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What I have now, on the civilian side, is a battle belt, an assortment of 'low profile' 'man bags' that can carry magazines, and I have taken the soft armor and plates out of the cover and put them into a plate carrier that I bought online. It mirrors the military gear I used to wear. So it is no longer low profile, unless I replace the armor in the original soft cover. I have a full tactical vest set up.
If I wanted to go low profile, I can replace the armor in the soft cover, wear it under a shirt, and carry a 'man bag' with spare magazines in. With the tactical vest, you can get ones that take soft armor (level IIIA stops powerful handgun/shrapnel) and/or plates. So you can get a plate carrier, or a full set with soft armor. A simple plate carrier will be lighter and cooler, but offers less protection. The soft armor gives you greater protection, just not against high velocity rounds.
So what? Decide what sort of rig you are looking to set up. Research the NIJ levels that you want. You can buy the stuff in a civilian style soft cover and put it into a tactical vest if you want. You definitely want the plates, and you need to decide if you also want the soft armor too. You can buy plates on their own, and the plate carrier s can be found on amazon and multiple other sources (Links on the blog).
Body armor can be heavy, hot and sweaty. If you have a 'MOLLE' style tactical cover you can set up a full tactical vest by attaching ammo pouches and the like to the body armor cover. This makes it heavier, but it allows you to carry your gear. If you are contemplating being involved in any kind of tactical kinetic situations, you need to get over the whole hot, heavy and sweaty thing. Suck it up and drive on. Do more PT/drink more water. You will benefit from the protection and you need to carry your ammo and IFAK anyway, plus ancillary gear.
If you are working in the heat, and you want to compromise, use a plate carrier. This gives you the same high velocity rifle round protection but without the greater soft armor torso coverage that will protect against handgun rounds and shrapnel.
Don't go the other way and simply wear the soft armor, like cops do under their shirts. This provides protection against handgun rounds and some can be anti-stab vests also. But there is no protection from high velocity rifle rounds. You can still wear a set with plates under a shirt if you need to be a little more low profile, for instance if driving through a hostile environment trying to remain low key.
Blog Post
Gear Set-Up:
I had a question emailed to me about gear for my courses, and gear in general. Here are some pointers:
There are multiple makes and brands out there for gear, and multiple budgets. I’m not going to recommend or criticize specific brands here, but give you an idea of the type of gear you want to get. I usually shop for my gear on Amazon.com. I know a lot of people like eBay, but I’ve never got into it. Unless you need something specific that is not on either of these vendors, then both of these will work pretty well for you.
The system that I recommend is based on the following components, primarily referencing 5.56 caliber AR-style rifles but readily adaptable to other calibers:
1) Battle Belt
2) Plate Carrier (PC)
3) Patrol Pack
4) Rucksack
You need to give some thought to the various elements of your gear, how you will carry them, and how it will all fit together. The idea of this system is that the battle belt is worn pretty much all the time as your basic load. You then add the PC as you feel you need to for the mission/threat. You can wear the patrol pack with or without the PC. It just depends what you are up to.
Battle Belt: This is designed so that it can be worn at all times as your most basic load. It can also be worn if you dump your other gear for a task such as a close target recce, giving you a basic fighting load without all the ancillary weight. It will carry rifle magazines, a dump pouch, perhaps your handgun, perhaps your handgun spare magazines and perhaps your IFAK.
Construction: you will base the battle belt on one of the commercially available padded belts, through which you will route a tactical belt and onto which you will attach your pouches. This allows for greater comfort and also expands the size of the belt so that it can fit more gear on it. It is best to fit suspenders/harness to the belt so that you take some weight onto your shoulders and also stop the belt falling down – you can then hold it up without it being too tight on your waist.
A battle belt should ride on your hips, not up toward your belly button; a little ‘gunslinger–esque.’ Keep the front area clear, so that it does not impede you in the prone position and when crawling. Only perhaps put small pouches in the front area, closed top type like handgun mag pouches, which will not impede you and will also not drop the equipment out if you do crawl.
Equipment pouches should start at your hips. You have to decide at this point if you are going for a light battle belt that can be easily worn in a vehicle (keeping the back largely clear also) or one that will carry a full dismounted infantry load for out in the woods (utilizing the space on the back of the belt). Here are some examples of each type for an AR-15, listed from left to right looking down at the belt laid on the ground with the pouches facing upwards:
Basic Battle Belt:
2 mag pouch, 2 mag pouch, 2 mag pouch - rolled dump pouch
(-------------Left Hip-------------------) (--- Back---)
empty space – handgun – handgun mags
(Right Hip) (Front)
Notes: mag pouches are accessible on the left hip. You can use 3 x 2 mag pouches or 2 x 3 mag pouches for a total of 6 mags. Handgun is on your right hip. The handgun spare mags are on the right front. Yes, that is a cross draw for a reload, but it balances out the weight better. Your IFAK can be added to this load on the back right if that is where you want it.
