Follow Up: Belt Kit (Webbing) & Assault Pack System
This is a follow up post to my previous ‘Gear Discussion: Rucks, Assault Packs, Webbing: Some Points’ post. That post was primarily to deal with the issue of carrying rucks, and talks about that aspect in detail. This post will focus on the use, advantages and disadvantages, of carrying a full set of webbing (belt kit) combined with an assault pack.
The bottom line on the ruck, with the exception of specialized operations where you need to carry in a bunch of gear, is that the use of a ruck will mainly be confined to a place to stash and carry your excess gear and sleeping systems, in order to move into and occupy a base location. The carrying of a ruck tactically is going to put you at a disadvantage, and if you run into a contact, it will be dumped and never seen again. Alternately, if you are using vehicles to move, it can be in or on the vehicle for when you stop and establish a base location, whether that is permanent or a rest overnight (RON) situation.
Dispensing with the ruck question for now, if we look at the use of a load carrying system in any form, plus assault pack, plus a plate carrier, you are already starting to become overloaded, and if you don’t watch out, you will be carrying too much gear. Body worn weight should not exceed 55lb, and for fighting, the less the better. You can always dump your assault pack in contact, but again, it may never be seen again. Also, depending on how you pack it, you may need items inside it. Honestly, I never include the weight of my rifle in that number, simply considering the weight of equipment worn on my body, but that may be a mistake. One thing you have to get your head around is that although we want to carry as little weight as possible, the other side of that is that in order to carry the right gear to conduct ourselves in any way like a ‘light infantryman’, we will end up carrying a decent amount of weight. It is up to you to make the difficult decision on what is needed and what isn’t, on a mission by mission basis.
Thus, we arrive at the purpose of this post, which is to discuss the pros and cons of the webbing system, along with an assault pack and use, or not, of a plate carrier. Below is a photo of a typical webbing system, which should have on it, ideally, four admin pouches across the back (sometimes 3 depending on design and waist size), an ammo pouch left hip, and either an ammo pouch or ‘commanders pouch’ right hip. Usually there is some form of ‘hippo’ pad inside that keeps the set from rubbing. It is important that the pouches on the side hips are not forward where they will impede your stride, with your thigh bumping into the bottom of the pouch. Also, this webbing should not be worn up at the natural waist (at the belly button height) but it should be dropped down so it sits around the hips. That also ties in with the use of resting the assault pack on the top of the rear pouches (could also be a ruck, if carried) which acts as a waist belt and takes the weight off your shoulders. Below is a typical set of British webbing.
Below is my review of a set of JayJay’s webbing:
The advantages of webbing (belt kit) is that a considerable amount of weight can be carried comfortably, sitting in the best spot which is around your hips. This is also good for when you are working hard and it helps you lose heat from your upper body. It is in fact a very comfortable way to carry your gear. It dispenses with chest mounted rigs which do retain heat, and even when wearing a plate carrier, if you minimize the gear on the carrier, rather than loading up your front with magazines and sundry, it will be more comfortable. Using belt kit will allow you to make decisions on whether or not you will wear a plate carrier, and it can be donned or doffed easily as a (mostly) plates-only rig. See this photo as an example:
The plate carriers above are mostly ‘clean fatigue’ and don’t have much in the way of pouches on them. The Paras in that photo are young. From an older mans perspective, your back will be grateful if you keep the weight of magazines off the front of your plate carrier. This is the polar opposite of what you see in the US Military where most of the equipment is worn on the plate carrier, sometimes without even a minimum use of a battle belt (particularly if the solider is not issued a sidearm). All that weight is on the shoulders and pulling your posture forward. The same would go for a chest rig (without plate carrier) which is fully loaded with perhaps five magazines and miscellaneous across the front of the chest / belly.
