Around 1999 SOCOM started issuing a pack system by Gregory/Bianchi, commercially called the UM21. It was affectionately known by many who used it, as the StrapMaster 2000 for the outrageously long Black 1″ webbing found all over the main pack. Usually issued in Woodland there were a limited number manufactured in 3-Color Desert camo, primarily for 5th Group.
This photo of a burdened mule was taken very early in Operation Enduring Freedom during the so-called Horse Soldier operations. It remains my favorite photo of the UM-21 because one look at the mule’s face and you’ll see how everyone felt while carrying that beast. In fact, you won’t run across many photos of troops actually wearing the Main Pack. Although it did incorporate a few innovative features, the Main Pack was partially manufactured from rubberized fabric and was heavy even when empty. The Main Pack (with PALS compatible side pockets), Patrol Pack and Butt Pack along with 5 stuff sacks made up the system weighing 17 lbs all told.
Although it was fielded as part of the Special Operations Forces Personal Equipment Advanced Requirements (SPEAR) program, it’s design and selection pre-dated the team that fielded such great items as the MICH, MLCS, PCU and SOF Handwear. In fact, it was developed before the Family of Packs was broken out as a separate program from Body Armor/Load Carrying System (BALCS). BALCS ALSO included body armor as well as an Enhanced Load Carrying System subsystems in addition to the UM21.
To learn more, download the UM21 manual.
Tags: Gregory
A….yes, I had earlier version of Gregory and latest with all stuff sacks,main pack,patrol pack and buttpack .. Still has the older one. A LOT of webbing on new one. One my favorite feature on patrol pack was the seat. Pretty good idea. But the new one ( UM21 ) fits less stuff then older one. It was pretty hard to fit into UM21 sleeping bag compartment the USMC 3 piece sleeping system. Oh well, I sold UM21 ( should keep the patrol pack 🙂 ) and kept the older Gregory.
Good God, I remember those things, 1 for every man on the team and no one used them ever, as they were heavy as hell empty. I was glad the day they took them off of our team property book.
Some spec sheets say 17 pounds for the whole system, while others say 21 pounds. If I’m remembering correctly, the latter figure is more accurate. I was told one of the requirements was for the pack system to last five years, hence the use of such heavy and robust materials.
Yep, still preferred my ALICE Lg.
Just several years ago, I came across a dozen of them in like new condition, at our local DRMO and picked them up for free for my dept. If I recall correctly, the original price that the .gov paid was listed on the info tag. About $1100 each!
Amazing procurement. Nothing like a ruck that weighs the same as your 308 belt fed.
On the bright side, we’ve come a looooong way since then.
I was issued everything in that pic in 2000. Turned in the ruck complete, unused, it was a beast, too heavy, stuck with my ALICE. Used the vest for CQB for 3 years. Set up, experimented with the LCE kit, but went with a TT MAV then a FLC instead. Of all those items the one used the most among team guys in my unit was the LCE kit. Back then armor was only worn if conducting shooting and moving (not fire and maneuver), but the armor got a lot of CQB and CMMS use since viable alternatives were practically non-existent.
Talk of deja vue ,i thought i saw
one for sale at uncle sams retail outlet website just the other day.had no clue what it was until i read this article.
Although I like(d) other packs better,I guess I’m one of the minority who actually LIKED the UM-21 packs system.
SSD is correct,in that the came in Woodland and 3-Color Desert camo’s, but it also came in Black.
Maybe it was a ‘Special Order’, I don’t know, but my unit had about 20 of the Black,as well as the Woodland and Desert camo colors.
I can’t find mention of the black UM-21’s anywhere now that I am looking however.
Anyone else able to help me out…?
Don’t have any info on them, but I do have pics of one on my computer. They’re definitely way less common than either of the camo versions.
There was black BALCS set for Navy SWCC, but I’m not sure if it included backpacks.
My first job out of design school was working for Gregory packs. I was put in charge of QA and other manufacturing duties for the production of the UM-21 system. The black packs were made on special request of the SEALs out of San Diego.
Oh God, there it is again. I keep trying to forget….It was 1995. We had been building Astralpane Overkills for mostly SEALs over the last 6 years. Dana Design was quietly building real, usable packs at the request of a Master Chief Petty Ossifer. Take our biggest, best pack, build it in black, throw in some side access zips, hang a cool name on it (Overkill…get it? giggle) Easy Peasy.
