I received notification this morning that  U.S. Patriot is selling their Surefire X300s for $179.95, down from the regular $249.00.  They are also offering a 10% Thanksgiving Discount with the coupon code of "TURKEY".  This brings the light to $161.96!  Oh, and did I mention they have free shipping on orders over $150.00?

ITS Tactical's ETA Trauma Kit (IFAK)

I wanted to take a few minutes here and let our TNSA followers know about ITS's new trauma kit.  They are selling their kit in several different configurations (Basic, Standard, & MIL/LE) with prices ranging from $59.99 for just the pouch to $169.99 for the MIL/LE complete kit.  Pouch is manufactured for ITS by Zulu Nylon Gear.  That means it's made in the good ole' US of A.  Currently offered in Coyote and Multicam; other colors to come later.

Highlights are as follows:

• Lightweight 500d Cordura Construction with 420d Pack Cloth Interior
• Mil-Spec 550 Type III Paracord Zipper Pulls
• Color-Matched Velcro and Webbing, Including MultiCam Webbing and MultiCam Velcro
• All Edges Feature Binding Tape for Quality Construction
• Exterior Single Side Channels of PALS/MOLLE for Mounting Tourniquets, Tourniquet Pouches, Shear Pouches, or Rescue Hook Pouches
• 1″ Red Webbing Pull Handle Denoting Medical Supplies
• Reverse Zippers to Keep the Dirt and Grunge Out
• Exterior Loop Velcro Field for Medical, Blood Type or Unit Identifier Patches (2″ Tall x 4″ Wide)
• User Replaceable Shock Cord and ITW Nexus CordLoc
• Weight: 4.2 oz.
• Measurements: 7″ Tall x 5.25″ Wide x  2.5″ Deep
• Includes (2) Coyote Brown MALICE Clips for Mounting to PALS/MOLLE (3 Columns x 5 Channels PALS/MOLLE on Rear)
• Available in Coyote Brown and MultiCam with Color Matched Webbing and Velcro.
• Made in the USA (Berry Amendment Compliant)

First impressions is that they have pretty much hit a home run with the contents and design.  Being able to not only store all needed supplies, but to do it in an organized manner in a compact design.  What else could one ask for?  Scuttlebutt is that there might be a bit of hook tape on the inside of the red pull handle to secure it down onto the loop field on the top of the pouch to help eliminate snagging issues one might encounter.  In the mean time, just shove the handle up into a PALS channel. 

If you are in need of a new IFAK/Trauma kit, give this one a good, hard look.  You'll like what you'll see.

FM 21-76 iPhone App

Good morning North Seekers!

What do you guys know about survival? Do you think you could survive lost in the wilderness? Do you know how to keep your body going or how to purify drinking water?

There are a lot of folks out there who watch these survival shows on TV and think the things they see is enough. I am definitely not saying one cannot pick up some tips from those guys, but don't think you're a survival expert because you watched an entire season of Man vs Wild.

So on with it! This past weekend, I'm sitting on my couch watching football and browsing the app store on my iPhone. On a whim, I search for "field manuals". The only thing I was able to turn up was the Ranger Handbook, which is a pay app and I already have two hard copies. I then punched in "survival" into the search bar. There was what appeared to be a bunch of junk apps, but there was one that caught my eye called "SurvivalGuide". The icon is a little campfire with a black background. I clicked the little icon there and viewed the screen shots of the actual app and discovered that the information contained within was straight from FM 21-76...so I installed it.

After installation on the SurvivalGuide app, I opened it to have a look see. To my surprise, this is actually 21-76 broke down in chapters and appendices. Each chapter and appendix is broke out and labeled for quick and easy navigation. Once you click your desired chapter you will find that you are viewing the actual FM in PDF format, which means you can scroll and zoom at your convenience.

I have to say, I am very impressed with the SurvivalGuide app, and would recommend it to all of you iPhone users.

Iraqi Training and Advisory Mission In Review: Issued Kit

Days after we remember a day that changed a lot of our careers, I spend my last days on active duty from the latest deployment. From start to finish, this has been the most rewarding deployment I have ever been a part of. I made some new lifelong friends, worked with some very interesting folks, spent the majority of that time teaching, and shot an incredible amount of ammunition. What follows is simply a deployment the way I saw it. Mostly about the kit and the shooting because of OPSEC/PERSEC.

