Weapons, a photo from home, survival gear, fear. What soldiers carry to war can’t be fully itemized.

Novelist Tim O’Brien got at this notion in his short-story collection The Things They Carried, writing from first-hand experience of the physical and psychological burdens Army grunts carted into Vietnam’s jungles. For American writer and filmmaker Sebastian Junger, who was an embedded journalist with a U.S. platoon in Afghanistan’s isolated Korengal Valley, the things he carried were equally hard to list.

Junger and the British photojournalist Tim Hetherington co-directed the documentary Restrepo, winner of the Sundance Festival’s Grand Jury Prize this year, about their time in the Korengal during five one-month stints with the platoon from May, 2007, to July, 2008. They carried more than video equipment and survival gear. They had to take with them an attitude, Junger indicates, that showed the soldiers that they knew how to handle themselves in combat and wouldn’t endanger the platoon during the nearly daily firefights.

They also had to carry the trust of the soldiers when filming. Soldiers are typically cautious around journalists, even though the U.S. Army has a constant rotation of news people embedded inside military units.

Junger wanted to make the film and his recently published book based on these same experiences, War, from the perspective of the soldiers, he says. He admits to bonding with them. Some have criticized this stance as being pro-military. On the other hand, both doc and book detail the men’s actions in a way that’s arguably far from a positive view, from the scenes of the hazing the soldiers inflict on each other to the pained interviews conducted after the troops finished their tours. (A photo by Hetherington, taken during filming, of an utterly depleted and dazed soldier in one of the outposts in the valley won the World Press Photo of the Year Award in 2007.)

Junger has spent a career covering wars as a journalist. The author of best-selling book The Perfect Storm, his telephone conversation has the same detail-laced matter-of-factness as his journalism when he describes items he carried in the Korengal.

He wore a ballistic vest and a Camelbak water backpack. He also had a combat pack with food, more water, an extra shirt, maybe some warm clothes if his patrol got caught out at night. He held a Sony V1 video camera, weighing less than two kilograms. He kept the video tapes and spare batteries on him.

“That stuff – the batteries and the tapes – were usually inside my ballistic vest, because you can lose your pack, but you never lose your vest because it’s always on you. So I had everything I absolutely needed to work and to survive on my person at all times,” Junger says.

He also carried the fear every soldier packs: “There were a couple of firefights which got pretty intense. A couple of times rounds landed right next to me. If you stop and begin to think about the math involved in you getting hit or not hit, it’s pretty scary. I learned not to run that math in my head.

“Maybe the single worse thing was – although no one got hurt – I was in a Humvee that got blown up by a roadside bomb. It went off under the engine block, instead of under us, so we were not harmed. In the moment, it was fine. I was very calm, everyone was. Afterwards, I gave it a lot of thought.” The roadside bomb blast became the opening scene in Restrepo.

Junger also carried his preconceived ideas of the U.S. Army, which he kept tucked away: “I grew up in the wake of Vietnam, and the civilian public was very divided and very conflicted about the American military and about Vietnam. So that’s what I grew up with.”

But he argues, “It’s a very different military now. They are incredibly professional. They are really well trained, incredibly dedicated. The officers are very, very smart guys. It’s not that I thought they wouldn’t be. But again, my context was Vietnam.”

The most elusive challenge was winning the trust of the soldiers. Junger says the filmmakers had to show they weren’t out to make a documentary from a preconceived political stance, but to get in there and attempt to represent the soldiers’ point of view.

“They just demonstrated [their dedication] with the physical demands put on them. They never quit,” said Major Dan Kearney in a recent telephone interview from a U.S. military base in Georgia. (He was a captain and base commander in the Korengal Valley when Restrepo was being filmed.) “They knew what they were getting into before coming into the project.