Now I had, of all things, an AF Major on the phone jabbering about jointness and something called socom. Talked about getting everybody all standardized and using the same gear(right!) Talked about budget shortages, and a requirement that the new pack would have to last 5 years, maybe 10! Said that Gregory and Dana Design were the two names that came up when the boys were talking backpacks…Would we be interested in competing for the pack that would be issued to all of socom? Tell me again what socom is, I asked…..After he told me the tale again about the magic land called “jointness”, I said “Lets talk about something easier to believe….you said you wanted packs that would last for 5-10 years. {to be continued}
Awesome!
Don’t worry, he said. It will only take a few MINOR CHANGES to make your pack work for what we want.
Anybody who has built gear (or houses) knows what comes next when a customer wants a few MINOR CHANGES….Its a new design, top to bottom with amazing filligree work specified by Murphy hisself to be unbuildable, unsuitable, unusable, and a monument to the inhabitants of bureacracy everywhere. I waited, with baited breath.
He rolled on, sure of the magnificence of his solution “Just line your pack with the stuff they use to cover the loads on semi trailers.”
Uh, OK, I sez, “You know a complete pack and pocket set uses 3-4 yds of material. That truck tarp material weighs 21oz per square yard…thats an extra 4 to 5 lbs per pack”. No problem, he says..”these guys are tough. Oh, and I have a few other MINOR CHANGES….all the straps should be 2 yards long. I once had a sleeping pad I wanted to strap on the side of my pack and the straps wern’t long enough. We’ll fix that”. And last, he said….”I wan’t a fold down chair on the outside of the pack”.
It was going to be so simple…all I had to do was double the weight of the pack, add a kelp bed worth of webbing, and sew on a bastard version of a Crazy Creek Chair, and I could be a Military Contractor, with a NSN and everything! WooHoo, let the good times roll!
Trouble was, the pack itself would…what are the words? Oh yeah,…SUCK the UNIT of A Military SPEC Pony, AKA CAMEL. ARRRGHHH.
I tried to reason with the gentleman, but he was very firm in his wishes. He was aware that a small sacrifice might be made by the operators, but his concern was the big picture, and adhering to the priorities to support the budget that had been established. We traded a few more pleasantries, and I called back the following week to reconfirm his requirements, after which I respectfully declined to submit for that tender. Gregory did as he asked….and ya’ll got the UM 21. You’re Welcome….and I’m Sorry.
Actually, I’m not all that sorry. In my view we dodged a bullet, by NOT building a piece of kit that deserved the ridicule it got. I don’t recall any other gear that was successfully fielded by Gregory….even though they were owned for a while by BAE. They sure sold a lot of camo gear in Japan under the SPEAR label, though;)
BigD you blew it. You could have been a famous backpack designer and you just let it fly because you thought it was too heavy for SOCOM. Talk about a rookie mistake 🙂
Pretty sure Mystery Ranch today supplies SOCOM.
Also, I’d take a Mystery Ranch / Kletterwerks pack over any Gregory any day.
You guys can not take a joke…
Learn to take a fucking joke, you people kill me.
Sorry, in between having to deal with shitposting by guys like Lasse and Kerbert, it’s hard to translate sarcasm and jokes over the glorious internet sometimes.
Well, I dunno… Gregory should probably get some of the credit for the majority of the assault rucks out there, because everybody seems to have ripped them off for the basic design. From what I understand, the Rangers took a Gregory Day and a Half pack, or the bigger Three Day, over to LBT and Eagle and said something to the effect of “Copy this, in OD…”, and that’s supposedly where the Ranger Assault Ruck got its start.
If anyone knows the actual answer to that question, I’d love to hear it–That’s the story I got back around the time I first saw 2/75 running around with those things, and I still don’t know if it’s true or not. I do know that there are some fairly clear design details to the early rucks that look a lot like Gregory features that were carried over.
Put that in the annals of pack history. So good.
That picture still lives on. Probably forever. One on the funnier “unintended consequences” photos I have ever seen. I am just thankful noone blamed ME for that pack system (at least not to my face)! LOL! The UM21 was really the outcome of the requirements process used during that time. Don’t blame Gregory. They did what they were asked. One size had to fit all as we were trying to pay back a “peace dividend”. Things are a little different now but let’s face it, a bureaucracy is needed to manage anything as big as DOD. And bureaucracies need defined processes to operate. And processes take time. So things are back where they used to be. Which is why those guys in the previous posting are not getting the gear they need. Everything comes full circle. Thankfully, there was a period of time when people were too busy with other things to care about a bunch of guys and gals busy with creating new kit. Things will never be like that again! Oh, for the good old days…
BigD, Thanks for the back story.
This is one of the great histories of our civilization! My great-grandkids and their descendants shall hear of these tales…