So here I sit, nearly 10 months after suiting up for deployment. I am worn out, tired of Arabic, but I could do the whole thing over again right now. It is not often in a career that one gets to do the things I just got done doing. My team and I were afforded the opportunity to teach, train with, and shoot tens of thousands of rounds with a foreign military. There are some specifics within our military who get to do this as their mission, we're just not typically one of those specialties. Fortunately for me, I have been an instructor since 2007, and some of my team even longer. In those guys I witnessed some real true blue teaching like I never expected to see out of them. These guys came from all walks of life, from every place one could imagine within the military. Some of those noteworthy guys include: 1LT Jake S. - OIC, SSG Dan J. - Combat Arms Instructor, TSG Tyler E. - SWAT Officer, SSG George R. - Regional Training Center Instructor, SSG Keith G. - TACOM Instructor, and SA Sashi Y. - PSO Instructor. All of the guys I had were awesome to work with, but the fore mentioned guys have been teaching long before this deployment and it showed greatly. Also deserving some serious honorable mention were our three Iraqi instructors who by the end of our training operations were able to run the whole course by themselves with us standing by to advise. Those guys include SGT Hussian A., CPL Tariq A., and CPL Amer G. These 3 truly understood our intentions and drank the Kool Aid from DOT 1. I would like to give huge thanks to 3 good dudes from TF Raptor. Without their help with ranges, ammo, and curriculum development, this thing would not have been successful.

Taking a step back now, we rewind back to the beginning. Before any of our deployments, it is a mandatory thing for us to head out to some desert for spin-up training. The luck of the draw for us this time was El Paso, TX and Fort Bliss. More specifically, Desert Defender Regional Training Center, which took place at a number of the Fort Bliss annexes. If someone would have told me that El Paso was cold in December and January, I would have called "bullshit" and still took what I took. It turns out that it is cold there and hot weather attire is only good for part of the day...my bad!

For most of us attending RTC, the whole thing was a basic refresher for those of us that had been down range in our careers. For my newbies, it was sort of a culture shock for them. Yes, everyone has been through Basic Training and the follow on schools, but for the new guys, humping your kit from sun up to sun set was a new world...and then doing it at night was even more so. That said, we were blessed with newbies who were capable of closing their mouths and opening their ears which made for a great learning experience for everyone.

For the most part, the flavor of the day on departure for this deployment was issued kit. There were some small add-on's to my kit, which included my 215 Gear sling and CSM Gear dump pouch. But for the most part, we ran issued. For those of you who have ran an issued IBA with side SAPI carriers...they still suck in every single way imaginable. Our fighting load and sustainment pack were the DFLCS Kit from Garrett Container Systems, as made by London Bridge Trading Company. It is an OK kit and did what we asked of it to do, but the quality was definitely better when Eagle Industries was manufacturing it for us.

As I mentioned previous, we did run mostly issued kit. This carried over to our uniform items as well. Our base layering system was actually pretty great. We were issued the entire DriFire undergarment system which ran from undershirts and boxer shorts, to extreme cold weather undergarments. DriFire's material is unlike the other FR clothing manufacturers in that they are really very soft and comfortable next to the skin. That is not to say Massif's and XGO's garments are uncomfortable, I'm simply stating that I was surprised at the comfort...especially because it was issued to us. At the end of the day, I didn't need almost all of the DriFire system because we were headed to 100+ degrees. I wore a mixed bag of DriFire, Massif, and XGO undershirts the entire deployment, all of which performed admirably. The DriFire T-shirts had a problem with the neck line sagging real bad once you got rolling for the day, but they were soft. The Massif shirts are cut perfect for an athletic body type, but can chafe in the arm pits. Sherry Lyons from XGO sent me several different types of undershirts and were by far my favorites in 130 degrees.

And finally, in the world of clothing, the Massif ABU

In conclusion, we have focused primarily on issued kit. If you'll notice, not one set of issued boots were mentioned here. What will follow this TNSA entry will focus on the non-issued kit used over the course of this deployment. I will also include all the good gun stuff in that article as I had a few non-issued items stuck on there, as well as non-issued AK-47 action. Look for that real soon!

So, here we sit...tons of issued kit and no verdict. Everything mentioned in this entry fit into about 3/4 of an "A" Bag. There was much much more, but what has been mentioned was about all of it I used. The other 1/4 of this bag collected dust, along with the other full one, and the big roll away. It was time consuming and cumbersome lugging all of that mandatory kit, so most of it found its way into foot lockers and ultimately to the post office.

