I was just wondering, I have had good luck so far and can't honestly remember a piece of gear that has failed. What about you and if so how bad was it?
has anybody had a piece of military surplus fail?
bravo1983
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Most military equipment is made by the lowest bidder. What makes it great is that it is (usually) well designed to a specification, then thoroughly tested and approved by people in uniform. I have learned first hand that if you use a knife when you should be using a prybar or a shovel, it may break. Sometimes a bad lot gets through testing or a bad spec gets accepted. I won't argue if you say a Honda generator is better than a military generator. I have never been a fan of Skillcraft pens either. Sometimes you'll find surplus NBC gear that is sold as unserviceable or didn't meet acceptance testing. Generally, military gear is good stuff, especially for military type applications.
From reading some of PLA's posts, that's what you're supposed to do in the bush, break stuff by using it for the wrong thing.
"Chop down a tree with a shovel to make a fighting position." Hoorah.
I broke a folding shovel wooden handle using it as a hoe. But, I think it was because it was a knock off. My 1970s tri-fold is still working great. But, I don't use it for a hammer, axe or skillet either.
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131 Posts
This made me laugh. Back in '99 when I went through Basic training I had to cut down a small tree with my E-tool to dig my fighting position. While I was able to chop the tree down my E-tool it did break during digging the fighting position and I had to use a battle buddies.
Being recently out of the Army I don't trust the MOLLE anymore and use my dads era ALICE clips/gear, much more reliable, I also use the H Harness w/buttpack over the LBV since those damn plastic clips always broke whenever it was tightened over my body armor. Same with the pistol belt, I use the old style metal hook over the plastic clips....retarded, military shouldn't be issued anything plastic.
EDIT: My uniform always ripped, I used both 3 color and digital. I was in during that transition.
EDIT: My uniform always ripped, I used both 3 color and digital. I was in during that transition.
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19,541 Posts
Dont get me wrong i like molly pouches and such and the molly pack has some good features that i scavenged i put the straps and kidney pad from the molly on my alice frame in adition to replacing the rivets with ss bolts and cut a foam sleeping pad and taped around the cross brace
it is a whole lot more comfortatable but other than that the molly pack is garbage heres a link to a guy who did pretty much that with an alice pack i would post pics but the cameras broken
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_dYZa24XGQng/R374bvXeJxI/AAAAAAAAAO4/epA49kcT8Xo/s400/alice-side-1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://chopsaw13.blogspot.com/2008/01/alice-pack-upgrade-part-2.html&usg=__WGqehS8T3fG6aciySw2O5zHz1VY=&h=400&w=300&sz=48&hl=en&start=19&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=bbWf3WPqWxrLmM:&tbnh=124&tbnw=93&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dalice%2Bpack%2Bwith%2Bmolle%2Bstraps%26ndsp%3D18%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1T4ADRA_enUS334US334%26sa%3DN%26start%3D18%26um%3D1
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2,021 Posts
ALICE frame just cant hang with extreme loads approaching 100 lbs. Breaking at the rivets is common. About the the only thing I could bet on breaking every time, just a matter of how far into the bush we got.
3 section e tool. Crap.
The EOD Robots we had in the late 80's didnt run worth a damn either. New ones are much better
Pretty much everything else works pretty well, considering the beating it takes
3 section e tool. Crap.
The EOD Robots we had in the late 80's didnt run worth a damn either. New ones are much better
Pretty much everything else works pretty well, considering the beating it takes
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7,754 Posts
Broke the sole of a boot from my second pair of Bates 924 boots on a hike in the mountains around Pecos, NM. They were 3 weeks old.
The Bates 924 was the Navy Seal training shoe.
The first pair lasted two years of hard use.
The Bates 924 was the Navy Seal training shoe.
The first pair lasted two years of hard use.
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