Deployment flashlight

I

InfantryMyers

Joined
Oct 25, 2011
Messages
185
Leaving on deployment at the end of this year and i'm looking for a sub $75 flashlight, any suggestions of lights you have experience with?
 
When you deploy, if you are with an 11b unit you should be issued new Surefire flashlights, often the surefire g2zx, if I were you i would just bite the bullet and invest in a surefire minimus tactical headlamp, if you haven't realized the advantages of a good headlamp, then you arent having enough time in the field. Petzl and princetontec both make cheaper ones that have the perquisite red/green filters and can be found at your px, but i would just go with the best, your going to be using it for a year so just pony up the cash. I can also highly recommend the surefire helmet light with an IR filter, nods have crappy IR lights especially the ones that have seen the rounds and aren't current gen.

You should also be issued a gerber multitool and some more cool-guy stuff like oakleys right before your deployment.

If your unsure a good idea is to see what coolguy stuff the E-4s and team leaders have purchased.


I also highly recommend an ENO hammock to sleep in in forward areas, and the kifaru woobie to snuggle up under, its all fun and games until it starts raining in 30 degree weather on hour 20 of a thirty six hour patrol, air goes black and people start to become cold weather casualties. If you have any questions about deployment with an infantry unit leave me a visitor message and ill try and get back to you in a timely manner.

My highest recommendation is to get a good pack before you go, you're going to be living out of the damn thing, the eberlestock halftrack is where performance meets the sweet spot of price. now is the time to buy your gear and get used to it, before you're in some third world shit hole waiting on APO mail to deliver you something you should have had the foresight to bring with.

Good luck, dont be afraid to spend a little money, you're going to save up plenty when your downrange.
 
thanks for the advice, but I don't trust our supply Sgt to get everything issued in time... is there a site that sells Surefire at a decent price, lol i am due for a new headlamp :p as for a Multitool i'm looking at the Leatherman MUT, was never a fan of gerber products, and funny thing is i'm one of the Spec's in my unit, and me and one of the Squad leaders are the only couple of people that buy our own gear within our company :cool:, nice call on the hammock again is there a cheap place to find them? and what's a decent pack brand? i've been looking at the Condor MOLLE Mission pack... wow so far during this post i've found $392 worth of gear :eek: and it's just gonna get higher i bet lmao
 
Sham shield is where its at, best place to be in the army imho.

Leathermans are awesome, i wont dissuade you from buying one, just keep in mind that the gerbers are what you are gonna want to use for un-f#$%ing the ma deuce and stuff like that, youl see more snapped multi tools than you thought possible so carrying two is really not a bad idea, just try and throw the abusive stuff at a gerber is all i'm asking

I guess the biggest question is are you mech and pan to be mounted most of the time or are you going to zir assault in and do longer range stuff? thats going to determine what your going to want.

PAcks like the condor rely on a flimsy frame sheet and they will wreak havoc on your back over time. Your armor will take all the weight and place it on your shoulders, adding whatever your kit weighs to your backpack weight for a long range patrol can equal over 100 pounds as i will demonstrate with some quick math.

im going to assume your a saw gunner since alot of units tend to to put an e-4 on the most casualty producing weapon for the squad size ( m240b being organic to the command makes it a platoon weapon )

SAW =14.7 pounds
4 200 round drums of 5.56 disintegrating link in nutsacks = 4X7= 28
vest with rack and IFAK = 35 pounds
MICH/ACH = 3 pounds
Full camelbak = 7 pounds
Spare barrel= 5 pounds

yeah buddy, you're already rolling with 90 pounds of gear, suck it life.

