ll have the appropriate footwear throughout the year available to them,” Cole said.
The resounding grumbling from Soldiers was finally heard loud and clear by officials at PEO Soldier who saw the budget writing on the wall and decided on a radical redesign of what was once Land Warrior.
In a story to run tomorrow morning on Military.com we report:
The Army has abandoned its decades-long effort to pack nearly 20 pounds of batteries, computer processors and displays on future Soldiers in favor of a simpler solution that uses technology already in many Joes’ pockets.
Officials with the Fort Belvoir, Va.-based PEO Soldier told reporters Oct. 6 that they had decided to configure the so-called “Nett Warrior” system to use a commercially-available smart phone plugged into a secure tactical radio.
“There’s significant cost and weight savings in this approach,” said Nett Warrior deputy program manager Bill Brower. “We took out about 70 percent of the weight” from the original system.
Don’t say we didn’t tell you so…
