As part of the US Army Camouflage Improvement Effort, the four finalists must provide printed 50/50 NYCO and 500D Cordura to the Army so that they can have clothing and equipment produced for further testing.
Kryptek has provided this photograph, showing their Highlander pattern printed on 50/50 NYCO.
Earlier this week, the Warrior Protection and Readiness Coalition sponsored an event in Washington, DC featuring a panel of lawmakers. If you’re a reader of SSD, the subject was near and dear to your heart; the future of Soldier Systems from a Congressional standpoint. It’s important to note, that while a service might have a dire need for a certain capability, such as improved ballistic protection, or a new weapon system or camouflage, there is only so much flexibility in their service budgets. It requires Congress to appropriate the money to increase these capabilities. Fortunately, there are some in Congress who are very much in tune with the needs of our service members.
The panel was moderated by the Lexington Institute and all three panelists are members of the House Armed Services Committee. Congressmen Bill Owens (D-NY), Chris Gibson (R-NY) and Larry Kissel (D-NC). All three bring a slightly different perspective but have the same goal, ensuring American Warriors are the best equipped in the world.
Congressman Bill Owens represents New York’s 23rd District. He is a US Air Force Vet who was stationed at Plattsburgh AFB and later returned to live in the area. Right off the bat, Representative Owens explained his position. “It’s important that we don’t let the improvements that we’ve made over the past ten years go away as we curtail operations in Afghanistan'” and went on to add, “We need to begin to work in a bipartisan way to solve complex problems,” signifying his desire to reach across the aisle to those ends.
Interestingly, he mentioned several companies in his district that have moved from Canada to the US in order to be in compliance with Berry. Based on this experience, he stated that he would like to see more participation by Canadian companies in protecting American troops.
Congressman Chris Gibson is a retired US Army Infantry Colonel having served for 24 years including three combat deployments. On September 10th, 2001 he was at Fort Polk, serving as a Brigade XO in the 10th Mountain on a pre-deployment exercise to the Balkans. In Congress, he offers a boot-on-the-ground perspective few others can match. His comments reflect this view, “Looking back on September 10th (2001) to now, it’s amazing how far the Army has come. We are different military today. We can’t lose these capabilities.”
Additionally, he is very well informed about how we’ve achieved these increased Soldier Systems capabilities. Representative Gibson stated, “We need to find a place for things that were OCO in the budget.” He also has a vision for the future of Soldier protection, seeing nano technology as critical to lightening and improving the performance of our kit. While its been said many times before, Gibson’s final comment resonated with the gathering, “You’re not manning the equipment, you’re equipping the man.”
Larry Kissel comes from the 8th Congressional district of NC. He brings 27 years in the textile business, so the health of the US sewing trade is very important to him. Fort Bragg also sits on the edge of his district and he finds it hard not to show concern for our military’s well being, commenting, “When you live where we do, Fort Bragg is the center of the universe.”
During his remarks, Representative Kissel also remarked, “We need to make sure that when our men and women go into harm’s way, that they have the best equipment.” Later, when discussing the Berry Amendment, he was very clear in his support stating, “Berry has worked for 60 years. The strongest thing we can have is a good economy and that means American jobs.” “It doesn’t make sense to have TSA or Border Patrol in something not made in America,” he explained was a top priority, when asked about bringing the Department of Homeland Security under Berry.
David Costello, Executive Director of the WPRC, summed up the event well, “The WPRC represents the best of the American manufacturing industry that builds the clothing and equipment that helps make our troops the most effective fighting force on the planet. We are honored to have the support of Senator Brown and Congressmen Owens, Gibson and Kissell as we seek to ensure the continued proper outfitting of our soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines and operators.”
The event was very successful and all three Congressmen fielded questions from the audience. It was a pleasure meeting those so vocal about their support for our industry.
For more information on the WPRC visit warriorprotection.net.