so now lets adjust that for long range patrols/ air assault ops

2 MREs = 3 pounds
2 First strike rations = 2 pounds
2 pounds of jack links beef jerky cause it was free and tasty = 2 pounds
3 rip-its weighing 8 ozs each, free and caffineated = 1.5 pounds
poncho= .5 pounds
snivle gear= 1 pound
two extra hydration bladders or equivalant in bottled water = 14 pounds
2 extra tootsie roll 60mm mortars for your 11c buddies = 10 pounds
400 rounds 5.56 disintegrating link mags so that you can hopefully make it the 15 minutes its going to take for kiowa/apache support = 14 pounds
shotgun and breaching rounds in side scabard = 8 pounds
extra socks, foot powder and moleskins = 1 pound

thats an extra 57 pounds plus the 90 some from earlier your nearing 150 pounds

And this isnt even counting the wieght of the pack or if your alpha squad and need to carry a skedco or poleless liter or some other goofy shit, heaven forbid your the 240 gunner

now with all this pressure hanging onto your shoulders for hours at a time, its going to wreak havoc on your spine. Your only hope is to get a pack with a good waistbelt and back support and unfortunatley that is going to cost money, but its going to save you the pain of a slipped or stress fractured vertebra. If you dont belireve me, then you go and talk to a VA doc about it.

I reccomend only three companies. Eberlestock, which makes great packs some of which have an old-school alice style frame
Mystery ranch, which has a pack that is designed to integrate with your body armor
and kifaru, which has a similar system but it is stowable. from my tests the mystery ranch and kifaru work equally well.

I have four eberlestock packs and i'm a big fan, they are cheaper than the other two brands and about 90 percent of the quality. They have enough variety in thier packs that they will have soemthing that works perfect for you. they are adjustable for height and weight so you can get the lumbar pad right under your armor but above your butt.

Kifaru and MR are even better companies, but you have to know exactly what your doing and be ready to drop the coin. this isn't meant to dissuade you from doing that, merely you might want to spend a few months in country, get a feel for what your doing and then pull the trigger, although if i had to recommend a be all end all thing to get, id go with the kifaru AG 1, http://kifaru.net/armorgrip1.html everyone that i know who has one, loves it, i bought to ZXR because it was on sale during my deployment, but if i had it to do again, i probably would have bought one of those, not to say ive been dissapointed with my purchase, its damn near perfect and a bit more utilitarian than the AG1 because you can top load it, but that armor integration is truly a thing of beauty.

all this is irrelevant if you have 4 grand to spend on awesome though: http://www.tyrtactical.com/products...light-and-heavy-machine-gunners-assault-pack/

tell me thats not the coolest thing ever, basically turns you into jesse ventura ;) hope this helps man, got anymore questions just shoot them at me
 
actually my Squad's full of Spc's so i'm most likely gonna be a Rifleman, with a slight chance of being a grenadier. and for the most part we'll be doing short mounted patrols and training their forces :p and how do those Eberlestock packs differ from the Ruck's we're issued now? wow, if i were an assault gunner that'd definately be usefull... if i had the cash for it
 
Are you national guard? you should already know what your going to be doing downrange and what role your serving and be training accordingly.

basically it differs in how well it carries the load, where it places stress on your bodies, the toughness of the pack and how well you can organize it.

The alice packs just dont have enough padding without getting an aftermarket kidney pad, and the new plastic ones, arent jumpable no matter what anyone says, they suck on ergos and they are just ill designed pieces of shit. I don't know if you have had the displeasure of using those for an extended march yet, but i have nightmares about going through pre-ranger with that crappy system, keeps me awake at night. If you have those, seriously dont take them out of the conex.

The alice pack is a great design, but new materials and designs make is so much better. You will hopefully be wearing just a plate carrier in theatre and better pack will allow you to ventilate even better.

I'm really not going to say that you cant get by with an alice pack in alot of situations, but to me the upgrade in comfort is so worth it as to be kind of a no brainer. I don't know if you have used a high end pack before, but once you do, you really wont want to go back.

The alice also has a tendency to make you do more of a forward lean, i dont know why this is, but its a trend i've definatley noticed on myself and others.

A good pack, will be pretty much the best money you have ever spent, ill just go ahead and recommend a hi-speed from eberlestock for mounted ops, its slim, carries well and will keep enough sustainment stuff and pogie bait for a long time in an MRAP., its also on the cheaper end of things. Buy direct form Eberlestock, tell them your a soldier and they will tkae care of you, all three companies i mentioned have top notch customer service.
 
razorsdescent said:
Sham shield is where its at, best place to be in the army imho.

