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FirstSpear Friday Focus – FSTV Launches X-RAY

Friday, November 20th, 2020

Episode 1 of X-RAY launches November 24, 2020. FirstSpearTV like you’ve never seen before. Bringing you relevant content, built for the X! Get a free look at fielded and emerging advanced equipment in use by the world’s leading Special Operations Forces.

Devoid of clutter and online chest-beating, this platform is solely for entertainment and appreciation of those who pursue excitement. Our “actors” have unique and diverse backgrounds in Special Operations, Law Enforcement, and Security.

FirstSpearTV is about shock, awe, and recognition of those who provide the freedom that the rest of us enjoy.

To watch previous episodes, visit www.youtube.com/user/FIRSTSPEAR1.

Posted in Advertiser, FS Friday Focus, Guest Post | Comments Off on FirstSpear Friday Focus – FSTV Launches X-RAY

USAF Rated Preparatory Program Now Accepting Applications for FY21 Spring Class – Open to Enlisted

Thursday, November 19th, 2020

WASHINGTON (AFNS) —

Active duty Department of the Air Force officers and enlisted Airmen and Space Professionals interested in becoming a rated officer have until Dec. 31, 2020 to apply for the Spring 2021 Rated Preparatory Program.

This will be the third year that the Air Force has partnered with the Civil Air Patrol for this training. The 2021 class will take place at the Denton Enterprise Airport in Denton, Texas.

“The Rated Preparatory Program provides Department of the Air Force officers and for the first time enlisted applicants, who are interested in cross-training to a rated career field the opportunity to gain and strengthen their basic aviation skills,” said Col. Scott Linck, Aircrew Task Force deputy director. “This program will allow them to enhance their knowledge through developmental modules and acquire valuable flight time in order to increase their competitiveness as candidates for future undergraduate flying training boards.”

Applicants selected for the RPP will first complete an online self-paced ground course followed by a one-week in-resident course to introduce them to aviation fundamentals. Program participants will garner approximately seven to nine flight hours, ground instruction and additional training time in a flight simulator.

Officers who complete the program are required to apply to the next available Undergraduate Flying Training selection board. Enlisted participants who complete the program are required to apply to at least one of three Air Force commissioning sources: U.S. Air Force Academy, Reserve Officer Training Corps or Officer Training School.

Airmen who can meet the requirements below are encouraged to apply:

1. Any active duty officer who meets UFT board requirements.

2. Any active duty enlisted Airman or Space Professional who meets UFT board requirements and qualifies for a commission through one of the three commissioning sources (Reference PSDM 20-96 for further information).

3. Be a U.S. Citizen.

4. Be of high moral character and personal qualifications (members currently having open law violations or criminal investigations, previously convicted by court-martial or having received an Article 15 are ineligible to apply).

5. Have the unit commander’s approval and endorsement.

6. Have a current passing Physical Fitness Test score.

7. Have a Pilot Candidate Selection Method score prior to the RPP class start date.

8. Have less than 5 hours of total civilian flight time (applicants with greater than 5 hours of civilian flight time may apply, but will only be considered on a space available basis).

9. Officers: Obtain a U.S. Air Force Initial Flying Class I, 1A, Ground Based Controller or III flight physical prior to entry into the RPP.

10. Enlisted: Obtain an FAA Class III physical prior to entry into the RPP (Reference PSDM 20-96; consult a local Aviation Medical Examiner).

11. Complete an on-line self-paced ground course that will be provided prior to the class start date.

12. Be prepared to retake the Air Force Officer Qualifying Test and Test of Basic Aviation Skills at the first available opportunity upon completion of RPP, preferably within two to four weeks.

“When comparing applicant scores pre- and post-RPP, results show, on average, a 20% improvement in student AFOQT scores and a 35-point increase in PCSM scores,” said Maj. Sean Stumpf, Aircrew Task Force talent management branch chief. “Approximately 90% of officers who went through the program in 2019 and applied for UFT were selected. We are hoping for the same results from the most recent class that went through the program this summer.”

