For ages, Soldiers and Marines have been making their own battle boards, and then an entrepreneur comes along and not only does it for us, but also does it better.
For those of you unfamiliar, a battle board is a large book, board or case, used to display a map and other leadership tools such as unit status charts. It’s most useful as a battle tracker and logistics and fire support planner. Generally, they incorporate acetate or other clear, write-on/wipe-off material in order to make notes which can be erased when no longer needed, if the situation changes, or to avoid disclosure in the event capture is imminent. Sure, there are software packages which accomplish this function, but they rely on power and systems they run on are vulnerable to damage by the the environment and threat weapons. Since a well constructed battle board protects the hardcopy maps and other data from the elements, they’ll survive pretty much anything short of fire, or a direct hit.
Battle Board (with big “B”s) was developed by Marine Infantrymen. They use a tough polycarbonate sheet along with 500D nylon to construct their boards. In addition to a carrying handle, they include a protractor and pen storage pocket.
Battle Board offers the 12″ x 16″ Swift and Expeditionary models which can be used alone or combined to create the FIST model.
Battle Board will soon be introducing the Swift Lite and Expeditionary Lite which are 10″ x 12″ versions of their full size boards.
