quote:

Originally posted by 92fstech:
I work 12s, and 3 days a week I pull a 15 or more, because of extra details. The best thing that ever happened was when they approved us to wear external carriers. Mine's not even load-bearing, but just being able to take it off when on station typing (or taking a crap) is a huge benefit. Not to mention how much cooler it is in the summer.

Anybody who thinks we need to give these up to go back to concealed carriers simply for appearance sake either a.) has never had to wear body armor for 15-20 hours a day before or b.) is just being a dick.

I hate the velcro on the Elbeco, love the Blauer Armorskin with zippers:



I also agree, love the external carriers. Most of the officers in my department have switched to suspenders for the belt (sore back complaints have gone down drastically). Nice to take off the carrier while at training, doing reports, etc.

sad state of affairs

quote:

Originally posted by 92fstech:
I work 12s, and 3 days a week I pull a 15 or more, because of extra details. The best thing that ever happened was when they approved us to wear external carriers. Mine's not even load-bearing, but just being able to take it off when on station typing (or taking a crap) is a huge benefit. Not to mention how much cooler it is in the summer.



Anybody who thinks we need to give these up to go back to concealed carriers simply for appearance sake either a.) has never had to wear body armor for 15-20 hours a day before or b.) is just being a dick.

This is ideal. I wore this when active, and put duty suspenders on my Safariland gunbelt, placed this carrier o9ver them with the required brass badge and stuff. Look professional, way more than carrying crap on the vest itself, and the suspenders saved my back.

quote:

Originally posted by sigmonkey:
^^^
Works for me.

Works for me, too.

The cops have enough troubles without a bunch of PC crap imposed by someone who has little idea what they go thru every day.

All of our Patrol officers wear the exterior vests, it's so much easier on your lower back by removing weight off of the belt. That said, a member of the command staff who managed the project 'neglected' to order Flags for our vests. After numerous complaints from the troops and the Union, it was added back to the vests, simply an oversight.

/quote You either respect LE or you don't /quote

A few people today don't respect law enforcement officers, and will do whatever is takes to take them out. Our agency (non-LEO) provides us body armor that will stop the caliber of our sidearm and lower calibers. However, this vest will not stop rifle rounds or pointed, sharp objects (knives). Removing the ballistic panels and replacing them with ceramic armor would alleviate the problem, but increases the vest weight. We would be chastised during an inspection if wearing unissued equipment.

Another Brasshole more concerned with community activism than his Rank & File..

Personally, I HATE those stupid “shirt-like” outers. The only look halfway decent in a dark color, and then only when the shirt is new. My agency has grey shirts and the grey outers I’ve seen never match exactly. They look retarded when the plan is to make it look like it’s one big shirt.

Currently we wear OD green over grey and it looks good, professional, and the public likes it. It’s the agency desk riding assholes that don’t wear them at all that don’t like them.

quote:

Originally posted by gearhounds:
Personally, I HATE those stupid “shirt-like” outers. The only look halfway decent in a dark color, and then only when the shirt is new. My agency has grey shirts and the grey outers I’ve seen never match exactly. They look retarded when the plan is to make it look like it’s one big shirt.

Currently we wear OD green over grey and it looks good, professional, and the public likes it. It’s the agency desk riding assholes that don’t wear them at all that don’t like them.

Appearance is 90% of the fight, and the external vest carriers I've seen make you look like a bag of doorknobs. I'm referring to the ones that attempt, and fail, to replicate a uniform shirt. The external MOLLE vests look like what they are, and our high-intensity and K9 units wears them, along with BDUs.

ALL armor and duty rigs are uncomfortable, and we have way too much to carry; it's the nature of the gig.

Yeah. Appearance-wise, I think the outer carriers like we use (as shown at the bottom of Page 2) are a good compromise. Not overtly "tactical" like a full MOLLE vest, but it isn't trying to be something it's not by attempting (and failing) to look like a dress shirt.

The downside is that their load carrying ability is minimal, with the large but thin pockets limited to carrying comparatively small/thin items like flashlights, pens, cuffs, TQs, notebooks, etc. So it helps noticeably with the comfort aspect compared to concealable vests, but doesn't help much with regard to the problem of getting weight up off the waist.

They do offer a similar model with attached pouches that addresses that, but they're kinda clunky in practice, and not modular.