In the Spring of 1990, I was on the downhill side of a two year tour in Germany that had been involuntarily extended to 30 months due to lack of retainability. Rather than extending my enlistment and accepting an involuntary assignment to Fort Carson, I was waiting for my re-enlisted to window to open so I could go to Bragg. At the time I was working outside my SIGINT MOS as a radio operator in 3rd ID’s Long Range Surveillance Detachment and preferred to go to an airborne assignment rather than another heavy division.
I had picked up this copy of Soldier of Fortune magazine featuring a story about the British Pathfinders at Leighton Kaserne’s Stars and Stripes bookstore. In the story was a sidebar about the members’ kit with a couple of photos and it mentioned a company in Exeter named Arktis.
I was already highly interested in British aftermarket gear having obtained two books entitled, “Combat” and “Survival” which had been published in Great Britain and based upon the weekly serialized imprint called “Combat & Survival,” also on post.
Now that I had a company name, the real fun began. This was 1990, there was no internet to look things up, and I was relying on the very expensive German phone system to make overseas calls to the UK to track Arktis down.
I used phone booths during my search because it was easy to track how many German Marks I used for calls. You inserted as many as were needed for the call in the phone’s slot.
I eventually got on the phone with Arktis’ founder and proprietor at the time, former Royal Marine Major David Ross, OBE who had served in the Falklands. He explained that he had started the company due to his dissatisfaction with issue kit. And for me, his military service explained the location of the company in Exeter. Fortunately, I lived off post in an apartment so I could use the German Post for shipments rather than the US mail which would have resulted in any parcels heading from the UK to NY and then back to Germany and the unit mailroom.
David sent me a catalog and I shared it with the other members of my LRSD. I bought a 42 pattern chest rig and a few pouches. A few of the other guys bought 45 pattern chest rigs. At the time we could get away with wearing either OD or DPM pouches. DPM blended in pretty well with Woodland, but I always felt self conscious about it. Regardless, the gear was only worn in the field.
Not long after, I learned about another company called Special Air Sea Services and purchased a few things from them, including a smock. Another company I shopped was Survival Aids and this photo of an Arktis 42 Pattern rig comes from their catalog.
A few years later, David Ross sold the company and it has changed hands a couple of times, becoming Arktis Outdoor Products and now Arktis Limited. These days, it seems that they concentrate more on clothing than kit but they still produce a few of the original items that put the company on the map.
David also told me about the monthly version of “Combat & Survival” magazine and I set about to obtain a subscription for it as well, feeding my interest in kit for the remainder of my tour in Germany. Once I got back to the States, you could find the magazine on newsstand shelves for quite a while, right up until it ceased publishing a few years ago. I was quite the fan. After being assigned to Bragg, I even wrote a couple of articles for C&S myself.
Blast from the past for sure! The LRSD I was in went to England in mid 90’s
For a patrol competition
I traded a para regt guy a pair of danner boots
For a brand new 42 chest rig in OD, 3 pouch combo for the back of your LCE belt and an sas smock in DPM pattern
Great in the woods but always got looks from guys coming out of the field.
Hay Brother I was a GSR in 3ID we shared a barracks and offices
Hey Mark! I hope all is well.
Survival Aids and Arktis were the Mecca for gear queers. Then going further down the rabbit hole SASS, I regret donating my smock.
I still have that issue as well as the C&S books and magazines. Might even be an Arktis catalogue around somewhere.
Im a Brit soldier and during the late 90s/early GWOT i ran Arktis kit – invaded Iraq wearing one of their vests.
The mid 00s saw the demise of SASS and Arktis. I fully believe it was the appearance of MC and their slow uptake. The only Arktis kit i own now is a notebook cover and nothing at all from SASS.
Its a shame but the way it is.
Wow – sounds like we both discovered them around about the same time. I had finished my enlistment and was doing an overseas study program in Munich for my junior year at university in 1990-1991 though.
I discovered “Combat & Survival” magazine in the English press section of one of the news agents in the Munich Hauptbahnhof, wrote off for copies of the Arktis, SASS, and Survival Aids catalogs, and spent many hours drooling over kit that I wished I had a need for. lol
I bought my first repro WWII ‘SAS Smock’ and Denison Smock from SASS, and would go on to use kit from both companies in later years when I got into WWII Living History and airsoft while living in the UK.
Great to see that Arktis is still going strong, but very sad that SASS was forced out of business by the MoD restricting the availability of MTP fabric to officially contracted manufacturers.
I still have that same survival book!!
SASS what a joke! At their request I stupidly sent them my issue AUSCAM Rain Jacket (as an example) in return for a good deal on an SASS COP Vest. It was never returned, I never got the Vest deal and I never heard from them ever again!
I still have all 28 volumes of the Combat and Survival hard cover books. Had to mow a lot of lawns to get those.
Wish Special Air Sea Services Kit Karry smocks were still around.
Started with an OD…then convinced them to do one in DPCU if I supplied the material.
My GP hunting & shooting smock was one in Sand.
I would like to know more about this “Karen Kill Zone”
Must’ve been the author’s ex wife…
I bought that same magazine (which I still have) on my first trip to the USA, an exchange trip with the 82nd Airborne, whist I was serving in 1 Para. Ironically it sparked my interest in joining the Pathfinders, which I did five years later (I only joined Battalion in 1990 and attending PF Selection isn’t open to Crows).
I spent most of the rest of my 25 year career in the Pathfinders, and had a great time, deploying on seven operational tours and various training exercises all over the world.
Hope you are well Eric.