Yesterday, Eagle Industries parent company ATK announced that they were closing the Fenton, Missouri factory in the next 60-90 days which has been in operation since 1989. About 325 workers will lose their jobs as Eagle begins to adapt to this new environment of decreased defense spending. Eagle will maintain an administrative presence in Fenton which will include research and development as well as business development. ATK has two additional Berry compliant production facilities in Puerto Rico which will continue to service Government contracts as well as a facility in the Dominican Republic.
ATK is also closing the former “Outers Laboratory” factory in Onalaska, Wisconsin which makes weapons cleaning products as well as rifle mounts and stocks. That facility has been producing equipment since 1933 under various owners and in the case of this closure, 130 will lose their jobs.
Unfortunately, this is a reality of the new resource constrained defense environment. As there are fewer procurement dollars available, the services will concentrate on refit and refurbishment as well as modernization of major end items such as trucks, tanks, aircraft, and ships. Less will be spent on clothing and individual equipment. In the case of most Soldier Systems products, they must be produced in the US. Cut backs mean there will be fewer domestic textile related jobs. Companies will be forced to make difficult decisions balancing revenues and costs. Make no mistake, in some cases, this will result in lost jobs.
Most of us know that Otis Technology makes gun cleaning systems and accessories. But, what most of us don’t know is that Otis also makes dreams come true. Every two years they offer the Trip of a Lifetime sweepstakes as a way to show support to our US Military personnel.
The most recent drawing was held from November 6 – December 17, 2011 at 180 AAFES Military Clothing stores Worldwide. Open to Retired and Active Duty members of the American Armed Services that are currently serving, including Guard and Reserve and their immediate family members, the trip includes travel, lodging, and expense money for two anywhere in the World up to a total value of $10,000.
The 2012 winner is Ms Barbara Snyder from Michigan. She entered the sweepstakes at the Selfridge Exchange store at Selfridge Air National Guard Base, Mount Clemens, MI.
Pictured above: Military Clothing Sales Manager; Bonita Jewett, winner; Barbara Snyder, and Dustin
Duncan of JRS Worldwide.
Just one month ago the Federal Prosecutors filed petitions with the court to drop charges against the so-called “SHOT Show 22” who were arrested in a production reminiscent of reality TV during the 2010 SHOT Show in Las Vegas, Nevada. They were charged with conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, violating the FCPA and conspiring to launder money, based on dealings with an informant and an undercover FBI agent posing as the Minister of Defense of Gabon. Three of the 22 defendants plead guilty and are said to have cooperated with prosecutors. But then, after a series of mistrials and thrown out evidence the Government recently dropped the charges against the remaining 19 accused leaving the three who plead guilty in limbo.
Today, DOJ petitioned the court to reverse the guilty pleas of Jonathan Spiller, Haim Geri and Daniel Alvirez. Good thing for them the Government is being a good sport about this and all.
Read more here.
Benchmade Knives has launched a new website with an updated look and feel. They’ve also added a new search function that should help you zoom right in on what you are looking for. Also, for those of you unfamiliar with Benchmade’s site, they run their own forum so it’s a great place to interact with other Benchmade owners. Despite reports that the site is not mobile friendly it opened just fine for us on both iPad and iPhone.
We received this email earlier this evening from SureFire. In order to maximize its exposure we decided to share it with you. This is a public service announcement…
Dear SureFire Customer:
SureFire is transitioning to a new merchant software platform.
After March 26, 2012, your SureFire account will no longer exist. You will not be able to log into your “My Account” page, nor will you be able to access your order history or the status of any open orders (backorders, recent orders, and returned merchandise orders).
However, this will not affect SureFire’s normal order processing procedure. Rest assured that all open orders, including new orders placed at any time, will be processed as usual in the normal time frame. Only your ability to log into a SureFire account page to view order status will be affected.
After March 26, 2012, if you wish to have a SureFire account you must create a new one by going to www.surefire.com and clicking the “Create Account” link at the top of the page. Because it will be a completely new account, it will not show any account history, nor show the status of any open orders. Only orders placed after the creation of your new account will become visible.
We value all of our customers and regret any inconvenience this may cause you.
If you have any questions concerning an open order or order history, please email Customer Service at helpyou@surefire.com or call us at 1-800-828-8809.
