Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/1519846
20:1 mock-up of body armor, to or- ganize a media event with that moc- k-up taking the central part of the stage. This is probably what it wo- uld take for that vest to be noticed. Furthermore, the relevance of the good kit is often overlooked - the civil leadership at the Polish MOD probably never even touched the individual gear. If hiking is the le- adership's hobby, then the situation may be better, as spending time in the wild may make one aware of the meaning the gear (like shoes or jackets) may have. If that is not the case, the decision-makers do not really care what kind of boots, uniforms, jackets, sleeping bags, or similar gear soldiers get. It often happens that the military does not get that equipment- it "has not been issued", or "it is not in the system and never will". Meanwhile, it turns out (surprise!) that the said gear has a KEY meaning for those using it in less than comfortable field exercise conditions, or in even worse, warti- me conditions. And how the wartime conditions look, can be observed for the last two years. These conditions have been perfectly exemplified by a "3 days-long special military opera- tion", namely the Russian invasion of Ukraine. As brutal as it may so- und, we are dealing with a "free test range" where human life and health are the price paid for the experien- ce and conclusions that cannot be drawn during peacetime tests or exercises. How do things look, when the perso- nal kit is neglected? This may not be seen daily, but is frequent enough. The prime example here comes in the form of the troops sent to the Polish-Belorussian border, without any relevant support. One may say: "It's the army, not a warm corporate office, figure it out yourself, dam- mit!" It is true. It is difficult to expect that the soldiers would always live in barracks, containerized bases, or comfortable tents. However, there is a "but" here. The soldier indeed has to be ready to face tough con- ditions. But he also needs equip- ment that will let him survive them. Meanwhile, last year the soldiers were spending two days without any tents, with just the sky above their heads, sleeping on the ground (but they had sleeping bags [sic!]). The logistics messed up and failed to establish relevant social ame- nities. No individual tents or tarps were available. The soldiers slept on the ground, on some construction works mats, or old sofas. During any exercise, the reserve soldiers are issued the "Bechatka" jackets (Polish, national counter- part of the M-65 field jacket, intro- duced into service 30 years after US Armed Forces had second gen of ECWCS), steel helmets, and 1930's era webbing harnesses and AKM rifles. This situation is humiliating for the soldiers. Their morale, on a scale of 1-10 is somewhere in the -6 range. This is just a fraction of threee decades of backlog. Luckily, over the last two years, some things happened that led to the launch of "Operation KIT". The first one - the War in Ukraine - that, according to Putin, was to be conducted as a 3-day-long special military operation. Something went wrong though, as the operation has been going on for 800 days now. It is no longer a special operation. It is a full-scale armed conflict, with the events unfolding in different terrain and weather conditions, including a reenactment of the Verdun WWI trench warfare. As any war is, the War in Ukraine is a brutal proving ground for the equipment, gear, lo- gistics, personnel, and any other matter involved in any war. Luckily, we can use the experience gathered by the Ukrainians, in macro- and mi- cro-scale. www.fragoutmag.com