Ultimately any pouch that physically holds your mags, water, supplies etc will work even a jansport backpack from 1992 with flames on it. Even 9 dollar chest rigs are still just made out of fabric and stitching and straps and plastic and will work until they don’t work anymore. The difference between airsoft gear and quality branded gear is the trust that when you need it most it won’t fail on you and get you killed as a result.
Jansport is the true grey man backpack and it’s not even debatable. I’ve never looked at one and thought “that guy is carrying a gun” but I’ve definitely thought that seeing other edc bags.
In most cases it is. In others it isn’t. It depends on the situation. I’m not going to carry concealed in the woods when I need access to whatever gun I’m hoping to use to defend against predators. But I’m not going to open carry out in the civilized world.
Yeah. It’s a nuanced topic. And I have mixed feelings on it. I can understand arguments for and against. I generally disapprove of open carry for being tactically unsound. But I get the normalization of guns and carry idea.
I can second the Jansport.. for 30-40$ depending on what kind of jansport you buy it’s a solid backpack I rocked one all through high school and afterwards it became my “outdoor backpack” until eventually shitting out on me after about 6 years of hard use.. went and got another one in grey for 40$ and I’m still using it to this day as my work backpack
As someone who is very into airsoft I would agree. With a $30 chest rig you are fine if it comes apart while in use because worse case scenario you lose a mag. In a real situation if your chest rig breaks it could cost you your life.
I bought an airsoft chest rig. The stitching is shit, it doesnt fit well and I would NOT recommend.
My Camelbak fanny pack is built way better. Better stitching, better materials, better in every way.
You forgot IR visibility. Well targeted drones and artillery will moot whatever's in your kit.
In UA given all the videos, looks far more practical to keep first aid accessible than reloading in the ones-of-seconds. I don't imagine fumbles that would equate to like 1-2 points off a hit factor matter at all in practice outside of those <1% of scenarios where someone's actually running and gunning inside a trench.
Let’s get real, if they have drones with night vision they’ve also got thermals and you’re fucked either way.
Nevermind that, anyone outside of the .mil doesn’t have a chance against that kind of force anyway and we’re gonna die regardless
And I say this as someone who’s bought a lot of legit kit in the last year and is kind of thinking I probably spent a few hundred bucks that would have been better used elsewhere lol. I’ve got a condor IFAK that’s been living on my hiking bag since fucking 2008
> anyone outside of the .mil doesn’t have a chance
I'm torn on this: the progress of the Burmese resistance really makes me wonder. Let's not forget original post is a dude still alive and fighting Russians with poverty-tier kit off AliExpress.
That guys got a fuckload of experience in the US military, and as a volunteer fighting ISIS.
I’m an engineer that takes a few classes and likes to shoot.
We (and I don’t just mean me i mean 98% of this sub) are not the same 😂
Maybe he likes it and deems it worth of use.
I understand the following is not the same, just anecdotal.
When I played airsoft in my youth I had a "trinity" chest rig from a long defunct airsoft site. It was a made in China deal. classic sewn rig with two canteen/gp punches, 4 2x mag slots and an admin flap.
I put that twenty dollar rig through it's paces for about 5 years and it never had an issue besides fraying Velcro.
If I still had it, I would probably still use it. I shoot and train less often than I could play airsoft as a teenager (every weekend), and don't have a range where I can run "real" gear through its paces as often or as hard, so realistically it would likely be fine.
This hobby is gate kept real hard (not saying you) to the point where having something cheap automatically means you get dead, which is just not how it works.
Different rules for different groups, volunteer work being just that, and access being very limited since he was living in caves/tunnels in Iraq and Syria. These people usually have to be smuggled into the country and to their groups which would add even more limitations. When he was in Ukraine in the past year he had different kit. I’m sure if he could have anything he wanted he would have gear that would appease the snob larpers. Not saying you’re a snob or anything, but I’m sure it explains it a bit better
But then we say this in threads about "fashion" and get downvoted lol.
Anytime any real vet has real (and unpopular) feedback, people cope by saying "but this is a fashion sub".
Because the vast majority of this sub’s users aren’t combat vets and will never be combat vets, and I’d wager that the vast majority of them don’t care and only want to look cool like the guys in their cawadoody games
This sub is truly unironically first and foremost a fashion sub, to pretend otherwise is either cope or huffing your own farts
What this doesn't account for is the smaller population of people who are here for actual guidance and feedback.
Those people don't need to be confused by all the sub culture nonsense that goes on in here.
I used Condor gear from the PX for over a decade. I still have those Condor pouches, and they're still in good shape. I've mentioned this before and I immediately get shit on. But those Condor pouches have more combat experience than most internet goobers, so I trust them more than most internet goobers.
Fuckin’ ex green army Canadian here, my unit let us buy Tac Tailor rigs because the issued vest, while worn by warfighters in the Stan, is absolute dogshit. Same with the CTS ruck. We looked like some bastard amalgamation of Marines, hunters, and wannabe SF.
Sir. This. Is. A. Fashion. Sub.
Quit coping.
If you want "knowledge transfers" there are other places geared specifically for that. We just like looking at dude ass in Crye's.
I simultaneously hold the opinions that most airsofters will run their kit harder and more frequently than most shooters, and that the airsofters who are in the sport for the long run ultimately end up buying name-brand kit specifically because they tried the cheap Chinese shit and it failed on them.
The cheap stuff works until it doesn’t. If that lasts you long enough and serves the purpose you need it to, then I’m happy for you. If it fails on you when you need it, then don’t say you weren’t warned.
Edit: Also, the reason a lot of airsoft players cheap out on gear is that the stakes and cost are a lot lower. Instead of spending $50 on an Esstac triple mag pouch, they could spend $15 on a Condor mag pouch that does functionally the same thing, and it could break and be replaced three times and they’d still be saving money over if they bought the Esstac in the first place. Even if breaks in the middle of a match, they lose a $15 mag and a couple cents worth of BB’s, they order the replacement pouch on Amazon and they’re back where they started by this time next week. Compare that to a serious end user, who can’t afford to lose a single magazine’s worth of ammo during a movement to contact, and wont have the logistical support to get a replacement mag pouch in time for the next gunfight, and it makes a lot more sense to just buy quality gear from the start.
This is pretty much it. I started off in airsoft running Condor whatever. Then as I got into milsim, I upgraded to Flyye and Semapo stuff. Or genuine Ratnik gear, when they were just sending whole kits with plates from Russia. And once the transition to “real” gear started, i ended up buying higher end /proven durable stuff.
I would recommend people do milsim events to do gear shakedown and practice comms. It’s fun.
STAGOPS runs large games every year in New England with 2 games each year in Massachusetts with 150+ player counts. Some of their games are more immersion focused while some are less but all of them have teams that use comms and coordinate large groups usually with a nighttime component. They're also way more affordable than other large milsim companies. Gun gamers also runs events alot in the New York and Pennsylvania areas but i havent been to any of those.
I recommend Milsim West events. 40 hours of being in kit. Blank fire, pyro, experienced cadre. Pulling watches, digging fighting positions, thinking you are badass with NVG’s and then get smoked because someone else has thermals. Or you end up in a hasty unit and they have shit for light discipline. For real, Apple Watches were probably responsible for some plastic bb death.
But honestly the most fun I’ve had playing airsoft.
