You know you’ve been waiting for it…U.S. Elite’s semi-annual Salomon Forces sale! Get your new favorite pair of shoes for 20% off. Sale ends 9/7 so hurry up!
us-elitegear.com/brands/salomon
US Elite Semi-Annual Salomon Forces Sale
Thursday, August 25th, 2016Welcome to the Layer Cake
Thursday, August 25th, 2016
This is how NATO planned to hold back the Soviet horde circa 1980s. Dubbed the “Layer Cake” defense, it relied upon full NATO commitment with the Americans doing some heavy lifting in the Central Army Group which expected to see the heaviest Warsaw Pact thrusts. You’ll also notice the lack of a French commitment.
Tacteris Redefines Military Planning with Release of Maestro Software
Wednesday, August 24th, 2016
CALGARY, Aug. 23, 2016 — Tacteris has announced the release of Maestro, its flagship 3D operational planning software for military planners. Maestro delivers purpose=built tools and workflows for composing complex tactical operations with unprecedented speed, accuracy, and agility. Licensing options are available for enterprise users as well as affordable pricing for individual planners and students. Maestro is available for download and purchase at: www.tacteris.com.
Maestro is a unique fusion of project planning, 3D mapping, organizational resource management and collaboration in a single, unified platform. Planners can create tactical overlays, orders of battle, and timelines in minutes. “Up until now, technology has been the limiting factor,” said Tacteris co=founder Sundeep Kharey. “Current approaches are partial at best and are inefficient and costly over the long run.” Tacteris has developed proprietary visualization, scheduling, and resource management algorithms offering unparalleled performance, flexibility, and cost=effectiveness in a commercial off=the=shelf package. “Operational planning is a core competency practiced by all the world’s militaries, and how well you do it means the difference between life and death on the battlefield,” said Kharey. “With today’s release, we’re making the essential planning capabilities demanded by professional planners around the world available out of the box.”
Maestro features worldwide 3D map data, NATO symbology, and international language support. A streamlined user=interface makes users productive in minutes without training. A standalone application, Maestro runs on regular Windows PCs without the need for specialized hardware or network infrastructure. Tacteris offers command and control (C2) integration and customization services for enterprise customers. A product of Canada, Maestro is available for international export and is ITAR=free.
For more information, pricing, and free software trials, please visit: www.tacteris.com.
5.11 Tactical – Five-O Covert Shirt
Wednesday, August 24th, 2016I got a kick out of the Five-O Covert Shirt the first time I saw it. The print looks like pineapples from a ways off but as you get closer, you realize they’re actually pineapple grenades.
Intended for CCW wear, it incorporates 5.11’s chest pockets as well as breakaway snaps and their RAPIDraw placket.
Offered in Black, White, Pearl (shown) and Spartan, sizes Small – XXLarge.
www.511tactical.com/five-o-covert-shirt
ACW MSR Side Release Buckle
Wednesday, August 24th, 2016American Cord & Webbing Co., Inc. (ACW Co., Inc.) is a leading designer and manufacturer of certified Berry-compliant plastic hardware that meets and exceeds the specifications necessary for military applications. We stock a wide range of products to fit all of our customers’ needs, and all of our buckles are molded in our RI manufacturing facility.
Our MSR Buckles are all military-approved in all widths and are the industry’s standard for both performance and appearance among molded fasteners. Our product line includes MSR Side Release, MSR Male Buckle with Hole, MSR Field Attachment, MSR Double Adjust, MSR Camo, MSR Male Loop, and MSR Buckle with Slot. All buckles also have the ACW IRR Scattershield surface finish and are available in standard materials (Acetal, Nylon, FireLoc), as well as custom options. The buckles can be ordered in a variety of color options (Black, White, Coyote #498, Tan #499, Foliage Green #504, Camo pattern and custom colors).
In the marketplace today, there is a need for certified & approved, Berry-compliant products that maintain the highest strength and quality. ACW is able to provide those products all the while exceeding market expectations. Our knowledgeable customer care representatives are able to provide further product specifications upon request.
ACW is located in Woonsocket, Rhode Island in a state-of-the-art weaving and molding manufacturing facility. You are also able to reach us at www.acw1.com.
So You Want Some Free $h!t?
Wednesday, August 24th, 2016Recently, a company I am friendly with received a request from a guy asking for a sample to test. He wasn’t even picky about the product he was interested in. It just had to be free. The company and the guy went back and forth and eventually it came out that the guy was with a large government agency, who will remain nameless in this article because, in my opinion, his actions did not represent the agency.
I’m sharing this because it is from an industry standpoint and explains their point of view when dealing with the rather frequent requests for “samples”. This is their final response to his request.
“With your initial approach, I was *hoping* that this whole thing was a joke. When your rationale for us sending you a free piece of gear was “a couple of guys with XXX”, I felt sure it was a joke. Since it appears that you’re not kidding, let me lay it out for you.
Gear costs money to make. So anything that we have in stock, it cost us money to get. Particularly our gear which is made in the USA and not marked up very much. So when we send out something “free” for someone to evaluate, we’re actually spending money to do that and we have to believe that there is a good chance for a return on our investment. There are two types of evaluations that we typically send gear out for.
The first type of evaluation is to a journalist of some type. In that case, we look at their reach (how many people are reading their articles) and also their experience base. We want guys evaluating our gear for the public who actually know something about what they’re talking about. And we want to know that they are reaching thousands of people with their opinion. Or at least tens of exactly the right kind of people. When these people approach us they introduce themselves, cover their background, and then go on to talk about what publication they are writing the article for and what that publication’s reach looks like.
The second type of evaluation is an official unit or agency evaluation. This is where a police department or military unit or something like that reaches out and says “I’m so and so with such and such military unit and we are going to be buying 120 patrol packs this year and yours is one of the three we would like to consider”. The language is often quite formal, always comes from a government email address, and includes a signature line so we know exactly who we are dealing with and what their rank and position within their organization is. Usually these are structured in such a way that there is a limited evaluation period and they return the gear after evaluation.
That pretty much covers it. And I’ll give you another hint — the highest level most legitimate users of our products never reach out and ask for a free evaluation. They buy them off the shelf at no discount and we don’t even find out about it until we notice a spate of similar orders all going to addresses in the same military town. Or until a supply guy reaches out and says “hey, we’ve been testing your gear and now we need a quote for 20 of such and such”. Many journalists also follow a personal policy of paying full retail for items to avoid conflict of interest. So a whole lot of people who could be getting free gear — choose not to.
I hope you can see the difference between these very legitimate requests for evaluation and yours — both in the approach and in the rationale.
Good luck in your future endeavors.”
Sneak Peek – Sentinel Concepts Range Bag by Tuff Products
Wednesday, August 24th, 2016
You Never Know Where They’ll Them Show Up
Wednesday, August 24th, 2016
