It was bitter cold. The harsh wind swept across their high mountain redoubt with only thin native blankets to shelter them from the bitter Afghan air. They were hours from resupply, carrying only what they could on their backs.
And that's just how they wanted it.
Peering through their high-tech spotting scopes and talking in low whispers to pilots above, the Delta Force operators high in the mountains of Tora Bora were warmed by the thought that they, more than anyone else in that desolate land, were killing more perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks than anyone else in the world.
For nearly a week, 40 of America's best trained, most elite Soldiers from the 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment Delta, or "Delta Force," combed the 14,000 foot peaks with wavering Afghan militia allies to hunt down the world's most wanted man: Osama bin Laden. In a first ever account, the man who shepherded those bearded warriors into Tora Bora's thin mountain air writes of the near misses, frustrated plans and weak-kneed guerrillas that stymied their quest for al Qaeda's top commanders.
Writing under the name "Dalton Fury," the Delta Force commander -- a major at the time - gives a detailed look in "Kill bin Laden: A Delta Commander's Account of the Hunt for the World's Most Wanted Man" how the unit prepared for, planned and executed its complicated mission.
For Delta, it was an unprecedented task. A force best know for lightning-fast counterterrorism raids, long range reconnaissance and high value target snatches, the operators on the Tora Bora mission had to work a hybrid plan that combined unconventional warfare, intelligence collection, long-range logistics and close air support - all while waiting for the call to swoop down on an Osama hideout at a moment's notice.
"We went into a hellish land that was considered impregnable and controlled by al Qaeda leaders who had helped defeat the Soviet Union," Fury writes. "We killed them by the dozen. Many more surrendered. ... And we heard the demoralized -- bin Laden speak on the radio, pleading for women and children to fight for him."
"Then he abandoned them all and ran from the battlefield," Fury adds with some satisfaction. "Yes. He ran away."
(Though Defense Tech knows Fury's true name, we will honor his wishes and not reveal it here and I have updated my previous post with the redaction.)
As Fury tells it, his Delta colleagues racked up an impressive body count and thought for a while they had actually killed the al Qaeda leader or his deputy. But a reader can clearly see between the lines of "Kill bin Laden" that Fury was frustrated with his unit's lack of success in killing their key target. While dropping JDAMs on terrorist caves was gratifying, Fury never mentions a single shot fired by his operators in the entire early December 2001 engagement -- cold comfort to some of the best combat marksmen in the world who were itching for an up-close fight.
Fury is also disappointed by his commanders' reluctance to engage his operators more into the fight, mandating the reliance on Afghan militias to do most of the heavy lifting. His unit proposed two plans to corner bin Laden. One involved a backdoor, high-altitude mountaineering assault from the Pakistan border, the other called for sowing GATOR anti-personnel mines along the most likely approaches and escape routes to stymie an al Qaeda escape long enough for a commando assault.
Both plans were rejected by higher headquarters -- or the White House -- and Fury was left to the worst possible alternative: a frontal assault.
"Kill bin Laden" is one of the most detailed and informative descriptions of a battle forgotten by most Americans, but one that was truly the closest the West gotten to bin Laden since 9/11. It's not the "tell all" of Eric Haney's "Inside Delta Force" but compares well with Gary Bernsten's "Jawbreaker" in it's revelation of black ops.
And that's where Fury has bumped into the most controversy. Some in the Army Special Force community have rejected Fury for his breach of Delta's code of silence - a written and un-written rule among operators that one never speaks to outsiders of their endeavors. Credible online forums have already revealed Fury's true name, ignoring his pleas for anonymity for fear of endangering his family.
Fury declined several requests for an interview with Defense Tech to discuss this issue and details of his book.
Revealing his missions and opening Delta to the world in even this small way has earned "Kill bin Laden" scorn from portions of the special operations community. But Fury's critics never dispute his facts.
So give "Kill bin Laden" a read; the author did the American public a service by explaining to the victims of 9/11 how America tried to kill the mastermind behind that horrifying day, and it could serve to remind us all that "enemy number one" is still out there - and so is Delta, hunting him to the ends of the Earth.
-- Christian
The (Face) Paint of Darkness
The guys over at the Soldier Systems blog have a cool entry on face paints that can help a warfighter hide from enemy passive night vision systems.
Here's what they've got:
REDEYE™ and BLACKEYE™ camouflage compounds are formulated to eliminate or minimize hazardous reflected "green light" emitted from phosphorous screens on Night Vision Devices. Both of these compounds appear "invisible/black" when viewed by a passive enemy Night Vision Device.
GREENEYE™ face paint has a signature identical to green vegetation when viewed at night through a passive NVG and/or using an IR Illuminator. It also appears as green in visible light.
Now the site over at Orion Filters, which makes the NVG-beating paint, is all cagey and top secret...it takes a few steps to get to the info and I'm not sure how open the whole site really is. But the folks at Soldier Systems got the gouge somehow and if it's straight up (which usually their info is) this is a development that could have far reaching implications -- for American troops and their enemies.
It seems from Orion's write up that the face paint can help minimize the reflective light against an operator's face when he's using NVGs...and the green paint actually helps make him invisible to a vegitative backdrop.
There's already been the incorporation of "nano" fibers in Army and Marine Corps body armor that helps reduce reflectivity of ambient light, but that technology is by no means an invisible cloak. The addition of the Orion Filters face paint and other compounds, however, could help make US and allied forces truly "ghosts of the night."
Some of you wondered what this Integrated Tourniquet System Blackhawk designed was all about. So in the interest of full disclosure, I've posted their video demo on how it works.
Now, some of you wondered about the construction of the ITS into the garments. Basically, the Nylon strap that makes up the bulk of the tourniquet is pretected behind a light, soft mesh retention pouch that keeps the strap from rubbing up against the wearer's skin. This also helps keep toes and fingers from catching on the ITS straps as the operator dons the garments.
Also, keep an eye on the HPFU entry. I need to remformat some of the promotional pics that I have from my trip to Blackhawk and I'll post them once they're done.
-- Christian
UPDATED: SEALs Wearing New High-Speed Fighting Threads
With extended deployments to tough combat zones like Afghanistan and Iraq, the Marine Corps -- and more recently the Army -- (and the Navy and Air Force, though those are not as "combat" driven as the others) have revamped their uniforms used in everyday operations.
The rugged terrain, urban operations, weather extremes and austere conditions of current combat zones have prompted uniform designers to take a much closer look at other industries to find user-friendly options, materials and design innovations for their forces. Love it or hate it, the camouflage of the Army's ACU might be off track, but it would be hard to argue that the uniform isn't packed with useful features that help a Soldier get at stuff he needs to do his job. Sure, there have been some durability issues with the stitching, but when's the last time the Army went as far as to put gusseted crotches in their BDUs?