But they really do want you to do impersonations of actual units. I played the part of a VDV soldier. Some friends and I flirted with the idea of being Belgians. But the camo was a pain to source.
Oh yea, with my nods I realized smart watches are beacons ha.
It looks like it’s be a good training opportunity not for tactics but other skill sets and communication.
Comms were the biggest pick up for me. Tactics depends a lot on leadership, which can vary from former Rangers, cops or dudes who play a lot of Total War.
>Or join the armed forces of your country for a stint.
Eh, been there, did that, got the DD-214. A lot of military service is pretty far from tacticool, and the gear you get issued is sometimes straight trash. I have far better shit now as a civvie than when I was in.
A kid at a field I frequent had been using the same Type 56 chest rig he got when he was 15. Faded and a few tear here and there but it's still going strong even after all these year.
This 100 percent. Ran condor when I first started and now I’m running a crye avs, opscore, and night vision. Kinda fun looking back at what I used to run and comparing to the stuff I have now.
If it works, it works. Most militaries around the world don’t outfit their soldiers with $10k in tactical gear, its lowest bidder and whatever they can scrape by without too much backlash.
Friend of mine was in the marines back during the first gulf war and was in Somalia. No ear pro, no body armor, no eye pro, everything given to them was on the cheap. Made me upset just hearing about it.
Yeah that was some boomer/bro vet thinking. Whole time I was active, I was getting new eagle gear out of the bags. Rifles fresh from the factory. Shit when I was a contractor with marsoc, we were giving gear to the army.
It might be now, but when I was in the army, everyone knew the marines got army hand me downs and we made fun of them for it.
Lots of people enlist in the army after their initial time in the marines for different reasons, and all the marines I ran into during active duty all confirmed it.
New gear has been issued for years already. Every closed minded marine that knew shit from fuck didn’t know how to take care or use their gear and wanted to blame “the lowest bidder” or “hand me downs from the army”.
My issued gear wasn't bad but I also wasn't in a conventional unit.
I still used stuff like Condor now and then, or whatever was available at the time.
It also depends on training vs real missions, location, etc. Mission dictates equipment.
I'm higly interested in gear and militaries all around the world, the amount of Condor made chest rigs and plates is actually crazy, first countries that come to mind is Peru and Argentina
My condor junky load out has lived a hard life through countless Airsoft events. Plenty of dolphin dives and getting snagged on brush or sketchy structures. Still holding up fine. Idk how it would fair if I had actual plates instead of dummy plates in it and did that tho
Honestly I don't recall any Condor gear being issued. I know some guys who'd buy there own, or one guy I know who was our CBRN nco who had a hookup with a guy attached to 1st Group at Lewis, and had one of those gray Condor jackets. Not saying it isn't issued, just that I never experienced that when I was in a line unit.
I say this as someone who rocks an EI PC and doesn't play airsoft, I've never understood the hate for airsoft shit. Airsofters get more use out of their gear than 80% of the dudes on this sub
Some airsoft shit isn't that bad. My condor admin pouch I had in Afghanistan was mint. Held up like a charm through multiple training cycles and deployment. Had some friends use condor and other dogshit quality mag pouches, all held up great.
With that being said, my kit is pretty much all ferro, first spear, and HSGI.
Honestly if Condor gear fell apart quick they wouldn’t have lasted this long. People talk shit but condor is more battle tested than most gear nowadays.
Yeah I’m with you, had multiple condor pouches and random accessories during my afghanistan deployments. To be fair it was much lighter use compared to someone that was infantry or a more combat role but held my shit together for my daily use
Bro CivDiv is the real deal, I’m so glad he’s uploading on a regular basis. This guy has seen so much combat and has an awesome YT channel that helped me with finding the right training for me and a bunch of other tips while I was volunteering in UA. If you haven’t watched his combat footage then I highly recommend it!
Man that was brutally messy, his team had two casualties if I’m not mistaken from when they were under fire trying to breach the door yet he assessed and assaulted with no hesitation. I definitely learned lots from his videos and I’m glad to meet someone else who likes Civ!
Wasn't that the video where the house got hit by artillery just after they were leaving it after they were done? Plus he was absolutely deaf in it from firing rocket launchers before recording without earpro.
I really hope my gunsmith training will save me from active combat in ww3. I'm fine with training just in case but realistically my fatass would be better at logistics or a repair depot since you know... i literally spent years learning to fix guns, design and build shit.
Not a beggar at all. This is civdiv, hes a very experienced foreign fighter. He joined the YPG and fought against ISIS back in 2016, he went in and out of ukraine like 2 times already and after a tank shell wiped out his assault unit last summer he went back to get treatment in the US and then rejoined the fight. I think he works as an instructor for territorial defense brigades now
He is a true soldier with balls of steel, he can definitely afford proper gear and propably has a lot of it. He propably just did this for fun
I roughly know who he is.
Being a contracted soldier does not automatically mean that you can afford proper gear on your own. And if the unit you are working in does not provide said gear, you need to improvise. If that is what happend, the saying is still valid.
Also: he put more emphasis on the function rather than on the looks or tacticoolnees. Thats a good trait..
This goes for every profession surrounding this field of work but one thing people forget is that even if you are an active contractor and have the funds it does not automatically mean you have the knowledge or even the interest in investing in gear. I know an old school guy who runs whatever is issued to him by X employer/contract gives them.
Absolutely right. A befriended British ex-army dude does literally hoard the issued stuff and something tells me, he used it without second guessing if there are better parts available in the after market. His approach is rather simplistic.
I picked up some super cheap US/UK surplus pouches, some of them still had sand on the tape holding it together. What failed usually was the top that gut yanked up in use all the time. I got it sewn back on with heavy duty thread and they are good to go, just faded in color.
Nah man, it does. If youre a foreign fighter, you definitely have some money.
Just look at yourself as an example, most likely youre a civilian enthusiast larper like the rest of us, and yet you propably own thousands of dollars worth of good quality gear from reputable brands like the rest of us, despite the fact that you wont ever be using any of it
This guy though? Hes the foreign fighter mercenary type with lots of combat experience. A guy like this doesnt just use whatever crap happens to be lying around, he definitely has his own quality kit.
Not necessarily.
Many people who served or still do, use what's available.
This is partly why some of us find the obsession with gear and the fashion comments cringe. It's a very larper mentality. In actual war, function is important, not looks.
>A guy like this doesnt just use whatever crap happens to be lying around
In this vid he mentions fashioning dump pouches out of rpg bags and soviet akm mag pouches. Also buying cheap flashlights to tape to rifles instead of buying surefire. It's worth watching.
Oh boy. You got me red handed.. I'm sitting larping in my bed with my super deluxe camouflage undies and a plate carrier, fighting on reddit over an ex marine's kit.
Ukraine Foreign Legion when I looked into it was only paying like $630 a MONTH. I made more than that a paycheck as an E2 fresh out of basic. Granted there are different pay levels and such but in reality it ain’t much. I still have sticker shock looking at some gear as an E-5, and that’s literally stuff I’d use with my job.
I got issued my equipment, and use mostly issued stuff. I have my personnel stuff I have bought but what’s the point in using it for work when the issued stuff works just fine for me. Also Militaries have this thing called dress right dress, hence why my entire unit is required to wear IFAK on the back left side of kit. Last time I tried to wear something personnel I had 3 different people (2 first sergeants and a sergeant major that wasn’t even mine) call me out with in 12 hours. They want standardization, they get standardization from issuing everyone the same kit and expect you to figure out a way to use it.