“The biggest indicator was that they weren’t smoking a pack of cigarettes a day. They weren’t out of shape and fat. They were in-shape young men. And they already had the credentials that went with it. Both of them had done war-correspondence work before. So they knew what they were getting themselves into.…

“Then when Sebastian’s article [in Vanity Fair magazine] and Sebastian and Tim’s Nightline special came out [in which the ABC news program showed clips of the footage], I think the boys connected with them even more. Because then they didn’t have to feel like Sebastian and Tim were going to put some kind of spin on whatever it was that they saw,” Kearney argues.

Whether or not Junger and Hetherington have succeeded in their mission as filmmakers remains up to the viewer, of course. And for some documentary makers, not taking one side or another on the war might be a burden too heavy to carry.

Every year, thousands of soliders travel overseas to engage in their first deployment. For many, they are unsure what travel items they will need for this new and different terrain. Here are a few key items any soldier needs when traveling overseas:

Things to carry with you 

A Leatherman or equivalent can sometimes come in handy at the strangest times so always keep one on your belt. You’ll find if you keep it with your gear that you never use it, but you’ll reach for it a few times a week if you have it on your belt.

Make sure you have a set of goggles with you. They should issue you some if you will be traveling by helicopter at some point but they’ll come in very handy if you’re ever caught in a sandstorm.

Speaking of dust storms, a neck gator is a great thing for when that sand-wall scene from The Mummy creeps up on you. You can also shield the back of your neck from the sun if your sunscreen keeps wiping off or runs out. For colder temperatures, a thicker neck gator, about the thickness of a pair of sweatpants is awesome.

Chap Stick, sunscreen and eye drops are important to always carry. You can keep sunscreen clipped onto your belt with a small carabiner if you find one with a loop hole. The eye drops are important for dry climates and for when you get sweat dripping into your eyes.

As any good NCO knows, you should always carry a pen and some paper. Space pens are your best bet because they can write anywhere-even in harsh climates and conditions. They’re a little more than a regular pen but they don’t get lost as easily and they fit in whatever you’re wearing. A waterproof note pad is great too because the paper will hold together better than others in addition to its waterproof properties.

If you’re going to be anywhere near a base, you’ll need to carry your ID somewhere that can be seen. A good solution is an ID Holder that hangs from your neck. It’s large enough to hold several ID’s and keeps your passports and cash/credit cards with you at all times. You can also keep a spare key to your padlocks in there. Don’t forget to make copies of your passport and IDs but keep them in a separate location.

Source

Bradley’s recently sent a token of appreciation to our long-time business partner Rothco. Bill wanted to show his appreciation for Rothco outstanding service and dedication to Bradley’s Military. Click here to view their response.

Article taken from the June 22, 2010 edition of USA Today

The Army wants to reduce combat zone deployments to nine months and increase the time in between to three years, Gen. George Casey, Army chief of staff, told Army Times.”We’re actively studying right now the timing and the possibilities of going to nine-month deployments as a standard,” Casey said in an exclusive interview.

The Army started the war in Afghanistan with 12-month deployments and continued into Iraq with 12-month deployments. But in early 2007, the Army extended deployments to 15 months when it sent an additional 20,000 troops there. In August 2008, about 17 months later, deployments were shortened again to 12 months.

“Fifteen months is too long,” Casey said. “Twelve months is too long to sustain indefinitely. Six months is too short.”

The Marines do seven-month deployments, but Casey said that doesn’t work for the Army, which is much larger.

“It’s a volume question right now,” he said. “We’ve got 20-some brigades deployed. They have two or three regiments. And for us to make just — you know, changing out 20, if you have — if you go to nine-month deployments over a three-year period, you need one more unit to fill. So … the volume of the folks that we have to send over there has made it impossible for us to do that.” 

Acknowledging the impact of longer deployments on soldiers and their families, Casey said the Army believes nine months is about right.

“We’ve done these mental health assessment team studies for six years now — between nine and 12 (months) is where a lot of the stress problems really manifest themselves, where the family problems really manifest themselves,” he said.

At the same time, he said, the Army is hoping to stretch dwell time between active duty deployments out to 36 months.

“The human mind and body wasn’t made to do repeated combat deployments without substantial time to recover. In fact, our most recent mental health assessment team study has shown us it takes 24 to 36 months to fully recover from a one-year combat deployment,” he said.