So onto the verdict. Issued kit sucks....or....it used to. In today's day and age of huge companies, with lots of money, jockeying for DOD contracts, it is clear to me that things in the world of issued kit has changed. It seems to me that companies are having to spend more money on technologically in an effort to move ahead of the competition and get the contracts. On a scale of 5 stars, I give the issued kit (as a whole) a 3 star rating. 3 stars you ask? There is one singular "X Factor" here that made the whole package lose its 4th star. That "X Factor" lies solely with my issued IBA. That thing has always been, and continues to be, a piece of crap. It is the least functional and uncomfortable body armor vest I have ever worn.

3 out of 5, not bad. That said, the rest of this issued kit should put a little peer pressure on the body armor to get its 4th star back.

The Latest

Good morning fellow North Seekers! We have a lot going on right now and I wanted to take a few minutes bringing you all up to speed.

• This just in...TNSA is now on Facebook. Pop over there and check us out, maybe add us to your pages. We're going to use Facebook to start our fan sweepstakes very shortly.

• The finishing touches are going on our Land Navigation Guide. We've added more information into the guide to make it that much more effective. Look for that to hit the streets in October.

• The new Wellco Gen II Jungle Boot eval is coming along nicely. We are going to continue to work them out for two more months. As soon as that is complete, look for a very picture heavy review right here.

• TNSA is currently available in a mobile friendly version for your smartphone. We are also working on getting our iPhone app ready to go.

A Moment of Silence

North Seekers:

I want everyone to take a moment and send some prayers up for one of our writers, Adam. Adam lost his father recently and is staying strong to take care of the family. Hang in there brother, we got your back.

RIP Lloyd Mac (edited for Adam's PERSEC): Vietnam Veteran, United States Marine, Proud Father, Loving Husband.

New Boots From WELLCO!

Good afternoon "North Seeker's"!

A big 'ol box came today, and it is chock full of brand new Wellco Generation II Jungle Boots. These are new release and they are pretty awesome. Check back soon as we will be running these bad boys through the ringer very soon!

Massif: Part 2

In our first installment if Massif products, “Massif: Part 1”, we talked a lot about the Massif ABS. That little guy continues to impress with its durability and comfort, so I think we are going to put it to bed on its evaluation period. Verdict…it is well worth the buy if you aren’t in a position to get it issued to you. Conversely, if you are actively serving, talk to your Supply NCO about making it part of your standard issue!

We were going to make Part 2 of the Massif overview a catch-all for everything else they sent us, but I think we are going to change it up a bit. Instead of going over a bunch of product, I am going to highlight just one: the Helium Crew long sleeve shirt.

I happened onto this review on accident. During this Iraqi Security Forces training course, we spend the first week out on the firing range, getting the students familiar with their AK47, getting familiar with different firing positions, weapon zero, firing drills, and finally qualification with their weapons. During that time, we spend all day cooking out in the sun; so we do everything we can to stay cool in the Iraqi summer sun. When I got up on DOT 4 and realized I needed to do laundry the night before, I was a little bummed because I knew I was about to get destroyed by the sun that day. Digging through my pile of lightweight T-shirts, looking for one of my paper-thin DriFire undershirts, I came across my Massif Helium Crew. I passed over it for a second…but came right back to it with a thought. These shirts are basically the combat shirt without the uniform sleeves…why couldn’t this thing be worn under my armor to protect my arms from the sun, while still giving me protection in the prone position. The simple answer was that it could be. I knew it would keep me cool because it was lightweight and is moisture wicking. I already knew the lightweight material on the torso of the combat shirt wore comfortably against my skin while wearing armor, so this should too. Really the only big thing I was missing was the padded Super Fabric elbows of the combat shirt.

-As predicted, this shirt kept me cool. The moisture wicking capability worked as advertised, keeping sweat saturation way down under my armor. Please understand that when it is 125-130 degrees out, you’re going to sweat. There isn’t a product in the world that is going to keep your clothing from absorbing and holding a little bit of sweat. The moisture wicking technology is something that can help mitigate that, but it cannot defeat it completely in those temperatures.

-Because this shirt is made out of very lightweight material, it made wearing that long sleeve shirt completely bearable. It has a bit of an athletic fit, which I liked, but wasn’t like wearing an Under Armor Heat Gear shirt…those things feel like you’re wrapped in plastic wrap all day long!