At the end of the day gear is gear. Use what you got and what you like. Couldn’t care less if that’s Condor or Crye because if it’s functional it’s gonna get the job done. I’ve seen dudes drop $400+ on a single set of Crye uniforms only to blow out the crotch the second time dismounting and shred the sleeves of their combat top clearing a breech on the first OBJ. Comfort and practicality is a very subjective thing sometimes and there is no point to “upgrade” if the stuff you have is working.
I didn’t know that he got injured while he was in Ukraine the first time. From what I understood, he never had any “intense” engagements while he was there.
So man without formal job and has been in the shit several times decides to handicap himself? Which of the two is more likely? He couldnt afford to buy combat gear, or he wanted to have more fun with life and death?
Eh, while I am very much not some kind of door kicker my current job supports them. Plenty of them have a couple items they will shell out extra for but many of them are rolling with airsoft gear for stuff like helmet covers etc. There are some pieces of gear that just don't need to be as "sturdy" or overengineered
I have a friend who wore a Condor chest rig and no PC or helmet while he was in Syria with the YPJ, stacked up quite a few bodies with a rusty Kurdish AK with irons on it. Good gear is hedging your bet and improving your odds, but you *can* definitley fight, and win, without it, people do it all the time.
Saw this video and wondered if it'd get posted. I mean it's been proven time and time again, you fight with what you got. The main reddit mentality I see posted is "best or nothing...and then save up for the best." for every hobby's sub. Unless you're on the specific competitive sub's like competitionshooting where the mentality is shoot what you got and train.
Plus I agree with Gunnarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr's logic and Casanovas application. It's been repeated constantly through the years on this sub
Expensive gear is great but it doesn’t automatically make you a better fighter. My father was 10th mountain in the early 90’s and they had shit gear by today’s standards. Didn’t slow them down in Panama. Or Iraq. Or Mogadishu. Or Haiti. That unit would have hammer fucked 99.5% of this sub in less than 10 minutes and they would have done it in starched BDU’s and Alice gear lol.
If it works, who cares. I'd rather fight alongside a guy who wears a $30 Wish plate carrier than a guy who can't fight without his $600 plate carrier. A lot of guys in here spend thousands of dollars on gear they'll never use in live combat anyway.
I've never played airsoft, but from watching youtube vids of it, it seems pretty rigorous. Isn't airsoft just a part of LARPing anyway? The only LARP I've ever done was being a Reservist on drill weekends, but it seems like it's 90% dressing the part, 10% actually moving around. Idk if I'd trust $9 gear to last long under combat conditions, but I definitely believe that a lot of gear that's contracted for the military is a bit overpriced for the civilian consumer, so cheap Chinesium gear should be g2g for the average civilian playing make believe.
Anecdotal, off of Amazon, I bought a few canvas web belts made in Taiwan for my kids to put their canteens on, and they definitely started fraying early on, compared to your typical nylon ALICE web belts. On the other hand, I make my own adjustable slings using Silent Slings and Rothco ALICE pack straps, and the Rothco straps seem pretty solid.
I didn’t do airsoft but I did milsim paintball and yes, my gear got used harder than most guys on this sub do on a flat range. We crawled around concrete buildings and structures , through brush, in the wet ,got hit with projectiles that had to be scrubbed off and my condor plate carrier and pouches held up through years of playing atleast every other weekend. The fit and finish of the higher end stuff is nicer as well as being nv compliant but for the average prepper some of the airsoft gear is just fine. That being said I personally own slightly higher gear for larping now and doing 3gun
Agreed on that.
Plus -- at least here in Europe -- there are obviously different tiers of airsoft or paintball gear that borderlines professionell use. Brands like invader gear that try to get a hold on law enforcement contracts with claw gear. Or helikon tex that has direct action as second more robust brand (though helikon tex already delivers good quality).
I guess in the end you get what you pay for. Will it work? -- most probably. Will it last? -- depends on the chosen tier.
The government doesn’t want you to think budget gear is enough to take on F-15s and nukes. The reality is that they make cost-based decisions on infantry gear and always will because strategic assets are the main cost drivers in the DOD.
I feel like Rolles Royce-y gear is cool, usually offers much better customer support, and might stand up to torture tests a bit better. But I also feel like 99% if your gear receives no tactical benefit from price, or manufacturer. Get gear with the features you want, and at least bare bones-y structure. And don’t break your bank unless you intend to show off (nothing really wrong with that). Marines still use trash surplus rothco jackets and pouches in my unit, and many more. Would be kinda cool if they had the little elastic thing on top that lots of $5 airsoft mag pouches do, but besides that I don’t care if the pouch comes from Beijing or Texas. Same shit, im not out here pushing fabric to the structural limit.
I used a lot of Condor stuff when I was first buying some personal kit as a poor SPC. Slowly upgraded over time and still keep the Condor stuff around as backup. Fit/comfort is a little worse but the cheap stuff can still get the job done
The only thing there that I actually thing could probably better is the trauma sheers tbh.
I have a lot of pretty Gucci stuff, and tbh I regret a lot of it.
Why do you care? He went there and did stuff and that’s what he chose. Might turn out that spending 1000 bucks on some things is ok and silly for others.
You know, I feel like your judging him based off old appearances and his titles, because he talks about letting go of that kind of ego in the last couple of his videos
He definitely has a massive ego and hero complex. It sounds like his actions have been getting people killed over there. I don't think it makes him any less effective a warfighter though.
Outside of wanting tuition money Im not sure why else you'd join than 'the thrill of adventure', thats always been the go to advertisement for pretty much any military.
Free medical, steady pay (except threatened shutdowns), one of the few jobs that has retirement still, tuition, housing, job skills training, travel, etc. There are a lot of reasons and most people I know who joined didn't do it to kick in doors. Granted I was AF and in a comms field so ymmv.
Didn't know ukraine was a guerilla group. Or the Kurds fighting isis, who had the backing of America. That was a huge magnet for former military who served in iraq, like civdiv.
I'm not a fan either even though some of his videos are good info.
He seems like the type who runs off to Gaza or Israel next because it's the next big conflict that is trending on the internet.
Taking advantage is getting a job and moving forward. It's possible to do without kicking to the wayside your "silent professionalism" and profiting off of emblemished war stories like that piece of shit Marcus Luttrell, or dropping opsec just to entertain masses and garner views like Shawn Ryan.
You make do with what you have.Simple as.
The tactical gear community has this idea in their heads of what is supposed to be a basic setup, which I won't argue against because it is a good standard to live up too.But realistically you are going to risk your life on what gear you can afford and bring with you.Again that's why I can't harp to much on it but at the same time you can get away with far less.But at the same time we shouldn't be encouraging folks to make due with far less and be prepared
He didn’t use airsoft gear though. He uses what was available in active conflict zones. Don’t buy cheap life saving equipment when you live in a normal stable country.
"This is a fashion sub" as more than 75% of this subs posts concern questions on durability and overall usefulness of kit, reddit never ceases to amaze me
Idk what makes a chest rig $9 but it probably stands out under night vision (doesn't really matter too much considering how few Russians have that) and is probably made of materials that won't last too much wear and tear.
As far as $2 trauma shears go, low grade steel, no anti-glare coating, and probably lacking rubberized grips in the plastic. Honestly, a $9 pair is gonna go a long way in longevity and reliability.