Right now the Army is struggling to fulfill the promise of two years of dwell time for active-duty soldiers. But given the ongoing withdrawal of forces in Iraq, and a planned drawdown in Afghanistan next year, the Army is on track to reach an average dwell time ratio of one year deployed and two years at home for about 70% of the active force by late 2011.

If the Iraq and Afghanistan withdrawals happen on schedule, the Army should have about 50,000 troops deployed to the war zone, most of them in Afghanistan. However, the Army also has soldiers deployed around the world, in places such as the Horn of Africa, the Philippines and Kosovo.

The plan requires an active force of at least 547,000 soldiers and ready access to the reserves, according to Casey.

It is unlikely the Army can fully cut deployments and implement such a rotational scheme before 2014, Casey said.

Achieving dwell-time goals for all soldiers is difficult because of high demands for certain specialties, such as signal, aviation, intelligence and military police, according to Lt. Gen. Thomas P. Bostick, Army personnel chief.

Casey said that during the next 12 to 18 months, the Army will transition to a new rotational formula that better supports the needs of a force in protracted conflict.

“There’s going to be friction (internationally) in the years ahead, and that’s what we’re preparing ourselves to do,” he said.

During the transition to a system of rotational force packages of corps, division and brigade headquarters, Casey said the Army must retain a force of 547,400 active-component soldiers, and have ready access to the National Guard and Army Reserve through at least 2014.

“If you look at what we have to do over the next four years or so, we have got to rest this force, constantly reset it, have the right mix of active and reserve (soldiers), and reconstitute it,” he said.

Noting that the total Army is a force of 1.1 million soldiers, about evenly divided between the active and reserve components, Casey said that “in an era of persistent conflict, we’re going to have to rely more on the Guard and Reserve, or we’re going to need a bigger force.” 

To assist in the ongoing transition of the Guard and Reserve to operational forces, Casey has chartered a study by three former senior leaders to determine how the reserves should be structured in the future.

Those retired leaders are Gen. Dennis Reimer, former chief of staff, and Lt. Gens. Roger Schultz, former chief of the Army National Guard, and Ron Helmly, former chief of the Army Reserve.

Two of the major issues to be evaluated by the study are how much of the National Guard and Army Reserve need to be trained and maintained as an operational force, and what are the costs of keeping the reserves in a high state of readiness.

Casey said once these issues are resolved, and the service has transitioned to the new rotational model, “I believe that an active force of 547,000 soldiers, and an (Army) with access to the Guard and Reserve, can meet the needs of the nation at a sustainable deployment tempo for soldiers and families.”

Casey’s commitment to maintain personnel strength at currently authorized levels comes at a time when the Defense Department is being pressed by the Obama administration to cut $100 billion from operating costs over the next five years.

While defense officials have indicated that about one-third of those cuts will come from structure and weapons programs, service manning levels always come under heavy scrutiny during a budget retrenchment.

Article taken from the June 18, 2010 edition of National Defense Magazine

The U.S. military’s special operations units will take on the role of high-tech crime solvers this fall when they deploy to war with CSI-like kits.

The forensic kits will have tools designed to help special operators track down insurgents in Afghanistan by the clues they leave behind, officials say. The planned acquisition of these kits highlight the growing law-enforcement duties that U.S. troops now carry out in war zones.

“The kit is like CSI for special operations forces,” says Douglas Richardson, program executive officer for special reconnaissance, surveillance and exploitation at U.S. Special Operations Command. The gear is similar to that used by forensic scientists at a crime scene. But because special operators often work alone or in small teams in remote locations, the kit was customized with tools that are portable and can be operated in areas with little or no infrastructure, he says.

In a briefing to the Special Operations Forces Industry Conference here, Richardson says that the equipment will help operators collect DNA and fingerprints, find evidence hidden behind walls, identify traces of chemicals and extract data from cell phones and computers.