Leathermans are awesome, i wont dissuade you from buying one, just keep in mind that the gerbers are what you are gonna want to use for un-f#$%ing the ma deuce and stuff like that, youl see more snapped multi tools than you thought possible so carrying two is really not a bad idea, just try and throw the abusive stuff at a gerber is all i'm asking

I guess the biggest question is are you mech and pan to be mounted most of the time or are you going to zir assault in and do longer range stuff? thats going to determine what your going to want.

PAcks like the condor rely on a flimsy frame sheet and they will wreak havoc on your back over time. Your armor will take all the weight and place it on your shoulders, adding whatever your kit weighs to your backpack weight for a long range patrol can equal over 100 pounds as i will demonstrate with some quick math.

im going to assume your a saw gunner since alot of units tend to to put an e-4 on the most casualty producing weapon for the squad size ( m240b being organic to the command makes it a platoon weapon )

SAW =14.7 pounds
4 200 round drums of 5.56 disintegrating link in nutsacks = 4X7= 28
vest with rack and IFAK = 35 pounds
MICH/ACH = 3 pounds
Full camelbak = 7 pounds
Spare barrel= 5 pounds

yeah buddy, you're already rolling with 90 pounds of gear, suck it life.

so now lets adjust that for long range patrols/ air assault ops

2 MREs = 3 pounds
2 First strike rations = 2 pounds
2 pounds of jack links beef jerky cause it was free and tasty = 2 pounds
3 rip-its weighing 8 ozs each, free and caffineated = 1.5 pounds
poncho= .5 pounds
snivle gear= 1 pound
two extra hydration bladders or equivalant in bottled water = 14 pounds
2 extra tootsie roll 60mm mortars for your 11c buddies = 10 pounds
400 rounds 5.56 disintegrating link mags so that you can hopefully make it the 15 minutes its going to take for kiowa/apache support = 14 pounds
shotgun and breaching rounds in side scabard = 8 pounds
extra socks, foot powder and moleskins = 1 pound

thats an extra 57 pounds plus the 90 some from earlier your nearing 150 pounds

And this isnt even counting the wieght of the pack or if your alpha squad and need to carry a skedco or poleless liter or some other goofy shit, heaven forbid your the 240 gunner

now with all this pressure hanging onto your shoulders for hours at a time, its going to wreak havoc on your spine. Your only hope is to get a pack with a good waistbelt and back support and unfortunatley that is going to cost money, but its going to save you the pain of a slipped or stress fractured vertebra. If you dont belireve me, then you go and talk to a VA doc about it.

I reccomend only three companies. Eberlestock, which makes great packs some of which have an old-school alice style frame
Mystery ranch, which has a pack that is designed to integrate with your body armor
and kifaru, which has a similar system but it is stowable. from my tests the mystery ranch and kifaru work equally well.

I have four eberlestock packs and i'm a big fan, they are cheaper than the other two brands and about 90 percent of the quality. They have enough variety in thier packs that they will have soemthing that works perfect for you. they are adjustable for height and weight so you can get the lumbar pad right under your armor but above your butt.

Kifaru and MR are even better companies, but you have to know exactly what your doing and be ready to drop the coin. this isn't meant to dissuade you from doing that, merely you might want to spend a few months in country, get a feel for what your doing and then pull the trigger, although if i had to recommend a be all end all thing to get, id go with the kifaru AG 1, http://kifaru.net/armorgrip1.html everyone that i know who has one, loves it, i bought to ZXR because it was on sale during my deployment, but if i had it to do again, i probably would have bought one of those, not to say ive been dissapointed with my purchase, its damn near perfect and a bit more utilitarian than the AG1 because you can top load it, but that armor integration is truly a thing of beauty.

all this is irrelevant if you have 4 grand to spend on awesome though: http://www.tyrtactical.com/products...light-and-heavy-machine-gunners-assault-pack/

tell me thats not the coolest thing ever, basically turns you into jesse ventura ;) hope this helps man, got anymore questions just shoot them at me
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You know your stuff man...... awesome that you took the time to steer him in the right direction....... Spent some time in the badlands obviously ;)
 
razorsdescent said:
you should already know what your going to be doing downrange and what role your serving and be training accordingly.
Click to expand...