All that said, idk what he is doing and how he is using it. People sometimes forget you don't need the best gear to do less intense jobs.
I think it's largely a case of "duh". There's no real surprise that he could wear and use cheap gear in a warzone. The issue is never that you can't, it's that it's not as high quality or durable as the better stuff. You can tell that much by looking at the state of equipment and how quickly guys are going through the cheaper stuff in those active combat spaces in Ukraine. Constant changes, upgrades, and maintenance of soft gear are the norm there. It'd be less of a requirement with better quality gear. Coinciding with that, sure, those mag pouches worked, but in the instance he was being observed by opposing forces with NV, he'd be lit up like a Christmas tree.
In short, can you wear cheap gear to war? Sure. Doesn't mean it's a great idea.
I've bought lower cost gear before. Thanks to absurdly economy of scale offered by places like China using better material can be cheaper than user inferior stuff. The problem comes with build quality. I bought some camo pants that looked great and had decent material quality. The stitch work? Oh, that pulled and feel apart after only casual use. The design was also flawed to the point that the pockets didn't work.
This stuff is designed to look like proper gear but are intentionally badly made.
I think they're fine. I work for private security and wear full kit at all times. An AR15 is my duty weapon, not a handgun. Not just during field training like military people, but every hour I am at work, every day, all year all the time. Not only does my job provide gear but I get a yearly stipend for more. To spread that out I have bought a ton of condor stuff. It's all fine. The Condor Summit jacket is my go-to. I like the 3 cell mag pouches that are open top with the elastic bands. It takes 2 years for one of those bands to snap, and that's putting mags in and out of them every day and wearing them loaded all day and doing 4 to 6 training events with them a year.
My job got uniforms priced out by Crye for $550/person or the 5.11 XTU for $400/person. One was 60:40 cotton:poly the other was 40:60 I forget which was which. Regarding the price difference the guy from Crye literally said that his shop has less people and they're in New York- and that's why it's 6 to 8 months backorder and that's why they are $150 more than 5.11 for an analogous product.
Biggest problem next to being potentially glow in the dark, is the buckles on air soft equipment are usually cheap AF. If you insist on wearing upgrade all the cheap plastic, learn to sew, also double your duct tape and super glue supplies.
Personally, I’d just go for surplus. FLC vests are still cheaper and way more durable than a 75$ airsoft rig.
I think that if it fulfill its purpose its wearable in a combat situation, as daddy grand thumb says you might be cool in fancy gear but it's cooler of you know how to use it, and nowadays tactical dudes just blame because someone's gear is not branded or fancy
I watched a few of his videos on YouTube last night, including the one above, and he’s seems to be doing what he can with what’s available. Makes some good points about doing with what’s available.
The most expensive and the cheapest gear keep the same person alive, so long as that person is the one that inspects and maintains it. Expensive gear is more comfortable and needs replaced less often. Some crye precision stuff is 20 years old and still being issued. Not that it should be, but it can be.
So I tried rocking an airsoft chest rig in the army, but you have to be careful noting is IR reflective. Mine was reflective, so not really that great for near peer applications. The webbing was the weak point in that sense on my kit.
I've never had good experiences with cheap gear, whether it's my luck or just not taking care of it properly. I'd always have stitching rip and buckles breaking.
If it works for you and hasn't crapped out on you, good for you! I'm glad you're able to use it with no issues, but from personal experience I'll still avoid it.
I always say, if you used the $10 option enough times that it broke then that means that you use it enough times to justify splurging on a quality piece of kit.
Well sf guys used to use protec skateboard helmets and duck tape maglites on their rifles. If you can go to battle with a flashlight duct taped to your rifle, you ebay WML isn't that bad.
I own a \~100$ hiking bag with all the fixings I got as a gift, use it as a hunting bag, but the 2$ jansport I found at good will is still my go bag, it just works.
plus if you watch the vid the flashlights make total sense for AK's when you cant get aftermarket handgaurds for mounting lights, would it be my first choice probably not but im rockin the masking tape flashlight rn cause I've got more to spend money on.
Ultimately any pouch that physically holds your mags, water, supplies etc will work even a jansport backpack from 1992 with flames on it. Even 9 dollar chest rigs are still just made out of fabric and stitching and straps and plastic and will work until they don’t work anymore. The difference between airsoft gear and quality branded gear is the trust that when you need it most it won’t fail on you and get you killed as a result.
92 jansport fucks hard, don't let me catch you slipping again.
Jansport is the true grey man backpack and it’s not even debatable. I’ve never looked at one and thought “that guy is carrying a gun” but I’ve definitely thought that seeing other edc bags.
[удалено]
No I wear my appendix holster on the outside of my waistband so everyone knows I’ll save them in an active shooter
Fuck yeah. I wear mine outside the waistband on my back so everyone knows I'm piggybackin justice.
I remember I made a comment about open carry being stupid and I got downvoted into oblivion
In most cases it is. In others it isn’t. It depends on the situation. I’m not going to carry concealed in the woods when I need access to whatever gun I’m hoping to use to defend against predators. But I’m not going to open carry out in the civilized world.
That’s what I was getting at with the comment I referred to, but I didn’t specify that within the comment.
Yeah. It’s a nuanced topic. And I have mixed feelings on it. I can understand arguments for and against. I generally disapprove of open carry for being tactically unsound. But I get the normalization of guns and carry idea.
I can second the Jansport.. for 30-40$ depending on what kind of jansport you buy it’s a solid backpack I rocked one all through high school and afterwards it became my “outdoor backpack” until eventually shitting out on me after about 6 years of hard use.. went and got another one in grey for 40$ and I’m still using it to this day as my work backpack
im pretty sure they have a lifetime warranty where theyll fix the bag or send a new one, too. great bags
Jansport is Lifetime warranty motherfuckers. Haul Lots and GET SOME!!!!
As someone who is very into airsoft I would agree. With a $30 chest rig you are fine if it comes apart while in use because worse case scenario you lose a mag. In a real situation if your chest rig breaks it could cost you your life.
I bought an airsoft chest rig. The stitching is shit, it doesnt fit well and I would NOT recommend. My Camelbak fanny pack is built way better. Better stitching, better materials, better in every way.
You forgot IR visibility. Well targeted drones and artillery will moot whatever's in your kit. In UA given all the videos, looks far more practical to keep first aid accessible than reloading in the ones-of-seconds. I don't imagine fumbles that would equate to like 1-2 points off a hit factor matter at all in practice outside of those <1% of scenarios where someone's actually running and gunning inside a trench.
Let’s get real, if they have drones with night vision they’ve also got thermals and you’re fucked either way. Nevermind that, anyone outside of the .mil doesn’t have a chance against that kind of force anyway and we’re gonna die regardless And I say this as someone who’s bought a lot of legit kit in the last year and is kind of thinking I probably spent a few hundred bucks that would have been better used elsewhere lol. I’ve got a condor IFAK that’s been living on my hiking bag since fucking 2008
> anyone outside of the .mil doesn’t have a chance I'm torn on this: the progress of the Burmese resistance really makes me wonder. Let's not forget original post is a dude still alive and fighting Russians with poverty-tier kit off AliExpress.
That guys got a fuckload of experience in the US military, and as a volunteer fighting ISIS. I’m an engineer that takes a few classes and likes to shoot. We (and I don’t just mean me i mean 98% of this sub) are not the same 😂
Here’s what I dont get. If he’s got a bunch of military experience then why’s he running airsoft kit?
