These are actual photos of equipment used by troops recently attending a qualification range.
The photo was shared with SSD by a trainer who had this to say:
Joe is going to do dumb shit if you let him. He also doesn’t know better half the time. All of these are examples of why it’s important to perform equipment maintenance, invest in quality gear that will stand up to sustained use, and educate the shooter on how to properly set up their individual equipment.”
Fortunately, SSD readers are a switched on bunch. Don’t let your buddies do stuff like this.
Update – that’s right, it’s a reflective belt sling. These are real.
SWEET JESUS.
I heard rumors of the new HSP Incog/Serpa holster but never saw a picture until now. And every good SGTMAJ knows that dummy cording your BUIS is mission readiness at its best.
S/F
29
thats some high speed shit right there…
Points for creativity, I guess…maybe. OK not the holster, no way.
Army strong gear right there
I’ve seen worse. That’s why I don’t support equipping decisions being made based solely on surveys of what “soldiers want”.
All too often that means they want the cool stuff they think SOF is using (or worse yet something they saw on a video game) – without the experience or training required to use the toys correctly.
That is especially true of weapons accessories like holsters and slings. But nothing new. It has been mentioned here many times.
Finally, dummy cords / lanyards have their place. But a pox on any leader that is more concerned about losing equipment than they are about whether the soldier can effectively employ that weapon.
Even in the modern world, cannon fodder is still needed. Those too stupid, or too cheap, to value their own lives, and those of their team mates, have earned the Darwin award. Just make sure “Joe” is on point when you go outside the wire…
Well that is one of the stupidest things Hey lets put the retard on point so he triggers this daisy chained IED.
I got a better idea. Why don’t those faceless “Joes” in the picture take you, put your dumbass on point.
you would have served well in WW1…..douche.
I get the feeling you’ve never been in combat… even if you have, you’re still advocating the death of others to save your selfish ass, which makes you a lot of things I won’t say in this post.
(Unless you grant me permission to explode here, SSD)
I tried to think of something witty, but I’m at about DEFCON 3 so I failed. Instead I’ll settle for letting you know if you said that to my face about one of my soldiers, I’d need to get a lawyer afterward.
Soldiers are to be mentored and trained, not disposed of jackass.
I’d be willing to lay money that the joe with the taped/tied down buis has a broken one. I’ve seen it too many times that even though it’s on the 2404, the supply/guy armorer won’t replace it so then joe does whatever it takes to keep it from being in the way of his primary optic. The serpa holster is just laziness or is missing the belt attachment would be my guess. The homemade sling is dumber than a box of hair. Either way, I see leadership failures in all those pics.
“It ain’t broke enough, you can use the tape wad to hold it up if you need it”
it took me getting the job of armorer to get my buis replaced
jesus fucking christ.
why do that when you can loctite it!?
I think he has it tied down because when the BUIS gets worn it can pop up with every shot or not stay down at all.
Yeah those MATECHs have a little nub to retain it in the “down” position which by its very nature gets worn down every time you use it.
still.
a piece of 90mph tape wont suffice? I remember doing the same thing in bum fuck middle of a-stan.
Plenty for the Dog Pile, here’s some Devil’s Advocacy:
SERPA holster could have been a personal purchase (not part of an issued MITHS), configured for MOLLE attachment and (a) it’s downtime (armor is back in the truck) but the shooter needs to maintain control of the weapon, which shall not be concealed or (b) the RSO or Range NC/OIC doesn’t want weapons oriented away from the Range Lanes under any circumstances (easy solution to that is to put those bubbas on the extreme outer lanes. “Enjoy your journey to Lane 1, Sir.”)
Dude with the improvised sling needs to be written up for tape misuse–or possibly coined for Making it Work. I’ll not cast stones, as there’s a 550 Cord strangulation special or three in my past. One of the best slings I ever used was fashioned from an elastic BDU belt and some 550 cord using a sewing kit purchased from a dollar store across the parking lot from a Hooters where I did the stitch work while waitress-watching.
As I evolved into the dinosaur I am today, I found myself presented with no-notice opportunities to put bullets downrange as a strap hanger, and slowly built a bag of kit–and tools–appropriate to such opportunities. It sits in my trunk opposite my BoB.
ALL THREE PICS another questions: Is that Armorer being properly mentored? After a over a decade at war, why doesn’t EVERY long arm on the Property Book have at least ONE functional sling? How long has that Matech BUIS NOT worked? If that’s an issued holster, where the hell is the rest of the System?