-Durability was something I had concern with wearing the Helium Crew under my armor. It wasn’t really designed for such an application so I expected it to deteriorate a bit from the friction of my armor carrier. I expected to take off my plate carrier and see fuzz balls all over the torso from the nylon rubbing on the material…didn’t happen! I expected the same on the elbows from being down in the rock and sand while in the prone position…didn’t happen! This thing looks like it is in the exact same condition in which I removed it from the package.

The final verdict on the Massif Helium Crew is that it is a lightweight, cool, and durable long sleeve shirt. It is a great piece of kit to be worn under your uniform shirt, or under your armor. I was really impressed with the fit and comfort of the Helium Crew, and would recommend its use and purchase. Keep up the good work Massif, I’m looking forward to the further development of your clothing line!

Massif: Part 1

Massif

Folks, it is good to be talking to you all again. I have been, and am currently, in Iraq doing the job for Uncle Sam. However, there has been great opportunity since I've been here this time to play with and work out some new and innovative kit. The topic of today’s conversation is Massif Mountain Gear and the personal protective equipment they design and manufacture. "Wait Will, they make clothes...?” That is a correct statement, however... Just like my body armor and ballistic helmet, their clothes protect me and thousands of others here in the theater of operations. Massif makes fire resistant (FR) clothing that is as hardnosed and resilient to abuse as some body armor vests I've worn and made...therefore it falls into the category of "kit" to me...so let’s talk about it!



I have spent countless hours over the last 6 months wearing Massif, Dri Fire, and XGO FR clothing. This has been in an effort to figure out who makes the most comfortable, most durable, and best fitting FR clothing. That test is ongoing and will likely be in "FR Clothing: Part 2" when this deployment is complete. In the meantime, I have been wearing and evaluating a number of outer garments made by Massif. As we know, Massif is the approved manufacturer of the Army Combat Shirt, but they are also the approved manufacturer of the Airman Battle Shirt. That said...let’s talk about the ABS!

Over the course of the last 6 months I have spent about a quarter of that time in the ABS. That time has been spent training Iraqi Security Forces, as well as working joint operations with Iraqi Security Forces. The short version of my verdict is that "the juice is worth the squeeze"! That's right, they are that good and I will tell you why as we go along here.

The Highlights:

Lightweight: In 115 degrees, lighter is always better…period!

Moisture wicking: See my above point, but sub in moisture wicking.

Padded Super Fabric elbows: In the prone position with a gun…not having to wear elbow pads is awesome!

-Over the course of this deployment, my team and I have spent a LOT of time cooking in the Iraqi sun with our students. On a number of occasions, some of my guys have chosen to remove their uniform shirts and just wear issued cotton or issued DriFire T-shirts under their armor. Several times, some of them chose to wear sleeveless undershirts under their armor in an effort to ventilate and keep cool. While not authorized, when things make good sense, I’ll allow it. In an effort to continue to evaluate the ABS and its capabilities, I never removed it from underneath my armor. The most I ever did was rolling the cuffs a bit. This shirt and the fabric it is made of kept me comfortable throughout. There was never an occasion where I felt like I was overly hot because of it.

-As stated above, the built-in elbow pads are an awesome feature. There is just enough cushion there to hit the deck on any terrain and not cause discomfort. I’m not certain about the life span of these built in elbow pads, but after 6 months of wear, they have shown no sign of breaking down.  Additionally, rocks and sand abrasion has not degraded the Super Fabric in any way.

-The fit is something of note here. If sized properly, the athletic fit of these shirts help to minimize bunching and hotspots on the body. On some of my bigger guys (shoulder width, lat size, etc), there was a bit of bunching in the armpit area, but I think that could have been taken care of with an order of the next size up.

The Not-So Highlights:

Collar: I would like the option to utilize the mock neck or to have it fold down. I feel like I am constantly being choked by a really weak guy. I would prefer the option to not be choked like the NWU uniform with the quarter-zip collar.

Forearm zippered pockets: I just don’t know what I am going to put in there…really isn’t much room for anything but folded up paper, but sweat would destroy something like that. I guess one could stick laminated 9-line cards in there or something, but now you’re putting laminate in your sleeve which will cause a hot spot on your forearm, not allowing the fabric to breathe at all in that spot…maybe I’m splitting hairs here.