ya the problem is we were only told about this deployment a little while back and we've only been given a little information at a time... they aren't really telling us enough to prepare well enough i'm just trying my best

razorsdescent said:
new plastic ones, arent jumpable no matter what anyone says, they suck on ergos and they are just ill designed pieces of shit. I don't know if you have had the displeasure of using those for an extended march yet, but i have nightmares about going through pre-ranger with that crappy system, keeps me awake at night. If you have those, seriously dont take them out of the conex.
Click to expand...

that's exactly what we've got, and we've done quite a few 12 miler's with em and my lower back always ends up in pain from it

razorsdescent said:
I don't know if you have used a high end pack before, but once you do, you really wont want to go back.
Click to expand...

no i haven't, just the crap the army issues

razorsdescent said:
A good pack, will be pretty much the best money you have ever spent, ill just go ahead and recommend a hi-speed from eberlestock for mounted ops, its slim, carries well and will keep enough sustainment stuff and pogie bait for a long time in an MRAP., its also on the cheaper end of things. Buy direct form Eberlestock, tell them your a soldier and they will tkae care of you, all three companies i mentioned have top notch customer service.
Click to expand...

that's the X4 right? it definately looks comfortable

and how about boots? i've got a pair of Rockies and Oakleys that i've used for the past few years how will those fair over there?
 
The oakley boots are the new cool guy boots for a reason, they are super comfy. For 12-20 hours in an MRAP with some short dismounts thats perfect. Things start to get dicey when its time to go uphill with weight on your body, making you more awkward. What your going to find yourself doing is grabbing your rifle by the slip ring and using your free hand to brace against something, its going to suck. What you need in that type of situation is boots with ankle support. If your command will let you, 6 inch civilian hiking boots are where its at, however when you cant get away with it those rockies are quite nice, the problem is that afghanistan gets wet for a large portion of the season, and in case you haven't figured it out, once you get cold weather boots wet, they stay wet and then you start to hate your life. I have feet that fall apart when wet, so being able to shed wetness was key for me. What i did initially is got a pair of issued boots with drainage holes and scraped out the toe and heel cup so that the entire boot was just soft leather and nylon stitched uppers, the only weight was the soles, these work great for long straight patrols in wet places, but when it comes time to do a 20 hour patrol that's going to involve setting up over watch on a mountain your going to want something with ankle support or your going to roll your ankle every damn time. Again assuming you cant wear civilian style boots (i recommend the asolo flame) I recommend danner hot weather rough out boots, http://www.danner.com/boots/desert-tfxr-rough-out-hot-military-boots.html Before the army allowed high-speed sneaker looking boots, the cool guy boot was the danner acadia, they been in the business a long damn time and they do it really fricking well. Thier combat hikers which are double the price of the rough outs are among the best boots in the market. Keep the rockies handy for when its dead of winter and life sucks, you might also want to invest in wigwam thick wool socks you can pick them up at the px they are big and fluffy and will keep your feet from freezing, just make sure you know its going to be cold. remember that wool maintains most of its insulative quality when wet so if a little moisture gets in, it will save your butt. You can never bring enough boots and socks, different things work for different people, go to a store that has alot of boots and try on goddamn everything, then make your choice, im just telling you what has worked for me.

The x4 is made of a lightweight nylon that is almost as tough as cordura, but is lighter and cheaper. The only negative to the x4 is that it has only a framesheet, no internal stays. For mounted stuff and short distance patrolling, you shouldn't put enough weight in their for that to be a problem though.