Ah yes this is some sort of mythical creation. I think it was a result of a good idea fairy getting knocked-up by a fobbit.
Snort
Is that what the fuck that is? A makeshift sling? I wasn’t sure wtf I was looking at, there’s lanyard everywhere in that pic.
I was watching one of my teams go through rehearsals. One guy had a single point, and we are a light unit. He said it worked him. So I watched them to run though some aid and litter stuff to see what he did. He couldn’t get the a guy up to carry, the rifle kept getting in his way. He got the point. Every piece of kit has a purpose and place where it best serves that purpose.
Our arms room has extra slings for guys that need them, nothing fancy but better than 550 cord.
God….sometimes I hate the army. I hate that I have a half dozen tough boxes of gear I can’t use because some CSM isn’t okay with it or I can’t get it past my squad leader, or dudes like this making it so we can’t have nice things. I hate dudes bragging about the “awesome” soldier plate carrier they got issued in afghaniland. I hate hearing dudes talk about serpa holsters like they are something special. I hate dudes acting like multicam gear is some kind of status symbol. I hate that I’m around a bunch of my fellow infantryman that haven’t solved the mystery of their molle ruck yet and suffer through it falling apart mile 5 of every ruck march, and I hate that their NCO’s don’t care enough to help them.
Stay at it long enough for some operational discretion (and/or a Command Team with the right combination of fortitude and wisdom) and you’ll be the guy in a position to fix every one of those situations.
Just sayin’.
During AT this year my guard unit did not issue holsters with the M9s. I saw soldiers stuffing them in there pants and forgetting them in the portajon. It was an absolute disaster.
Meanwhile I get shit for qualifying, first time go with Irons and running a SoB B Sling.
You know what I was thinking? The soldier with the 550 cord night have forgotten his weapon and had to have it tied to his belt loops since he is in ait for a non combat arms mos
Hahaha! This…^
“I see leadership failures in all those pics.” Jeffrey, you sir- have nailed it. Think of all the time it took posting this stuff, when that same energy could have been used to properly implement PCC’s and PCI’s before Joe attends said course, would correct it at the source. Pre-Execution checklist maybe?This is basic NCO stuff…
Also- Why is there always such negativity in emulating SF unit kit? It seems to me that when it comes to most kit, they set a higher standard and should be emulated in some capacity. Now that does not mean we have to directly copy every thing they wear, though some pieces of kit are a huge improvement- such as: M4A1’s, Scorpion pattern, plate carriers, Ear pro and Eye pro all had origins within SF.
Reminds me on a comrade of russian origin. When deploying to Theater he dropped his load bearing vest and stowed Magazins, Frags, comms, smoke and so on in his issued smock.
I have seen and have been in my fair share of ate up stupid but this really gets up there in the “stupid shit” category. Did these guys just piss off their S4 and armory people? Is the leadership and command in that unit that ate up and do not care about their soldiers? Are those soldiers really that dumb? If all those pictures are from one single unit, somebody better put boot to ass to fix that.
Guess what Joe… if your “buis” wont stay down… just take it off your rifle. If you hate your sling that much… or you do not have one, guess what, go down to the PX or someplace else to get a sling you like. I am not going to get into the whole m9 issue. I always applaud innovative problem solving but this is seriously ate up and it should never get to this point! I would say something smart and semi uneducated like, “this is what sequester does to the military”, but this is all kinds of fucked up.
Speaks volumes about the tenure, experience and maturity here that so many of us are asking, “Who the hell do these jokers work for?”
It’s usually because PVT snuffy is too poor or bad with money to buy all the cool guy gucci gear you cover. Not everyone can afford $500 pants if they’re not issued them
Weird, I didn’t see anyone comment on the pants in any of these pictures.
The reflective belt sling is the tits. You know Joe did that to piss off some Sergeant Major or some other reflective belt lover.
I gotta admit, it’s got panache.
That Joe is an inspiration to me.
Those gloves and that sling would be so awesome together…
I don’t see any stupid soldiers in this picture. I do see a lot of lazy NCOs though. A unit with quality NCOs is buttoned down, tied off, clean, lubed packed and ready. These soldiers never should have made it to the range looking like this.
I believe these are all great examples of theft reduction devices. Because no-one would want to steal those POSs.
Everyone should remember, no one outranks General Safety.
ten-hut!
any small chance the reflective belt sling is being used in sort of an ironic way?