So what do we have here with the ABS, and the rest of the combat shirt family from Massif? In short, we have a winner. Massif is already a proven company. Their products speak highly of the time and care they have put into design, end user feedback, and quality. A little known fact about Massif products is that the material used in manufacturing is not something they buy in bulk, cut, and then sew. Their fabric is produced in-house, down to the thread. When they say FR, they don’t mean “no drip, no melt”…they mean FR down to the very core of each garment. I will continue to recommend the company and its products to everyone who will listen…they’re good!

Be sure to tune in for Part 2 of this feature when we review the Lightweight Tactical Jacket, Universal Combat Shirt, Helium Crew, Breeze T-shirt, and Breeze boxers…maybe even the Massif Beanie. Thanks all!

SKD Tac's New PIG Hydration Carrier

Just saw this on Lightfighter and wanted to pass the word around.  It appears SKD Tactical has made a carrier that actually fits properly on the back of a plate carrier, namely their P.I.G.  Excerpt from their website:

"Designed for the Source WXP 2L Hydration Bladder, the PIG Hydration Carrier offers innovations that will increase performance while minimizing bulk and weight. The wide-profile mouth offers easy access to your hydration bladder for refilling and maintenance. A 4" elastic band adds compression to the bottom of the bladder which serves to counteract the "fat belly" effect as the bladder empties. The bottom of the back panel is made of mesh, to aid in drainage and evaporation of condensation. Hydration ports are in the top corners, allowing directional routing to either shoulder.

8.4 grams of sex-appeal have been added to each carrier, making this one of the best looking pieces of kit you will attach to your host molle platform. Attaches via 2 Long and 2 Short Malice Clips, which are included. Source bladder pictured is NOT included with this carrier and must be purchased separately. Made in the U-S of A, biyatch."

If that isn't good enough news for ya, they are offering it up at a discount as well.

***From now to July 3rd, we are offering a one-time introductory special of 30% off of the PIG Hydration Carrier. Just enter "aquapig" in the discount code box at checkout to take advantage of this special pricing. This code cannot be used in conjunction with any other discount code. Promo ends at midnight (CST) on July 3rd. Do not be that one guy who missed out on this deal!***

Sneek Peek

Mike Griffin of Austere Provisions Company LLC and Clint Lynch of Sentinel Design LLC teamed up together on a new collaboration.  It is an aftermarket adapter for your Blue Force Gear Vicker's Combat Applications Sling.  It is a modified aluminum tri-glide buckle that turns your sling into a Two-to-One (Two Point to Single Point) sling.  It accepts QD sling swivels, HK hooks, and MASH hooks.  The QD swivels have the stops built in so your sling will not spin around its axis and get all twisted up.  Mike was running one during a LMS Defense class I attended up in Alliance, OH.  The one pictured is a prototype.  The production models will be coated and not bare metal, of  course.  Stay tuned for updates as they become available.

Crye Precision Jumpable Plate Carrier (JPC) Review, Part II

Back in December, I posted my initial review of Crye Precision’s popular Jumpable Plate Carrier (JPC).  I have finished “kitting” it out over the last couple of months and I thought I would share with you what I did and why.  I am attending a couple of classes by LMS Defense and EAG Tactical in the next couple of months, so I'm sure there will be changes made as this project evolves.

Front Panel:  I didn’t put anything inside the mini admin sleeve above the mags and behind the panel of Loop tape because it bowed it out too much and it seemed like it would interfere with magazine removal.  Time will tell I guess, YMMV.  I’m running nothing but Magpul P-Mags in the integrated magazine pouches on the cummerbund retention flap.  On the front of that, I have a new 1 ½” SOFTT-W Tourniquet center line so it is accessible with either hand.  The tourniquet is held in place by a Blue Force Gear Tourniquet NOW strap.  It is flanked by two single-cell BFG Ten-Speed Mag Pouches for when  the need for more mags, bangers, whatever, is needed.  The ITW Nexus Grimloc is a back up to the Tac Link on my left sid to hang my gloves on.

