in our never ending quest to be stylish/functional/and tac-ti-KOOL.................we are always looking for better mouseytraps and configuring so so designs to our needs. now as most of you know i would rather have the sky as a roof, instead of being crammed into some lil poo box cubicle in front of a dum azzd puter screen and daily(hourly) dream of the outdoors.
over the years we have used bought borrowed numerous different backpacking rigs for various activities. be it deer hunts,elk hunts, backpacking,varmint hunting, or just traveling/camping. along with being a scuba diver for 34 years ya kind of learn how to HUMP YER CRAP from point A to point B. and ya get the pleasure of broken parts/straps/belts/baggage handlers/falling down cliffs/getting totally soaked in water crossings etc.
well with the advent of afghan and iwreck(iraq) alot of GOOD has come from this. 1st the u.s. military has finally realized that the m-16 is a weak POS, and the m-14 has gone thru major upgrades and mods. and we like that cuz we have (3). and we have implemented some of the ideas into ours for our various diabolical deer/elk/praire dawg/varmint hunts at long range.
2nd the defense dept has finally figured out that a fully equipped GI with a 120# of crap on his back makes for a very slow moving target for bad guys wearing a towel and an ak-47.
back in 2005 DARPA and the defense dept embarked on a new program to seek vendors from outside to solve this problem. out went the mil-specs and private companies such as gregory/bianchi/arcteryx designed backpacks for the miltary. some of the parameters were max load up to 120+#, but normally for a grunt 65# full of absolute needed CRAP!
read the specs if ya want so i dont bore you. anyway i have frame packs for humping elk 1/4's out, i have soft packs,small packs,alice packs,med. packs and very large expedition mtn climbing packs.
one day while upgrading my hunting gear over from ALICE to MOLLE to save weight, i came across some info on the new ILBE system. it is a MODULAR SYSTEM. and thats key becuz our missions always change. elk hunts we bring (3) KITCHEN SINKS AND THE DISHWASHER! deer hunts not so much, baja even less, camping fishing so-so,dirty biking this and that. you get the picture. each and every expedition is different.
so with that in mind i began looking at the ILBE system for the USMC. individual load bearing equip. well very fast i found its very spendy(look on e-bay) they are NOT CHEAP! and they are NOT avail. to the public on the open market.
so after scrounging around like the WEASEL i am, i found a surplus store, and was buying some hunting goodies. got to know them, they loved me cuz i was dropping ser-i-ass bucks and we started a friendship. they liked my money and i liked their crap.
so one day i asked them about ILBE packs, and they said they are RARE! gave them my number a 3 weeks later they called me, as they found one. oh boy off i go across town.
well heres what being a WEASEL can get ya for a meezly azz $129 bucks.
so now i can carry MORE CRAP INTO BFE and NEVAR LACK NOTHING TO SURVIVE ANYTHING!
p.s. if ya have a 81mm mortar..............well i can carry a coupla rounds very easily as its designed for them.
made by ARCTERYX! and they make damn good backpacking stuff to haul yer crap!