Well, there's also another market for this technology that's bubbling up from the same folks who helped put more modern gear in the hands of specialized forces like SEALs, SF troops, Delta guys and Recon Marines -- among others. As the regular forces adopt shoulder pockets and chest rigs, for example, the spec ops community is pushing the envelope even further with new designs that will gradually trickle down to the regular Joes as the technology becomes more available.
One of the products I was introduced to at Blackhawk last week was their High Performance Fighting Uniform, or HPFU. They're pretty proud of this new product and it basically takes all the best whistles and bells, pockets and pouches, low-drag designs and modern materials available in the industry and packs them into a pretty innovative set of duds. Gusseted crotch, dual cargo pockets, articulated knees, a high-backed waist, padding pockets -- and that's just the pants. The HPFU also has a just-as-feature-packed jacket, and comes with a combat shirt that combines an FR-material in the chest and functional sleeves like the jacket. And there's even a nifty vest that can go over the combat shirt so it looks like you've got a full-on cammie jacket on when you go to the chow hall after a patrol -- it's Blackhawk's way of keeping gunny, first sergeant or master chief off your back.
But the high tech is more than skin deep.
Embedded within the uniform is Blackhawk's proprietary "Integrated Tourniquet System" -- a series of blood stanching bands that can lock off arterial bleeding in the arms, legs and ankles. It's a bit creepy, to be sure, but Blackhawk's clearly trying to put hardware into their software to save lives.
Company officials say the SEALs, with whom Blackhawk shares a close relationship, are wearing about 1,100 of the over $500 ensembles in combat right now. It's unclear what their feedback has been, but I'll throw in my $.02.
First, I pressed Blackhawk designers about the incorporation of fire resistant materials -- or lack thereof -- into the HPFU. Though their promotional materials state the uniform is made from "no-drip, no-melt" fibers --the arms and legs of the uniform are 70% cotton, 30% Nylon which they claim are woven in such a way as to make them flame resistant -- company officials were at pains to say whether their pricey HPFU was made with flame resistance in mind. Ironically, they touted the torso of the combat shirt's FR qualities, but that's going to be under body armor which incorporates its own flame and flash resistance.
Also, I can see that Blackhawk's heart is in the right place with the invention of its integrated tourniquet system and its incorporation into the HPFU, but my first impression with the thing is that it's not nearly as "Marine proof" as it needs to be. This is added weight and complication for a piece of kit that's supposed to be the epitome of simplicity.
Would I take the HPFU on my next embed? Maybe if I could be convinced of its FR qualities. It's a pretty sweet piece of gear and borrows heavily from the performance outdoor industry which is where I always felt the best gear is designed and made. We'll talk about their body armor systems in a later post, but if there's anything we can learn from the progression of that business segment of Blackhawk, it's pretty clear that when there are improvements to be made on a piece of gear, they don't hesitate to make them. So we'll see how the HPFU evolves. So far it's a pretty good start.
-- Christian
The Beam of Life
Until recently, I never really thought that much about flashlights. I use 'em for hunting, rooting around for lost socks and trying to see if my steak is rare or medium rare on those post daily savings winter grill nights.
In 2005 I got my hands on a Surefire tactical flashlight and was impressed with its beam strength and durability. I used it on night raids in Iraq as my as my first line of defense against an AK-47-toting bad guy waiting for me in a darkened room.
It wasn't until this past week at the Blackhawk media seminar that I learned how a properly employed beam can really be a big benefit in a low light gunfight.
Vaughn Baker, Blackhawk's flashlight guru, explained some of the technology that goes into making a tactical flashlight. There's a difference in performance with the lower priced models since they use Xenon bulbs, which throw less bright light a shorter distance. They work well, but when you step up to the LED bulbed models, that's where the beam is so bright it'll almost strip paint.
As Baker puts it "you can pole vault with that kind of flashlight."
I had no idea that the LED lights are programmable -- they have an electronic chip that regulates the amount of power transmitted from the battery to the bulb. The topest-end lights have several settings, one that shoots a hard bright, constant beam, a flick of the finger delivers a duller beam so you won't flash out your eyes if you need to look at a map or write some notes and another flip delivers a strobing beam on the highest power. Blackhawk's Gladius light can be customized by the user to deliver the desired brightness on each of the settings.
But its when Baker took us to the blackened shoot house that I really saw how flashlights -- when employed with newly developed tactics -- really help.
[Please excuse the darkened videos...there's not a ton to see, but you can hear Baker give a short lesson on how to -- and not to -- use your light]
Baker runs another company called Strategos International which has a two-day low-light training course designed to teach operators how to make the most of their tactical light.
According to Baker, 80 percent of police shooting fatalities happen in low light conditions and the vast majority of those happen within 10 to 20 feet. And oh by the way, on average the engagement lasts 2.5 seconds.
That's why to Baker it's critically important to learn how to leverage that flashlight to your maximum advantage in confrontations at night, or in darkened rooms. My experience with US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan demonstrated to me that while the troops had the flashlights on the end of their rifles, they weren't using them in any sort of "tactical" manner...in other words, they used them to light things but didn't use them in ways that would confuse their targets or mask their own movement.
The long and the short of it is, Baker says, hold the light away from your body with your off hand and flick it on and off in different places so an adversary can't get a fix on where it's coming from. Make sure to aim the light at the opponent's eyes when you do beam in on him and Baker's secret weapon is the strobe function. As he demonstrated on us, peripheral vision and balance are dramatically reduced when a bright as hell strobe is popping you in the face.
It was a truly fascinating look at not only the technology that goes into these highly sophisticated lights, but also how new techniques on their use can really give you an edge when you find yourself at the pointy end of the spear.
-- Christian
Say Hello To SERPA
We spent quite a bit of time on the range here at Blackhawk and one of the things they've put a lot of R&D and manufacturing effort into is their SERPA holster system.
Ever since thigh rigs became the carrier of choice for deployed troops, the need for an easy to release yet secure holster increased. The old nylon piece of junk that used to hold your M9 wouldn't cut it anymore.
The SERPA takes a little getting used to, but at the end of the day, it's probably the most logical solution for the constantly evolving pistol tactics in the military. Thigh rigs have given way to chest setups and the SERPA mounts just as comfortably on the front of your body armor as it does on a thigh rig, belt holster or shoulder holster. They've even designed a quick release system that allows you to mount the basic holster on any different carrier -- switching back and forth at will.
As you can see from the videos, the SERPA is a pretty good piece of gear even though it took this tactically deficient reporter a bit of muscle memory repetition to get the release point memorized.
-- Christian
Making the Best of the M9
I received an e-mail last week from a young man who'd had some issues with his M9 over in the Big Sandbox. As a complaint, this isn't a terribly new or unusual one. I'm pretty sure that if you did a survey of every military related blog and all the various tactical- or military-type magazines out there, you'd find numerous mentions of M9 problems in the desert.