Interested applicants can find additional information on how to apply through the MyPers website.

Posted in Air Force, Aviation, Guest Post, Profession of Arms | 1 Comment »

XVIII Abn Corps Drives Innovation With Its Own Version Of ‘Shark Tank’

Wednesday, November 18th, 2020

FORT BRAGG, N.C. — A panel comprised of military leaders and civilians is scheduled to place Soldiers in the hot seat as they evaluate their original ideas during a new competition later this month.

The XVIII Airborne Corps developed the competition, called the “Dragon’s Lair,” to encourage creative thinking across its ranks that may benefit units in the corps. Ideas presented to the five panelists could then help drive innovation throughout the Army, said the corps’ public affairs officer, Col. Joe Buccino.

Dragon’s Lair simulates the format of the TV show “Shark Tank.” But instead of business moguls looking to invest in the concepts of entrepreneurs, Army leaders will select ideas from Soldiers.

The next competition is slated to be held at Fort Bragg on Nov. 17. Over 180 entries have been narrowed to five finalists who will pitch their concepts to the panel.

P.W. Singer, an author and renowned defense strategist, joins four other panelists including Lt. Gen. Michael Kurilla, the corps commander, and Command Sgt. Maj. Phelicea Redd, senior enlisted advisor for the 3rd Expeditionary Sustainment Command.

The finalists’ ideas include a photo collection mobile app that lets corps alumni archive and organize photos from historical events; a policy change that helps Soldiers with master social worker licenses become Army social workers; and touch-activated pads for medical patients that record vital signs and maintain medical histories.

The Dragon’s Lair challenges innovators within the corps to present solutions to common work problems or simply to make the work environment better.

“[The goal] is to improve any aspect of life and service within the XVIII Airborne Corps,” Buccino said. “And that applies to technology, process, quality of life, procedure, the way we organize for combat and the way we prepare to do physical training.”

Only one winner will be selected and their idea will be distributed throughout the corps. “So it’s a truer competition in that way,” Buccino said. The winner will be announced Nov. 19 on the corps’ Twitter account and the competition will become a monthly event beginning in January.

Winners receive a four-day pass and the opportunity to attend an Army training school of their choice.

Ideas from within

Innovation has been pushed in part by the Army’s modernization efforts and Army Futures Command, which combines the work of civilian and military developers at its headquarters in downtown Austin, Texas.

The Dragon’s Lair challenge, however, encourages Soldiers of any career field or background within the corps to generate concepts.

One of this month’s finalists, Spc. Trevor Cross, assigned to 626th Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, developed a concept for technicians to curb maintenance time by cutting back hours spent transporting equipment with his forklift trailer attachment idea. This will allow for bobcats, forklifts, or skid-steers to replace Humvees as the prime mover of trailers and generators within repair bays.

Cross said that if Soldiers use his idea, where technicians use a tow attachment to move equipment for repairs, they could potentially save up to 15 work hours per week. The Alabama native said that he built his design from previous Soldiers’ ideas and made it applicable to motor pools throughout the Army.

“I think every motor pool in the Army should have one,” said Cross, who worked as a heating and air conditioning technician before enlisting at age 24. “Not only does it save time … it provides better maneuverability within the bay space, because you have more options to move the generator exactly where you want it to be.”

Cross said that regardless of the contest’s outcome, his concept could help improve productivity for about 30-40 Soldiers at Fort Campbell or at any Army motor pool.

Mobile planning

The winner of the first contest, Maj. Evan Adams, showed a penchant for creative design as a graphics design major at Sam Houston State University in Texas. Thirteen years later, Adams brainstormed an idea for Soldiers to manage appointments and training opportunities at ranges on Army installations.

Adams said Soldiers typically have to schedule time on the firing range through the Range Facility Management Support System or by making phone calls to range control. Using the app, known as the “RangeFinder,” Soldiers can schedule bookings with their smartphones.

