Military kit
In todays Australian Michael McKinnon and Cameron Stewart co edit a piece lambasting the government on the equipment issued to soldiers and kicks off with this startling statement.
BLOOD-filled boots and sodden jackets infested with maggots force thousands of Australian soldiers a year to buy their own military equipment.What can they mean…..blood…..maggots? The article actually turns into a unpaid advertisement for Crossfire Australia P/L who, in their catalogue have a boot grandly named the Peace Keeper ECW Boot marketed with the following a boast
CROSSFIRE® has been involved with duty boots of one kind or another for decades. We’ve provided tens of thousands of pairs to military, fire fighters, police, ambos etc.
Haven’t heard a lot of complaints yet, except sometimes the age old question: “Why doesn’t the ……… give us boots this good?”
One reason, they cost $355.00 a pair. With about 70,000 reserve and regular troops that translates at near $250m just to shod the troops.
Speaking from a military show in Las Vegas, Crossfire manager Peter Marshall said his company was a big contractor to the Defence Department, with “substantial sales directly to units and to individual soldiers”. “I have spoken to thousands of soldiers who all say they cannot operate at full efficiency because of poor equipment. This failure places their lives at risk,” he said.The quote “substantial sales directly to units and to individual soldiers” clearly outlines Crossfire’s agenda….sell more gear…force the government to upgrade indidual equipment. Don’t listen to them anymore but do listen to the soldiers. Blood and maggots appears a bit extreme to me but the fact that not all soldiers are happy with their equipment is as old as soldiering. It’s a basic fact that a percentage of professional soldiers will always call to queston government issued kit and will look elsewhere for satisfaction. The quantification of this dissatisfaction is the telling point. The Crossfire manager quotes “thousands of soldiers” complaining about poor equipment but I can smell a bit of sales talk in the air. I complained about the equipment I was issued. My issue pack for Vietnam came in one size fits all and was designed to carry three days rations. I would talk fondly of getting hold of the bastard who thought three days capacity was sufficient for an Infantry pack and arrange for him to carry, for the rest of his life, the other seven days I had to carry in the bloody thing. I never did a three day patrol between resupply but did lots of seven and once, 14 days, living (sparingly) off the contents of the pack. The first Australian troops in Vietnam (1RAR) were shod with Boots, AB with ‘D^D 1945’ often stamped on the leather. After 20 years in storage and three months in monsoonal weather the stitching gave way and black insulating tape and signal cabling held them together until Defence designed, made and issued the Boots, GP. Soldiers called our “Smocks, Tropical”, “Smocks, Physcological” because they didn’t keep the rain out and when the government issued us with new tropical jungle green uniforms they forgot to tell us not to iron them as the nylon thread using in sewing them together melted and the sleeve fell off on day one…the pockets fell off on day two…the collar day three…..We were issued flack jackets but only used them to sit on and protect our masculinity when forced to travel by soft skinned vehicles and the helmet affected our hearing when jungle vegetation scraped along the surface so we used them for washing back at base. I could go on but you must have got my drift by now. It happens. Yeah, I know, different generation, different expectations, but by and large the game doesn’t change and so long as it is a minority of soldiers complaining then the more things change the more they stay the same. In moments of frustration we reminded ourselves that our equipment, incuding our rifle, was made by the lowest bidder. Besides which, if you’re soldiering in close proximity to US forces arrange for them to teach you how to play poker and buy their gear with your winnings. We did…worked a treat. And remember…cynicism helps put it all in perspecive.
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There’ll always be room for improvement, but you’re dead right. These days, actually, I hear it’s the Americans who are after some of our kit. I suppose the good thing about the present type of conflict in Iraq is that just about all ranks are wearing the stuff a fair amount of the time. I expect colonels get their complaints acted upon fairly quickly.
The kit issued to the RAAF in the late 70’s early 80’s was for the most part was crap, you whinged amongst each other and then moved on as (for the most part)it did the job.
Never went to war. Number came up but sending other than regulars cancelled.
However, I feel fully qualified to note the following: You should never underestimate the deep respect the silent majority have for those that did. One of the downsides to democracy is the legions of parasites it spawns, but the alternatives….?
I still have a pair of my original issue “jungle boots”. Or is that “Footwear, mens, combat, tropical” whatever. I still wear these on occasion even though the leather is rotting out on the sides. Point of personal pride.
As someone who knows Peter, his raising of the issues should not discount the fact that hundreds of RODUM’s have been submitted that have been ignored and detracted as just ‘whinging’. The boots are a causative factor in early retirement of a number of soldiers. Packs are not designed for the tasks of the modern battlefield. Combat jackets that don’t protect the wearer.
Saying Peter raised the issues for commercial gain is not true, as the DMO has refused to deal with his company on many contracts.
As a wearer of the kit in question, any publicity is good publicity. Ignore the Chief of Army’s rebuttals and the new Minister’s mouthed platitudes. They don’t walk up hills with shit boots, packs and clothing on.
The comments about the quality of the kit issued to deployed forces is right. The problem lies in the fact the majority of kit worn by deployed forces IS NOT standard issue. It’s a supplementary issue provided by the Deployed Forces Support Units in Townsville and Darwin, that use ongoing contracts to supply service personnel with equipment up to the task, as it is patently evident that the issue kit isn’t. Just look at the Defence site and the media pictures of Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. You won’t see much issued kit there.
Hi There I found your blogg when doing a search for Special Forces in military watches, not what I was after but hello anyway :-)
How much do a set of Terra (issue) boots cost? Answer that and you see the issues at hand.