ALSE setup recommendations

[BosoxH60]

Hey guys,

Figured this might be the best place to post this question.

My unit just got the newest ALSE vest setup. It's a MOLLE panel that straps over the standard body armor, and but for a pouch or two, can be fully customized. I'd like to get this configured in a good way, but don't know if the standard pouches are going to cut it. The tests I've done so far seem to cause some aft cyclic restrictions.

Any aviators/ crew chiefs have some insights? I think any 160th vests are going to be different than what I've got, but should be similar enough, and maybe there's some other regular guys out there.

Holster question: should I do leg (most in my unit seem to be against this due to some guy supposedly breaking his femur in a crash from gun on leg), or on the vest?



Thanks for your tips.

 

[Marauder06]

I was in the 160th for a couple of years but I was a support guy and spent very little time in the aircraft. I think I remember most of our crews mounting their sidearms on the front of the body armor. I see any kind of thigh rig as a snag waiting to happen in the confines of an airframe, even an MH-47.

 

[TLDR20]

Go with what the senior guys are doing.

 

[DA SWO]

Go sit in the cockpit and see what works the best.

Don't be afraid to go through multiple iterations to see what is comfortable, and allows you to safely fly the aircraft.

 

[BosoxH60]

Problem with the senior guys approach is that we're a guard unit and all on the same level, as far as combat deployments. Thats where the anti thigh holster stuff is coming from as well...

I'm wondering if there are some 3rd party pouches I should get that may better suit me than what the air warrior comes with.

I'll post pictures tomorrow with what I've got.

 

[Marauder06]

Ravage has probably posted hundreds of pictures of the 160th on the site, surely one of them will show you how they have their gear rigged ;)

 

[Ranger Psych]

Bwhahaha :)

 

[policemedic]

He can probably provide you with NSNs, date of first issue, and a POC as well. :-"

 

[policemedic]

Go with what the senior guys are doing.

Go sit in the cockpit and see what works the best.

Don't be afraid to go through multiple iterations to see what is comfortable, and allows you to safely fly the aircraft.

I think these two have it nailed.

My personal opinion is that if a crash is bad enough to break your femur, it isn't going to matter whether or not you have an M9 on your thigh.

 

[BosoxH60]

That's what I'm working with right now. I put my m4 pouch from my rifleman kit under the pistol/radio pouch on photo left. IFAK pouch with items replaced by my med pouch contents. The top has 3 or four usable rows of horizontal molle, but the top two pouches are required to be there, at the moment.

No senior guys have their new vests yet. I'm the senior guy, actually. Again though, the issue is ALL our experience as a war fighting unit is th same. We have the same deployments under our belts. This is our first "wear your pistol and body armor every day" deployment, as well as our first time with this particular setup.

 

[Mac_NZ]

I'm posting this only as a guy who occasionally makes something that doesn't fall apart.

I don't know shit about ALSE stuff, all our pilots just wore the old survival vests. I'm not going to suggest what you need to carry in it or where but when I look at your gear I see a whole bunch of weight, bulk and unneeded stuff. That and the UCP makes me want to cry.

I very humbly suggest something like this to carry around your gear, its going to be half the weight, a lot less bulk and can buckle straight onto your armor with a clip kit. However in suggesting that I don't know if your CoC will accept it and the former Soldier in me does not like seeing guys have to spend money on stuff they need to use for work (which is a challenging time considering my job).

However the above is just a suggestion on a different system, if anyone like Invisible J or someone else who has worked a helo suggests otherwise ignore me completely.

 

[BosoxH60]

Let me start by saying that I have 10 years experience as an ALSE guy across several types of aircraft.

1. I don't know what vest that is - to me it does not look like any of the vests designed with aviators in mind. It doesn't matter, it sounds like it's what you're stuck with.

2. Looks like too many little pouches that fit only one or two widgets. If you're only carrying a very small number of items, that works - if you're carrying a lot of little shit that only gets used when things go wrong, put them together in a single medium sized pouch. This opens up the little bits of space occupied by the unusable portions of multiple small pouches and gives you a bit more real estate to work with.

3. I don't know what you guys have in your vests, so I'll list what we had in our SARVIPs:

a. PRC-112 radio
b. Spare 112 batt
c. MS2000 strobe and spare batts
d. Garmin eTrex and spare batts
e. Mk124 flare/smoke
f. Firefly and spare batt
g. Tourniquet
h. Pocket knife
i. Small IFAK
j. Blast match
k. SEA MkII
l. Camo face paint
m. Signal mirror

You'll notice that list is very heavy on signaling devices. Survival kits/vests used to be loaded with rations and water - not so much anymore, the idea is that you'll be picked up one way or another within just a few hours. If you guys are humping much more than what I've listed above, you may want to take a second look at if you really need it or not.

It's new. Supposedly designed BY aviators... It's basically my body armor with a chest rig attached.

The biggest downfall compared to AirWarrior Gen...2? is the lack of built in pockets. Old setup had an internal pocket on each side of the zipper. One side was meds/first aid and the other was signaling devices. Flat, and thin. When we took the components out of those pockets, we were given an additional "utility" pouch (the one on the bottom right) to hold the signal, and to use the other for meds. So now these two pockets are bulging out, on the outside of the vest...

(Chem light, compass, strobe, signal mirror, whistle... a packet of meds, Compressing bandage, small thing of duct tape, latex gloves... I think that's it for those two.) I replaced the contents of my IFAK with the stuff from my vest, but it wasn't as helpful as I was hoping for. Leaving one utility pouch for my signaling, and the other for headlamp, finger light...etc ...MY stuff.

Other things I need to carry/currently on there.

1) M4 magazines (off my rifleman kit, left side)
2) M9 and spare magazines (left side on top of M4 pouch)
3) CSEL (Big pocket... new PRC)
4) CAT tourniquet (top horizontal pocket)
5) Short extraction loop (tiny pocket on top)
6) Long extraction loop (horizontal pocket on bottom. Though it's currently in my IFAK pouch)

4, and 5 are in their "mandatory" locations, but the ALSE guy is still working on standardizing those two. If I can find a better place for them, I'm sure I can convince him.

I wish we had other pouches available to choose from. I'll see if I can find something better suited, to hold that stuff, instead of multiple pockets.

 

[BosoxH60]

I don't know shit about ALSE stuff, all our pilots just wore the old survival vests. I'm not going to suggest what you need to carry in it or where but when I look at your gear I see a whole bunch of weight, bulk and unneeded stuff. That and the UCP makes me want to cry.

The UCP is going away. That's what we had on Gen 2. We're getting multicam versions of the SAME pockets I've already got, soon.

It's not that I've got a lot of weight on it...it's mostly bulk. Like I mentioned in the earlier post, the other style vest had the med and signal items on a "card" that slipped into a zippered pocket on each side of the vest. Kept it low profile, much better organized...etc. Now it's all bulked out into 1 or 2 pockets that don't really fit my chem light properly.