New Rucksack

[Loachman]

Now ... about my turn in the simulator ...  ;D

You can have my spot. I haven't flown it now for so long that you'd probably do just as well anyway. I can just sprawl around or something useful.

So long as I get credit for the trips.

And I hate to disappoint anybody, but I still have 550 cord attached to my hooch with special clippy things at the ends to fasten around tree trunks, not that I can remember when I last used it.

I still keep it in my Rucksack, Universal, C2 - now known for some strange reason as a "64 Pattern".

I used to hate the things when they were standard issue, but now with aftermarket shoulder straps and padded waist belts replacing the original sucky ones mine are not too bad at all.

 

[Bzzliteyr]

Green and red?  No thought in your mind that you might be mistaken for a really big Christmas decoration??

Good to see you kids were up late. I see my Liveleak observations have kept you awake Loachman..

 

[PhilB]

The official policy on bending the stays from what I got out of our hour long ruck sack fitting class was that there was no consideration given to integrating the ruck with PPE. We all asked why we were bending the stays to our back when we were going to be wearing the ruck with plates and were told that it "would be fine, even with the plates". To be honest though I didnt notice any issues with regards to the back stays with full kit on, it was mainly the waist belt that is an issue. The belt is quite rigid, even after a fair amount of use and does not sit properly with all of the kit on and loaded up after humping any kind of distance. Now, I am sure someone is going to say that I just need a ruck that is sized better; that is not the case I was back and forth to clothing 3 times when we got issued the rucks tweeking the fit, and making sure it was good to go. I think that what happened was when they were testing it someone just put on all their shit and the ruck and pronounced it good. After humping for a while everything shifts and sinks lower, moving the waist belt off the hip bones. In fact one of our guys had such bad cuts and abrasions from the ruck that he had to have bandages put on. Again, it is really good for pt, and bare assed humping, but fully loaded with a fighting load it is utter crap IMHO.

 

[Loachman]

Good to see you kids were up late. I see my Liveleak observations have kept you awake Loachman..

That and other stuff. I can't blame you completely.

 

[armyvern]

That and other stuff. I can't blame you completely.

Oh ... don't blame me either!! I am, of course, an angel.  ;D

Although, am just returning home after that 2nd BFT in two weeks ... doing nothing but playing in a simulator would be nice ... and perhaps a 4 Star bed too ... >

It was actually quite nice out when we started at 0615hrs, but by 0700 ... holy friggin' heat & humidity batman (Note to Self: perhaps there really is something behind this "global warming" stuff).

 

[Loachman]

How about a BFT simulator?

 

[armyvern]

How about a BFT simulator?

That'd be nice!! But, will they let me hang out at the back of the pack (aka "the smoking area")?? If not, I'll stick to my grand trail adventures, bopping along and enjoying my smokes. (They let me smoke because if I wasn't smoking -- I'd be singing and they aren't stoopid).  ;D

 

[blacktriangle]

Good review Phil.  I'm still debating over a Kifaru or not....

I haven't seen the new ruck, but if It doesn't live up to expectations, I want to get an EMR...my back and shoulders are worth the price.

 

[3rdroyal]

We were issued the thing a few weeks ago, and we have put it to the test. It does make a very nice bare a$$ PT ruck, and yes it carries a hefty load, but there are a ridiculous amount of straps to adjust before stepping off. And if you dont adjust it just so (not possible when in a rush), then you have trouble breathing or you get some nasty back pain.  While we were going through the measuring process, many people were given incorrect sizes of shoulder straps and waist belts. This caused great discomfort to them in the form of a bleeding chafe. As for the accessories, you can get better comp sacs from MEC, the quick release "plugs" are too big,the additional pouches dont secure properly, and I can foresee the plastic clips breaking, as they do on the wonderful tac vest. It also doesnt seem to be designed to work with body armour, as the back plate pushes it back.

It looks like a nice piece of kit, but once you have to use it in full kit, you miss your jump frame.

 

[NL_engineer]

Well I got issued the new ruck today, and I think I will be going to clothing Monday to get my old one back.  I had the project manager size me; and here is his comment when I said "give me a sec to go get my Tac Vest, and Frag Vest from my car, and size me with them on"  His responce "why would you want to do that, it is not designed for that, and why would you wear a frag vest with it?"  : At that point I gave up .

