B5 Systems

Posts Tagged ‘Rich Landry’

Pack Man

Saturday, February 14th, 2015

I’ve heard Natick’s Rich Landry called quite a few things over the years but never “Pack Man.”

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A former Pathfinder in the 82nd, Landry actually completed Jumpmaster school as a civilian on jump status at Natick. He’s dedicated his life to supporting the troops and chances are good that if you’ve served over the past 30 years, you’ve used a piece of GI load carriage equipment that Landry has either designed outright or helped develop.

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The new MOLLE 4000 is the cover story for ‘NSSC This Month’. Check it out at usarmy.vo.llnwd.net.

Rich Landry Talks Improved IFAK

Friday, March 9th, 2012

Natick Soldier Systems Center employee Rich Landry talks about the proposed replacement for the Individual First Aid Kit (IFAK) we wrote about last month.

Natick Developing New IFAK Pouch

Sunday, February 5th, 2012

At last week’s Military Mountain and Cold Weather Symposium I had an opportunity to check out several creations from Natick’s Load Carriage Prototype Lab. One of those items was a much needed facelift for the Individual First Aid Kit pouch which was rushed into service not long after Operation Iraqi Freedom began.

The current issue item is a modified SAW ammo pouch and it really isn’t well executed for what it needs to do. It’s kind of like attaching a brick to the armor vest. PM Soldier Clothing and Individual Equipment’s Rich Landry worked with the Army’s medical community to determine the latest and greatest contents list and then set about redesigning the pouch. One big change is that the Soldier is now issued two Combat Application Tourniquets so the new insert accommodates that.

The biggest change is the pouch’s basic shape. It is now a horizontal envelope-style with PALS webbing along its face and openings on either end to accept the insert. I was able to try the pouch out and it is easy to access the insert and restage. The insert is still attached to the pouch via an elastic coil bungee which can be detached via Velcro if needed. Both ends of the insert feature pull loops so it can be deployed left or right depending on the preference of the Soldier and mounting location. Additionally, its flat format allow it to be mounted on the lower back or under other pouches on either side of the cummerbund.

In a Natick press release, Landry commented, “We designed it literally about three or four months ago, the medical community said, ‘Awesome idea. Let’s move out with it.’ Overwhelmingly, they thought this was a huge improvement over the current IFAK.”

Unfortunately, I’m not sure when it will become a general issue item but recent testing at Ft Polk was very promising.

SOTech developed a similar pouch in 2010 based on the contents of the SOF IFAK. It completed testing and was released for sale late last year.