The collected material will be sent to U.S. databases where analysts can help identify targets and match up suspects to individuals previously identified as members of terrorist or insurgent groups.

In an interview, Richardson says the original goals was to build a kit that would make it easier for SOF troops to figure out who the potential enemies are, how to find them and collect critical evidence. In recent years, troops have complained that their jobs have become more difficult because they lack the evidence that is required to be able to prove that the individuals they captured have committed a crime, such as planting a roadside bomb. With the forensic kit, they will be able to produce the needed proof to detain and prosecute suspects, says Richardson.

During their recent tour in Iraq, troops from the 1st Battalion, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) say that one of the challenges they faced in assisting Iraqi forces was meeting the burden-of-proof requirements to obtain warrants to detain suspected insurgents.

“Every piece of kit that we employed, whether it was a sensitive site exploitation kit, or a helmet camera that allowed us to not only capture what had happened on the objective, but what we found on the objective, was crucial in ultimately getting that individual detained,” says Maj. Steve Hayden, a company commander for the battalion at the time.

Every operation required a warrant from an Iraqi judge, says Lt. Col. Dean Franks, commander of 1st battalion. The units that were working with Iraqi military “found themselves in a role that felt much more like serving high-risk warrants than it did a military raid.”

Operators helped to select the tools that will go into the forensic kit. SOCOM’s program executive office is in the final stages of evaluating the hardware. Once they receive the final stamp of approval, the kits will begin deploying with units by the end of the year.

After the Bradley’s Sponsored Operation Pine Plains IV Military-Simulation Event at Ft. Drum in May of 2010, Bradley’s received this amazing email from a satisfied customer:

“Bradleys Surplus Management and Staff,

This is the word that comes to mind when I think of your business. I recently attended Operation Pine Plains at Ft. Drum this past weekend, and we stopped by Bradleys to register. Prior to even coming to NY, I ordered a Condor Flashlight and Assault Pack, which your friendly staff was VERY helpful in getting to me. You were out of stock, but you promptly ordered it, and even remembered me and addressed me by name when I called back to check on it.

After registering for the event, we ordered OPP shirts from your store. After the event, we asked the staff about the shirts, and they told us that we had to go back to Bradleys to pick them up. Obviously there was a mix-up, because when we got to the store, the gentleman confirmed that we were supposed to pick the up at the event (which was specified once we bought them). He made a quick call, and instead of having to turn back around and go back to Ft. Drum, the shirts were brought back to the store. This was relieving because we were dog-tired after the event, and still had an 8-hour drive ahead of us back to MD.

I wanted to extend my thanks, and the thanks from the rest of our team members, for your professional and friendly staff, fast service, and understanding. You guys really have it together! Top-notch customer service, and hard-to-beat prices. Everything you could ever want in a business and more!

From a VERY satisfied customer,

-Jonathan Maines
Corporal, USMC”

We here at Bradley’s want to extend a very warm thank you to Corporal Maines for his kind words. We appreciate the opportunity to earn his business and will truly strive to give each and every customer a similar shopping experience!

Article taken from the June 16, 2010 issue of USA Today

WASHINGTON — The Army is ripping space-age Velcro from its uniforms and replacing it with the humble button, which turns out to be tailor-made for the rigors of Afghanistan.Hook-and-pile tape — the generic term for Velcro— strains to keep jam-packed cargo pants pockets closed. And when the Taliban attacks, the last thing soldiers need to worry about is spilling their gear. 

Soldiers told superiors that Velcro didn’t suit their needs, and the Army began testing alternatives last year, said Debi Dawson, an Army spokeswoman. In August, the Army will begin issuing new pants to soldiers heading to Afghanistan.

“When concerns surfaced in surveys that the hook-and-pile tape was not holding under the weight of full pocket loads, the Army evaluated several solutions,” Dawson said. Velcro has been part of the latest Army combat uniform since it was introduced in 2004.

Dirt and rocks also clog the pile portion of the fastener. That requires soldiers to clean it regularly. An Army website offersthis helpful hint: a soldier’s small weapons cleaning brush has been “working very well” in removing dirt and sand.