But it was particularly important to me to answer the young man's query, since just a couple weeks ago I was talking to Slim about some Cav scouts we'd trained with previously. They'd also mentioned their M9 problems, and were also pretty disgruntled that they weren't given more time on the range with it before deploying. One of said he'd only fired it a couple times for qualification, never for proficiency or on a combat course. With the subject coming up twice in a month, once from the Marines and once from the Army, it seemed time to see what we could do to help.
So. The M9, 9mm Beretta. Civilian-wise we call it the 92F or 92FS, et al. Some guys love it, some hate it. There are civilian cops that swear by it, which baffles me personally, but guns are like boots and beer. Everyone has a favorite, usually held with a devoted certainty that says anyone that prefers a different model is a dumbass. you know what I'm talking about. 1911 guys (of any breed) make fun of Glock guys, who shake their heads at Sig guys, who just can't understand the S&W guys.
For myself, I prefer the M9 as a boat anchor if a Ruger isn't available but that's just me.
Anyway your opinion doesn't really matter in the military, as you're not given a choice. TO make matters worse, most of the guys that carry one aren't all that well trained with it. Trained, I said, not familiarized. I've been fortunate enough to spend a lot of time on the range with a lot of different folks, and with some exceptions it's been pretty clear that most military trigger-pullers are competent at best with the handgun. I don't equate competent with true proficiency. Keep in mind I'm not passing judgment. It's not the troops' fault. There's only so much training time and so many training rounds, but that doesn't excuse training NCOs and rangemasters from putting their people through some good drills to really promote mastery of the weapon.
Anyway, this isn't about training or courses of fire. This will be just a few quick hints we've found to be helpful when you have to carry one. So, Jeremy, here you go.
First off know how to do your own inspection for BMCLS (Broken, Missing, Worn, Clean, Lubed, Serviceable) as best as you can. Spend any extra time you can on the range and pay attention to guys that know more than you do. You never know when you might pick something up.
The firstest, mostest importanest thing after keeping it cleaned and lubed (which should be obvious unless you're one of my handlers, who cleans his guns once a year religiously on his birthday whether they need it or not) is your magazines. By far the most common feed failures experienced (that I'm aware of anyway) with the M9 pistol has been due to magazines. Check yours and make sure they're good to go. Oh, and you know how there are black ones and gray ones issued out? They gray ones are after-market, and usually they suck. The springs aren't as good and they're nowhere near as durable. If you've ever dropped one of the after-market gray ones on a hard surface you've probably watched it explode into its component pieces or have at least seen the rounds drop back until their noses are all pointed straight up.
Check the grips, especially if your magazine isn't wanting to seat. If it's an older M9, the grips were attached to the weapon with screws. There are/were washers inside the grips that spaced it properly so the screws held the grips on without intruding into the magazine wells. Depending upon who cleaned it last, or just got bored and took it apart, there's a good chance those washers are gone. With the washers gone the screws can sometimes protrude and get in the way of the magazine when you go to seat it.
The newer M9s (I think it's the M9A1, but I could be behind the curve here) uses allen wrenches to hold the grips on, so you don't have to worry about that. They're the ones with different rear sights and the half moon hammer pin showing, and depending upon attrition and replacement their recoil spring guide will be polymer instead of metal.
Oh, also, even if you don't have time to clean it or brush it out, always check the feed ramp for debris. If anything builds up there, even just a little bit, the front of the projectile can catch on it and prevent a good chambering of the round.
That's pretty much all I've got. Perhaps some of our readers can help out as well, or correct me if I gorked something up here. Remember, FATS or CATS or whatever is good, real range time is better, and it never hurts to dry fire. You can improve your skills just by drawing, presenting, aiming and pulling the trigger of an unloaded weapon. I've never heard of a police course or academy that didn't hound is students mercilessly to dryfire.
Now, remember: PRACTICE doesn't make perfect. Practice just makes you rehearsed. PERFECT practice makes perfect. Make sure you've got a good grip and you're doing it right every time you train. One last thing you might consider - if a shooter is going to have trouble with the M9's trigger pull, it will usually be the first one (double-action). This is natural, a double action shot trigger pull is typically going to be less accurate than a single action trigger pull (for most people). If you have the money and the inclination (and you don't live in the People's Republic of California) you might think about going and buying one of the civilian model 92s with the bobbed hammer. It's a pain in the ass, but all you can shoot with it is double action. Spend some time on the range with that in order to get used to that first trigger squeeze after you drag iron.
Calling the Army's new "universal" digital camouflage scheme for its field uniforms controversial is an understatement. People tend to fall into two camps: some grudgingly tolerate it, particularly in an urban, desert or urban/desert environment and others (most) just flat out hate it and can't understand why the Army went the way of loden greens and grays.
Why not Multi-cam (which almost everyone likes)? That's a whole 'nother subject...
No matter how you feel about it, sure seems like Joes are going to be stuck with the new pattern for a while since the Army spent gobs of money replacing its classic woodland scheme only within the last few years. But it turns out not everybody in the Army has to stick with the unpopular mandate.
According to the "Soldier Systems" blog, the Army G1 recently sent out guidance that allows special operations troops the option of wearing the old-school woodland cammies in jungle environments. The message states that USASOC troops can wear the old BDUs in the Pacific theater, Southern command area and Africa Command while "conducting operational training and contingency missions" there.
The order calls for logistics to keep the woodland items in the supply system for the snake eaters until otherwise notified.
Here's the message Soldier Systems pasted on its site:
SUBJECT: EXCEPTION TO POLICY FOR WEAR OF THE ENHANCED HOT WEATHER BATTLE DRESS UNIFORM (EHWBDU), AVIATION BATTLE DRESS UNIFORM (ABDU), AVIATION FLIGHT SUIT, AND ACCESSORY ITEMS
1. THIS MESSAGE SERVES AS AUTHORIZATION FOR WEAR OF THE EHWBDU, ABDU, AND ACCESSORY ITEMS AFTER THE MANDATORY WEAR OUT DATES FOR SOLDIERS ASSIGNED TO UNITED STATES ARMY SPECIAL OPERATIONS COMMAND (USASOC) CONDUCTING OPERATIONAL TRAINING AND CONTINGECY MISSIONS IN THE FOLLOWING OCONUS THEATERS:
A. PACIFIC COMMAND
B. SOUTH COMMAND
C. AFRICA COMMAND
2. THE FOLLOWING WOODLAND ORGANIZATIONAL CLOTHING AND INDIVIDUAL EQUIPMENT (OCIE) ITEMS WILL BE MAINTAINED AS ISSUE IN THE ARMY SUPPLY SYSTEM:
UNIFORM ITEMS
BOI
A. EHWBDUs (COAT AND TROUSERS) 4
B. ABDUs (COAT AND TROUSERS) 4
C. GEN I GORTEX (COAT AND TROUSERS) 1
D. BDU, SUN HAT 1
E. BROWN T-SHIRTS 4
F. PATROL CAP 1
G. AVIATION FLIGHT SUIT 2
H. ARMY COMBAT HELMET COVER 1
I. BLACK BOOTS (HOT WEATHER, SPEED LACE) 2
3. POC FOR UNIFORM POLICY IS XXX.
4. THIS MESSAGE HAS BEEN APPROVED BY THE DCS, G-1.
5. EXPIRATION DATE CANNOT BE DETERMINED.
Isn't that just like the Army? Can't have the HK416 or the SCAR...nope, you gotta stick to your M4. And now, you're being forced to stick out like a sore thumb in the jungle, but the commandos can stay nice and concealed. Thanks...
