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KIT : CHEST RIGS
22
CHOOSING A CHEST RIG
Whilst the current trend is for the majority to be wearing some form of plate carrier to train , Bill takes an “ Old Skool ” step back to look at chest rigs , be they canvas concoctions or thoroughly modern marvels of hi-tech nylon , and puts forward a case that this is a piece of gear that suits every need when it comes to load bearing !
In my opinion a decent chest rig ( indeed more than one !) should have permanent residence in any self-respecting personal gear locker as I genuinely believe it ’ s one of the most useful bits of kit you ’ ll ever own ! A chest rig will fulfil all that you need in terms of load carriage or simple gear-hauling ; there really is a model that will suit both your budget . Whilst it is currently popular to lug around a darn great plate carrier ( even including plates if you ’ re “ doing it right ”!), and I ’ m as guilty as the next man for doing this , I ’ ve personally always been a huge fan of chest rigs ; even if you ’ re in a situation where you need to use body armour ( dubious really in a training scenario if you think about , unless it ’ s for “ tacticool ” points or that you really do wear one regularly for “ work ”) then a rig will allow you dump a lot of extraneous weight quickly and easily whilst keeping your plates in place . Over the years I ’ ve had numerous chest rigs as I find them comfortable to wear , and very easy to work with if the design is right ; all of mine have served me very well indeed , and I will admit to having a bit of a collection of different models that I ’ ve built up over the years . My first ARKTIS rig is now well beyond the point of saving , and I ’ ve had rigs to try from some of the best companies in Europe and the USA , and frankly , I love ‘ em all !
I ’ ve long been a fan of the US brand Tactical Assault Gear ( TAG ) which was set up by prior service USN SEAL Chris Osman , and one model to me still shows how “ the rig ” updated itself for what we need today ; TAG were right in the game from the very beginnings of the “ modern chest rig ”, and as one of the first nylon gear companies to take up the then-new ATACS patterns they ’ ve got lots of experience working with different fabrics . Their gear has ALWAYS been really top notch , and the combination of a Phalanx Chest Rig and Combat Sustainment Pack has given me more than enough space to carry both a fighting load for my primary and a sustainment / survival load comfortably , and although they ’ ve been with me for quite some time , both items are still going strong .
I believe all of the above actually says a lot about how things have fundamentally changed ; when I first started out most guys I knew used some form of belt-mounted load bearing gear , usually old military pattern as it was cheap and easily available . If , in those days , you wanted to look all “ operator ” ( I don ’ t think that phrase even existed back then …) then you ’ d go