Issued Tac Vest

[KevinB]

Bomber, Roger that.


All the kit is my own.  M203's are 100% legal under Canadian Law

 

[chrisf]

They're rather short though... do they fall under restricted or non-restricted firearms?

And can you actually purchase rounds with an inert projectile?

 

[Infanteer]

I think this is been addressed on these forums before - they don't fire rounds fast enough.  You can't buy HE rounds though - but flares work.

 

[Andyboy]

To bad PSP submitted the tac vest instead of the "Hill Vest", these massive threads could have been avoided.

Its kind of like saying too bad they didn't submit the F22 instead of the F18 (I have no idea if these came from the same company). Two different projects, two different clients, two different eras. It was not an either/or type of thing. The TV was developed for CTS, the other vest for a different client. CTS got what they wanted and you probably won't see anything else issued for another twenty years.

 

[Bomber]

When the call went our for a Vest, PSP threw what they figured as the best thing back.  Tac Vest, model 7120.  It won the competition and was adopted.  If they had of fired over the "Hill Vest" instead, it may have been adopted.  Both cost approximately the same to produce, price per unit, not development cost, and one is what we wear now(and some love) and the other is what some dream of...

I never went to Bosnia, but for those that did, in the later years, did you ever yearn for 10+ mags?  Didn't most people try to keep their LBV's after their tours?  Are the TV's an improvement over the LBV's?  Or did we regress in technology?

 

[Andyboy]

When the call went our for a Vest, PSP threw what they figured as the best thing back.   Tac Vest, model 7120.   It won the competition and was adopted.   If they had of fired over the "Hill Vest" instead, it may have been adopted.   Both cost approximately the same to produce, price per unit, not development cost, and one is what we wear now(and some love) and the other is what some dream of...

Ok I understand now. I was under the impression that it went somthing like this:

Clothe the Soldier let out a contract to design the TV. PSP won the contract to design the TV and worked with representatives from CTS to design the TV. Once the design was approved by CTS and the funding approved companies bid on the manufacturing contract. Fellfab of Hamilton won this contract.

At a later date yet another different client approached PSP to design a load carriage system. PSP agreed and worked with this client to design the Patrol Vest and Chest Rig. Once the design was complete and the client satisfied that same client then purchased, through a sole source contract of course, several of these patrol vests and chest rigs.

Thanks for clearing it up, where did I steer wrong?

 

[Bomber]

No wrong steering, just different times.  If the Vest was identified as a requirement now,and not in the Bosnian time frame, it would probably have come out different.  Remember that everyone may have been living in the past.  The vest had to be trialled before it was accepted.  Troops resoundingly approved of it.  The whole process you described of design and manufacture, most likely started in mid 90's in a response to a need for better webbing in the Balkans.  It takes forever for all this to happen.  Other clients that did a limited run of less than 500 did so under different procurement rules than the rest of the government works with.  Didn't they have a receipt for a coffee maker released under the ATIA, but it was classified for almost 10 years?  And as much as we want to see the infantry kitted out beyond compare, our vest needed to be serviceable to all trades, theirs is a much more focused and specific task, requiring a more specific tool.  Kind of rambling, but they go out and buy whatever they want and need, we must contract, tender, evaluate.  Unfortunately, we aren't like the Marines, when they all went to MOLLE, and everyone loved it, till they needed to use it, then they hated it.  The Marines fixed the problem by throwing it in the garbage and getting ILBE.

 

[Kal]

Let me see if I understand this correctly.  The TV, chest rig and patrol vest are all designed by the same company. They are all designed for basically the same customer, the CF.  There aren't any major procurement cost differences between the three.  This bring me to my main question: Why can't the army procure either the patrol vest or chest rig for combat troops?  The TV seems well suited for the CSS types, there would just be a little more stock for them if another vest was procured.  More orders will have to be made, why not just get another vest?  Yes, this whole situation could have been avoided with a more user friendly design, but why not just make the best of bad situation?  Besides, is two different vests that big a deal?  Wouldn't it be more pressure on the stock system if a molle product was in service with all the varying pockets and pouches?  Let's just get the patrol vest....  Everyone write their MP and Stephen Harper saying his first act of prime minister in the new next election should be to get the vest needed!  Well, maybe not that far, but I think you get the point...

 

[Andyboy]

Oh for the love of Pete you boys is slow.

 

[Thorvald]

By the way, what the devil is that flap of velcro used for on the strap for the flashlight holder of the TV? (or what was it originally intended for).

I've seen people use it to hang car keys, access tokens, you name it.

 

[NATO Boy]

By the way, what the devil is that flap of velcro used for on the strap for the flashlight holder of the TV? (or what was it originally intended for).

I've seen people use it to hang car keys, access tokens, you name it.

It's meant for holding "colour filters" for the mini mag lite. There's a little cutout in the mini mag flap that is secured by the velcro.

 

[mudgunner49]

Oh for the love of Pete you boys is slow.

It's OK Andy - I got the sarcasm, if no-one else did : : :

 

[Andyboy]

Thanks Blake, Iwas beginning to wonder if my sarcas-o-meter was broken.

 

[KevinB]

Thanks Blake, Iwas beginning to wonder if my sarcas-o-meter was broken.

Not broken - I've just gone numb to this thread 

 

[Infanteer]

Funny, we closed down a monster thread that targetted the TACVEST and, sure enough, we have another 12 page thread that trashes the thing....

 

[Scoobie Newbie]

Turn that frown upside down peaches.

 

[Andyboy]

So are you going to combine them?

 

[Black Watch]

I had the 892 pat. webing on my bmq and I found it rocks. But since my biq, I have the tv. Let's just say it lacks of room to place all your gear and even come ammo. Also, it's just damn too hot in summer time, and what happened to winter cammo? But, when (or if) we are issued small pack system, tv will be much improvement over older pieces of kit.

 

[Infanteer]

8-12 mags seems to be the concensus I've run into.

 

[Jarnhamar]

I found a stalwart defender of the tacvest this week-end.

"Lots of people complain about the lack of room for spare magazines, little do some soldiers realise is that there is a 5 magazine insert pouch becomming available for the tacvest. It takes the place of your canteen".

What a clever idea.