-- Christian
War Spurs Change in Sniper Gear, Tactics
From the headlines at Military.com...
The conflicts stemming from the attacks on 9/11 showed America's military snipers were badly in need of modernization. Their gear, operational doctrine and training needed an update -- and fast. As the war evolved, units with combat experience shared lessons learned, identifying new requirements for a unique conflict. Fortunately the services took notice and began to revamp the sniper community in numerous ways.
Problem: Inadequate/outdated doctrine.
Solution: Small-unit leaders began to develop employment strategies that earlier training never covered, based on the current situation and environment. This, coupled with after-action reports, lessons learned and the general sharing of information, led to comprehensive sniper planning, support and employment-things like providing security for the sniper team during movement and relying on the sniper to provide the real-time intelligence for on-the-spot combat decisions.
Probably the biggest change was when-and-how to bring the snipers to bear for the desired result. Unit leaders learned that snipers could control large areas, create enemy reluctance and force enemy movement in a desired direction. There was a gradual recognition of how valuable assets like snipers and designated marksmen could be when properly utilized.
Problem: Inadequate equipment.
Solution: A number of commercially procured items became popular, including the Eberlestock pack, which allows the sniper to carry his rifle on his back protected and concealed while he carries a battle rifle for his own protection during movement. Other items such as rests, tripods and various bipods were procured to meet the varied terrain and conditions.
The issued spotting scope and tripod did not perform as needed in environments where ranges were either very long or very short, and precise optical definition was an absolute requirement for friend-or-foe identification. High-end spotting scopes such as the Leupold 12-40x60mm Mark 4, Zeiss 85mm, and Swarovski ATS 80's were quickly procured along with better quality tripods/mounts. Hydration systems, too, became a crucial ingredient in the sniper's pack.
The sniper of today is vastly better outfitted than he was six years ago. Individual and organizational efforts outside of official channels to provide free equipment/gear to snipers played a huge role in sniper evolution as well. Groups such as "Adopt a Sniper" (www.AmericanSnipers.org) collected and pushed large quantities of equipment to operators in the war zone and provided a conduit for specific requests from the field. In most cases the equipment was donated by industry or provided at a huge discount.
Problem: Inadequate optical sights.
Solution: Early on the word went out to procure optics for a variety of uses from crew-served weapons to M4 carbines. Many snipers purchased or procured variable-power optics for use on their sniper systems to allow them to open up their field of view while retaining the zoom capabilities.
In other cases higher-power optics were procured to allow the snipers to engage at extended ranges. The Marine Corps was in the process of selecting the Schmidt & Bender PMII (a.k.a. M8541), which has proved to be an outstanding product. Many Army units procured the Leupold Mark 4 M3 LR/T 3.5-10X as a replacement for the fixed 10X Leupold M3 "Ultra." Many other optics companies such as U.S. Optics and Nightforce saw increased sales of their products in an effort by the military to meet field requirements.
The acquisition of new optics also opened up the need or desire for mission-enhancing accessories. Devices such as the "angle cosine indicator" from Sniper Tools and a variety of mounting solutions like the Modular Accessory Rail System from Remington became popular and are now in widespread use.
In addition to the new optics, mounts and accessories, this new war brought interest in new reticule systems such as those offered by Horus Vision, Leupold, Nightforce and U.S. Optics, which provide different or enhanced approaches to range estimation, hold offs, elevation/windage changes and firing solutions.
Problem: A shortage of snipers and precision weapons.
Solution: Simple things such as adding an optic to an M4/M16, which previously had been considered "Hollywood," became the norm with the widespread purchase of the Trjicon ACOG. While not by itself a "sniper" system, units quickly discovered that troops with above-average shooting ability and snipers could extract a heavy toll on the enemy with such a system. It was this revelation that helped define the concept of the designated marksman - basically a soldier with slightly more training than the average grunt, equipped with an optically sighted rifle to engage targets at ranges the "typical" shooter could not.
Problem: Modernization of existing SWS (Sniper Weapons Systems.)
Solution: Around 2004, Remington introduced its M24A2 as an upgrade to the M24. This included a new stock, variable power optics, an optics rail that allows the use of in-line night vision IR lasers and a sound suppressor. While being very popular with the snipers, funding and authorization have never materialized. The U.S. Navy worked with Sage International to procure the Enhanced Battle Rifle, which is a modified M14 placed in an aluminum chassis that features multiple rails and a collapsible stock. They found this combination, although somewhat heavy, to be very effective. The Corps has conducted a variety of experiments with adding suppressors to their M40A3's but to date these suppressors are not in widespread use.
Problem: Rate of fire.
Solution: This problem gave rise to the development by the Army of the Semi-Automatic Sniper System solicitation. This effort was intended to procure a 7.62 semi-auto system that provided the accuracy of a bolt system in addition to the rapid firing capability of a semi. The Army eventually selected a system which they are now beginning to field in small quantities. The original concept was to replace all of the bolt-action systems with the new autoloading system. But it now appears that snipers need both capabilities. The USMC and USAF are currently reviewing the concept to determine which direction they will go.
Problem: Weight and the inability to engage targets at ranges beyond 1,000 meters.
Solution: Early solutions included the application of the .300 WinMag, but the availability of ammo was an issue. Many U.S. allies fielded systems chambered in .338 Lapua Magnum, which has gained considerable popularity among U.S. snipers. It remains unclear as to what direction this will take, as both industry and the services themselves are exploring alternatives.
The benefit of the current conflict in terms of equipment and technology development has been vast and modernization efforts in this area will likely continue. As in any war, necessity has been the mother of invention and snipers have never been as educated and well equipped as they are today.
I've been working on this for a few weeks and haven't been able to eke out enough gouge from the other participants for a fuller story, but I figured I'd share with you what I know before it dies on the vine.
An industry source told me that the Marine Corps is close to deciding who will replace its M249 Squad Automatic Weapon with a new gun so-far called the "Infantry Automatic Rifle." Basically, the Corps wants something that looks more like a standard assault rifle, fires from an open breech (and closed breech) in both full and semi-auto modes and "shall demonstrate improved portability, reliability, and maneuverability through constricted terrain and conditions over the current M249 SAW," SysCom told me.