Infantryman Battle belt:
3 mag pouch - 3 mag pouch – canteen – utility pouch – utility pouch/IFAK – canteen – handgun – handgun mags.
For the utility pouches, I prefer to have two canteen or IFAK style sized pouches rather than larger butt pack. It keeps the gear better compartmentalized and tighter. I don’t mean the canteen pouches where the canteen neck sticks up, they are pretty useless except for holding the issue canteens (which you can use for the two canteens on your belt). Use the closed lid buckle types, like the issue IFAK pouch. Make sure all the pouches are tied down and attached tight to make the belt a solid load running across your lower back.
The cheapest option to get this done would be to purchase the old style green ALICE belt, suspenders, mag pouches and canteen pouches. You would need to get a padded belt and any additional pouches. The ALICE magazine pouches are very good and fit 3 AR mags, thus reducing real estate on your belt. You can cut off the grenade pouches on the side if you want to. That is a budget way of creating a battle belt that will suit for one of my courses or any infantry style operations; also a good way of creating additional kits for family and friends.
With a utility pouch plus IFAK pouch, or two utility pouches, this gives you the ability to carry basic items such as emergency rations and similar. Old school: you would have been expected to live in the field off what you had in your web belt for 48 hours, food and water.
CAT Tourniquets: In addition to your IFAK, carry CAT tourniquets where they are accessible, such as on your battle belt and PC.
Handgun carriage:
1) Drop–leg: this is good because it gets the handgun out of the way. It would free up space on a battle belt and it does not interfere with the wearing of body armor. It’s not so good for classic conventional infantry operations. It will flop around on your leg when you run and also get in the mud/dirt if you are crawling/rolling around in it, which you will be doing if someone is shooting at you.
2) Battle belt: this is my preferred method. It uses up some real estate where I could put other pouches on my right hip, but it is secure and a good position so long as it does not interfere with your plate carrier. It also means that I have my handgun with me at all times when wearing the basic battle b
elt.
3) Plate carrier: yes, very SF to have it mounted on the front of your plate carrier. I personally don’t lie it because it not only takes up real estate but I have never been able to fit it where it will not interfere with the operation of my rifle either while carrying it while patrolling or bringing it up to engage. I find my rifle will bang on it if mounted mid chest. Also, if I take my PC off, I have to find another place to carry my handgun.
Plate Carrier (PC): This is the preference for wear in any sort of kinetic threat. I have mine so that it will fit on over the harness that supports my battle belt. I have four double mag pouches across the bottom allowing for 8 mags when I wear it. You can also add additional equipment to it as you wish, other pouches, such as radios and handgun mags etc. You may also choose to put your IFAK on the side/rear of your PC as you wish. With a PC, it is good to use readily accessible mag pouches, such as the elastic tops, because when you are wearing the PC things are serious and you will need to be doing fast reloads.
You may not be able to afford the plates for the PC. I would highly recommend them if you can spare the cash. Yes, plates are heavy and make you sweaty/tired, but they will mess up your day a lot less than a penetrating high velocity wound to the upper torso. I settle on the PC rather than a full set of body armor (soft armor plus ballistic plates) as the best compromise between protection and weight/mobility/heat dispersion. The ballistic plates are more important than the soft armor.
If you don’t have ballistic plates, you can either adapt a PC for use as a simple tactical vest to carry more ammo, hoping to acquire the plates at some point, of just go for a standard tactical vest or chest rig.
A PC is designed to carry mags across the front and if done correctly will not significantly impair you from taking a prone position or crawling. If you do it wrong, or wear a battle belt with magazines across you r belly area, it will disincline you to taking a prone position,. You will end up always wanting to kneel, which is also the default position for when you don't want to go prone. This will decrease your chances of survival.
IFAK: This needs to be accessible for self-aid or a buddy giving you aid. It does not want to be in your patrol pack. Put it on your belt or on your PC. Have the additional ready to use CAT tourniquets as already covered.
Water: Canteens on your belt, hydration bladder either fitted to your PC or worn stand alone with its own carry pouch on your back; Additional water in your patrol pack. Carry water purification tablets for your canteens and one of those drinking straws.
Patrol Pack: This is where any equipment that you need for a short patrol will go that will not fit on your belt/PC. Examples such as: night vision gear plus batteries, rations, spare socks, mission equipment, ‘thermal poncho’ plus woobie, additional water, rifle field cleaning gear/oil etc. As covered in my post about Rucks, don’t have a huge patrol solid framed pack, have one that is crushable that will fit on top, either inside the lid or strapped to the top of your ruck, so you can carry both.
Ruck: This is the where the rest or your gear goes. Ammunition, full sleeping gear, rations, basic changes of clothing etc. you can’t go far wrong with a large ALICE pack.
Vietnam Veterans: are you seeing a theme here? ALICE packs, battle belts, ammo pouches? This is training and equipment for an infantry operation. You may be getting older now, but this is your kind of stuff, with some updated tactics!
