BY ERIC STEINKOPFF
EXTREME OUTFITTERS STAFF
CHARLESTON, S.C. – A cool breeze wafted across the nervous participants gathering at The Citadel Saturday morning for the 15th Annual Bulldog Challenge, a race designed to test the mental and physical toughness of competitors from all walks of life, along a course of roughly six miles over obstacles and challenges along the way.
ABC News Chief Political Correspondent George Stephanapoulos wrote the coalition enforcing the no-fly zone over Libya looked like a “Patchwork of Camouflage” after seeing this photo yesterday of a Task Force ODYSSEY DAWN planning meeting aboard flagship USS Mount Whitney.
I get his sentiment but looking at the photo, I only see a few patterns. You want to see a real mishmash of uniforms check out a planning meeting during the height of OIF or heck even a current one in Afghanistan. The room will look like a military surplus catalog exploded.
Between military and LE organizations and industry, there are a gazillion different giveaways out there. Consequently, we are always looking for something different and we have found it thanks to S.T.A.T. International. They just introduced CHIPS. No, it has nothing to do with Ponch or John but rather stands for Changing How Industries Promote Synergy.
Once you understand what CHIPS is all about, the name makes complete sense. They have taken traditional challenge coins but traded the metal for ceramic. They are not only less expensive, but also offer some design options that are all but impossible with metal coins such as edge lettering. Working with lead designer, Jay Rowlingson of T!ng Creative, they will help you to develop a custom product whether for units, agencies, private firms or as a replacement for traditional business cards. These are pretty cool and we are taking a look at using them.
SSD is very excited to announce this course. Combining pistol, carbine, shotgun, and combatives into a single 7-day course, Redback One is hosting what looks to be the Ultimate Close Quarters Combat course in Virginia Beach, Virginia 4-10 June, 2011. While the main intent of the course is hand-to-hand combatives, it features two days of combat marksmanship at the beginning. The course is all about combatives teaching the student to rely on not only the primary weapon system, but also the secondary, tertiary and alternates as well. Furthermore, the course has been designed specifically for Special Operations personnel with a heavy emphasis on overseas direct action mission skills. This intense training package will be led by a Subject Matter Expert with multiple combat tours.
Due to course content it is restricted to Military and Federal Agencies and I know from discussing the training regimen with them that they would like to see unit/agency teams go through together. But they are also open to SMEs so that they can pass their knowledge on to small unit in-house trainers as well as formal instructors from military and government schoolhouses. For those of you who are interested in the particulars make the jump to the full article (more…)
This letter went out on Friday to SureFire customers as well as the press. It is a direct rebuttal to an article published by the Force Science Institute in their Force Science News declaring that grip-activated pistol-light switches are unsafe. Due to the length of the letter we ask you to (more…)
Blackheart International has produced some excellent hip pocket sized handbooks for the HK416 and M16/M4 as well as the Glock. They are now preparing to release two new books on the AR15 and AK47. As with previous versions these new handbooks will feature a coil binding so that they can easily be flipped open to the proper page and will contain tailored information required to operate, maintain, and conduct basic training with the firearm. To keep apprised of the status of these new titles, visit www.BHIgear.com.
5.11 Tactical produced an excellent video featuring Kyle Lamb using a full array of their clothing and equipment. However, Kyle’s plate carrier somehow went uncredited. Once we took a look at it we realized it was a Tyr Tactical LWPC. We will say that 5.11 makes a great line of tactical products and their new MultiCam lineup is very well designed. We particularly like their Rapid Assault Shirt. But, they are missing a plate carrier. We wonder if this isn’t an indication of things to come?
5.11 products are available from a wide variety of military and police outfitters. For info on their latest products visit www.511tactical.com. For more info on Tyr Tactical visit www.tyrtactical.com.
September 11th of this year will be the 10th Anniversary of the worst attack on the US in our history as a nation. It also marks the beginning of this country’s longest continuing engagement in active hostilities. Many will want to focus on 9/11 as a single day and to isolate the victims of those tragic events from what followed but I propose something more comprehensive. Even though we are already three months into 2011, I challenge each and every one of you to make this a year of remembrance. 9/11 was the just the beginning. Since that time many more have fallen in an international war on fascist tyranny. Remember them always.