The Corps plans to purchase 4,476 IARs and I'm told the decision on who wins the competition will be coming very soon. The industry source told me that about six companies entered the competition, including Land Warfare Resources Corp., Colt, H&K, FN-USA and a team of General Dynamics and the Singapore company called Ultimax.
Future Weapons has a good video on the LWRC version of the IAR and I'm told the FN-USA version is a play on the SCAR that fires in both open and closed bolt configuration.
The one thing I'm a bit concerned about is the amount of rounds in the mag -- 30 rounds is going to go awfully quick in a suppression or cover fire situation. I'm sure there's a drum being developed for each, but then it's going to be obvious who the automatic rifleman is.
But as long as it's lighter and more portable than the SAW, I guess I can see why they want to make the switch. If anyone has any insight on this competition, please chime in.
-- Christian
Kill Bin Laden: UPDATE II
[EDITOR: Updated Nov. 7, 2008 -- After some correspondence with the author I have decided to redact his real name, though it had been revealed by another forum quite a while ago. Fury made a compelling case that he was worried about putting his family's live in danger, and as someone with a young daughter of my own, compassion outweighed journalistic ethics. I am sincerely sorry for any problems this may have caused and I wish Fury the best of luck in his endeavors...Please read the upcoming review of "Kill bin Laden" on Military.com.]
So, after I posted the last thread, I went over to a forum that's populated with no-joke special operations forces troops and looked at the discussion on the KBL/ Dalton Fury imbroglio. Man is it hot in there.
Apparently, Dalton Fury's real name is [DELETED BY EDITOR]. I was wrong in thinking he was Pete Blaber, though it does turn out from the discussion that Blaber has a book of his own coming out called "The Mission, The Men, and Me: Lessons from a Former Delta Force Commander" that's supposed to be available in December.
These operators at the forum are none too kind to a guy who's attempting to "profit" from revealing covert operations covered under top secret non disclosure agreements. They skewer him and smoke his body over a pit of coals. But none of them disputes who he is, what he's done or how the mission went down. There's little comment about the actual 60 Minutes broadcast, though it would have been helpful if the reporters had mentioned the controversy Fury has caused and held fast on calling him by his real name [DELETED BY EDITOR]. Once it's out in the open, it looks a little ridiculous for a reputable news organization to stick to a pseudonym.
As a reporter who's covered the military for a decade, I get a little annoyed at the knuckle-dragger attitude that someone who says anything about their covert activity should be banished. Give me a break. That attitude perpetuates an elitist, Samurai mentality that says "you don't need to know. Just trust us, we know what we're doing..."
Sorry, but I -- and millions of other Americans -- pay your salary and we damned right want to know what you're doing. You work for us. So I'm glad, as long as it doesn't deliberately put lives in danger of death (like the politically-motivated CIA tell-alls did back in the '70s), that these stories come out. There's been seven years between then and now, surely Delta and CIA have new ways of doing things that aren't compromised by this book.
I will say that I think Eric Haney's book went over the line -- in terms of TTPs and training. Ouch...And the guys over at the operator board skewered him for that as well. But that's a case where the quilty pleasure of the inside gouge outweighed my scruples a bit...Inside Delta Force was SUCH a good read.
-- Christian
Plan to Kill bin Laden Rejected
I saw this program last night on 60 Minutes and I thought I'd explore it with you all.
It's a segment on a former Delta officer who lead a team tasked with killing or capturing bin Laden in Afghanistan. Calling himself Dalton Fury, the former officer (a major at the time) has written a book on his experiences artfully titled "Kill bin Laden: A Delta Force Commander's Account of the Hunt for the World's Most Wanted Man" (in case we couldn't understand the title itself)...
I know nothing about the book, though I have requested a review copy from the publisher and I'll peel it open for you when I get it. But the premise of the report is that Fury was frustrated by higher headquarters' management of the hunt, denying his plan to A.) attack bin Laden in Tora Bora from the rear -- aka from Pakistan...and B.) lay landmines in the approaches to bin Laden's Tora Bora lair so that one one went off, Delta could target the al Qaeda troops with Specters and Spookies.
After being denied on both, they decided on a frontal assault with Afghan allies of questionable loyalties and motivations, eventually allowing bin Laden to slip away -- though they did think they'd killed him in an air strike.
My thought is this: First of all, NO DUH they denied your plan to approach Tora Bora from Pakistan...the risks, both diplomatic and military were too much to contemplate. It's one thing to have planes flying out of remote bases; another to have an "invading" ground force try an Alpine assault from an area teeming with AQ and their sympathizers. Also...LAND MINES!? Come on, you HAD to have known that would never fly. As if Afghanistan doesn't have enough of them littering the landscape already. What are we, the Soviets? (their potential words, not mine)...
Also, in terms of who this guy is...I'm wondering if he's Pete Blaber, a star of Sean Naylor's "Not a Good Day to Die" on the fight for Takur Gar and Operation Anaconda.
Check this report out and throw your $.02 into the comments. To me this seems like a reasonably frustrated officer irked at reasonably legitimate restrictions on his operations. But I can't wait to read the book...
-- Christian
One Heck of a Sim
It was one of the more popular booths at the Modern Day Marine show this week.
A huge screen with little computerized Russians running around and a couple Marines plinking them off like a warm sunny day on the Fulda Gap. That's the Virtual Battlespace Trainer and it's about as close to real life as a video game can get.
Except it's much more than that. According to Dale Pruna, Range Systems Manager for Laser Shot, the simulator has a full ballistics calculation capability and can track and map where shooters shoot and how badly they miss. The scenarios are totally programmable, so if you have an HVT mission with specific intel on the house layout and where targets are, you can run through it with full diagnostics.
The system also has target shooting programs that work on marksmanship skills against running targets and there's a module for shoot-no-shoot scenarios using live video images rather than computerized footage.
Pruna also said the services are looking at the company's live fire version of the simulator which uses a reusable rubber screen that can absorb everything from 5.56 to 7.62 rounds.
I gave it a whirl and it was fun as heck. And darned realistic too. All I can tell you is I'm glad I'm a better shot than I am a pilot (on a simulator).
-- Christian
Robot Arms: Not Just for the Jedi Anymore
It's not a topic to be taken lightly, despite the flippant nature of my title. You have got to read this, though. We've seen a lot of critically wounded service personnel return to fight the enemies that made them amputees in the first place. Some of the stories are remarkable. Grunts that lose and arm, so they study math to go back into the artillery, snipers that lose one eye so they teach themselves to shoot from the other. It's humbling, though if I had my druthers such incredible achievements would never be necessary.
Now this guy has designed something that takes prosthetic replacement to a whole new level. It's cool as hell, gang, and you have to wonder if it's not the often-theorized bridge to what you might as well think an "augmented grunt". Call it the Steve Austin theory (the really cool action hero from when I was growing up, not the big sweaty dude that jumps around a wrestling ring with other big sweaty dudes). You know. We can rebuild him. Better. Stronger. Faster.
