Frag Out! Magazine

NATO entrenching tool (trifold) to be put inside is a useless piece of rubbish. The thread disintegrates faster than your teeth after drinking from an aluminium cup, but it has cool looks in the pouch and, generally speaking, in the sand or soft soil without stones you can enjoy yourself digging a bit. Many soldiers choose another option, and in the middle of their belt wear two utility pouches instead of one, treating the first of them as first-aid kit case, and the other as an "all-purpose pouch". I advise against wearing a gas mask pouch (haversack respirator, NSN 8465-99-132-1559) as a buttpack - PLCE is not ALICE webbing and the haversack is not prepared for this role. Attachment to a belt is placed so high, that while running, it will make you look like an actor training for the role in a film for adults. A place for haversack is on the left side of the webbing: on the belt instead of the left canteen pouch or below pouches on the left thigh - the latter option is mounted using a special strap sewn at the top of the haversack, which should intersperse the loops of trousers. Shoulder straps (yoke, main, NSN 8465-99-132-1560) are very characteristic elements of the PLCE. Untypically they consist of front, middle and rear straps, two of each, which make them easy to recognise. The rear (narrower) pair of straps fulfils transport role - it is just a new version of the known P58 poncho roll. The soldiers willingly strap to their yokes things like rolled hessian sacks or basha. I advise against mounting bayonet cover there - it easily gets lost. On one of the shoulder straps (usually on the left one) you can fasten a Bowman radio case (personal-role radio pouch, NSN 8465-99-978-7651). There are two types of covers - one is wide, sturdy, with olive lining and two rows of four snap fasteners at the back for mounting the pouch on a chest rig. It has also a vertical strap with buckle to prevent the radio from falling from the case. The other radio pouch is dedicated to use with PLCE - it is floppy and on one side it has rough holes cut in Cordura allowing the use of radio buttons and outputting the transmitting wire. The radio is secured in place by two straps encircling the pouch in the horizontal plane and fastened with buckles. On the top of the pouch there is also an elastic cord loop with a snap fastener. The distinction between the two types of pouches is worth remembering, because when you

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