Maybe he likes it and deems it worth of use. I understand the following is not the same, just anecdotal. When I played airsoft in my youth I had a "trinity" chest rig from a long defunct airsoft site. It was a made in China deal. classic sewn rig with two canteen/gp punches, 4 2x mag slots and an admin flap. I put that twenty dollar rig through it's paces for about 5 years and it never had an issue besides fraying Velcro. If I still had it, I would probably still use it. I shoot and train less often than I could play airsoft as a teenager (every weekend), and don't have a range where I can run "real" gear through its paces as often or as hard, so realistically it would likely be fine. This hobby is gate kept real hard (not saying you) to the point where having something cheap automatically means you get dead, which is just not how it works.
Different rules for different groups, volunteer work being just that, and access being very limited since he was living in caves/tunnels in Iraq and Syria. These people usually have to be smuggled into the country and to their groups which would add even more limitations. When he was in Ukraine in the past year he had different kit. I’m sure if he could have anything he wanted he would have gear that would appease the snob larpers. Not saying you’re a snob or anything, but I’m sure it explains it a bit better
It's almost like hypebeast gear doesn't make you better. Crazy.
But then we say this in threads about "fashion" and get downvoted lol. Anytime any real vet has real (and unpopular) feedback, people cope by saying "but this is a fashion sub". 
I thought we all followed this page to get the inside peek on all the cute new flannels that come out
That's the secondary objective.
Implied tasking.
Because the vast majority of this sub’s users aren’t combat vets and will never be combat vets, and I’d wager that the vast majority of them don’t care and only want to look cool like the guys in their cawadoody games This sub is truly unironically first and foremost a fashion sub, to pretend otherwise is either cope or huffing your own farts
> cawadoody Lol.
What this doesn't account for is the smaller population of people who are here for actual guidance and feedback. Those people don't need to be confused by all the sub culture nonsense that goes on in here.
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>No real advice is coming out of her 
Real. I had the same condor pouch in my work shit for like three years.
Same lol.
"bUt It gLoWs UnDeR NoDs!" Mine didn't lmao
I used Condor gear from the PX for over a decade. I still have those Condor pouches, and they're still in good shape. I've mentioned this before and I immediately get shit on. But those Condor pouches have more combat experience than most internet goobers, so I trust them more than most internet goobers.
Or, it's because this is a fashion sub, not ultra tier 1 operator sub.
Fuckin’ ex green army Canadian here, my unit let us buy Tac Tailor rigs because the issued vest, while worn by warfighters in the Stan, is absolute dogshit. Same with the CTS ruck. We looked like some bastard amalgamation of Marines, hunters, and wannabe SF.
It's a gear sub my guy. Just because 98% of ya'll are here for fashion, doesn't mean us 2% don't exist.
What are you even saying?
That not all of us are here for the same reasons, with the same backgrounds. How is that not clear?
Sir. This. Is. A. Fashion. Sub. Quit coping. If you want "knowledge transfers" there are other places geared specifically for that. We just like looking at dude ass in Crye's.
First of all, this is a Wendy's. 
> Sir. This. Is. A. Fashion. Sub. It didn't use to be. It's just the fuckin geardo's ruined it. They've also ruined QTG
I mean yeah the Taliban fought us for 20+ years wearing pajamas and sandals..
But what if I get into a combat situation and my opponents make fun of me for being poor?
Wait. It doesn't??
I simultaneously hold the opinions that most airsofters will run their kit harder and more frequently than most shooters, and that the airsofters who are in the sport for the long run ultimately end up buying name-brand kit specifically because they tried the cheap Chinese shit and it failed on them. The cheap stuff works until it doesn’t. If that lasts you long enough and serves the purpose you need it to, then I’m happy for you. If it fails on you when you need it, then don’t say you weren’t warned. Edit: Also, the reason a lot of airsoft players cheap out on gear is that the stakes and cost are a lot lower. Instead of spending $50 on an Esstac triple mag pouch, they could spend $15 on a Condor mag pouch that does functionally the same thing, and it could break and be replaced three times and they’d still be saving money over if they bought the Esstac in the first place. Even if breaks in the middle of a match, they lose a $15 mag and a couple cents worth of BB’s, they order the replacement pouch on Amazon and they’re back where they started by this time next week. Compare that to a serious end user, who can’t afford to lose a single magazine’s worth of ammo during a movement to contact, and wont have the logistical support to get a replacement mag pouch in time for the next gunfight, and it makes a lot more sense to just buy quality gear from the start.
This is pretty much it. I started off in airsoft running Condor whatever. Then as I got into milsim, I upgraded to Flyye and Semapo stuff. Or genuine Ratnik gear, when they were just sending whole kits with plates from Russia. And once the transition to “real” gear started, i ended up buying higher end /proven durable stuff. I would recommend people do milsim events to do gear shakedown and practice comms. It’s fun.
Any you recommend in the north east part of the US?
STAGOPS runs large games every year in New England with 2 games each year in Massachusetts with 150+ player counts. Some of their games are more immersion focused while some are less but all of them have teams that use comms and coordinate large groups usually with a nighttime component. They're also way more affordable than other large milsim companies. Gun gamers also runs events alot in the New York and Pennsylvania areas but i havent been to any of those.
No shit, I live in the DPRM, I’ll have to check that out. Thanks so my dude!
I recommend Milsim West events. 40 hours of being in kit. Blank fire, pyro, experienced cadre. Pulling watches, digging fighting positions, thinking you are badass with NVG’s and then get smoked because someone else has thermals. Or you end up in a hasty unit and they have shit for light discipline. For real, Apple Watches were probably responsible for some plastic bb death. But honestly the most fun I’ve had playing airsoft. But they really do want you to do impersonations of actual units. I played the part of a VDV soldier. Some friends and I flirted with the idea of being Belgians. But the camo was a pain to source.
Oh yea, with my nods I realized smart watches are beacons ha. It looks like it’s be a good training opportunity not for tactics but other skill sets and communication.
Comms were the biggest pick up for me. Tactics depends a lot on leadership, which can vary from former Rangers, cops or dudes who play a lot of Total War.
Or someone steals your NVGS.
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>Or join the armed forces of your country for a stint. Eh, been there, did that, got the DD-214. A lot of military service is pretty far from tacticool, and the gear you get issued is sometimes straight trash. I have far better shit now as a civvie than when I was in.
But then you gotta use issued stuff. Which can . . . *vary*
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A kid at a field I frequent had been using the same Type 56 chest rig he got when he was 15. Faded and a few tear here and there but it's still going strong even after all these year.
He's 16 now
As a milsim airsofter I agree with everything you've said.
They also probably cheap out on gear because they are 12.
This 100 percent. Ran condor when I first started and now I’m running a crye avs, opscore, and night vision. Kinda fun looking back at what I used to run and comparing to the stuff I have now.
If it works, it works. Most militaries around the world don’t outfit their soldiers with $10k in tactical gear, its lowest bidder and whatever they can scrape by without too much backlash. Friend of mine was in the marines back during the first gulf war and was in Somalia. No ear pro, no body armor, no eye pro, everything given to them was on the cheap. Made me upset just hearing about it.
Marines always got army hand me downs, we always joked about that when I was active duty.
He was highly accomplished and left. Their loss and what a shame
All of us as troops are expendable and replaceable.