Just for the record, for those of you who don't remember the Cold War, astronaut Steve Austin was way more bad ass and far cooler than the Terminator, Jake 2.0 or any of the other modern versions. Nothing against 'em, I'm just saying.
Anyway, inventor Dean Kamen, the guy that named it after Luke Skywalker (instead of Lee Majors' character, unfortunately, but we'll let that slide) says that while fatalities are down on the battlefield (better armor, better CASEVAC procedures, faster movement to a higher level of care facility, etc.), a lot of our guys and gals are coming back from the AOR missing limbs. The number of amputees has gone down some as quality of armor on the vehicles we're using goes up, but the while there are fewer troops losing limbs, the proportion of double amputatees has gone way up (as the insurgents use more and more powerful devices like the EFP to compensate for the better armor. In 2006, 25% of all servicemen and -women that became amputees lost two or more limbs; double the rate of 2003. Amputees comprise approximately 2.2% of WIA personnel, but 5% of personnel who are unable to return to duty. These are grim statistic sindeed, maybe one that really doesn't make your yes and heart hurt until you see them recovering and getting on with their lives. I'm honestly not sure how the staff there can go in day after day and not spend their evenings weeping.
So Dean Kamen set out to out to develop a prosthetic arm that would be sensitive enough to pick up a grape and allow a resident of Walter Reed's Ward 57 to pick up a razor, but be "self-contained" in terms of power. The original goal for development was a two year deadline. Apparently about a year later they'd developed a 9lb motorized arm using titanium and custom built motors, an arm with 18 degrees of movement. Not as good as never losing your arm to a muj device in the first place, but better than having to wipe your ass with a hook the rest of your life.
According to Gizmodo, "... control techniques are revolutionary. He's playing a video of a guy who didn't have both his arms for 18 years, and learned how to use the arms effectively in less than two dozen hours of training. He's showing a video that shows a guy who knows how to punch, pass a Ping Pong ball to his friend and pour a drink for another man who is holding a cup with the same type of arm. Then the video shows Chuck, the man with no arms, for the first time in 13 years, feeding himself cereal..."
Here's the most amazing thing about it - they're developing it so the limb can be controlled by the amputee's mind. Perhaps more of a conscious thing that what you're used to, but think about the ramifications of that for a minute. It's like something from the sci-fi channel (think Eureka) being used right now to improve the remainder of the lives of young men and women that have scarcely begun their lives. We're talking at times about personnel who aren't yet old enough to walk in and buy themselves a beer, but they've given up limbs in the service of their country.
Gizmodo also says that, "Attaching the arm directly to nerves required a lot of surgery...but there are limited arm functions, even if it's very complicated. Learning how to control a back hoe, with four controls, takes years. And the arm has 18 degrees of freedom. But people don't learn how by using each degree. In fact, it's more efficient, Dean says. There are three degrees of freedom, so they did macros. With this, a man learned how to pick up bottles, nails and other items.
Attaching the arm was a challenge, day to day. Nine pounds on an arm is heavy over a few minutes, let alone a day. So they knew that no one would wear them because of that. So Dean designed air bladders that shift the weight on the body when passive (like fidgeting in a chair) and inflate to be hard when the servos in the arm detect a load..."
Research is continuing for the use of infrared light to read signals going through the skull as a possible control mechanism.
I think the thing that impresses me the most about this guy is his attitude. He says it the responsibility of intellectually gifted and or wealthy people to help make the world a better place. He obviously walks the damn walk.
If you can stand to read more without your heart breaking (and I'm being serious here, not a wise ass) you might check out Military inStep, http://www.amputee-coalition.org/military-instep/.
I like dogs. Always have. A house without a pet is not a home? Bullshit. A house without a dog is not a home. Now they're building dogs we'll eventually take into places like the Hindu Kush, possibly instead of a humvee, certainly in the place of a donkey, backbreaking ruck or indentured servant. It's wicked cool. Me and Slim have watched the video a dozen times since our buddy Mark the Ninja sent us an e-mail about it from the depths of his DC hidey-hole.
Honestly, this thing is more like a techie's metal donkey than a dog. Nobody north of Tijuana wants a donkey curled up in their bed or bringing them the paper though, which I'm confident is why they named it what they did.
Billed as "the most advanced quadruped robot on Earth" and funded by DARPA, Boston Dynamics' Big Dog is just one of several robots under development. It walks, runs, climbs rough terrain, carries more weight than an 0341 and won't piss on the floor. Cyberfido runs on a gasoline engine that "drives a hydraulic actuation system", which I'm guessing is a little more complicated than a self-propelled pull-start mower (at least a little bit). It walks a little bit like an Imperial ATAT and sounds like a pissed off remote control airplane, but the potential for this thing is awesome.
According to the Boston Dynamics website, "BigDog's legs are articulated like an animal’s, and have compliant elements that absorb shock and recycle energy from one step to the next. BigDog is the size of a large dog or small mule, measuring 1 meter long, 0.7 meters tall and 75 kg weight.
Here's a video:
BigDog has an on-board computer that controls locomotion, servos the legs and handles a wide variety of sensors. BigDog’s control system manages the dynamics of its behavior to keep it balanced, steer, navigate, and regulate energetics as conditions vary. Sensors for locomotion include joint position, joint force, ground contact, ground load, a laser gyroscope, and a stereo vision system. Other sensors focus on the internal state of BigDog, monitoring the hydraulic pressure, oil temperature, engine temperature, rpm, battery charge and others."
I don't know as of this writing whether BigDog is a two-stroke or four-stroke engine, whether it used dilithium crystals or how many gigs of memory it has. Presumably BigDog's processing suite is duotronic rather than positronic. Unconfirmed rumors allege that Boston Dynamics pulled all Windows Vista operating systems from the prototype BigDogs after they suffered repetitive epileptic fits during task performance reviews.
BigDog can carry about 20 pounds and reach speeds up to 4 mph (which is certainly fast enough to keep up with some poor bastard of an 11C trying to climb the Ghilzai plateau, and certainly faster than you can drive through traffic in Tikrit), climbs slopes up to 35 degrees, walks across rubble, and carries a 340 lb load. BigDog is part of a program intended to create robots with "rough terrain mobility that can take them anywhere on Earth that people can go." Marc Raibert, the founder of Boston Dynamics, says of BigDog's locomotion, "Legs can go places that wheels and tracks can't go, and there are lots of those places on Earth."
From what's been accomplished so far, it seems like they're well on their way to reaching this goal. I'm sure further testing remains. Certainly I'd have questions for such a machine once it went operational. How would it do in the heat and grit of the Dasht-e Kavir? Could it ford the Khash-rud River with the grunts if they had to wade across? Could a version be built to withstand small arms fire as it humped a load of AT-4s across the street to resupply the grunts clearing houses?