Law Enforcement Issues
Closely related to issues of which profile to adopt are the issues of law enforcement and martial law. Depending on the event, and the speed of the slide, we may find ourselves in a gray area where some law enforcement is operating, but the situation is out of control and civil disorder and violence poses a real threat. It may also be that some law enforcement personnel are in denial and continue to operate despite the relevance of what they are doing having been negated by events.
What if you are transiting to your BOL and are driving down back roads and you come across, or are pulled over by, a zealous local sheriff’s deputy? Is he still operating under the pre-event standards? Will he take exception to the fact that you look like armed soldiers driving through his area, even though it is obvious that you are a group of families heading to safety? It all depends on his assessment of the situation. You could be low profile but he may decide to search the vehicle, or your low profile may be easily unmasked by a quick scan of the inside of the vehicle during the traffic stop.
As law abiding citizens the officer should be on your side, but what if he does not like what he sees? What if you are a single family transiting ‘out of dodge’ and he decides that he wants to take your weapons or perhaps take the husband into custody for his carriage of loaded ‘assault weapons’ (and for generally looking like a badass – never underestimate the potential for a ‘pissing contest’ if you are on an Alpha Male’s turf!)
Does that threat from the officer put the family under lethal threat by disarming them in the collapse environment? What would you do? The hope would be that the officer understands that you are law abiding citizens acting in the interests of the safety of your family in a dangerous environment. Hopefully he sees the team as being on the right, not wrong, side of the law. Does he see you as a crazy ‘survivalist’ or someone on the same side as the law?
Martial law may also be a problem, particularly when transiting to a BOL or generally moving around if you have to. The military may consider that they are ‘the only sheriff in town’ and they may take exception to the carriage of weapons. It all really depends on the nature of the event, the threat, and how obvious it all is. It is to be expected that as the event continues, military units such as National Guard deployed in home defense will probably dissolve as increasing numbers of individual’s desert to look after themselves or their families. This situation will also put more armed and dangerous personnel out there, looking to survive.
It is to be hoped that in the aftermath, units such as National Guard do not produce local ‘warlords’ who realize that the situation is lost and set themselves up to maximize their position in the post-event disorder.
In situations where military discipline remains, the same issues as described under law enforcement apply, and therefore you should consider your profile. If you are actually a deserting or ‘failing to report for duty’ military member, then be aware that you may be captured if stopped and inspected at military traffic control points. If you are simply retired or non-activated and you look like a military person, then hopefully they will see you as being a professional and all on the same side. It all depends on the individuals encountered and their command culture.
A note on military & law enforcement personnel: It should not necessarily be assumed that just because someone is, or has been, in the military that they are therefore a ‘good egg’ or in fact useful to your team. The military is a vast force with personal in a huge array of military operating specialties (MOS). The military has suffered from problems of recruitment and standards of personnel, and also its own struggle with obesity and standards of training. This is in no way intended as a disparaging comment on those who have sacrificed for their country, so don’t take it as such. As one who has served, the comment goes to the reality at the heart of the situation.
Be careful who these veterans are: it is possible to deploy and never leave the base (Forward Operating Base or FOB, hence ‘Fobbits’), which is not necessarily in itself a negative mark against these individual’s, it is simply that they were doing the job assigned to ‘meet the needs of the army’. Conversely, they may have spent all their time outside the wire, but still not be a good person or good soldier. Also, they may have had very limited or no combat training/experience and depending on the individual it is possible that they absorbed very little of use.
It is possible to get through current basic training by doing very little and meeting hardly any of the standards: there is a reluctance to fail people and basic training is conducted at the standard and speed of the weakest trainees.
Similarly, everyone is an individual with their own qualities and potential. You may have someone who has never deployed, but who is an excellent soldier, or who was never in the army but did a bit of some sort of relevant training, is a quick study, and makes an excellent soldier. Other types can be really useful, again depending on the specifics: woodsmen and hunters are an example. They come in various guises, from overweight blustering ‘oxygen thieves’ to real outdoors types who may make excellent scouts or snipers. It all depends on the individual and a lot has to do with attitude and receptiveness to learning.
Sometimes veterans are not ideal because of that factor: they may be set in their ways and not necessarily as good as they think. Just because they did something a certain way, and got away with it, does not mean they are skilled soldiers or that their way is right. Sometimes experience is just getting away with the wrong stuff for long enough. Beware of arrogant blustering types or super-tough guys. Look for people who mix confidence with humility: we are back to the quiet professional again.
Think about the origins of today’s special operations forces. ‘Back in the day’ the selections to get into these groups may have been either non-existent or very different from today’s well-choreographed ‘Olympic’ endurance events. Often, it was inspired ‘geeky’ types who started these things off, or provided the expertise. Look at the origins of the British SAS in the Second World War: the original SAS was a pretty aggressive bunch of daring tough guys who did not necessarily get it right all the time in North Africa. Their target was German airfields behind enemy lines and they had all sorts of problems, such as parachuting in high winds, tactical mobility, getting lost in the desert etc.