“We use a lot of this technology to plan the range [appointments] anyway,” Adams said. “My biggest innovation is really just putting those sorts of tools together in one place so you don’t have to go searching for them or have to download additional apps.”

His idea took first place among 84 submissions last month. Buccino said Adams’ thorough planning from the development to the implementation stage impressed the panelists.

“It solved so many inefficiencies in one solution,” Buccino said. “He really had the most thoughtful presentation and thought through many of the elements of implementation and many of the hurdles that would come with that.”

Adams said he plans to work with civilian programmers on a prototype beginning December or January and hopes to release the mobile app by the summer.

By Joseph Lacdan, Army News Service

Posted in Army, Guest Post | Comments Off on XVIII Abn Corps Drives Innovation With Its Own Version Of ‘Shark Tank’

Army Uniform Board to Consider Changes for Expecting, New Mothers

Tuesday, November 17th, 2020

WASHINGTON — The 152nd Army Uniform Board will convene on Nov. 18 to consider multiple issues, including changes to maternity clothing articles for expecting and new mothers. Specifically, the board is scheduled to make decisions on the Army Green Service Uniform-Maternity and a lactation shirt for the Maternity Utility Uniform in the Operational Combat Pattern.

In 2018, the Army produced a maternity uniform for demonstrations associated with the unveiling of the AGSU. That maternity uniform resembled the style of uniform that has been issued since the 1980s and was first designed in 1979. The AUB will discuss whether to modernize the maternity uniform or continue with the current style.

The AUB will also consider developing a lactation shirt, which would later become part of the Maternity Utility Uniform issue for new mothers. As things stand, a lactation shirt is not provided with the standard issue, and Soldiers must purchase them through private, commercial vendors.

The Nov. 18 meeting will be held virtually, and discussion will be led by the AUB Chairman, Lt. Gen. Duane Gamble, Deputy Chief of Staff of G-4. Members of the AUB include male and female Soldiers at all levels, and representatives from the active component, Army Reserve and Army National Guard. Each member has an equal vote in deciding which recommendations go forth to Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. James C. McConville.

The AUB meeting, which takes place twice each year, is the Army’s only forum to address the changing requirements of Soldiers’ uniforms and accessory items. All Soldiers can contribute to the Uniform Board process by providing recommendations to their sergeant majors. Incorporating the feedback from Soldiers is a big part of the AUB process.

The last AUB took place on June 25th. To read about the outcomes of that meeting, click here.

Posted in Army, Clothing, For the Ladies, Guest Post | 9 Comments »

SCUBAPRO Sunday – Holes in Fins

Sunday, November 15th, 2020

Why should you have or need holes in your fins? Some fins come with holes in some fins now, but only a few companies make them with holes to hang them on your gear. Most fins in the SCUBAPRO line that come with holes mainly have them so the rental company can hang them up to dry and store them together, minimizing the possibility of misplaced or mismatched fins. Holes on the blades of fins make coming out of the water onto the beach or climbing a ladder easier. It allows the water to drain out, so you don’t have to stop and dump it out. The holes can also be used to attach the fins to your wrists or back with the SCUBAPRO fin keepers, or you can use a carbineer and 550 cord.

The SCUBAPRO Jets fins are renowned for their power and durability. They can last a lifetime with proper care. They don’t really get sun damaged, salt eroded, chlorine discolored, travel battered, coral gouged, or split. They are one of the most vital pieces of equipment that you will ever own.

But they didn’t have holes on the blades so that you could hang them upside down. If you want holes in your fins, you would have to use a hole punch and then put a number 5 grommet in there to help keep the fin from ripping. You used a #5 because it was big enough to put a carbineer in the hole if needed, and the brass doesn’t stay shiny for long.