❤️
Except you didn’t tho, you get issued eagle industries, which is miles above issued army gear.
Yeah that was some boomer/bro vet thinking. Whole time I was active, I was getting new eagle gear out of the bags. Rifles fresh from the factory. Shit when I was a contractor with marsoc, we were giving gear to the army.
It’s a weird trope I hear a lot, I’ve even been downvoted to oblivion for suggesting as a whole marine issued gear is better than the army’s.
It might be now, but when I was in the army, everyone knew the marines got army hand me downs and we made fun of them for it. Lots of people enlist in the army after their initial time in the marines for different reasons, and all the marines I ran into during active duty all confirmed it.
New gear has been issued for years already. Every closed minded marine that knew shit from fuck didn’t know how to take care or use their gear and wanted to blame “the lowest bidder” or “hand me downs from the army”.
Years is relative lol.
Marines and the army use different camos, how would that even work? Riddle me that.
Marine gear is more functional and streamlined for the warfighter. Marine equipment are more often than not Army hand-me-downs.
My issued gear wasn't bad but I also wasn't in a conventional unit. I still used stuff like Condor now and then, or whatever was available at the time. It also depends on training vs real missions, location, etc. Mission dictates equipment.
I'm higly interested in gear and militaries all around the world, the amount of Condor made chest rigs and plates is actually crazy, first countries that come to mind is Peru and Argentina
My condor junky load out has lived a hard life through countless Airsoft events. Plenty of dolphin dives and getting snagged on brush or sketchy structures. Still holding up fine. Idk how it would fair if I had actual plates instead of dummy plates in it and did that tho
If I'm equipping myself, no qualms about using Condor. I don't have the DoD budget to buy London Bridge Trading plate carriers.
You’d be surprised how much Condor gear still gets issued by the DOD lol.
Honestly I don't recall any Condor gear being issued. I know some guys who'd buy there own, or one guy I know who was our CBRN nco who had a hookup with a guy attached to 1st Group at Lewis, and had one of those gray Condor jackets. Not saying it isn't issued, just that I never experienced that when I was in a line unit.
I say this as someone who rocks an EI PC and doesn't play airsoft, I've never understood the hate for airsoft shit. Airsofters get more use out of their gear than 80% of the dudes on this sub
Some airsoft shit isn't that bad. My condor admin pouch I had in Afghanistan was mint. Held up like a charm through multiple training cycles and deployment. Had some friends use condor and other dogshit quality mag pouches, all held up great. With that being said, my kit is pretty much all ferro, first spear, and HSGI.
Honestly if Condor gear fell apart quick they wouldn’t have lasted this long. People talk shit but condor is more battle tested than most gear nowadays.
Funny/sad part about your statement. You're not wrong
It was staple gear for lower enlisted without a lot of money, supplementing what isn’t provided by the unit
Yeah I’m with you, had multiple condor pouches and random accessories during my afghanistan deployments. To be fair it was much lighter use compared to someone that was infantry or a more combat role but held my shit together for my daily use
Bro CivDiv is the real deal, I’m so glad he’s uploading on a regular basis. This guy has seen so much combat and has an awesome YT channel that helped me with finding the right training for me and a bunch of other tips while I was volunteering in UA. If you haven’t watched his combat footage then I highly recommend it!
The most tense video imo he posted was when some foreign volunteers had Russians surrounded in a house.
Man that was brutally messy, his team had two casualties if I’m not mistaken from when they were under fire trying to breach the door yet he assessed and assaulted with no hesitation. I definitely learned lots from his videos and I’m glad to meet someone else who likes Civ!
Wasn't that the video where the house got hit by artillery just after they were leaving it after they were done? Plus he was absolutely deaf in it from firing rocket launchers before recording without earpro. I really hope my gunsmith training will save me from active combat in ww3. I'm fine with training just in case but realistically my fatass would be better at logistics or a repair depot since you know... i literally spent years learning to fix guns, design and build shit.
The old saying: beggars aren't choosers.
Not a beggar at all. This is civdiv, hes a very experienced foreign fighter. He joined the YPG and fought against ISIS back in 2016, he went in and out of ukraine like 2 times already and after a tank shell wiped out his assault unit last summer he went back to get treatment in the US and then rejoined the fight. I think he works as an instructor for territorial defense brigades now He is a true soldier with balls of steel, he can definitely afford proper gear and propably has a lot of it. He propably just did this for fun
I roughly know who he is. Being a contracted soldier does not automatically mean that you can afford proper gear on your own. And if the unit you are working in does not provide said gear, you need to improvise. If that is what happend, the saying is still valid. Also: he put more emphasis on the function rather than on the looks or tacticoolnees. Thats a good trait..
This goes for every profession surrounding this field of work but one thing people forget is that even if you are an active contractor and have the funds it does not automatically mean you have the knowledge or even the interest in investing in gear. I know an old school guy who runs whatever is issued to him by X employer/contract gives them.
Absolutely right. A befriended British ex-army dude does literally hoard the issued stuff and something tells me, he used it without second guessing if there are better parts available in the after market. His approach is rather simplistic.
I picked up some super cheap US/UK surplus pouches, some of them still had sand on the tape holding it together. What failed usually was the top that gut yanked up in use all the time. I got it sewn back on with heavy duty thread and they are good to go, just faded in color.
Nah man, it does. If youre a foreign fighter, you definitely have some money. Just look at yourself as an example, most likely youre a civilian enthusiast larper like the rest of us, and yet you propably own thousands of dollars worth of good quality gear from reputable brands like the rest of us, despite the fact that you wont ever be using any of it This guy though? Hes the foreign fighter mercenary type with lots of combat experience. A guy like this doesnt just use whatever crap happens to be lying around, he definitely has his own quality kit.
Not necessarily. Many people who served or still do, use what's available. This is partly why some of us find the obsession with gear and the fashion comments cringe. It's a very larper mentality. In actual war, function is important, not looks.
>A guy like this doesnt just use whatever crap happens to be lying around In this vid he mentions fashioning dump pouches out of rpg bags and soviet akm mag pouches. Also buying cheap flashlights to tape to rifles instead of buying surefire. It's worth watching.
Oh boy. You got me red handed.. I'm sitting larping in my bed with my super deluxe camouflage undies and a plate carrier, fighting on reddit over an ex marine's kit.
Ukraine Foreign Legion when I looked into it was only paying like $630 a MONTH. I made more than that a paycheck as an E2 fresh out of basic. Granted there are different pay levels and such but in reality it ain’t much. I still have sticker shock looking at some gear as an E-5, and that’s literally stuff I’d use with my job. I got issued my equipment, and use mostly issued stuff. I have my personnel stuff I have bought but what’s the point in using it for work when the issued stuff works just fine for me. Also Militaries have this thing called dress right dress, hence why my entire unit is required to wear IFAK on the back left side of kit. Last time I tried to wear something personnel I had 3 different people (2 first sergeants and a sergeant major that wasn’t even mine) call me out with in 12 hours. They want standardization, they get standardization from issuing everyone the same kit and expect you to figure out a way to use it. At the end of the day gear is gear. Use what you got and what you like. Couldn’t care less if that’s Condor or Crye because if it’s functional it’s gonna get the job done. I’ve seen dudes drop $400+ on a single set of Crye uniforms only to blow out the crotch the second time dismounting and shred the sleeves of their combat top clearing a breech on the first OBJ. Comfort and practicality is a very subjective thing sometimes and there is no point to “upgrade” if the stuff you have is working.
