SureFire Spotlight videos are a high level rundown of specific products. This one focuses on the SF3P Three-Prong Flash Hider.
The advanced SureFire SF3P three-prong flash hider features a patent-pending design that greatly reduces muzzle flash—typically greater than 99%—when compared with a plain muzzle. Boasting robust tines built to withstand the rigors of combat, the SF3P also serves as a rock-solid mounting adapter for SureFire SOCOM Series Fast-Attach® suppressors.
Today we are getting a look at a FirstSpear classic, the ECP – Exigent Circumstances Pack.
Originally developed as an assault pack designed to quickly attach to many different platforms with supplied G-Hook straps or utilized as a stand-alone pack with low profile backpack straps. Features a removable beavertail style outer flap that is secured with shock cord and spacious enough to hold a helmet. Inside the flap you will find elastic daisy chain sized to hold flash bang and smoke grenades. Rear most pocket holds an included comfort pad or hydration bladder up to 3 liters as well as optional internal frame. The lightweight yet ultra sturdy construction has become a popular choice for those looking for a 1 day pack as well as gym or work bag.
In-Stock and shipping now in Black, Ranger Green, Coyote, MultiCam, and Manatee Grey. Like most FirstSpear products it is 100% Made in America with USA Materials.
www.first-spear.com/exigent-circumstance-pack-ecp-tm
MATBOCK has taken an expeditionary portable chlorine machine and is putting it to work by bottling the chlorine into 3.25oz bottles. Additionally, they are working to hire Virginia Beach locals that are without work during this time to assist in the production.
The idea came from one of their employees, John Bottoms, who spent years traveling to over 30 countries assisting in disaster relief. Having spent time in austere locations battling Ebola, he knew exactly how to get us set up and running.
Simply mix one bottle with 32oz of COLD water and you will have a surface disinfectant or a hand sanitizer alternative. Sold as a 6 pack.
For every bottle you buy we will donate a bottle to a local hospital. If you’re a healthcare provider and need direct support, email orders@matbock.com
Order here: www.matbock.com/products/decon-surface
WASHINGTON — The Defense Department has established a joint task force to deal with daily requests the department is receiving for medical and personal protective equipment from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the departments of Health and Human Services and Homeland Security, and others.
Ellen M. Lord, undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, said she has established the Joint Acquisition Task Force to deal with the influx of requests.
“The task force will synchronize the DOD acquisition response to this crisis, working closely with all the services and defense agencies,” she explained. “The task force will leverage DOD authorities for maximum acquisition flexibility to provide resilient capability in the current health crisis.”
The task force will prioritize and direct the Defense Production Act authorities and funding in response to the immediate crisis, Lord added. It also is focused on reducing reliance on foreign supply sources, she said.
“I can’t stress enough the importance of the data repositories and portals we have in [Defense Contracting Management Agency] industrial policy and those we are establishing under the JATF,” she said. “These repositories allow us to bring in critical feedback from the contracting officer level all the way up to the Pentagon.”
DOD is also providing portals for good ideas from industry, so that there is one repository where all can go to see what is being offered in terms of technical assistance and manufacturing capability, Lord said.
Last week, DOD had four, productive “synch” calls with Defense Industry Association leaders and other key associations. The calls provided important feedback that allowed Pentagon leaders to make significant progress on matters such as the critical defense contractor workforce’s ability to continue working; ensuring cash flow to the defense industrial base; and getting standardized guidance out to industry, she said.
“I’m working closely with DHS. I issued a memo that defined essentiality in the defense industrial base workforce, ensuring that DIB’s critical employees can continue working,” Lord added.
“This was very important,” she said, “because industrial leaders told us that state and local government had different shelter-in-place rule guidelines, with some even issuing misdemeanor citations to workers trying to get to work.”
Lord said her memorandum will help ensure continuity of mission with a full commitment to the safety of the workforce and state and local governments.
Additionally, the director of the Defense Contracting Management Agency has worked closely with the contracting workforce and the Defense Finance and Accounting Service to ensure invoices are continuing to be paid in a timely manner, Lord said.
“Our office of small business programs within industrial policy reached out to industry small businesses and is working with the Small Business Administration and their small-business emergency loan program to help protect these companies,” she said.
“We know innovation comes in large part from small businesses, and we remain committed to supporting these small businesses,” Lord said.
Moving forward, DOD remains fully engaged with the interagency effort to leverage the Defense Production Act to help reinforce critical elements of the defense industrial base, Lord said.
“As we discussed with the Joint Acquisition Task Force, it’s important that everything we do has joint representation, a joint mindset and the joint warfighter in mind,” she emphasized. “It is critically important we understand that during this crisis, the DIB is vulnerable to adversarial capital, so we need to ensure companies can stay in business without losing their technology.”
Lord said DOD is working as smartly and quickly as possible — in close coordination with Congress, state governors, and the defense industrial base — to do everything it can to support military members, their families, defense contractors and U.S. citizens.
“We recognize how serious this pandemic and national emergency is,” she said. “And we will remain fully transparent and provide oversight and accountability in all we do.”
I have wanted to do a post about the best War movies. This is not easy, as everyone has a different opinion about what makes a good movie. Here is how I look at them. First of all,
I do not like movies that were made as “protest movies” like Apocalypse Now (yes, a great movie, but do not watch the extended cut) and sometimes it is hard to tell, especially when you watched them as a kid. Then they release the “director’s cut”, like the Big Red One, and bam there it is – protest film. On the other hand, there are movies made to push a cause, like the Green Berets or Wake Island. Both are great movies and I do not have a problem with them. I just want to show both sides, I do not think you will see a movie like them ever again. I know you are saying to yourself everything that comes out of Hollywood is protesting something. Very true, but some are not as easy to spot as another. Then there are great movies that I just can’t watch. Saving Private Ryan is one of the best movies out there, but I can’t watch it because of Corporal Upham. He was the guy they took with them as a translator. The guy who played him did a great job, but I just want to punch him in the face. He got a lot of people killed. Nope, I can’t watch it, hate that guy. I still think if I see that actor walking down the street, I might punch him. I have seen some of the newer movies, but I really can’t watch them as they just hit too close to home.