There are a few different ways to attach your fins to your gear. You can put a loop of 550 cord or ½ tape that you can put a carabineer thru and clip it into your H-gear. One of the best ways I have found is to put a male FasTec on one and Female Fastec on the other. This way, you can clip them into each other to hang on the bottom of a ladder. You can also do the same thing on the back of your H-gear so you can clip them on your back.

You can also put a male on one wrist and a female on the other so you can clip them into your wrists to make coming out of the water easier; it also helps if you are doing a ladder climb and you want to keep your fins with you in case you fall off the ladder, and there is a strong current.

For groups that use the Twin Jets or twin jet type fins where there are twin blades, you can’t put holes in as the blade won’t support the fin’s weight. You can hang the fins by their straps or put something around the middle of the fins and hang them on your waist.

There is a lot that goes into the design of all of our products. Almost all things serve a purpose. We make products or update old ones. We have to take many user groups into account, so we ensure we are getting the best product out there for everyone.

Posted in Advertiser, Guest Post, Maritime | Comments Off on SCUBAPRO Sunday – Holes in Fins

TheFull9 x Kurmaz Gear – Custom Made Camo Uniforms

Saturday, November 14th, 2020

Dear SSD reader,

Ever wanted a combat shirt or pants in a camo pattern that simply isn’t being manufactured by anybody at all? Seen just a tiny quantity of uniforms that you’d love to own but all of which sold out long before you could get to them? I may possibly have some information that could be useful for you.

When using traditional fabrics of nylon and polyester blended with cotton the cut of the Crye G3 uniform is widely regarded as being just about as it good as it gets, but they tend to have a bit much going on features-wise for those folks who want to own a combat cut uniform, but aren’t in SOF. There’s also a demand out there for all sorts of unusual and interesting camo patterns that aren’t popular with military forces and simply don’t warrant mass production from large defence contractors. Combining those two issues I went to my buddy Roman Kurmaz with my idea for a uniform style based on the G3s but at a lower weight and available in just about any camo that most people could ever desire.

I won’t go in to full detail in this post because my website now has a new lengthy and detailed page for all that (link above), but the base idea is this: offer a ready-made package of features based on my many years of buying, owning and using Roman’s product that refines the G3s. Aimed at the commercial, sporting and recreational end user who wants the best aesthetics as well as a lighter, more comfortable uniform at a lower price without compromising anything in terms of material or stitching quality and durability i.e. no bargain-basement Chinese fabrics or stitch work.

After surveying a wide range of people from police and ex-military to paintballers, airsoft players and even just simple collectors, I did away with what I found to be the least used and least popular features of the G3s while fixing the most common complaints of Roman’s other custom production. As an example, reducing the combat pants from a rather excessive 10-pocket design down to 6 pockets, which is still more than most people will ever need, but with the fabric saved we re-aligned the material on the knee pad pockets and main cargo pockets to bring the camo pattern all in to line, as depicted below. That is usually an added extra that will increase the cost of your uniform when ordering the original G3 cut from Roman, while F9 Edition combat pants from Roman are actually slightly cheaper than the G3s he makes in the patterns that Crye doesn’t (or has only offered in incredibly limited quantities that sell for absurd sums on eBay).

You’ll also be in good company if you pick up a set because Eric of SSD himself was the very first person to order a set of the F9E fatigues and his uniform in Tigerstripe is shown here as the demonstrator example. There has been some misconceptions in the past that there are only available in Tiger, which is not the case. Any camo fabric that you can get your hands on can be used in the F9 Edition uniforms, *including* woodland and desert variants of Tigerstripe with any colour option you like able to be built in in terms of torso, velcro and stretch fabric colouration.

If you’re interested be sure to head to my site at the link below to get all the nitty-gritty details and if the F9 Edition Uniforms are for you just get in touch with Roman and place your order – links are all there on the page.

Thank you

Full9

thefull9.net/f9e

Posted in Clothing, Guest Post, International | 20 Comments »

Machine Learning Algorithm Could Provide Soldiers Feedback

Saturday, November 14th, 2020

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. — A new machine learning algorithm, developed with Army funding, can isolate patterns in brain signals that relate to a specific behavior and then decode it, potentially providing Soldiers with behavioral-based feedback.