Below the magazines is an EMDOM, USA Recon Waist bag (fanny pack) attached with three long MALICE clips.  I am using it as an IFAK.  Once again, it is center line and accessible from either the left or right.  Contents of my IFAK has been supplied by Austere Provision Company, CSM Gear, and RSKTKR Medical, As of right now, the content is as follows:  

• 1- OLAES 4" Modular bandage
• 1- QuickClot Combat Gauge
• 1- QuickClot ACS+
• 1- HALO Chest Seal
• 1- Nasopharyngeal Airway tube & lube
• 1- CPR face shield.
• 1- Pair of latex gloves
• 1- RSKTKR Down Casualty Card
• 1- IR Chem light
• 1- Blue Chem light

Cummerbund, Left side:  I have two Eagle Industries 1911 FB mag pouches and an ITW Nexus Tac Link.  I’m looking at getting a small radio pouch to put on this side; something to hold one of the smaller Motorola radios and/or a Talk-A-Bout.  Any suggestions?

Cummerbund, Right side:  For right now, I have a SPEC-OPS Super Sheath holding a Surefire G2 with the TNVC Q5 Cree LED lamp installed.  220 lumens at your fingertips.  Beside it is my old trusty shears and sheath from CSM Tactical.  Seeing that I am right handed, I didn’t want too much mounted on this side to interfere with the drawling of my sidearm.

Rear Panel:  On the back of my right shoulder, I have the Cejay Neptune personal beacon/strobe I wrote about here.  I attached it using a custom made strap and some Hook & Loop.  The top of the plate bag has a three-cell BFG Ten-Speed pouch for flash-bangs, extra magazines, Guinness, you name it.  If it fits, it’s good-to-go.   

Below that is my long awaited Eclipse Gear 9x5 General Purpose pouch holding my Source Hydration .75L Kangaroo bladder.  I really liked this pouch because it carried on the modularity theme of the Ten-Speed pouches due to the elastic retention inside the pouch.  It will hold items like even more flash-bangs, 40mm grenades, etc.   

The bands are too small for the standard M-18 smoke grenade though.  Can’t have everything, I guess.  The pouch is big enough to store more than just the bladder.  A broken down MRE, a section of a VS-17 panel, or any item that we used to carry in our butt packs (for those old enough to remember that beloved piece of gear).  

Last, but not least is my custom made sling that is routed through the outside columns of PALS, secured using simple ITW Nexus tri-glides and a side-release buckle for attachment to my bang-stick.  The double sided 1” Multicam webbing is guided over the shoulders under the provided shoulder sleeves that came with the JPC.  Think of it as a poor man’s BFG MOLLE sling, just without those huge plastic end keepers.

A special thanks goes out to those companies that helped me in building this beauty:

ADS Tactical, ATS Tactical, Austere Provisions Company, Blue Force Gear, Brownells, CSM Tactical Gear, Crye Precision, Magpul Industries, Source Hydration, and Triad Tactical.   

I hope you enjoyed the review.  Feel free to post any comments or questions you may have.

TYR Tactical Medium General Purpose Pouch, 6" x 8"

Front of pouch.  Two rows of five columns PALS.

In my personal quest to find the right pouch to put on the back of my plate carrier to hold my Source Hydration Kangaroo bladder, I came across TYR Tactical's 6" x 8" GP pouch.  Initial impressions was that it is a nicely designed and constructed pouch; something that we have come to expect from Jason Beck.  I ripped it out of its packaging like a kid on Christmas.  And then I saw it,,,,

Back of pouch.  Three PALS straps that covers five columns total.

For whatever reason, TYR Tactical decided to be different than pretty much every other gear maker out there and made their pouch to cover five PALS channels instead of the normal six.  Don't ask me why.  Most base plate carriers, chest harnesses, and the such have an even number of columns of  PALS webbing on them; either six or eight.  With this going with five, you will be hard pressed to have it centered on whatever it is you will be mounting it on.  If this is not an issue for you, press on with your mission.  They use a stiffened tab on the end of their single layered PALS straps that tucks nicely into a slot in the back of the pouch.  How far we have come from the first generation of MOLLE.

Lack of edge taping on the inside of the front panel.  If used, it would match up better with the back panel.

Moving to the inside of the pouch, you will notice an nice zippered mesh pouch against the back wall.  This is a nice touch for admin supplies, individual first aid (band-aids, ouchies, etc), E&E items; the list is endless.  There seemed to be a lack of edge taping on the exposed seams.  It is just something that I am used to using and seeing.  You can also see their proprietary PV500 material in the picture below.  In short, they married some 500 D nylon with Kevlar.  Really strong, light weight.  Best of both worlds.

Nalgene bottle for size comparison.

Even though this particular pouch didn't work for my needs at this time, I was pleased with their quality and customer service.  I am sure to return to TYR in the future.


TYR Tactical