 ”This is the latest proof that dust and debris are the biggest enemy for the U.S. military,” said Loren Thompson, a military analyst at the Lexington Institute and a consultant to defense contractors. “Taliban attacks come and go, but dust is constant in Afghanistan. Dust will impede the function of anything.”

Sgt. Kenny Hatten cut to the heart of the matter in this posting on an Army website, urging the military to go back to the future:

“Get rid of the pocket flap Velcro and give us back our buttons,” Hatten wrote. “Buttons are silent, easy to replace in the field, work just fine in the mud, do not clog up with dirt and do not fray and disintegrate with repeated laundering.” 

Somebody, apparently, was listening.

Snaps and buttons were identified as possible fixes for failing Velcro. The Army surveyed 2,700 soldiers who tested prototypes, and 60% said they preferred buttons and 29% liked snaps. Just 11% wanted to keep Velcro, according to the Army. In the end, the Army decided to substitute three buttons for Velcro on the cargo pockets of its pants.

It’s cheaper, too. The Army will save 96 cents per uniform when it swaps buttons for Velcro, Dawson said.

The new-and-improved uniforms will still have plenty of Velcro, the sticky fabric popularized during spaceflights. (Astronauts used it to keep pens and other items from floating in the weightless environment.) Velcro remains on the cuffs of sleeves. It’s also used for nameplates and patches.

Hatten’s ideal uniform might save the Army a few more pennies.

“I don’t mind the insignia Velcro on the sleeve pockets, but why would I need Velcro for my name tape and U.S. Army tapes?” he asked. “Am I going to change my name and join a different army? Why not let us sew these items on the uniform, along with the patrol cap? That’s cheaper, more durable and reduces the possibility of having your uniform items stolen or tampered with.”

The Army, Dawson said, hears soldiers like Hatten. It’s aware of continuing complaints about Velcro and will take them into account when redesigning uniforms in the future.

FIVETHINGS EVERY SOLDIER SHOULD KNOW ABOUT

Soldiers deployed to Afghanistan are getting new MultiCam uni­forms to help them blend into the environment better. But for now, at least, their body armor doesn’t match the new camouflage.

Equipment experts have a plan to fix that.

The Army decided in late Febru­ary to begin issuing MultiCam uni­forms and equipment to soldiers serving in Afghanistan after the pattern outperformed the Army Combat Uniform’s Universal Cam­ouflage Pattern.

Soldiers deploying to Afghanistan are issued the UCP-clad Improved Outer Tactical Vest and they will be issued a lightweight Army Plate Carrier. The service initially ordered 57,000 plate carriers in the UCP pattern last fall.

In response to the camouflage change, the Army added to its order and asked for plate carriers in the new camo.

Here’s what you need to know about the new gear:
1The fix. The Army will start issu­ing a special kit for “retrofitting” the IOTV and plate carriers from UCP to MultiCam.

2How it works. Soldiers can take the soft armor inserts out of the existing UCP covers, “put it in a kit, and now you have a MultiCam IOTV and a MultiCam plate carri­er,” said Brig. Gen. Peter Fuller, who commands Program Executive Office Soldier.

3When you get them. The Army will begin issuing conversion kits to units deploying to Afghanistan in July. The first planned fielding for units deploy­ing to Afghanistan is scheduled for August.

4More in the works. The Army has increased its plate carrier order from 57,000 to 85,000. The “residual of the plate carriers” will be in Mul­tiCam, Fuller said.

5What’s next in camo. The Army is wrapping up the final phase of its camouflage assessment. Uniform officials are scheduled to make a recommendation at the end of the year regarding the service’s future camouflage strategy.

“I don’t know what the decision is going to be because there are sever­al ways to address this,” Fuller said, explaining that the service could look at multiple patterns. “In Afghanistan, we determined that MultiCam was the most appropri­ately colored uniform; it might not be the most appropriately colored uniform” for other areas of the world.

— Matthew Cox

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