Here are some of the movies I like, in no real order. I tried to put the Navy related ones first as this article is supposed to be about diving. The Fighting Sullivan’s might be my favorite, as it is really about brotherhood and, of course, The Frogman. My first ship deployment was an Amphibious Ready Group (ARG), on the USS Juneau, and we were part of the invasion of Somalia. The Juneau was the same name of the ship the Sullivan’s were on that sank. I am sure as soon as I send this to Eric I will think of more. Sorry, I do not have the links for all of them. Please share the ones you think I have missed. There are some great movies out there that feature different parts of history that could be quickly forgotten. I hope this helps jog your memory of some of the great military films out there.
They Were Expendable
Midway (1976)
Attack force Z
The Longest Day
The Guns of Navarone
Force 10 from Navarone
To Hell and Back
Sargent York
Braveheart
Patton
Glory
Zulu
M.A.S.H
The Patriot
The Devil’s Brigade
The Great Escape
The Big Red One
Battle Ground
Go for broke
Uncommon Valor
We were soldier
Hamburger hill
The Odd Angry Shot
The Siege at Jadotville
The Desert Rats
Hanoi Hilton
A Bridge too Far
Gung Ho
The Fighting 69th
Beneath Gill 60
The Lost Battalion
The Dirty Dozen
Red Dawn (1984)
The Outlaw Jose Wales
Gods and Generals
WASHINGTON — The Army plans to implement a new cybersecurity and tech education program for high school students enrolled in junior ROTC programs, leaders told lawmakers March 11.
The program, scheduled to be implemented at select schools by fiscal year 2022, will focus on cybersecurity and computer science. Assistant Secretary of the Army for Manpower and Reserve Affairs Casey Wardynski said the program’s curriculum remains under development.
The Army wants to reach a broader, more academically diverse group of students while also expanding its science, technology, engineering and math curriculum in its JROTC programs, said Assistant Deputy for Recruiting and Retention Lin St. Clair.
While the Army’s JROTC programs aren’t inherently a recruiting tool, they could open the doors toward a possible military career, Wardynski said. The cyber pilot program is being developed by the Office of the Secretary of the Army (Manpower and Reserve Affairs), Army Training and Doctrine Command and U.S. Army Cadet Command.
“Our effort here is designed to capture the imagination of young adults,” Wardynski said during a Senate Committee on Armed Services personnel oversight hearing. The assistant secretary added the service has been working to expand the number of eligible candidates for military service through education.
Through the program, Army leaders hope young men and women will be steered toward a possible Army career earlier in life. While the goal of junior ROTC remains to create better citizens, Wardynski said the program will raise awareness of career opportunities in computer science and cyber security so that the Army will be on recruits’ radars when they decide on their post-high school plans.
In many of the Army’s 22 priority cities for recruiting, young people don’t have much awareness about the Army as a potential career path, Civilian Aide to the Secretary of the Army Jim Bland said recently. CASAs are community leaders who provide advice and counsel to Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy.
“We need to begin educating them much earlier about the opportunities in the military, the benefits of service and the challenges of service,” Wardynski said, “so that as they form their set of life-course alternatives, military service can be in there early enough to shape their behaviors throughout high school. So by the time they graduate, they can avail themselves to those opportunities.”
St. Clair said many of areas with schools that remain underrepresented in junior ROTC programs lie in the Midwest and Northeast. And that diverse student populations are located in or near the Army’s priority cities.
The proposed pilot program is intended to educate students at the Advanced Placement and honors course level St. Clair said the program would cover the entire four-year junior ROTC program.
The pilot program as envisioned would be “rigorous and arduous enough that it would warrant AP or honors-level equivalency in terms of points or grade structure,” St. Clair said. He added it would be graded the same and it would be viewed the same as an honors or advanced-placement class.
By Joseph Lacdan, Army News Service
The advanced SureFire SFMB muzzle brake greatly reduces both recoil impulse and muzzle rise so that the weapon tracks straight back to keep you on target for faster shot-to-shot recovery. Its patented Impulse Diffusion design minimizes side blast and rear-directed concussion effects. The SFMB also serves as a rock-solid mounting adapter for SureFire SOCOM Series Fast-Attach® suppressors.
In this episode, Don Edwards of Greenline Tactical discusses techniques for getting acclimated with Night Vision, for new users.
Don Edwards is a retired 20+ year veteran of US Army Special Operations. He began his career in 3rd Bn 75th Ranger Regiment where he was a participant in Operation Just Cause. Retired from 20th Special Forces Group where he served as a Team Sergeant, a Weapons Sergeant and Intelligence Sergeant during combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has served for five years as the Use of Force training manager and primary instructor at the ATF National Academy in Glynco, GA instructing in tactics and firearms as well. Don has worked as tactical advisor to the Department of Defense since 2008 serving in both Iraq and Afghanistan and is a FLETC certified firearms instructor.
Greenline Tactical was founded, and is run by Don Edwards. Don is the former Director of Training for TNVC and he is considered a leader in Night Vision Operations Training offering real world tactical and defensive training to law abiding civilians, State/Local Law Enforcement officers and SWAT teams as well as Conventional and Special Operations military units around the country.
