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Archive for September, 2010

98.6 Degrees: The Art of Keeping Your Ass Alive

Sunday, September 26th, 2010

98.6 Degrees: The Art of Keeping Your Ass Alive” is a book by Cody Lundin, director of the Aboriginal Living Skills School. While the title was published in 2003, the information is still just as pertinent today as when it was written. In fact, the book contains lessons that were learned by early man; proper mental attitude and keeping out of danger. Additionally, it contains an excellent section on survival kits. The book is written in an easy-to-read-style and well illustrated. It is well worth reading.

Lundin specializes in aboriginal studies as they pertain to living. In fact, you may have seen some of his unconventional techniques on the Discovery channel series, “Dual Survival”, where he co-stars with Army veteran Dave Canterbury. It is one of our favorite shows here at the home office. You might also want to check out his website, codylundin.com which tells more about his background and the courses he offers at the Aboriginal Living Skills School.

Stuff We Didn’t Write About

Sunday, September 26th, 2010

Boba Fett Backpack

Vanity Sizing: How Do Tactical Pants Measure Up?

Army Combat Pants Update

10 Upcoming Devices that will Protect Future Soldiers

Anatomy of Shell Garments part 3 – The Construction

Special Edition of Stuff We Didn’t Write About – OPSEC FAIL

Saturday, September 25th, 2010

The regular Stuff We Didn’t Write About will be published later today. But for now, we found this really cool article on Gizmodo recently that is a classic example of horrible OPSEC on the part of the Colombians. The article originated in the Spanish language paper El Mundo and details an attack by Colombian air and ground forces that killed one of the leaders of the FARC, the crew that gave the world the term “narco-terrorist”. Ensconced in a camp deep in a jungle valley no one was finding them. That is, until leader Mono Jojoy needed some new boots for his diabetes stricken feet. Colombian intelligence did the old switcharoo with the boots somewhere in the supply chain and the next thing you know, our boy Mono is walking around with a GPS device in his heel. Fast forward, and the hidden camp is under attack by an air armada of 57 aircraft including helos and Embraer EMB 314 Super Tucano turbo-prop fighters built in Brazil. Too bad the US doesn’t have Super Tucano fighters. They would be great for this COIN fight we are in. Instead we are buying planes for dog fights with with 4th Generation fighters.

At any rate, after an aerial bombardment, ground troops air assaulted into the camp and met little resistance, with the only casualty being one bomb dog. Colombian forces found Mono, dead along with other insurgents. Good riddance.

So to sum it all up, way to go Colombia! But, you told the bad guys how you did it. Good luck getting that to work again. The same holds true for the internet. Nothing like folks who don’t know any better (but want you to think they do) teaching the bad guys trade craft on websites.

Serbian Army Adopts New Camo Pattern

Saturday, September 25th, 2010

According to a report in BalkanMonitor.com, the Serbian Amy has adopted a new camo pattern called M-10. Unveiled during their annual promotion of officers, the pattern is intended to adapt to the Serbian environment “from the air in all four seasons without snow cover”. Sounds like they are continuing their CC&D program that was successful during the NATO air campaign in 1999.

Magpul Releases AFG2

Saturday, September 25th, 2010

While the Angled Fore-Grip (AFG) proved quite popular despite essentially changing the way many shooters hold their weapon, there were some changes that Magpul realized they wanted to make once it saw wide spread use. Rather than forcing the hand to assume a vertical grip, the AFG positions the hand in a more natural manner.

So what are those changes you might ask? As you can see from this photo provided by Magpul, almost everything has been improved. Essentially, it works in the same way as its predecessor but it is slimmed down. Additionally, the angle is shallower and it is sleeker to accommodate items mounted on side rails such as lights. Finally, this aspect of the design will allow it to fit additional rails that the original AFG had issues with. The AFG2 should be considered an enhanced design and the original pattern which is now referred to as the AFG1, will no longer be produced.

www.Magpul.com

Rhythm Footwear Camo Sneakers

Friday, September 24th, 2010

Rhythm Footwear is now offering their Bagel traditional hi and lo tops in Tigerstripe and Desert Tigerstripe patterns. Available at Gettry.