The possible uses for such a machine are by no means bound by military application, of course. Think of them working with the Forestry Service fighting wildfires, or carrying life saving equipment for search and rescue teams.
I think it would be funny to have BigDog walk the dog so I don't have to, but then again I'm pretty lazy. I back my damn car down the driveway to check the mail and I never run unless someone is chasing me.
There's a lot more about BigDog and his cousins on the web, if you're interested. BigDog Beta even has a MySpace page. The official Boston Dynamics website is right here.
WARNING: Do not go to RedTube and type in BigDog, you'll be grossed out.
That's it for now. Thanks again to Mark the Ninja.
MOYOCK, N.C. -- It's a name that's become synonymous with the murky world of counterinsurgency in Iraq and Afghanistan - where the subtle tones of the enemy's colors blend in with innocents.
In a war like this, no one is secure and the military has its hands full, so the American government has turned increasingly to civilian contractors who pick up the slack where military and federal security personnel left off.
One of the most recognizable players in the private security industry is Blackwater Worldwide, the company founded by former SEAL Erik Prince in the mid-1990s. Though the company is best known for its burley, highly-trained security guards who are often pictured flanking State Department officials and ambassadors in Iraq or Afghanistan, there's more to this sprawling, 7,000 acre compound here in the swampy coastal plains of North Carolina's northeast than meets the eye.
"It's a Disneyland for operators," said Blackwater founding member and current president Gary Jackson during an August 22 tour of the company's grounds. "They come here and they just can't believe it."
With an array of firing ranges, shoot houses, an aviation support fleet and a roster of trainers capable of delivering instruction on any kind of martial skill known to man, Blackwater has become a juggernaut in the world of private military companies.
Originally founded as a training and target manufacturing company, Blackwater has launched a media offensive to shake off its reputation among critics as a "shoot-first-ask-questions-later" band of bearded mercenaries. Two high-profile incidents in Iraq propelled the normally secretive company onto America's front pages, and the news wasn't good.
In March 2004, four Blackwater contractors were ambushed and mutilated in Fallujah, Iraq, sparking a brutal invasion of the city that was soon halted after the fragile Baghdad government balked at the public outcry. The incident sparked a furious debate over how prepared security contractors were to deal with the insurgency and added fuel to simmering resentment from traditional military forces angry that they had to come to Blackwater's rescue only to be pulled back before the job was done.
Then in September of last year, Blackwater guards securing a State Department motorcade were accused of killing as many as 20 Iraqis when they claimed their convoy came under fire in Nisoor Square in busy downtown Baghdad.
Though Blackwater claims a perfect record in securing its clients, some say it comes at the cost of highly aggressive tactics and civilian bullying.
In the wake of those scandals and the nagging pursuit of anti-Blackwater lawmakers, the company is working to burnish its image by going back to its roots: training and logistics services -- call it "Blackwater 2.0."
"Our biggest growth units are international training and aviation," Jackson said, explaining that his company now has only two personal security detail contracts. "I literally can't put enough airplanes out there."
With dozens of ranges that cater to everything from long distance shooters, to demolitions technicians to super-secret "tier one" special operations forces, Blackwater is hard to beat when it comes to the sheer breadth of military tactics training a force could do here - particularly at a time when communities increasingly shun the environmental impact of military operations in their backyards.
In fact, the Virginian Beach police department has a 40 year lease with Blackwater -- 30 miles from the coastal city -- to train its officers, since range space is so limited where they work, Jackson said.
And the company's entrepreneurialism doesn't stop there. In a corrugated steel airplane hanger, a row of three Blackwater-designed mine-resistant ambush protected vehicles sit in various stages of assembly. The company missed the initial order for standard MRAPs after the services reduced their buy, but the company's new MRAP II -- dubbed the "Grizzly" -- boasts greater protection against armor-penetrating explosively formed penetrator bombs and could be a player for future orders that meet that growing threat, Blackwater officials say.
They're even working on cooking-grease-fueled vehicles, power-generating windmills and airship surveillance drones.
But, ironically, it's Blackwater's re-emphasis on training that's caught the ire of lawmakers in Washington who question why the Pentagon hires out instruction critics say should be taught in the services' own school houses.
Blackwater got its first contract from the Navy after the bombing of the Cole exposed a shortfall in tactical training capacity for its sailors. After 9/11, that need increased as Sailors were called upon to board suspicious ships, defend their fleet from attackers and man defensive positions in the Persian Gulf and elsewhere.
Today, Blackwater continues that training at its facility here, bussing in Sailors from Norfolk every day to practice takedowns on the company's "ship in a box" -- stacked, floating containers assembled to mimic a ship's bridge. So far the company has trained about 130,000 sailors and says that in any one day over 5,000 students could be firing, jumping, fighting and blowing things up on a Blackwater range.
Virginia Democratic Senator James Webb, a vocal critic of Blackwater and other private military companies, has asked Pentagon chief Robert Gates to study how much training civilian companies provide the DoD and to analyze whether it would be more efficient for the services to do it on their own. Gates passed the question on to Joint Chiefs chairman Adm. Mike Mullen, who's looking into the matter.
To Jackson, all this talk gets his blood boiling. In his view, Blackwater responds to the needs of its customers when all else has failed, and he sees no problem with filling in on training that the services can't do themselves without significant investment.
"The Navy can't build that [training] infrastructure in 20 years. The only way they're ever going to get there is to start the draft," an exasperated Jackson said. "The thing that really upsets me the most is that [training] is run by contractors."
"No matter who wins the election, it doesn't matter. It's not going to stop."
-- Christian
Coast Guard Joins the SEALs
The Coast Guard wants to get a bit more "hooyah" by jumping on the special operations forces bandwagon with a new program that could put as many as 28 of its personnel into elite Navy SEAL teams by 2016.
Coast Guard officials say this limited number of Coasties-turned-SEALs re-entering their ranks after a tour in the special warfare community -- which could last as many as seven years -- will be a boon for morale, training and job skills in a service that bridges the worlds of counter-terrorism operations and law enforcement.
"What this does is it provides us better capability, increased competencies, more experience and greater knowledge to do the things that we are already doing today," said Rear Adm. Thomas Atkin, commander of the Coast Guard's Deployable Operations Group which deals with specialized counter-terrorism and military missions.
"They're going to be able to bring back an esprit de corps that you learn within the SEAL community. We don't always have that," Atkin added during an Aug. 15 interview with military bloggers. "We have a great service, I'm very proud to wear the blue, but the esprit de corps that comes out of the folks that go to BUDS [and] members of SEAL teams ... those experiences, that knowledge, that mindset are all things that are going to benefit the Coast Guard in the long term."
Though Atkin said "anecdotally" there's a lot of enthusiasm for the program, so far no Coastguardsmen have applied in the two weeks since it was announced. The deadline for applications is in mid-September.