There are a number of pouches that can be added to a set of belt kit, but I will keep it simple in terms of what is usually worn. What you will find as you read this is that your tacticool programming is going to be screaming at you, because this is not the same as the gear worn on current tactical ranges and competitions. It is not going to be about how fast you can get that magazine out of an open topped pouch for a speed reload. You will also note that we run into problems with the carriage of a sidearm. My current battle belt has a pistol on the right side, taking up a good deal of real estate. A set of belt kit will not have that. Most solders are not issued a sidearm. They are working in a team and the issue with reloading or fixing a potential stoppage or even weapon breakage has the slack taken up by the remainder of the team. We do run into issues with people wanting to mimic special operations teams and the gear that they wear, which may not be appropriate. You can put a sidearm on a set of belt kit, but you will be sacrificing what I am about to write about, so read on!
On jungle operations, belt kit is the best thing to wear. It allows the body to dissipate heat. You will probably still be wearing a ruck, but your whole front torso is unencumbered. In recent years, due to safety considerations, body armor has been worn for live fire in the jungle. But it didn’t used to be. In hot humid conditions, belt kit is the best. But it also works in other climates. A similar thing can be seen with the use of ALICE webbing plus medium ALICE pack for Vietnam operations. With things heating up with Venezuela, it’s probably about time we started thinking about jungle operations. The only thing I will say about the ALICE webbing is that there are many photos of guys wearing it with pouches all the way around the front. With a set of belt kit, you don’t do that, for two reasons 1) as stated above you don’t want to impede walking and running, and 2) it gets in the way when going prone. I am guessing that in Vietnam it is possible that the squatting was more a position adopted due to the thickness of the brush, so that might be why it wasn’t an issue? Possibly the gear was also worn higher on the waist? Different styles of use; military fashions between the US and UK, I guess.
Belt kit will have two ammunition pouches on the left hip. Each one will be secured by either velcro or some form of clip. Inside each of these pouches will sit 3 x 5.56 magazines (don’t get me started on the M7 and the nightmare of equipping people with the right magazine pouches for that monstrosity!) So that is six magazines on the left hip. With your rifle, that would be seven, which is a first line load. Many of you would like to carry more magazines than that. On the right hip you can either have an additional two magazine pouches, of which you might only use one for mags. Or you can get a set with a commanders pouch right side, which is a single pouch the same size as the two magazine pouches and allows you to carry commander type gear such as a TAM (tactical aide memoir) or binoculars or similar. So with a set of two magazine pouches, that could be a total of 9 or 12 magazines. If you only use one magazine pouch, the other one can be used for ancillary gear. If you have the commanders pouch, you could always set up your plate carrier with a couple of additional magazine pouches, similar to the photo above, on the theory that if you decide you need the plate carrier, you are going into a fight, and more magazines will be good.
On my set of issue webbing that I carried when in the Paras, I at one time had two ALICE ammunition pouches on the left side. Each carried 3 magazines and had a black clip to fasten them. Why did I do this? Because I thought it was cool…..all of this runs into issues with the modern speed load and tactical reloads. You can still purchase a dump pouch which attaches to the belt kit. If you reload from a pouch carrying 3 magazines, you leave two. You can do a reload with retention, which means that you now have to put an empty back in the pouch with the live mags. What we used to do was throw the empty mags down the front of our smock. They would be held in there by the belt from the belt kit and the front zipper of the smock. Or down the front of a jungle shirt. With wearing plates, you have an issue, and you might need to get the dump pouch if you want to do reloads with retention.
Below is me in the 90’s, in 1 PARA, posing in a trench. You can see the two ammo pouches that I had on the right side. I had miscellaneous items in those. I think the radio is in a separate pouch attached between the utility pouches?
JayJay’s is not compensating me for this article, and they don’t even know about it, but they did once send me a set of commanders webbing for that review a while back (above), so I will post the link here to their Gen 4 webbing page where you can see examples of these various pouches:
JayJay’s Gen 4 Webbing LINK.