-Tactical FanBoy

Mad Duo – Tactical Tailor’s New Open-Front Radio Pouch

Friday, September 24th, 2010

Anyone that’s met G.W. Ayers will attest that while he’s a nice, typically soft-spoken guy, he looks like someone shaved a gorilla(1) and hung LBE on it. This shouldn’t be taken as an insult—he’s a smart guy and we like him. It might, however, explain our initial hesitation at the sight of those outstretched paws(2) when he reached out and offered to take us over to check out his new radio pouch. We got over it and rode along.

Glad we did.

This pouch is an outstanding piece of kit and is another one of those forehead-smacking ideas. It came to them from an SF operator in the field, who explained what he needed and stood by. GW was quick to sic his custom shop on it. The result is now in use in a number of places, including several SOF organizations.

Designed for the Harris 152 radio (AN/PRC-152 Falcon III for purists and grognards), this modular pouch addresses the biggest problem you can have with your radio pouch—once it’s in there, you have to pull it back out to make adjustments and sometimes even to use them. Says GW, “What we’ve done is design this so it’s MOLLEd [note: that’s a verb, not a typo] onto the gear, then the radio will fall free at 45 degrees so you can change your channels, then you secure the radio. It’s a one-handed operations, so that you don’t have to pull the radio out of the pouch when you have to deal with it.”

(From the description on their site: ‘Releasing the heavy duty quick-release buckle on the front of the pouch allows the entire pouch to lean out, giving the user easy access to the keypad and screen, which faces the wearer and remains protected by a clear window.’)

The pouch will also carry the MBITR radio in the same configuration (yes, AN/PRC-148 MBITR radio, we can use the official cool name too), if you’re using that instead of the AN/PRC 152. GW’s folks developed wings on the side of the pouch to Velcro open and shut, so if you had to get to the buttons for some reason, or the data port on the opposite side, you have no issues. This is going to be really well liked for some of the AF guys that have to run a lot of data through(3).

So far the pouch has been a slam dunk for Tactical Tailor and they expect it to continue (note: they haven’t made these in our size yet, but give them time). It retails for $30 and is available in Foliage Green, Coyote Brown, MultiCam and Black. (No word on ABU or MARPAT, but I wouldn’t hold your breath.)

As you might have expected it’s constructed of 1000D Cordura nylon and heavy-duty hardware. Attaches to any MOLLE or PALS style gear with two long MALICE CLIPS® (included). Buy it here. Seriously, go buy one, or two. And tell GW we sent you.

As usual, if you have any ideas for us to review, drop us a line at BreachBangClear.com or FaceBook.com/MadDuo; unless you’re going to complain about our opinions, writing style and philosophy (or if you are Joy Behar or Keith Olbermann) . In that event you should feel free to go play in traffic and Foxtrot-Sierra-Oscar(4). MAD DUO OUT!

1 Gorilla GeeDuya GeeDubya, not Gorilla beringei beringei.

2 This should not be interpreted as hyperbole. Have you seen his mitts? He’s got fingers like bratwursts. Just sayin’.

3 It would probably be just as well received by Security Forces anyway, though they’d prob’ly lose it or break hours after guardmount—which is better than what the grunts will probably do it. We won’t go into that here.

4 The middle one is “Smooth”. We don’t have a brevity code for it, but you get the idea.

782 Gear Welcomes Erik Rockel

Friday, September 24th, 2010

Erik Rockel has joined 782 Gear as the Director of Business Development. Erik brings over 10 years in the industry, developing, and marketing products for the military and law-enforcement. He served as the Director of Marketing at Hatch and later Brand Manager for Warrior Wear apparel and Protective Gloves/Gear at BLACKHAWK!. Erik will be on hand at Modern Day Marine demonstrating the 782 Gear Line in Booth #1550 September 28-30.

www.782gear.com