New Rucksack
- Thread starter Bomber
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Fresh off part of a Winter Warfare course held in Sunny Dunny, I can tell you that the Tac Vests are even more useless than normal past -20C not only were they coated in frost, about 90% of the time the zipper on the vest wouldn't go up. The only way to get that to go, was to get buddy, to come along and blow air on it for about 20-30 seconds, which looks vaguely (read: incredibly) sexual. The zipper would then freeze at the top of the vest. Also, most of anything in the vest is impossible to get out without risking some minor frostbite (nip) by exposing your hands or thin gloves to low temps.OldSolduer said:
And is it just me or does the helmet suck way more than usual in the winter, when wearing it over a neck guard or face mask is incredibly uncomfortable and wearing it without face protection gives you wicked frostbite on your chin from the metal on the strap that makes shaving an incredibly painful ordeal.
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If your zipper locks due to cold, try rubbing an arctic candle along the length of the zipper. As far as web gear in winter warfare conditions, we (3PPCLI mid 80's) wore webbing, respirators and all.
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Had to go to Chilcotin, Wainwright or Hay River for the white stuff, for sure.
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just took a short jaunt with mine
feels like I didn't bend my bars properly or something, bars are digging into my shoulders
some pretty weird swaying movements when I run with it.
might see about getting an eryx hip pad on there though.
I know the big complaint going around right now is that no one likes wearing the hip belt. you have to wear it for it to fit properly or it just feels way to akward.
feels like I didn't bend my bars properly or something, bars are digging into my shoulders
some pretty weird swaying movements when I run with it.
might see about getting an eryx hip pad on there though.
I know the big complaint going around right now is that no one likes wearing the hip belt. you have to wear it for it to fit properly or it just feels way to akward.
Matt_Fisher
Army.ca Veteran
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COBRA-6 said:
I should be getting a chance to have a look at one of the new CTS rucksacks over the next week. I'll look into doing some online comparisons of it and my Kifaru EMR, i.e. weight, capacity, relative comfort (subjective at the individual level).
PhilB
Sr. Member
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I have been on HLTA and as such havent had much access to the internet, but my thoughts on the CTS Ruck;
Initially I was very happy with the ruck. In Canada using on PT, both with armour and rigs, and without it performed quite well. Was comfortable, the hip belt/rods transfered weight effectively and as advertised, and the capacity is HUGE! All in all I was impressed, as I posted earlier.
Fast forward to now. We ended up having to ruck into a few locations in our AO, walking around 9km (15 in the case of a few unlucky souls!) or so each time with full battle rattle and rucks. In short, my opinion of the CTS Ruck has done a complete 180. Guys, incl myself, have broken the transfer rods, the stitching at the top of the ruck holding in the aluminum bars has broken, pockets sag and almost fall off when loaded with kit, load lifting straps have broken, and carry handles have ripped off. That is just mentioning the quality issues. The ruck does not fit well at all with full fighting kit and plates over long, hot, stressful distances. Half the guys couldnt even do up their waist belts (the ruck is very unstable IMHO without the waist belt done up), the other half could do up the belts but they wouldnt ride correctly on the hips because of armour and plates, resulting in the belt sitting on the hip "pocket/flexor region". This caused bruising, blistering, and general discomfort. I have ditched mine and gone back to my 64 as has almost all of the guys in my pl.
Initially I was very happy with the ruck. In Canada using on PT, both with armour and rigs, and without it performed quite well. Was comfortable, the hip belt/rods transfered weight effectively and as advertised, and the capacity is HUGE! All in all I was impressed, as I posted earlier.
Fast forward to now. We ended up having to ruck into a few locations in our AO, walking around 9km (15 in the case of a few unlucky souls!) or so each time with full battle rattle and rucks. In short, my opinion of the CTS Ruck has done a complete 180. Guys, incl myself, have broken the transfer rods, the stitching at the top of the ruck holding in the aluminum bars has broken, pockets sag and almost fall off when loaded with kit, load lifting straps have broken, and carry handles have ripped off. That is just mentioning the quality issues. The ruck does not fit well at all with full fighting kit and plates over long, hot, stressful distances. Half the guys couldnt even do up their waist belts (the ruck is very unstable IMHO without the waist belt done up), the other half could do up the belts but they wouldnt ride correctly on the hips because of armour and plates, resulting in the belt sitting on the hip "pocket/flexor region". This caused bruising, blistering, and general discomfort. I have ditched mine and gone back to my 64 as has almost all of the guys in my pl.
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As mentioned on other pieces of kit, UCR that shit up.
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As with Phil B, my initial reaction is good with the new ruck. Now, this is based on ONE ruck march (bare assed), but my only concern is the quantity it can hold. Already we see the odd CSM looking at it and drooling, thinking "Boy, I could fit SO MUCH on the kit list now!"
PhilB: Thanks for the points! Hopefully the problems will get sorted sooner rather than later (eg: can they fix the waist belt issue by giving larger belts?) As for quality, hopefully that gets fixed too.
As an aside (without going through many pages of this thread), do the chains of command realise that the old ruck's replacement is the "Day Pack" and NOT this new ruck? (Naturally, the day pack, with attached pouches and a bedroll,whatever attached below is similar in amount to old ruck). EG: it's for ~48 hours or so (or is it 72?) IIRC, the new ruck is for indefinite periods, no?