Now let’s look at the rear admin pouches, and I will assume that we have 4 of them. ‘Back in the day’ we were supposed to carry stuff to survive with for 48 hours. I did discuss brews and cooking and weather in the previous articles that I linked to at the start. But since prehistoric times, things have moved on, and you will need to consider the use of an IFAK (not simply a first field dressing taped to your shoulder!) and night vision gear / batteries.
Given that you likely have an assault pack, you have options to divide your gear between the two systems. But you have to consider that you may need to dump the assault pack to be able to fight effectively (cache it in an ORP like we used to do with rucks, or leave it at some secure place, such as behind the support fire line). If you do that, you need to make sure you have essential gear with you in your belt kit. Which would include your IFAK, NODs and batteries etc. Oh, before I forget, for NODs you would need a helmet, which you might be wearing, or it could go under the lid of the assault pack, or we used to clip the helmet to the side of the belt kit with a clip on the bottom of the harness (suspenders). Let’s assume a scenario where it is super hot and humid and you are patrolling up to an ORP (or Mission Support Site (MSS)). You reach the ORP, over the hill from the objective, and cache your assault packs, taking the helmet out from under the lid and putting it on. You are probably already wearing a plate carrier because you are about to engage in offensive action. Your NODs are in your webbing. If you are really good, you are doing this attack at night anyway, so the point is moot. You need to have your NODs with you so that you can transition in and out of them at dawn and dusk.
Or, assuming your overall gear is not too heavy, you do the whole thing in belt kit and assault pack. You assault pack should not be over 30/35 liters. The primary use for it is to carry stuff that will not fit in the belt kit, and oversized items such as cold weather gear. This will depend on the season. If the weather is cold, you can carry either a ‘woobie’ (poncho liner) or alternatively one of those snugpak type faux-down jackets, that are contained in a stuff sack.
If the weather is hot, you are looking at a bunch of water. You can allocate up to two of the admin pouches on the belt kit to water bottles (canteens) and you can also carry a Camelback in the assault pack. You could have, for example:
- Far left rear admin pouch: canteen sitting inside metal mug.
- Left rear admin pouch: IFAK. Possibly partial pouch-size a separate internal blow-out pouch, leaving space for additional items.
- Right rear admin pouch: NODs and ancillaries.
- Far right rear admin pouch: Canteen / emergency rations / possible small Hexamine stove.
- You need to fit some form of water purification gear into there, either a pump or tablets.
Here is a suggested list of things that you may consider carrying between the webbing and the assault pack. Watch the weight of the whole thing!
- Weapon cleaning kit / oil: enough gear to battle clean your weapon and prevent it rusting up out in the elements.
- Cleaning rod, the type you can screw together. For stuck cases.
- Spare parts / bolt for your rifle. Carried in a flare tube.
- Night vision.
- Thermal.
- Flashlight.
- Water: canteen or camelback.
- Water purification system or tablets and way to easily refill camelback.
- Spare batteries of various types.
- Spare socks and foot powder.
- Anti-monkey butt powder.
- Blister kit.
- Boo-Boo first aid kit (separate from IFAK).
- Any medications you need.
- Pain meds / cough drops / hard candy.
- Warm gear as necessary – seasonal dependent.
- Extra water as necessary- seasonal dependent.
- Rations or snacks? Pemmican?
- Stove or not to stove.
- Morale snack – chocolate or something.
- Sewing kit.
- Metal mug / canteen combination or mess kit?
- Fork (also known as racing spoon).
- Poncho / Tarp with bungees and tent pegs.
- Helmet.
- Consider on hot / humid operations where you are moving up to an assault, carrying the plate carrier under the lid of the assault pack. At a tactical judgment call, these can be put on short of arriving at the ORP.