Some places will let you try on packs, some hunting stores will even have weights that you can put in there. Bring your armor, throw a weighted pack on and walk around the store, you'll quickly realize that there are huge differences. Being a soldier also puts other considerations into pack buying, you want something you can easily and quickly get on and off, and you dont want something sticking up past your head so that you can still lift your head up in the prone.

speaking of the prone memorize these two things:

http://www.armystudyguide.com/content/EIB/EIB_Related_Battle_Drills/battle-drill-2-react-to-c.shtml

http://www.armystudyguide.com/conte...topics/First_Aid/9-line-medevac-request.shtml

Ranger school, and all these other "highspeed" things are really just those two things over and over again. Advanced soldiering is just mastery of the basics and being able to apply them to a wider range of things. As far as im concerned if you can properly work react to contact and you have memorized your nine-line, your goddamn rambo and your ready to roll. Sorry for the little tangent but if your command isn't preparing you, you have to prepare yourself. You just might save a life.
 
ya i just picked up the Oakley's a couple month's ago, they were great once i got them worked in, i still think the Rocky's are more comfortable. our Unit's SOP doesn't allow for Civi boots unfortunately i wish it did i've worn them before and they were amazing hiking through mountains in New Mexico... I'm not surprised you brought up Danner's i've heard alot of good thing's about them just haven't had a chance to try them for myself yet.

as for socks what do you think of Fox River's sock's i've got a few of those and have been planning on getting more, they've been amazing during Ruck's and field training

What is the Endo frame that show's up on the page to Order he X4? would that add more support? i really don't know much when it comes to purchasing bags like this

:thumbup: the Majority of our training consists of React to Contact, and my Team leader has had us all memorize the 9 lines and UXO reports (I keep a copy in my shoulder pocket just incase) and i'm currently the squad's only man CLS certified so the MOLLE strap's on the X4 will be well used lmao

thanks for the advice by the way, the majority of my company has been through atleast a couple tours, but none of them are real gear heads they just suck through it with issued crap
 
InfantryMyers said:
ya i just picked up the Oakley's a couple month's ago, they were great once i got them worked in, i still think the Rocky's are more comfortable. our Unit's SOP doesn't allow for Civi boots unfortunately i wish it did i've worn them before and they were amazing hiking through mountains in New Mexico... I'm not surprised you brought up Danner's i've heard alot of good thing's about them just haven't had a chance to try them for myself yet.

as for socks what do you think of Fox River's sock's i've got a few of those and have been planning on getting more, they've been amazing during Ruck's and field training

What is the Endo frame that show's up on the page to Order he X4? would that add more support? i really don't know much when it comes to purchasing bags like this

:thumbup: the Majority of our training consists of React to Contact, and my Team leader has had us all memorize the 9 lines and UXO reports (I keep a copy in my shoulder pocket just incase) and i'm currently the squad's only man CLS certified so the MOLLE strap's on the X4 will be well used lmao

thanks for the advice by the way, the majority of my company has been through atleast a couple tours, but none of them are real gear heads they just suck through it with issued crap
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While am a civilian, i will tell you that even the offshore produced "cheap" Danner boots can take a thrashing. I used my Melees on a bunch of X-C hikes in NM and they have held up very well and comfortably. I would have no problem trusting my life to the USA made boots, great company.
Thank you for your service, your in our prayers
Paul
 
this was my lifesaver when i was in afghanistan

e89-pd.jpg
 
InfantryMyers said:
Leaving on deployment at the end of this year and i'm looking for a sub $75 flashlight, any suggestions of lights you have experience with?
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For under $75 you're going to be stuck with something Chinese. Not sure if you trust that while deployed, I wouldn't.

For $100 - $150, you can pick from a variety of US made Surefire lights. It might seem like a lot now, but could make the difference between a dead light and a functional one when it matters.

Were I heading overseas I'd have my LX2 Lumamax and E1B Backup. Both are thin, extremely durable, very bright, and are top shelf lights.

g2zx
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If I were issued a plastic light I'd use it, but I'd have a metal backup in my 'pack or pocket.
 
That light VODOO showed you is a Petzl, they are probably available at your PX, the little clip on the side of it holds an extra filter, say your unit wants you to carry a red one but your the only CLS certified guy so you prefer blue for spotting blood. Its a popular light thats why i mentioned it in my first post.

Fox river are great socks, just stay away from underarmor brand socks, they are full synthetic and they will make your feet sweat much more than they will wick away.

