Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/929822
being the heaviest of them. And so the weight and the surface area of ballistic plates will become smaller, which will translate into less space for equip- ment modules. It can be increased if we go for a tactical vest, a chest-rig, or a beltkit. And that's why we should not opt them out, arguing that mod- ules can be attached to vest. Besides – not all operations will require using ballistic plates (some will even make it impossible) or extended versions of them, and at present it is impossi- ble – according to the rules – to carry pouches without them. Furthermore, in Poland, ballistic plates are treated as weapon systems, and so they need to be kept in the arsenal when not used. And this is why it is necessary to create a complete equipment system compatible with but without ballis- tic protection. Issuing soldiers with different platforms means a greater choice of options, which makes equip- ment carrying more effective. A basic set should include pouches for rifle and pistol magazines and grenades. Apart from that, a radio pocket, dump pouch for empty magazines, a utility pouch, a gas mask pouch, and a IFAK are all a must. Additional pouches need to pro- vide for pockets and pouches for SAW ammunition, 40 mm grenades, sniper rifle magazines, radio operator gear, or medical equipment. And I'm not talking about providing each single soldier with a full set of pouches, although there are such sys- tems in use (e.g. the US SPEAR, FSBE, MLCS, SFLCS, and other), containing several dozen elements, including a couple of different platforms (vests, chest-rigs, beltkits) and pouches for several types of rifles and other. Of course, some elements can be made as universal making it possible to carry different content (e.g. some canteen pouches let you fill them with 5–6 cartridge clips for M4/M16 rifles) – and this is the case with oth- er systems – rather than be provided to different users in various amounts (for instance, a US Army paramedic's equipment includes eight medical kits – four on the vest and four on the backpack). Some elements will need to be designed individually, though, to serve one specific purpose only. But if we are to be serious about a profes- sional army, we can't afford any artifi- cial equalization, which could do in the case of conscripted forces acting, in fact, as cannon fodder in the event of a full-blown conflict. It's also necessary to develop a back- pack in two variants – basic and "as- sault", this time designed from scratch instead of being a souped-up version of a hiking pack. True, some outdoor companies design military equipment taking advantage of their hiking ex- pertise, but this is not about a simple "conversion" of alpine backpacks into military ones, involving merely a dif- ferent color of fabric. Such backpacks need to be designed taking into ac- count the fact that their users will wear them with and without a body armor, and these two situations are diamet- rically different – a lesson learned by USMC, which bought backpacks just to announce a tender for another sys- tem, soon after because it turned out that the ones already purchased didn't work too well with body armor... Żołnierz PKW Afganistan, przyglądający się pracy afgańskich polic- jantów w więzieniu w Ghazni, październik 2013 r./fot. Marcin Wójcik analysis