It is hard to find an assault pack that works well with a rear plate. At least with a belt kit you have the ledge of those rear pouches to rest the bottom of the pack on. The Berghaus Munroe was always the daypack of choice for us:
There is so much to say about the handgun issue. At HEAT 1 Combat Tactics classes we focus on fixing any issues with the rifle so that we can rapidly get back into the fight. There are clear issues if your rifle stops running, or breaks, and you are alone or don’t have many people with you, or you are at close range to the enemy (such as CQB). In such cases, you might need to go to handgun. In many other cases the handgun is mostly useless. If you are with a squad, and your rifle stops working and can’t be fixed right there and then, there are plenty of other things you can be doing rather than pulling out a handgun and banging away. If you have wounded, take his rifle, or do first aid if appropriate to the circumstances. There is also the weight of the handgun to be considered, and handgun magazines, compared to replacing it with rifle magazines. But I know I am fighting against the tacticool universe, and Special Forces carry handguns, so I’m cooked!
The issue of a handgun is a thorny one. You can source belt kids that have a MOLLE space where you can attach a handgun (JayJay’s has one). You can do that in place of the commanders pouch. That might be a solution to that. It doesn’t solve the issue of those who opt to have mag pouches either side in order to be able to carry up to 12 mags, without having to put any of those mags on their chest. The idea behind that is that you are trying to never run out of ammunition! You also have to balance that against the weight issue. You also have the assault pack, into which you can place additional magazines. You could run 6 mags left side, commanders pouch right side, with several spare mags in the assault pack.
What you could do, is have a chest harness, like the ones used for hunting, and put the handgun on your chest while wearing the belt kit and assault pack. Or, if using a plate carrier, have the holster on the front of the carrier. That would have the advantage, if you end up having to dump your belt kit for any reason, you would still have a handgun attached to you.
Here is one of my boys wearing the JayJay’s belt kit. It has the patrol harness, which isn’t necessarily good for wearing with a plate carrier. Because the British Military wear plates all the time, what is useful is a low profile harness that JayJay’s also sells, that goes under the plate carrier. The belt kit below has the two mag pouches left side, the four utility pouches, and the commanders pouch on the right side. This was at an airsoft event with the plastic knife in one of the pouches. For live fire at MVT, he hasn’t had any problem using this kit. He is wearing plates under the harness. He’s currently about 5′ 9 and 160 lb and this set up fits him well; it’s certainly not too big.
I think that for me now, if I was to pack this gear, I would ensure I had all the necessary items for operating with only my belt kit: ammo, water, IFAK, NODs, Thermal (commanders pouch), batteries, small amount of rations, water purification. I would put other stuff in my assault pack, such as weapon repair kit, food to eat, stove, tarp, woobie / warm gear, extra water (Camelbak), spare pair of socks, foot powder, helmet under the lid. I would consider the type of operation I was going to conduct and make a decision on the plate carrier, to take it or not to take it. Of course I am not under military orders to wear my plate carrier at all times!
One of the main problems with the belt kit is use in vehicles. The gear is designed for dismounted infantry. That baggage hanging off your rear-end doesn’t go so well inside a vehicle seat. That is why the battle belt I use still has rear pouches but they are not so large, and it allows me to sit or drive in a vehicle. If you are dismounted infantry being transported in a vehicle, or even sitting on a bench seat in the back of a truck, it works fine. Vehicle crews, not so much.
Given my list of items that you might need, above, you will have to see how much the items weigh and make decisions depending on the duration and task of whatever mission you are faced with. You should have the ability to do a short patrol with just your belt kit. If you are going out for longer, consider what you need to plus up on, such as additional rations. The temperature or season is going to have an impact, in terms of water or warm gear required. You do not need to carry too much weight! I know that the prepper mantra is often ‘two is one, one is none’, but I would seriously consider going without stuff if it doesn’t seem likely that you will need it. You’ll soon find out! You know how it is, when you carry stuff around forever ‘just in case’ but you never actually use it. There is a fine line there between safety gear you need (such as an IFAK) and just carrying too much stuff.
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