Mystery Ranch celebrated the ribbon cutting for their new facility in Bozeman, Montana yesterday. On hand was Sen Max Baucus (Dem, MT).
If you happen to be in Bozeman today from 3-5 PM be sure to stop by 1750 Evergreen Drive for their grand opening!
Congrats guys!
Grey Ghost is our favorite liquidator of things tactical and we just found out that they just did of a run of branded lightweight assault packs and lightweight 3-day packs. Like the name says, they were designed to be lightweight. For example, the 3-day pack weighs 30% lighter than standard models. They were also designed to mitigate the IR signature. The photos below are not to scale and the pack on the left is the assault model while the one on the right is the 3-day variant.
Both are available in MultiCam as well as A-TACS and this has us scratching our heads. All we can find out is that they are over runs from a developmental contract for SOF. No matter, the “why”, at these prices these are going to go fast so if you want one you’d better jump on it like a fat kid on a donut.
Magnum USA is now the the official performance boot of the 2011 IZOD IndyCar Series and Firestone Indy Lights. They will outfit the IndyCar tech staff and security team with Magnum footwear for all 17 events. Magnum also renewed its sponsorship deal with Panther Racing and their No. 4 National Guard IndyCar Driver, J.R. Hildebrand. They have been with Panther Racing since 2008.
“We’re extremely proud to support not only the IZOD IndyCar Series, but the Panther Racing team,†said Brett Weitl, Magnum USA’s marketing director. “It’s important for us to support our men and women in uniform, and aligning ourselves with the No. 4 National Guard car makes it the perfect fit.â€
UK-based Random House imprint Century has purchased world rights, including serial, for a survival-style handbook written by the British Army called “Be the Best at Just About Everything”. Set to be released in October, topics include how to survive an avalanche, cross a crocodile infested swamp, drink from a cactus or iron the perfect shirt. The book will promoted by the Army’s recruiting service with the PR campaign to include serving soldiers in the roles of “ordinary people doing extraordinary things”.
Tim Andrews, Century commissioning editor, said: “The British Army is a unique military institution, one that has constantly evolved and transformed itself and rightly has an international reputation as a prestigious, innovative and heroic organisation. This book reflects those values, and will be one of the most original, entertaining – and useful – gift books of the year, and a dead-cert Christmas present for fathers and sons up and down the country.”
Last night we received this letter from Tony Blauer about the recent rash of HIGH GEARâ„¢ knock offs. Tony conceived HIGH GEARâ„¢ to not just protect those training in combatives but also allow them to move properly and “feel” the fight. Thanks for the information Tony!
Letter from Tony Blauer: Imitation High Gear Suits and How to Tell the Difference
To the supporters of Blauer Tactical Systems & High Gear,
We recently received some inquires about a new line of role-player equipment that some thought was a new High Gear suit. Others wanted to know:
1. Were we involved in the design?
2. Were there any significant changes to Blauer’s innovative ergonomic design?
3. Were there changes to the breakthrough concept of ‘impact reduction’ padding?
4. Were there functional or tactical changes or was this simply a cosmetic change?
The questions caught us by surprise, since we’d never heard of the suit they were referring to. Upon further investigation, we came across links to two products – both obvious copies of the original High Gear product. Both companies used confusingly similar language, confusingly similar photos, confusingly similar design, confusingly similar descriptions. In fact, one company actually used photos from our website on their site. The other company used photos from our training courses in their promotions.
We know this is confusing (and for some, disturbing).
Here is clarification for those of you who have been longtime supporters of Blauer Tactical’s work in pioneering training and equipment for the defensive tactics, combatives and martial arts world for over 30 years.
There is only one training suit that we endorse here at Blauer Tactical Systems, and it’s the one we designed, called High Gear.
• High Gear originally took us 6 years to prototype, test and develop. This was no cookie-cutter process.
• The only official High Gear suit is made in the USA by the London Bridge Trading Company in Virginia.
• Our High Gear is Berry Compliant (in support of the US military). High Gear has an anti-fog visor and the next generation fabrics contain anti-microbial and anti-bacterial properties.
• High Gear was tested and selected by the US Army to support their combative program and has been issued NSN numbers for military orders.
• Our product is used by real warriors (police and military) as well as warrior athletes like BJ Penn, Frank Mir and many other MMA stars.
Our System
At the same time we learned of the new gear, we were made aware of a few ‘new’ reality-based and behaviorally-based confrontation management systems designed around natural movement, startle-flinch, emotional/psychological factors, etc. where the trainer(s) have self-anointed themselves as the originators of their system.
In almost every case there is a direct lineage to Blauer’s S.P.E.A.R. System & Personal Defense research. (The individuals have been either students of ours, mentored by us, or employees of Blauer Tactical Systems, Inc.).
In any field, any act of misappropriation, passing off, not crediting or citing sources of research is simply wrong. It is especially disturbing in a community that regularly touts warriors’ virtues like integrity and honor.
This is not the first time we have been approached about this problem. In order to alleviate any confusion we wanted to address this issue once and for all. If you are confused about the authenticity of your tactical gear, or training provider using our nomenclature, please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions or concerns.
Thank you for you continued support,
Tony Blauer
Founder & CEO
Blauer Tactical Systems, Inc.
www.blauertactical.com
Resources & Social Media:
TRAINING: www.blauerspear.com
TWITTER: http://twitter.com/TonyBlauer
FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/tony.blauer
MY BLOG: http://blauersblog.blauertacticalusa.com/tony-blauer
CrossFit Combatives: www.crossfit.com/cf-info/excercise.html#Combatives
COMPANY BLOG: www.blauertacticalusa.com/blog
The Discovery Channel is looking for cast members for their new show, “The Assailant”. They are looking for “highly specialized former military, special forces and/or law enforcement agents who are mentally and physically fit. In each episode, four contestants will have to re-enact actual missions that were executed by elite branches of the military.” Those of you who are interested contact the casting agency, Metal Flowers Media who have a great deal of experience with this type of show including casting “The Colony”, “DUEL”, America’s Toughest Jobs” as well as others.
The POC is Lauren Kalb and she can be reached at lkalbcasting@gmail.com or (505) 552-2780.
While not all inclusive, this Air Force photo showcases a good cross section of the history of Air Force uniforms found its way on to wikipedia. We didn’t realize they were sporting Crocs back in the ’50s. That’s definitely not SAC.
From the same page, our third favorite Chief of Staff of the Air Force. Airline pilot uniforms were just the tip of the iceberg with this guy. If you ever want to know what happened to the Air Force, just thank Tony.
