Survey: Load Carrying Equipment

[Grappener]

Hi All,

Am currenly doing a study for an Open University course and need to do some market research.

It all about attitudes towards load carrying equipment (not just military but civil eg. police, fire)

To cast my net over a wider area I'd be grateful if you could spend 2 minutes to fill in this quick online survey:

http://www.freesurveysonline.com/fso/As ... eckID=3793

Much obliged to anyone who would be kind enough to do this!

cheers all

Grappener

[Sticky Blue]

Question 8 doesn't state if the equipment is useful. If it was useful I'd carry it, if it was useless I'd bin it, unless the DS said otherwise!

I take it you have designed a useful bit of kit that is expensive. Cost is probably lowest in my considerations, unless I'm paying for it of course.

1 Does it work? Yes (go to 2) No (go to 10)
2 Is it really heavy? Yes (go to 3) No (go to 3)
3 Is it something I need? Yes (go to 4) No (go to 10)
4 Do I have to pay for it? Yes (go to 10) No (go to 5)
You get the idea??


10 Bin it

[Grappener]

Thanks for taking a look Sticky

Yup have invented something which is currently going for patent application, but you are quite right I haven't put down if this piece of kit would be useful as I've gotta go with peoples general judgements without giving too much away, trust me protecting intellectual property is a f**king nightmare, there are too many companies out there who are v. keen to screw over somebody elses good ideas and cash in....once bitten twice shy and all that!

It's more general attitudes that I'm after, interestingly so far any "military" responses parallel very closely to those people who are in the police who've responded, anyone in the ambulance service kinda parallels the fire service results more. I think it goes to show those who carry kit on a more regular basis are the ones who truely think the same.

Personally my own area is in police webbing, although I've trudged a few miles in 58' pattern in the past, if anyone has any general comments on how they feel webbing (both military and civl) is badly designed or lets you down I'd be grateful if people could share it here...if thats ok? All perspectives add to a better understanding.

cheers all

Grappener

[Grappener]

Hi Jagger,

Thanks for your time.

Yup the last one is a bit abstract, nothing more to this question than trying to prove an attitude to towards people not minding carrying something that's easy going (weight, bulk etc).

I've actually done some personal interviewing as well with a fair cross section of people (civil, military, emergency services) and the range of attitudes I received from different groups varied, some did have an issue with carrying anything additional to what they carry at the moment, so in a nutshell that why I banged in this rather odd question...heck it proves the point to those who are eyeballing me on this one

Once again thanks for your time on that!

cheers

Grappener

[Jagger]

Oops, deleted that last post before I had seen your reply.

I think most here will agree that if something is needed they'll carry it and if there is a substitute that's lighter and more compact it's definitely better.

To me, weight and size count the most. People in the military normally have the kit issued to them anyway, but if it was a fair enough price, the cost would still be at the bottom.

Regarding PLCE webbing, the biggest issue I have with it is that it's very fiddly to get all the pouches in a tight configuration on the belt. Also you need to use bungee cord to secure the pouches together to eachother at the very back of the webbing so that they do not all bounce up and down separately and cause noise. If there was some way to secure the pouches together at the very back so they moved as one that would be a big improvement. Padding inside the belt could be another addition ( i know you can buy these separatly though). No padding on the shoulder harness though as it would be awkward using it with a bergan on.

Oh yes, and I want to be able to shoot fricken laser beams from my shoulders!!

[mercury]

Ello , filled it in, do I get a discount or something

BTW , you may want to spell check it

[Grappener]

No problem on shooting laser beams from the shoulders...easy!

Now getting PLCE webbing to behave, there's a challenge!

Thanks again for these points Jagger, I wonder if the MOD is experimenting with load carrying jackets or "tactical vests"?, not to completely replace PLCE but perhaps to distribute the load more evenly so that a couple of pouches from the belt order can be dropped?

I know companies like Arktis do them, but as standard issue, that's a different story.

Many other countries use tac-vests, the yanks love em' but then they do have $1million to spend on each squaddie each year!

cheers

grappener

[smamit]

G'day fellers,I Design and make kit for the Israeli army and use the stuff myself in the reserves.
What I like about the British army is that you have the PLCE,Chest rig and vest so that you can use the webbing which is best suited to your needs,
I use A modified PLCE webbing, I added on Hand/Smoke grenade pouchs,two extra waterbottle pouchs and a large back pouch.
I don't think that it possible to provide one lot of webbing that will do every job,
The army here is going over from the EFOD webbing to a vest though both are really bad if you need to put something on your back.
About the yanks they also seem to have a lot of problems with the vests and packs as they are chagning them all the time.
yours Adam

[sneaky beaky]

I filled in this questionnaire and - at the end of it I thought " What is this all about?"
If you are going to question ex. Military/Police, you might at least explain what the equipment is.
Otherwise this is a load of B*****ks. I'm of a mind to agree with Sticky Blue.
Sneaky Beaky