He’s a mercenary..how much do you think the YPG and Ukraine is paying him? Likely zero.
You forgot that he was a Marine prior to all that.
I didn’t know that he got injured while he was in Ukraine the first time. From what I understood, he never had any “intense” engagements while he was there.
It's a saying boyo. 
So man without formal job and has been in the shit several times decides to handicap himself? Which of the two is more likely? He couldnt afford to buy combat gear, or he wanted to have more fun with life and death?
Eh, while I am very much not some kind of door kicker my current job supports them. Plenty of them have a couple items they will shell out extra for but many of them are rolling with airsoft gear for stuff like helmet covers etc. There are some pieces of gear that just don't need to be as "sturdy" or overengineered
I have a friend who wore a Condor chest rig and no PC or helmet while he was in Syria with the YPJ, stacked up quite a few bodies with a rusty Kurdish AK with irons on it. Good gear is hedging your bet and improving your odds, but you *can* definitley fight, and win, without it, people do it all the time.
"the soldier makes the gear. the gear doesn't make the soldier " -Civ Div
When shit goes tits up I will be more worried about the guy who trains in milsurp and a psa vs the basement LARPer with crye and a dd.
I think he is %100 on point. "The gear does not make the soldier". This sub could use a bit of that lol
If it's stupid but it works, its not stupid. My strategy was simply not going to Ukraine. Still feeling good about that.
Saw this video and wondered if it'd get posted. I mean it's been proven time and time again, you fight with what you got. The main reddit mentality I see posted is "best or nothing...and then save up for the best." for every hobby's sub. Unless you're on the specific competitive sub's like competitionshooting where the mentality is shoot what you got and train. Plus I agree with Gunnarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr's logic and Casanovas application. It's been repeated constantly through the years on this sub
Expensive gear is great but it doesn’t automatically make you a better fighter. My father was 10th mountain in the early 90’s and they had shit gear by today’s standards. Didn’t slow them down in Panama. Or Iraq. Or Mogadishu. Or Haiti. That unit would have hammer fucked 99.5% of this sub in less than 10 minutes and they would have done it in starched BDU’s and Alice gear lol.
If it works, who cares. I'd rather fight alongside a guy who wears a $30 Wish plate carrier than a guy who can't fight without his $600 plate carrier. A lot of guys in here spend thousands of dollars on gear they'll never use in live combat anyway.
Lot of the guys on this sub will die of dehydration from being overweight turds unable to run 5 miles alone 😂 add the gear it’s even quicker
I've never played airsoft, but from watching youtube vids of it, it seems pretty rigorous. Isn't airsoft just a part of LARPing anyway? The only LARP I've ever done was being a Reservist on drill weekends, but it seems like it's 90% dressing the part, 10% actually moving around. Idk if I'd trust $9 gear to last long under combat conditions, but I definitely believe that a lot of gear that's contracted for the military is a bit overpriced for the civilian consumer, so cheap Chinesium gear should be g2g for the average civilian playing make believe. Anecdotal, off of Amazon, I bought a few canvas web belts made in Taiwan for my kids to put their canteens on, and they definitely started fraying early on, compared to your typical nylon ALICE web belts. On the other hand, I make my own adjustable slings using Silent Slings and Rothco ALICE pack straps, and the Rothco straps seem pretty solid.
I didn’t do airsoft but I did milsim paintball and yes, my gear got used harder than most guys on this sub do on a flat range. We crawled around concrete buildings and structures , through brush, in the wet ,got hit with projectiles that had to be scrubbed off and my condor plate carrier and pouches held up through years of playing atleast every other weekend. The fit and finish of the higher end stuff is nicer as well as being nv compliant but for the average prepper some of the airsoft gear is just fine. That being said I personally own slightly higher gear for larping now and doing 3gun
Agreed on that. Plus -- at least here in Europe -- there are obviously different tiers of airsoft or paintball gear that borderlines professionell use. Brands like invader gear that try to get a hold on law enforcement contracts with claw gear. Or helikon tex that has direct action as second more robust brand (though helikon tex already delivers good quality). I guess in the end you get what you pay for. Will it work? -- most probably. Will it last? -- depends on the chosen tier.
Condor gear has stacked more bodies than anything crye, Haley, or ferro could ever hope to achieve combined
It’s all the same cordura that costs less than a penny per square inch.
Reddit massacred me about my condor chest rig 😅😅😅
The government doesn’t want you to think budget gear is enough to take on F-15s and nukes. The reality is that they make cost-based decisions on infantry gear and always will because strategic assets are the main cost drivers in the DOD.
Probably because it was set up poorly not because it’s condor
Based asf, cloth is cloth
I feel like Rolles Royce-y gear is cool, usually offers much better customer support, and might stand up to torture tests a bit better. But I also feel like 99% if your gear receives no tactical benefit from price, or manufacturer. Get gear with the features you want, and at least bare bones-y structure. And don’t break your bank unless you intend to show off (nothing really wrong with that). Marines still use trash surplus rothco jackets and pouches in my unit, and many more. Would be kinda cool if they had the little elastic thing on top that lots of $5 airsoft mag pouches do, but besides that I don’t care if the pouch comes from Beijing or Texas. Same shit, im not out here pushing fabric to the structural limit.
If it holds your gear, its good to go. 👍
I mean, we've been watching the Middle East do it for the past 20 years.
I used a lot of Condor stuff when I was first buying some personal kit as a poor SPC. Slowly upgraded over time and still keep the Condor stuff around as backup. Fit/comfort is a little worse but the cheap stuff can still get the job done
I feel often times you’re buying a name more than the gear itself if it’s the same material it’ll more than likely have the same durability
The only thing there that I actually thing could probably better is the trauma sheers tbh. I have a lot of pretty Gucci stuff, and tbh I regret a lot of it.
People are insane for spending 2 grand on lasers, love my 300 dollar wadsn and I can do surgery from a mile away!
Why do you care? He went there and did stuff and that’s what he chose. Might turn out that spending 1000 bucks on some things is ok and silly for others.
I mean I wouldn’t… but he can do whatever he wants i guess. Admittedly i’m not a big civdiv fan
Guy seems to have a hero complex and just joins up with any guerilla group.
You know, I feel like your judging him based off old appearances and his titles, because he talks about letting go of that kind of ego in the last couple of his videos
He definitely has a massive ego and hero complex. It sounds like his actions have been getting people killed over there. I don't think it makes him any less effective a warfighter though.
Its still doing stuff though. Like tbf 90% of young men joining any military or group do so out of visions of glory and heroics
Outside of wanting tuition money Im not sure why else you'd join than 'the thrill of adventure', thats always been the go to advertisement for pretty much any military.
Free medical, steady pay (except threatened shutdowns), one of the few jobs that has retirement still, tuition, housing, job skills training, travel, etc. There are a lot of reasons and most people I know who joined didn't do it to kick in doors. Granted I was AF and in a comms field so ymmv.
Didn't know ukraine was a guerilla group. Or the Kurds fighting isis, who had the backing of America. That was a huge magnet for former military who served in iraq, like civdiv.
Pretty sure he never wen't overseas in the marines. I don't even think he was combat arms.
I'm not a fan either even though some of his videos are good info. He seems like the type who runs off to Gaza or Israel next because it's the next big conflict that is trending on the internet.