The endo frame sheet adds rigidity to your pack. It would probably be a worthwhile investment if you think that you are going to be carrying more than thirty pounds of gear in it. Just remember that the X4 is a dedicated 3-day "Assault style pack". Its designed to carry a bit of sustainment gear, which since you are doing mounted and short range foot patrols sounds about perfect. If you plan on carrying more stuff but still want a slim profile for mounted ops, thier FAC track is a great bag, but its more expensive, it wouldn't need the endo frame sheet for anything you could put in it. Note that eberlestock greatly underestmates the amount of cubic inches that the bag can handle. The X4 is really in the neighborhood of 2000 cubic inches and the FAC trac around 2200. I dont know why they do that, but its soemthing that they consistently do.

Glad your training up key stuff


http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=187651

http://spiderholegear.weebly.com/eberlestock-f3f-fac-track-review.html

Hope that helps
 
ya i think i've seen guys in the platoon using similar lights, with the filters. i had never heard of blue lights showing blood better but it makes since with the contrast between red and blue

lol i was never a fan of underarmor it's overhyped in my opinion. and Fox River's have done wonders for me

ya i usually try to avoid over packing so the X4 should work for now as an assault pack, but i might be looking for a good alternative to a Ruck, I'm still kind of looking through Eberlestock at their bags, how does the FAC track compare to our newer rucksacks when it comes to size? either way i'll be getting the X4 here in a couple weeks to see what i think of it
 
yeah, well supposedly there are off green colors that are even better for preserving nightvision as well, basically blood will appear a dark color under blue light, its not as great as having that color variance, but if your doing a pat-down on a casualty when your gloves start appearing covered in black you have found your wound. Its a popular choice for medics.

Meh, they make some things that are really great, and if your allowed to wear civie clothing at all, thier hoodies are awesome for deployment and come in subdued colors, but yeah the rest of thier stuff is just marketing. I hope they at least let you wear a decent ballcap instead of a pc when your kicking around the FOB.

The fact, trac is basically one large pocket that can be divided into two, and has some small pockets on the front and top, really that link of the guy wearing it in kit is about the best icould do to explain it to you, its probably about half the cargo carrying capacity of your issued ruck. A couple hundred cubic feet more than the X4. A much more appropriate comparison would be something like the terminator or the blue widow, if you get one of thier hunting packs in a military camp or solid color, they will make it out of cordura instead of the hunting material and replace all mesh with a solid nylon to kind of ruggedize it, the blue widow is the same as the dragonfly but without the holster in back allowing you to cinch the load tighter to your core making it more stable. If you get in country and decide you need and or want a full tilt ruck, i really encourage you to look at kifaru and mystery ranch though. for 500 buck you can get a handmade zxr from kifaru that will carry pretty much anything that you can reasonably stuff into it.

A word of warning about the X4 there are two negatives about it, just so that you are prepared. first off, if you are bigger than about 6 foot 1 inch then it wont fit you as well, because they made it as a compact assault pack, it doesnt have enough adjustment points to fit a guy with a really long spine right. second off, the water bladder pouches are too small for full camelbak 100oz bladders, so just shove them in the laptop/document area which lies along the same axis. If your the right size, I think you will really enjoy it. You cna call up the eberlestock guys, tell them what you are doing and they can advise you.
 
ya i'll have to find out our SOP for when we're deployed. and i should be around the right size i'm 5' 9" and i'm probably gonna get the bladders from Eberlestock so i dont have to worry about a camelback
 
Just as an educational note, the bladders Eberlestock uses are from a company called source, they are arguably the best bladders on the market, being easy to open and having a reinforced hose. They are the bladders of choice for the Israeli military and alot of line units have unofficially adopted them.

When you buy from them you are supporting a good business http://source-military.com/hiking-gear/9-about-us

My advice about hydration is to use something like this: http://www.specopsbrand.com/h-u-m-p-hydration-utility-multiple-platform.html

or this http://www.tacticaltailor.com/hydrationcarriermodular.aspx

They are basically lightweight nylon pouches that you can just put on your armor and forget about, when your patrolling with a pack you put the bladders in the pack and when your just going for a quick jaunt OTW you just slap a bladder in there and you're good to go, simplifies life and gets rid of that uncomfortable camelback strap.
 
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