GEAR - Addition By Subtraction & Keep It Functional

Dear Brendan,

Let’s take a minute to discuss gear, kit and how some commercial marketing is selling lies to the masses. You can see this first hand as it applies to any sport, that buying gear translates to improving performance. That’s as wrong as a pair of spiked swim fins or a football bat. This rings true no matter if you’re talking about a long-gun, handgun, golf club or a tennis racket. All too often people will “upgrade” a piece of gear that already functions without issue. I understand it’s natural to want to customize your firearms/tools, and certain modifications do have certain advantages. However, it’s important to note that no war or battle was ever lost because a warfighter had the wrong sling.

I’m going to share some of my favorite quotes that relate to what I’m about to drill down into.

“Don’t confuse enthusiasm for capability”

“Superior gear will never make up for a lack of training or attitude.”

“When you speak the truth, have one foot in the stirrup.”

–Old West adage

“Beware the man who owns just one gun, he will know how to use it.”

–Old West adage

“In the heat of battle, substance emerges and renders image to total insignificance.”

-H.G. Duncan USMC

“If you can’t swim it, jump it, hump it or shoot it, you don’t need it.”

 –Old Force Recon adage

“Ten years from now no one will remember your gear, weapons or tactics. 

They will only remember who lived.” 

Now with the above it’s important to keep in mind that firearms, edged weapons, etc. are all tools. I tend to believe that the more exotic a tool, the more limited its usefulness. With that said I caution you not to be seduced by the latest and greatest with all the bells and whistles. I would suggest you identify the tools/gears utility for combat and the task at hand compared to other weapons/tools. All too often the fancy shinny object that catches your eye is an overpriced liability. 

Here’s some sound advice. When in doubt study history and look back at wars and conflicts. I know it’s hard for tactical types, hunters and others of today’s generation and I’ve fallen into this trap in my younger years and that is to unlearn that investing in gear is less important than investing in yourself. Sure to a degree purchasing quality/functional gear is an investment in yourself. For some this is a hard truth to sell because for so called shooters and operators kit is more than just equipment. It represents a shooter’s or operator’s identity and level of experience/competence. 

Often during joint operations, when shooters/operators from different units meet each other for the first time, among initial intros are passive visual exams of each other’s kit. To some in the community having similar selection of gear/tools and its efficient placement is a sign of competence. The reverse can be said for ill arranged gear that indicate a lack of experience, skill and that such an individual might be a liability on target. 

Gear selection is important and rarely do shooters/operators have a single kit configuration. The fact is tier units and SMU’s typically have multiple configurations for different missions and AO’s. However, let’s not get mesmerized by cool gear. The individuals in such units are not highly skilled because of their equipment/kit. They are first and foremost a valuable asset because of what they are capable of without their high speed low drag kit. Think of the ol’ saying… “A suit doesn’t make a man; a man makes a suit.”

Although many in elite units across the military and law enforcement have the so called best equipment, they all at some point go through an intense selection, screening and demanding tactical training that reinforces the importance of mindset and not gear. At the end of the day the final weapon is your brain, all else is supplemental. Remember this. Humans are more important than hardware. People not equipment make the critical difference. The right people, highly trained and working as a team, will accomplish the mission with the equipment available. On the other hand, the best equipment in the world cannot compensate for a lack of the right people. Quality is better than quantity. A small number of people, carefully selected, well trained, and well led, are preferable to larger numbers, some of whom may not be up to the task.

I’ll share a few examples of this. A friend of mine has been through many/many mil/tactical schools, screening and selection for SOF and more… I’ve been through similar within the USMC, CIA, etc. The commonality here is we had to do less with more. And that can be a tough adjustment when you are use to using/operating with some of the most advanced gear in the world. It would be like you going from using your iPhone to communicating by smoke signal or push to talk radio. We’ve experienced both sides of the spectrum. From big green army or old school USMC infantry where we were forced to do more with less. To the opposite of the spectrum where we had cutting edge gear, modified kits, flew on private jets and all that did make life better. However, the take away of being used to doing more with less, is that when we had all the gear we could dream of we didn’t take it for granted. We operated smarter and not harder. On that note I caution you not to rely too heavily on high speed gear and neglect the ability to function at a high level using old school tools and a less is more mindset.   

The value of training/courses that send you into the field with minimal gear, is that it forces you to find a way or make one that enables you to accomplish your mission/task. You must meet a high standard and do so without modern technology or modified kits. This strips away all the unnecessary gear too many younger/conventional mil types tend to carry around because it’s cool and hump useless gear that only slows them down. Remember ounces equal pounds and pounds equal pain. For the younger guys that haven’t deployed or been battle tested nerves can get the best of them. Too often they fall into the trap of, “it’s better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.” Simply put that saying doesn’t always apply.   

Trust me when I say your mindset or mentality will change after your battle tested, deploy and are engaged. Nothing like trial by fire. This will have you shedding useless gear fast and furious. If a piece of gear takes up too much space or weight, it is replaced in favor of similar gear that is more functional. Think utility. 

Now for those of us back on the home front and or are not mil/LEO types. We still must put our gear through a stress test. I don’t care if we are talking about a pair of socks you plan on wearing for a marathon or hiking 100 miles in, boots, running shoes, to a pack, field knife, GPS watch, etc. For example, if you want to see if a pair of socks can go 250 miles, wear the same pair for 275 miles of training. Use the same pair of socks just please wash them after each run or hike. If you run 25 miles a week, wear them for 11 weeks. If they last with no problem, get a new pair and wear them for your 50 mile trail race. 

The moment a new piece of gear/tool demonstrates a life threatening deficiency it should be discarded. For example, we use to do a lot of training in and around vehicles. One of the many drills we did was exiting a vehicle under fire and you had to exit out over a dead or wounded teammate. Now there’s a lot going on here and there are obstacles inside the car that must be addressed. You may have to deal with seatbelts, steering wheel, gear shift, and you have a long gun as well as a go bag with you. Lesson learned is not to have a bunch of useless attachments on your long-gun that can get hung up inside a car while you are needing to exit the vehicle quick fast and in a hurry. In a gunfight it’s amazing how fast a car can become a magnet for lead.  

Staying on target with gear deficiencies is not always black and white. You won’t always have a single point of failure or source event during training that will force you to make a decision on a piece of gear/tool. With that said don’t be that guy that becomes complacent. If any of your gear/tools prove deficient, don’t ignore it simply because you are stuck in your ways of always running your kit or weapon systems a certain way. I don’t care how long you’ve worn a piece of gear a certain way. If you haven’t pressure tested it under stress and on target than it hasn’t proven to be truly functional. Think utility. 

The other side to this besides safety/functionality is the financial cost associated. Too often people spend thousands of dollars on gear/tools, and are less likely to be objective in its evaluation. Nobody wants to feel dumb for wasting money. However, this can lead to justification in your gear/tools that will come back to haunt you in the end. 

I’m seeing this more and more with people customizing Glocks, 1911’s, M4’s, etc. I simply caution you to ensure the modification serves a purpose. Just ensure the mod increases its reliability and is purpose driven. I’d stay away from making purely cosmetic modifications. Ask yourself a couple important questions. One, is this modification a true value add? Two, does this so called enhancement create any potential points of failure? Don’t fall for any BS hype and always be thinking utility.

 Prepare to win the fight.

TRAIN-FIGHT-WIN

-T

AM STRONGHOLD - TRAVIS N.