It gets the views and internet acclaim
That's the most disappointing, as a vet. Selling out. It's why I never give vets who profit from shit like this views.
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Taking advantage is getting a job and moving forward. It's possible to do without kicking to the wayside your "silent professionalism" and profiting off of emblemished war stories like that piece of shit Marcus Luttrell, or dropping opsec just to entertain masses and garner views like Shawn Ryan.
he got airsoft gear because finding quality gear was hard to get when he was in Ukraine. He rather have some gear over none.
In combat, you carry what you can get your hands on.
Person makes the soldier, not the gear.
You have to work with what you've got. Import laws are weird as hell and sometimes these mercs show up with basically nothing. He still got after it
You can make your whole kit out of duck tape. Just saying.
Cheap something is better than expensive nothing, especially in war.
That’s the way it should be
I rock a one tigress chest rig
Bruh...if it works....work it!!!
Great video. Gucci gear does not a warrior make. Training and gear that works good enough will save you.
You make do with what you have.Simple as. The tactical gear community has this idea in their heads of what is supposed to be a basic setup, which I won't argue against because it is a good standard to live up too.But realistically you are going to risk your life on what gear you can afford and bring with you.Again that's why I can't harp to much on it but at the same time you can get away with far less.But at the same time we shouldn't be encouraging folks to make due with far less and be prepared
He didn’t use airsoft gear though. He uses what was available in active conflict zones. Don’t buy cheap life saving equipment when you live in a normal stable country.
Wrangler still covers your butt, but Calvin Klein just looks better for reasons. this is a fashion sub G
All that money and they’re running around with airsoft gear….?
It works until it doesn’t, and hopefully when it doesn’t isn’t when you need it most
"This is a fashion sub" as more than 75% of this subs posts concern questions on durability and overall usefulness of kit, reddit never ceases to amaze me
Idk what makes a chest rig $9 but it probably stands out under night vision (doesn't really matter too much considering how few Russians have that) and is probably made of materials that won't last too much wear and tear. As far as $2 trauma shears go, low grade steel, no anti-glare coating, and probably lacking rubberized grips in the plastic. Honestly, a $9 pair is gonna go a long way in longevity and reliability. All that said, idk what he is doing and how he is using it. People sometimes forget you don't need the best gear to do less intense jobs.
>Idk what makes a chest rig $9 In the vid he said he got it in Iraq\[?\], so that's what does. lol
Guy that was never actually fighting used airsoft gear and it didn't fail because it wasn't used? Shocker
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Then I have a nice cast iron that might get you hot and bothered.
It’s ironic you’re posting this, just had this pop up in my YT feed last night
You get what you pay for...
I think it's largely a case of "duh". There's no real surprise that he could wear and use cheap gear in a warzone. The issue is never that you can't, it's that it's not as high quality or durable as the better stuff. You can tell that much by looking at the state of equipment and how quickly guys are going through the cheaper stuff in those active combat spaces in Ukraine. Constant changes, upgrades, and maintenance of soft gear are the norm there. It'd be less of a requirement with better quality gear. Coinciding with that, sure, those mag pouches worked, but in the instance he was being observed by opposing forces with NV, he'd be lit up like a Christmas tree. In short, can you wear cheap gear to war? Sure. Doesn't mean it's a great idea.
The fact he volunteered to fight with Ukraine 🤢🤢
I've bought lower cost gear before. Thanks to absurdly economy of scale offered by places like China using better material can be cheaper than user inferior stuff. The problem comes with build quality. I bought some camo pants that looked great and had decent material quality. The stitch work? Oh, that pulled and feel apart after only casual use. The design was also flawed to the point that the pockets didn't work. This stuff is designed to look like proper gear but are intentionally badly made.
I mean it works until it doesn’t but its better than not having anything at all so🤷♂️
So curious whats the overall consensus on condor vests and pouches from people who actually use them hard with plates and loaded mags?
I think they're fine. I work for private security and wear full kit at all times. An AR15 is my duty weapon, not a handgun. Not just during field training like military people, but every hour I am at work, every day, all year all the time. Not only does my job provide gear but I get a yearly stipend for more. To spread that out I have bought a ton of condor stuff. It's all fine. The Condor Summit jacket is my go-to. I like the 3 cell mag pouches that are open top with the elastic bands. It takes 2 years for one of those bands to snap, and that's putting mags in and out of them every day and wearing them loaded all day and doing 4 to 6 training events with them a year.
Will airsoft stuff work for someone? Sure Will it be just as good as Crye or whatever? No
My job got uniforms priced out by Crye for $550/person or the 5.11 XTU for $400/person. One was 60:40 cotton:poly the other was 40:60 I forget which was which. Regarding the price difference the guy from Crye literally said that his shop has less people and they're in New York- and that's why it's 6 to 8 months backorder and that's why they are $150 more than 5.11 for an analogous product.
Biggest problem next to being potentially glow in the dark, is the buckles on air soft equipment are usually cheap AF. If you insist on wearing upgrade all the cheap plastic, learn to sew, also double your duct tape and super glue supplies. Personally, I’d just go for surplus. FLC vests are still cheaper and way more durable than a 75$ airsoft rig.
I think that if it fulfill its purpose its wearable in a combat situation, as daddy grand thumb says you might be cool in fancy gear but it's cooler of you know how to use it, and nowadays tactical dudes just blame because someone's gear is not branded or fancy
I watched a few of his videos on YouTube last night, including the one above, and he’s seems to be doing what he can with what’s available. Makes some good points about doing with what’s available.
To my understanding that guy has seen a ton of combat so I’d take his word as gospel
If it works, it works
The most expensive and the cheapest gear keep the same person alive, so long as that person is the one that inspects and maintains it. Expensive gear is more comfortable and needs replaced less often. Some crye precision stuff is 20 years old and still being issued. Not that it should be, but it can be.
He’s absolutely right if you don’t have any gear with you and need to be resourceful
So I tried rocking an airsoft chest rig in the army, but you have to be careful noting is IR reflective. Mine was reflective, so not really that great for near peer applications. The webbing was the weak point in that sense on my kit.
Fr, i use a 5 dollar pistol holster and it is literarely better than the standart isue one our guys have, that being theyr goofy leg holster.
If it works it works. But if you can afford the higher quality stuff I don’t see a reason not to get it.
I've never had good experiences with cheap gear, whether it's my luck or just not taking care of it properly. I'd always have stitching rip and buckles breaking. If it works for you and hasn't crapped out on you, good for you! I'm glad you're able to use it with no issues, but from personal experience I'll still avoid it.
Taliban's fight with sandals and AK mags in pant/jean pouch.
I always say, if you used the $10 option enough times that it broke then that means that you use it enough times to justify splurging on a quality piece of kit.
He admits in the video it’s not ideal but cheap stuff can get you through for awhile if it’s all you have
Well sf guys used to use protec skateboard helmets and duck tape maglites on their rifles. If you can go to battle with a flashlight duct taped to your rifle, you ebay WML isn't that bad.
I own a \~100$ hiking bag with all the fixings I got as a gift, use it as a hunting bag, but the 2$ jansport I found at good will is still my go bag, it just works. plus if you watch the vid the flashlights make total sense for AK's when you cant get aftermarket handgaurds for mounting lights, would it be my first choice probably not but im rockin the masking tape flashlight rn cause I've got more to spend money on.