Post by octorfunk on Jul 14, 2008 12:35:42 GMT -5
I know Matt and I have talked about having SOF (Special Operations Forces) loadouts, so I started doing some research.
A simple search of militaryphotos.net will yield a multitude of information, here are a few photos of an SF (Army) soldier I found there.
In this picture, note the khaki BDU pants, the simple plate carrier, and seemingly random blueplaid shirt. This is congruent with what I have read recently about the SF.
In this picture, note that in addition to the previously mentioned items, he is wearing a simple ranger vest. These are not seen much in airsoft, since they don't appear to be very "milsim." (no MOLLE) In fact, they look more like something a hunter or fisherman would wear. Incidentally, I was in my local surplus store just a little while ago and was looking at a couple of these. In addition to being lightweight and easily put on/off, they have a great assortment of zippered/button/flap pockets that could easily hold everything I need in a typical airsoft game.
In this picture, the soldier has just returned from a recon mission, and is wearing a simple MOLLE loadout. This is probably the most gear that SF soldiers are realistically going to wear on their chest/waist at a time, in addition to whatever they can carry on their backs/vehicles.
In this picture, entitled "On Patrol," he is once again wearing the ranger vest in addition to the plate carrier. This time he has a
small backpack, but is still carrying a fairly light load.
Perhaps the most important thing to note is that in all 4 of these pictures this SF soldier is wearing a full beard/mustache combination. Most of the pictures I've seen of SF soldiers in Middle-Eastern deployments show them also sporting full beards. The only conclusion I can draw from this is that it is mandatory, or at least very un-cool to be clean shaven if you are SF, so we all need to work on the biggest, burliest, most lumberjack beards we can muster if we ever hope to come up with a good SF loadout. (just kidding about the whole beard thing, by the way).
In this photo, these guys are sporting flight suits, which are a fairly cheap way of getting into a nice SF impression. Notice in this picture (and all the rest) that the footwear is completely up to the individual, and so far we haven't seen any traditional black/tan combat-style boots.
Full battle rattle is shown here, notice that even in full battle gear, he is not carrying a ridiculous amount of pouches on his MOLLE rig. From what I can see, he has a medical pouch, 2x pistol mag pouch, admin pouch, 2x triple rifle mag pouches, and pistol holster. He actually is packing 2 pistols, one on his hip and one on his vest, which is interesting. Also notice that he is weaing the flight suit instead of traditional BDU's.
This is probably the picture that my loadout will most resemble. OD pants, ranger vest, shemagh, plate carrier, etc. Note the trigger fingers cut out of the gloves. Plain plate carriers can be found cgi.ebay.com/Black-Hawk-Down-Body-Armor-Plate-Carrier-Vest-VT-10-TAN_W0QQitemZ290245671583QQihZ019QQcategoryZ588QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1742.m153.l1262:
This picture is almost humorous to me, just to see all the mis-matched gear. Starting with the guy in the left: Tropentarn pants, OD plate carrier, khaki ranger vest, light brown/white shemagh. Now to the guy on the right: DCU pants, DCU ranger vest, tan plate carrier, dark brown/white shemagh, sleeveless.
It seems like the onyl uniform regulation in the SF is that there are no regulations. The ranger vest and plate carrier are about the only consistent pieces of equipment I've seen, and even those are not in all the pictures. Besides that, headgear, pants, shirts, boots, etc., is completely optional and up to the user.
I'm seriously considering picking up one of the ranger vests from GI Joes soon, and possibly the simple plate carrier from Ehobby Asia.
This is just something I think would be fun to do, and wouldn't require everyone to get the exact same gear. What is everyone else's input?
A simple search of militaryphotos.net will yield a multitude of information, here are a few photos of an SF (Army) soldier I found there.
In this picture, note the khaki BDU pants, the simple plate carrier, and seemingly random blueplaid shirt. This is congruent with what I have read recently about the SF.
In this picture, note that in addition to the previously mentioned items, he is wearing a simple ranger vest. These are not seen much in airsoft, since they don't appear to be very "milsim." (no MOLLE) In fact, they look more like something a hunter or fisherman would wear. Incidentally, I was in my local surplus store just a little while ago and was looking at a couple of these. In addition to being lightweight and easily put on/off, they have a great assortment of zippered/button/flap pockets that could easily hold everything I need in a typical airsoft game.
In this picture, the soldier has just returned from a recon mission, and is wearing a simple MOLLE loadout. This is probably the most gear that SF soldiers are realistically going to wear on their chest/waist at a time, in addition to whatever they can carry on their backs/vehicles.
In this picture, entitled "On Patrol," he is once again wearing the ranger vest in addition to the plate carrier. This time he has a
small backpack, but is still carrying a fairly light load.
Perhaps the most important thing to note is that in all 4 of these pictures this SF soldier is wearing a full beard/mustache combination. Most of the pictures I've seen of SF soldiers in Middle-Eastern deployments show them also sporting full beards. The only conclusion I can draw from this is that it is mandatory, or at least very un-cool to be clean shaven if you are SF, so we all need to work on the biggest, burliest, most lumberjack beards we can muster if we ever hope to come up with a good SF loadout. (just kidding about the whole beard thing, by the way).
In this photo, these guys are sporting flight suits, which are a fairly cheap way of getting into a nice SF impression. Notice in this picture (and all the rest) that the footwear is completely up to the individual, and so far we haven't seen any traditional black/tan combat-style boots.
Full battle rattle is shown here, notice that even in full battle gear, he is not carrying a ridiculous amount of pouches on his MOLLE rig. From what I can see, he has a medical pouch, 2x pistol mag pouch, admin pouch, 2x triple rifle mag pouches, and pistol holster. He actually is packing 2 pistols, one on his hip and one on his vest, which is interesting. Also notice that he is weaing the flight suit instead of traditional BDU's.
This is probably the picture that my loadout will most resemble. OD pants, ranger vest, shemagh, plate carrier, etc. Note the trigger fingers cut out of the gloves. Plain plate carriers can be found cgi.ebay.com/Black-Hawk-Down-Body-Armor-Plate-Carrier-Vest-VT-10-TAN_W0QQitemZ290245671583QQihZ019QQcategoryZ588QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1742.m153.l1262:
This picture is almost humorous to me, just to see all the mis-matched gear. Starting with the guy in the left: Tropentarn pants, OD plate carrier, khaki ranger vest, light brown/white shemagh. Now to the guy on the right: DCU pants, DCU ranger vest, tan plate carrier, dark brown/white shemagh, sleeveless.
It seems like the onyl uniform regulation in the SF is that there are no regulations. The ranger vest and plate carrier are about the only consistent pieces of equipment I've seen, and even those are not in all the pictures. Besides that, headgear, pants, shirts, boots, etc., is completely optional and up to the user.
I'm seriously considering picking up one of the ranger vests from GI Joes soon, and possibly the simple plate carrier from Ehobby Asia.
This is just something I think would be fun to do, and wouldn't require everyone to get the exact same gear. What is everyone else's input?