So after work, a couple of us decided to take it for a walk around the trails here in lovely Gagetown.  So we put on our frag vests, tac vests, then our rucks.  long behold the waste belt doesn't work to well (can't be placed properly with the FPV), within 100m of the walk, I had to undo the waste belt as it was rubbing my hips way to much  :. 


O and on the three hours of classes on the ruck  : well, can I put in a claim to get that time back  :


on another note, Vern, I seen you out having a smoke when leaving after the rucksack classes, I was going to yell out to you till I seen the rank of the guy you were with  ;D

 

[Loachman]

"why would you want to do that, it is not designed for that, and why would you wear a frag vest with it?" 

Priceless. Pity you didn't get that on video.

 

[Jarnhamar]

Like the tacvest I don't think the rucksack was designed to incorporate different jobs.  Maybe the guys and girls designing it assumed only a small percent of CF members would be carrying it around with body armor and a tacvest?

At the very least when we get sized for it soldiers should get sized wearing FFO. Hell even make it a choice.  He CF is horrible for our "train as you fight, except here here there and when this happens. Rangeisim ahh" mantra.

Ruck sack seems pretty heavy when empty (already covered), way too many friggin straps hanging off it, compression system is a hassle (not that big of a deal) and lots of people are having problems with the waist band. It really screws with some peoples hips and sides, doesn't seem to fit very well with the tacvest (big surprise).

I just did a BFT with mine and was pretty surprised. It felt pretty good to me, all things considering. The waist band didn't rub very much.  I ran-walked the whole way and came in at 2 hours which is good for me being a short dude at 5'9, and while I'm normally a little stuff I was 100% fine this time.  I'm going to try and run the whole way on the next one.

I would probably buy an after market ruck if I wasn't faced with a constant 'am I allowed to wear this today? am I not?' issue but I prefer this one over the 82 pattern and I'm thinking I might even prefer it over my jump ruck. Maybe.

 

[NL_engineer]

Priceless. Pity you didn't get that on video.

I wish I did, two of the boys from the regiment heard it, and started to laugh, I held back, as the civi and the MWO were serous  : 


Flawed Design, I think the new ruck would be great for civies (it is way better then my civi pack), but sucks for military use.  But I guess you get this when you contract a company building civi packs.

 

[armyvern]

...on another note, Vern, I seen you out having a smoke when leaving after the rucksack classes, I was going to yell out to you till I seen the rank of the guy you were with  ;D

Geez, you should have yelled; the CSM already knows my name - it wouldn't have been news to him.   >

 

[Bzzliteyr]

I wish I did, two of the boys from the regiment heard it, and started to laugh, I held back, as the civi and the MWO were serous  : 


Flawed Design, I think the new ruck would be great for civies (it is way better then my civi pack), but sucks for military use.  But I guess you get this when you contract a company building civi packs.

Funny, when you used to hear people bitch about the 82 rucksack they'd mention how it would be great to see a civi pack maker design the next ruck as they "know what they're doing"!!

Are we never happy?

 

[George Wallace]

Are we never happy?

Can I enter that in the "Funniest thing I heard today" thread?  Of course we are never happy; we're soldiers.  ;D

 

[geo]

The moment you stop hearing troops grumble is the moment you start worrying....
Cause there would seem to be something even more unpleasant coming their way.....

sooo... Grumble away troops

 

[OldSolduer]

The current rucksack was designed when I was still in 2VP and that was 10 years ago.
That could explain why it was not designed with a TV and body armor in mind.

 

[geo]

Ah yes... the lengthy procurement process.....
Tough one to swallow at the best of times.

 

[MG34]

I'll be keeping my C2 Ruck (or 64 ruck/jump ruck/old guy ruck, etc) the new ruck is not without it's charms, as mentioned a good PT ruck for marches and such without PPE but useless with PPE.
As noted by one of the Ptes on the Rucksack training classes "If your ruck sits so high that it needs a pocket for your helmet to rest in, there is something wrong,it may be fine for climbing the Twin Peaks of Mt Kilimanjaro but is a serious loss of sensory input on the march, kind of like the early Batman movies where our hero couldn't turn his head to scan for threats."