“The impact of this work is of great importance to Army and DOD in general, as it pursues a framework for decoding behaviors from brain signals that generate them,” said Dr. Hamid Krim, program manager, Army Research Office, an element of the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Develop Command, now known as DEVCOM, Army Research Laboratory. “As an example future application, the algorithms could provide Soldiers with needed feedback to take corrective action as a result of fatigue or stress.”

Brain signals contain dynamic neural patterns that reflect a combination of activities simultaneously. For example, the brain can type a message on a keyboard and acknowledge if a person is thirsty at that same time. A standing challenge has been isolating those patterns in brain signals that relate to a specific behavior, such as finger movements.

Doing so, is the first step in developing brain-machine interfaces that help restore lost function for people with neurological and mental disorders, which requires the translation of brain signals into a specific behavior, called decoding.

As part of a Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative grant awarded by ARO and led by Maryam Shanechi, assistant professor at the University Of Southern California Viterbi School Of Engineering, researchers have developed a new machine learning algorithm to address the brain modeling and decoding challenge. The research is published in Nature Neuroscience.

“Our algorithm can, for the first time, dissociate the dynamic patterns in brain signals that relate to specific behaviors and is much better at decoding these behaviors,” said Shanechi, the lead senior author of the study.

The researchers tested the algorithm on standard brain datasets during the performance of various arm and eye movements. They showed that their algorithm discovered neural patterns in brain signals that directed these movements but were missed with standard algorithms.

They also showed that the decoding of these movements from brain signals – predicting what the movement kinematics are by just looking at brain signals that generate the movement – was much better with their algorithm.

“The algorithm has significant implications for basic science discoveries,” Krim said. “The algorithm can discover shared dynamic patterns between any signals beyond brain signals, which is widely applicable for the military and many other medical and commercial applications.”

Shanechi said the reason for the new algorithm’s success was its ability to consider both brain signals and behavioral signals such as movement kinematics together, and then find the dynamic patterns that were common to these signals.

This decoding also depends on our ability to isolate neural patterns related to the specific behavior. These neural patterns can be masked by patterns related to other activities and can be missed by standard algorithms.

In the future, the new algorithm could also enhance future brain-machine interfaces by decoding behaviors better. For example, the algorithm could help allow paralyzed patients to directly control prosthetics by thinking about the movement.

By U.S. Army DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory Public Affairs

Posted in Army, Digitization, Guest Post | Comments Off on Machine Learning Algorithm Could Provide Soldiers Feedback

FirstSpear FridayFocus— Summit Bags

Friday, November 13th, 2020

Need a way to store all your gear and keep things organized? FirstSpear Summit Bags have you covered. They’re American made with a zipper closure. FirstSpear summit bags are ultralight, extremely durable and feature a wide variety of sizes. From small (1 liter) to 2XL (56 liters), there’s a summit bag to fit all your gear needs. They also come in a tough 70-denier ripstop material or a mesh that allows your gear to breathe. Colors include orange, black, manatee and coyote.

The sky’s the limit on applications. From organizing inside larger bags or packs, hauling loose rounds, storing electronics or simply keeping gear organized and easy to grab, summit bags have you covered.

Dimensions:
• Small (1 liter) – 4”x4”x4.5”
• Medium (2 Liter) – 4″ x 4″ x 9″
• Large (7 Liter) – 6″ x 6″ x 12″
• XL (11 Liter) – 6″ x 10″ x 12″
• 2XL (56 Liter) – 12″ x 12″ x 24″

For more information, check out First-Spear.com. To discover more about FirstSpear’s technology, check out First-Spear.tech.

Posted in Advertiser, FS Friday Focus, Guest Post, Load Carrying | Comments Off on FirstSpear FridayFocus— Summit Bags