The SEALs, along with other special operations forces in the Army, Air Force and Marine Corps, have been adding to their ranks since the Sept. 11 attacks and the injection of even a few more personnel from the Coast Guard is a welcome addition, a Navy Special Warfare officer said.
"What that means to us is approximately two SEAL platoons," said Lt. Cmdr. Christian Dunbar, director of training at the Navy Special Warfare Center in Coronado, Calif. "This just adds a greater base of qualified candidates that don't come from recruits in the Navy or from the fleet. ... It's a win-win for everyone."
The new relationship between the SEALs and Coast Guard was forged in an Aug. 1 memorandum of understanding signed by Commandant Thad Allen and representatives of the Navy and Special Operations Command after nearly a year of negotiations among the services. Allen wrote in an "Alcoast" message announcing the plan that Coastguardsmen will gain "valuable skills and knowledge to support [the] DoD and increase the Coast Guard's capabilities in our ports, waterways and coastal security mission, specifically counter-terrorism and anti-terrorism operations."
But the new program is not without its critics, particularly within the highest ranks of the Coast Guard community, sources say. The culture of the more than two century-old service bridges both civilian and military operations with a traditional emphasis in rescue, maritime safety and law enforcement.
Since the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security and the Coast Guard's new counter-terrorism role, that culture and operational mentality has changed, experienced Coast Guard sources say. That's made the shift toward a more SEAL-like ethos -- particularly in the newly established Deployable Operations Group, where the SEAL vets will return for duty after their team tour -- more acceptable to old-school Coastguardsmen.
"I think it's going to be very compatible," said Coast Guard Master Chief Petty Officer Darrick DeWitt, the DOG's senior enlisted advisor. "When you look at the way the Coast Guard's evolving ... bringing in that type of mentality and culture and understanding of the operations is going to be great for our organization."
Officials with the DOG will handle the initial SEAL applicants, putting them through a set of physical tests to demonstrate whether they have what it takes to be a commando -- a process Dunbar said would "set them up for success." Those who make it through will enter pre-BUDS training in December, and the first group will join a BUDS class in February 2009.
So far the plan is to have two officers and two enlisted personnel assigned to the SEALs each year, but Atkin said he's not going to stick to that formula if the qualifications don't match.
To Atkin, a former SEAL steeped in both the traditions of special warfare and law enforcement would be a key addition to his command -- and one long in coming.
"This is historic, it's different, but I think it's very consistent with the long partnership we've had with the United States Navy stretching all the way back to our birth 218 years ago," Atkin said.
-- Christian
The Mag Mag
In the "gadgets and gizmos" category today, I ran across this interesting item as I was perusing the sight from our friends at BreachBangClear.
Think of it as a magazine for M-16 mags.
The STRAC Technologies FAST (Fast And Smooth Transition) system is a hardened pouch designed to hold three spring-loaded rifle magazines that feed out as the operator reloads his carbine. The folks over at MilSpecMonkey did an intensive review of the product, the full version of which you can read HERE.
But, while it seems like an interesting idea, I agree with the folks at MilSpecMonkey that there are limited applications of the product. I can see uses for it in law enforcement, where tactical teams really don't have a need for any more than 100 rounds for a particular situation. And I can see where vehicle operators might like it for its more flush-to-the-body configuration.
From MilSpecMonkey:
As with most things, the FAST System has pluses and minuses. The good part is that the system functions totally as advertised. You can become a consistent reloading super star in about 20 minutes of practice and only get better from there. One of the first downsides however is the bulk. The space required by FAST is the equivalent of over 6 30 round magazines, but it only holds 3 magazines. Also some may feel the required grips for mag extraction are awkward. Personally after using it I feel the grip is "good enough". On this particular prototype, I wish the body was connected to the carrier in a more solid fashion. The only thing holding it in there is a piece of velcro on the back of the body and friction inside the carrier. With the dust cover down I can wiggle the body out of the carrier with one hand while still on my body. It doesn't feel outright unsafe, but could be better. That said, it should be noted this preview is of a prototype and the final version will solve this issue with webbing loop slots to lash the body down to one's vest. This is to get the extraction area closer to the body, but would secure the system further as well. Unfortunately the simple design only allows standard NATO magazines to be used in the FAST system. Magazines with any additional height such as PMAGs, Lancer, and HK mags will not fit. Although I wish they could fit, as a designer I can see where the system would become overly complicated if altered to do so. As the final con, the FAST System could easily be called expensive, but that is usually the price of cutting edge technology.
Here's a pretty good video of the FAST system in action at the range:
And another one with some SWAT bubbas giving their impressions of the system:
-- Christian
So you Wanna be Batman, Huh?
There are a lot of difficult training courses out there in the military. There's Ranger School and jump school, SERE, HALO, dive school, the "Green Footprint" I-school, Scout-Sniper School.
Most famously of course are things like the SF Q-Course and BUDS. Anyone that watches TV or goes to the movies can seemingly discuss their relative difficulty and merits (it's hard to read sarcasm, but try).
Slightly less well known over here on this side of the pond is the Brecon Beacons part of SAS Selection, Canada's SOBQ, the Golani Training School and the BBE's "Black Tulip" shindig. All of these pale in comparison to one unnamed training cycle of such incredible difficulty it's only been successfully completed one time. That's right. It's the training regimen known colloquially as "Becoming Batman."
Interested? Well, Scientific American interviewed the author recently, asking such questions as How many of us do you think could become a Batman?
The response: "If you found the percentage of billionaires and multiply that by the percentage of people who become Olympic decathletes, you could probably get a close estimate. The really important thing is just how much a human being really can do. There's such a huge range of performance and ability you can tap into..."
Battling bad guys. High-tech hideouts. The gratitude of the masses. Who at some point in their life hasn't dreamed of being a superhero?
Impossible, right? Or is it?
Possessing no supernatural powers, Batman is the most realistic of all the superheroes. His feats are achieved through rigorous training and mental discipline, and with the aid of fantastic gadgets. Drawing on his training as a neuroscientist, kinesiologist, and martial artist, E. Paul Zehr explores the question: could a mortal ever become Batman?
Zehr discusses the physical and skill training necessary to maintain bad-guy-fighting readiness while relating the science underlying this process -- from strength conditioning to the cognitive changes a person would endure in undertaking such a regimen. In probing what a real-life Batman could achieve, Zehr considers the level of punishment a consummately fit and trained person could handle, how hard and fast such a person could punch and kick and the number of adversaries that individual could dispatch, what it would be like to fight while wearing a batsuit, and the amount of food one would have to consume each day to maintain vigilance as Gotham City's guardian.
A fun foray of escapism grounded in sound science, Becoming Batman provides the background for attaining the realizable—though extreme—level of human performance that would allow you to be a superhero.
[Editor's Note: Welcome to our new contributors "Slim" and "Swingin' Richard" from the BreachBangClear blog. They'll give us the inside scoop on what operators like (and dislike) in terms of weapons, gear, training and tactics, so stay tuned for more.]