Again, PhilB, thanks for that. Those are good points to be wary of. (..."of which to be wary"?)
PhilB: Thanks for the points! Hopefully the problems will get sorted sooner rather than later (eg: can they fix the waist belt issue by giving larger belts?) As for quality, hopefully that gets fixed too.
As an aside (without going through many pages of this thread), do the chains of command realise that the old ruck's replacement is the "Day Pack" and NOT this new ruck? (Naturally, the day pack, with attached pouches and a bedroll,whatever attached below is similar in amount to old ruck). EG: it's for ~48 hours or so (or is it 72?) IIRC, the new ruck is for indefinite periods, no?
Again, PhilB, thanks for that. Those are good points to be wary of. (..."of which to be wary"?)
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Great. I was actually looking forward to it. How naive I am.
Looks like its time to haul out Grandpa's 64 from the shed...
Looks like its time to haul out Grandpa's 64 from the shed...
- Reaction score
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The ruck empty weighs in at 20+ pounds. I believe for the BFT you need 35. Combined with what Dangerboy said about it in the winter I wonder if the 10 plus years that went into that were wasted.
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There may be a reason for that.
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Three things will survive the nuclear annihilation: Rats, cockroaches, and the 64 ruck
PhilB
Sr. Member
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We have not put in any UCR's as of yet, mainly due to the fact that we are at a FOB without any internet let alone DWAN acess. I know our WO is quite keen on putting together UCR's. Thanks to the knowledge I have gotten on UCR's here I talked him out of submitting a group UCR for our pl, instead several UCR's will be drafted and then everyone is going to submit it themselves.
As we have been doing all dismounted stuff I have been learning a lot about my gear, including going back to webbing, as opposed to a chest rig.
As we have been doing all dismounted stuff I have been learning a lot about my gear, including going back to webbing, as opposed to a chest rig.
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PhilB
Sr. Member
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Certainly,
Originally I purchased an OSOE MWR chest rig, with a drop leg dump bag for the tour. This is what I have been using up to this point. All in all I have been extremely happy with the set up. For mounted operations it is great, the rig is comfortable, rides very well, has completely bomb proof construction, and is very well laid out and ergonomic. All that being said it is not ideal for the long dismounted operations (10km plus to put a caveat on it) which we have almost solely been conducting. The rig, although comfortable, by its very nature places the majority of the weight of your battle rattle on your chest. The dropped M203 pouch, although comfortable starts to rub, and is creates quite a hot spot on your leg walking long distances. Several of the snipers working with our platoon on a regular basis had their rigs based around the blackhawk modular LBE. I gave it a try on a couple patrols and was sold. As such I purchased a Blackhawk LBE and CP Gear pouches and a CP Gear M203 bandoleer. I havent used it yet (In fact I havent even seen it yet as its being brought back by a section mate from HLTA) but from the patrols I went on using buddies rig it is the answer. Webbing, although not as easy to get at your pouches as a chest rig, balances the weight significantly better than and chest rig, or vest can. It makes going prone in OP's for long periods of time much more comfortable, and in general is the "gold standard" IMHO, for dismounted ops. A lot of guys are using TT Mavs, and CP MoFocrs and dropping them as low as the will go to balance the weight a bit better. I set up my rig based on the personal lessons on kit I learned on 1-06, fast forward to today, and suprise suprise things are totally different, where dismounted patrolling was not as common on 1-06, 10-20km dismounted patrols are basically all we (my platoon) have been doing . I have altered my fighting gear to reflect the situation on the ground.
Originally I purchased an OSOE MWR chest rig, with a drop leg dump bag for the tour. This is what I have been using up to this point. All in all I have been extremely happy with the set up. For mounted operations it is great, the rig is comfortable, rides very well, has completely bomb proof construction, and is very well laid out and ergonomic. All that being said it is not ideal for the long dismounted operations (10km plus to put a caveat on it) which we have almost solely been conducting. The rig, although comfortable, by its very nature places the majority of the weight of your battle rattle on your chest. The dropped M203 pouch, although comfortable starts to rub, and is creates quite a hot spot on your leg walking long distances. Several of the snipers working with our platoon on a regular basis had their rigs based around the blackhawk modular LBE. I gave it a try on a couple patrols and was sold. As such I purchased a Blackhawk LBE and CP Gear pouches and a CP Gear M203 bandoleer. I havent used it yet (In fact I havent even seen it yet as its being brought back by a section mate from HLTA) but from the patrols I went on using buddies rig it is the answer. Webbing, although not as easy to get at your pouches as a chest rig, balances the weight significantly better than and chest rig, or vest can. It makes going prone in OP's for long periods of time much more comfortable, and in general is the "gold standard" IMHO, for dismounted ops. A lot of guys are using TT Mavs, and CP MoFocrs and dropping them as low as the will go to balance the weight a bit better. I set up my rig based on the personal lessons on kit I learned on 1-06, fast forward to today, and suprise suprise things are totally different, where dismounted patrolling was not as common on 1-06, 10-20km dismounted patrols are basically all we (my platoon) have been doing . I have altered my fighting gear to reflect the situation on the ground.
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