The Kestrel Pocket is purpose-built to securely protect your weather meter against bumps, scratches, dirt and debris. Your meter will ride snugly in a soft, fuzzy, and padded inner layer housed within a Cordura covered hard plastic outer shell. Webbing loop provides a convenient way to attach an ITW Tac Link or other tie-down so you don’t lose your gear. Like everything Armageddon Gear manufactures, the Kestrel Pocket is made in the USA!
(photo courtesy of Mike Mangum)
Mystery Ranch has posted a really cool interview of founder Dana Gleason and his son and co-owner, D3. They each give their perspective on the brand and its stuff you aren’t going to hear unless you get to spend an afternoon at the Ranch. Definitely worth a read.
www.mysteryranch.com/post/humble-beginnings-the-gleasons-and-mystery-ranch
Pretty much everyone wears a belt, so it’s a good platform to integrate survival items. Wazoo Survival Gear gave us a preview of their Cache Belt during OR and now it’s available on Kickstarter. It has a hidden pocket which can be used to carry a wide variety of items as simple as currency or as complex as a SERE kit. Although, the most useful thing for many of us may be the integral bottle opener.
The Cache Belt is available in three comfigurations; Minimlaist, Essentials and Adventure, each packed with additional survival items. Although the Cache Belt was funded within two hours of launching, there are still some Early Bird pricing options to be had.
www.kickstarter.com/projects/wazoosurvivalgear/the-ultimate-everyday-and-travel-accessory-cache-b
Aztec Training Services has announced that Tyler Grey has joined its roster of instructors. Tyler is a combat wounded Veteran who has served as an member of the US Army 75th Ranger Regiment as well as a Sniper and an Assaulter in the US Army’s premier special operations unit. He is engaged in various Veteran causes and is a highly sought after instructor as well as an entertainment industry consultant. Plus, he’s an all around nice guy.
(yes, the gear is too clean because it was a studio shoot)
We’ve been getting a few questions about how to subscribe to our RSS feed. It couldn’t be simpler.
1) Visit www.soldiersystems.net/feed. It’ll look like this:
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3) Alternatively, a number of web services also allow for subscription to an RSS feed. Just search ‘RSS Reader’ or a similar term in your search engine of choice and work from there. Usually, with online services you’ll simply have to provide the website for the feed to pull from, which in this case would be www.soldiersystems.net.
4) Enjoy your new subscription to the SSD RSS feed!
If you have any more questions, feel free to post them in the comments section and we’ll see what we can do to help you.
Recently, a friend recommended that I read Jay Mach’s ‘Eagle Facing West’ based on my interest in military history. At 254 pages, this Kindle book is a quick, yet engaging read.
I grew up fascinated with the Vietnam war and remember the mountains of data presented by the National League of Families and others alleging that US POW and MIA personnel had been left behind by our government in Southeast Asia and were still being held captive up into the mid-1980s. ‘Eagle Facing West’ takes this concept one step further and supposes that a core group of “Keepers” had survived to this day and were being kept alive by the Vietnamese and forced train their personnel and serve as analysts. The men who are the main focus of this novel, craft a plan to escape using modern technology and end up with some very capable assistance thanks to an escape signal captured by US overhead imagery. Intrigue ensues with a rogue politician attempting to bury their existence.
Right out of the gate I’m going to tell you that Jay Mach is a pen name. I now know who is behind the book but I won’t tell. What you need to know is that Mach is actually a team made up of a former congressional staffer and a military insider. The duo has close ties with the US Special Operations Forces community and US Air Force pilots. Boy, does it show. To be sure, it’s a technothriller, but elements of the story carry a degree of plausibility. On more than one occassion, my jaw dropped as I saw details which are not common knowledge. I give it two thumbs up!
Download your Kindle copy from www.amazon.com.
USSOCOM’s AT&L Program Executive Office-Command, Control, Computers and Communications (PEO-C4) / has announced and industry collaboration event focused on non-RF Communications to be held 7 and 8 December, 2016 at SOFWERX in Tampa, Florida.
They wish to meet with selected experts from industry to facilitate technical discussions on active and passive non-RF communications.
The discussions will focus on the following areas of interest:
• System scalability on various sized platforms
• Data rates and power levels
• Transmission ranges
• Non-RF equipment solution sets
• Low Probability of Intercept/Low Probability of Deception/Low Probability of Exploitation
• Non-RF communication in a wide variety of environments
• Near and far field capabilities
Interested parties need to respond by Oct 14, 2016 at 12:00 pm Eastern. Visit www.FBO.gov for full details.
On September 13, 2016, a federal grand jury in Greeneville returned an indictment against Vincent Lee Ferguson, 65, of Knoxville, Tenn.; Matthew Lee Ferguson, 40, of Lenoir City, Tenn.; Kerry Joseph Ferguson, 35, of Houston, Texas; Matthew Harrison Martland, 32, of Knoxville, Tenn.; and Stephanie Lynn Kaemmerer, 44, of Knoxville, Tenn., for wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, major fraud against the United States, and smuggling goods into the United States.
They are former employees of Wellco Enterprises, a now defunct footwear manufacturer which sold boots to the US military. Vincent Ferguson was president and CEO from 2006 to 2012, Matthew Ferguson was senior vice president of sales, Kerry Ferguson was marketing director, Matthew Martland was director of distribution and logistics and Stephanie Kaemmerer was inside sales manager and operations manager at Wellco.
Wellco had a rich history in military footwear for over half a century. In fact, their Rosearch business unit held the IP for several direct molded sole systems including the Jungle Boot’s Panama sole and the legendary footprint sole developed experimentally for MACV SOG’s cross border operations. Wellco was bundled with Altama and sold out of Ch 11 bankruptcy to Original SWAT in 2014 to form Original Footwear.
Investigations by Homeland Security, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, Air Force Office of Special Investigation, General Services Administration Office of Inspector General, and the Defense Contracts Audit Agency found that Wellco substituted Berry compliant boots with those Made in China in order collect a larger profit from the sale of the boots to the military as well as others, including the public.
If convicted, they all face a term of 20 years in prison as to each wire fraud charge and smuggling charge, and up to 10 years in prison for the charge of major fraud against the United States. Additionally, they face fines of up to $250,000 and up to three years of supervised release as to each count. The indictment also seeks forfeiture of approximately $8.1 million.
