Ergonomics - How to wear gear

[Grudge]

Originally Posted by Brian McIlmoyle

Yes and no.. many people don't know what they don't know..

Good point, but just because someone else says you should wear a piece of gear differently doesn't mean you have to. I say give their suggestion a try and if it works better then so be it. If it doesn't then try something different or go back to the way you had it.

[m102404]

Certainly everyone should have a bit a of brain in their noggins to make their own decisions...but LOTS of people need that info put out in front of them to kick off that process.

Function over form...absolutely. But again, the "form" usually starts from some base level...some starting point. It's human nature to more rapidly/definitively say, "I don't like this aspect, or this part" vs. "let's get here...from nothing". So you'll see guys running huge front side loadouts/CQB armor for field games...and until they realize that they're having a hard time belly crawling, or until someone suggest that they try a front split rig the lightbulb doesn't go off that there's a different way that may suit them better.

From the original post....I don't think I took much away more than that he finds it handy to attach the pistol retention lanyard to the back of his shoulder so it's both out of his way but able to move how he needs it to. Honestly...never considered that. I started with no lanyard, tried lanyards (simply hooked it up like I've seen others do), ditched them cause they always got hung up on things....and maybe I'll try it again rigged up a different this way.

That's the whole point of info/instruction/test/training isn't it? Take away what may work/might be better...distill it down...keep/use it or toss it if it doesn't suit you.

Personally re. drop legs....if it's a DA/CQB/urban setup, I don't mind having a large-ish leg mounted dump/misc pouch. Good for stashing empties, extra frags/DDs , etc... But, for me, if it's not as high up as possible to front pocket height I find it really throws me off. In general I try to avoid drop rigs. Also, I tend to have stuff stuffed into my cargo pockets at any given moment during a game....maps/kill rag/bug juice/water bottle/etc...I just find them convenient and running a drop leg pretty much makes that pocket inaccessible.

[Chiba]

Great topic.

I wear a wasatch as well and I still have trouble finding how high the vest should be worn, and how to balance it better.

I put my radio in 'built-in' grenade pouch, but always worry I will bend the antenna.

[FirestormX]

Sorry to necro, but this is a great thread, and could still be expanded.
Something else I see a lot is putting a pouch on your primary side of your vest, above your pistol. If you run a pistol on your side, you should have a clear path to it, without pouches in the way. Same goes for if you're running a vest mounted holster.

The Magpul Dyanamics DVDs are great for explaining a lot of this stuff in detail, and here's a clip on the gear that I found helpful:

MAGPUL DYNAMICS - Load Carrier and Body Armor [loudout] - YouTube

[pugs144]

Already addressed on the first page of this thread, right at the bottom.

[Ninja_En_Short]

Couldn't agree more. Especially about the armour I'm still amazed to see trainees not believing me when I tell them they should where the armor high because a bullet in the throat and under the neck (lots of big blood stream in there) is very often lethal... and a painful way to go.

On the mag actually I like to have about 70/80% of my primary ammo (Assault rifle, bolt action or SMG) on my left side (shooting my gun as a righty) and 10/15% on right side (if I ever need to change shoulder) on the battle belt and the rest in the front of the PC (only one mag per pockets so I can go prone for hours without moving).
All my secondary (pistol standard sized) in on the PC left side, PC right side and blast belt back for admin an such.

On the belt side I prefer to wear a belt for the pants but I attach the drop leg on the blast belt because you have much weight (like putting a full 40mm drop leg or a holster with an SMG like an MP7, UZI or PP2K) on you pants it can become quite uncomfortable. Might sound silly to bother about comfort but prefer not having the impression that I'm about to loose my pants when running from bullets or having a belt biting in my side when I'm shooting long range.

[pugs144]

What type of training do you offer?

[Ninja_En_Short]

What you may call handling of uncommon weapon system like QBZ-95 in non-export version (the one with the mag selector on the "wrong side"), sometime advanced handling (close to what you see in Magpul DVDs), advanced tactics, guerilla and sabotage, airborne precision shooting, etc.
Trained with units in France, Germany, Poland and little bit of JTF2 while I showed them a few ropes (presented to me as "reserves", yeah right...), after that (especially the last ones) normally you go "Ok no wonder only place US doesn't get owned is Call of Duty".

It greatly depends on who's asking for training but there's a lot I refuse to teach to non Military or LE for obvious reasons.

[pugs144]

Hmm.

[pugs144]

The gentleman seems to have quite the tactical pedigree for someone who's only 25 years old. FYI, it's considered bad form for....."instructors" like yourself to badmouth other countries SOF units.

[AngelusNex]

Originally Posted by -Skeletor-

What company do you work for?


What is your background/experience? How long have you been doing this for?

+ 1 on this, tell us more. Clear our fog of disbelief.

[pugs144]

Mr. Planters!!!

[Ninja_En_Short]

I'm not particularly badmouthing US mil, there's simply a huge gap in training between units, most extreme i did in Poland : you take a frozen lake with 20/30 cm of ice, drill a man sized hole, another 25 meters away. Instruction : get in there and swim to the other hole with your gear on ("-no plates" version but still).
Also it a fact the only War US won alone was US on US during their civil war. Can't do anything about history book.

Taking the example for guerilla in the advanced tactics : making IEDs (not something the regular trooper is taught), boobytrapping with more than a grenade and wire, setting ambushes using holes and spikes (like vietcong in their time).

For the units :
- 1st RPIMA, where I learn parachute (and had a good scare during a HALO jump), shooting as DM and sniper (record at 2130 meters, once on the last bullet of the M95) and most of what I know
- GSG 9, granted it's supposed to be police but I felt the difference is more than a little blurry there.
- GROM, the guys I place as best of the best, my definition for them : the Spetznaz whom took all the good the West.

Started with the RPIMA a bit by accident when I was still studying Computer Sciences as I was trying to develop an HUD IFF system, not in a future soldier that was a personnal project using an Android platform (and Google Glass project give me hope to finally complete the system hardware integration), and got offered to make some tests with them that went on full training.
With time I think my superiors hoped they would get a field tech expert who paid for his tech courses. In the end I got disqualified for active operation for extreme environment. Basically I'm a monster in cold weather, I even disgusted some of the Polish guys, but in hot weather (30°C+), aka most field nowadays, I got heatstroke after heatstroke (which happened to me this summer during a game, ended leaving after 2 hours).

In the end I simply never made it on a battlefield, yet apparently it doesn't seem to matter too much when your superiors are in need of expertise on little known system (I dare you to find out how to speed reload on the QBZ-95 under an hour, no one did when I learnt how) or need a fresh look on mission planning (and before you ask yes I have security clearance on a need to know basis).
And so I've been doing it for 3 years now, even though I work on a contract base (i.e. I don't do it full time, I think of it a hobby and bringing home the guys on MY side).
There you go.

[Rickshaw]

If you shot that distance in theatre and had the kill confirmed, you'd be the 6th furthest sniper kill shot in history according to wikipedia!

[helljumper02]

Ninja_En_Short, you are making some pretty big claims, droping some pretty big names.