Rolling On The Floor...etc. etc.  :lol:

Yep.  Subtle's just another five-letter word for ol' Mikey.  

-Chris

1) Before you wear them, go over them with a lighter and get rid of the loose threads (aka Irish Pennants).  The thread is usually nylon-based, and burning off the excess will often create a small patch of melted goo that prevents the rest from unravelling.

2) You get what you pay for.  Learn how to sew, or smile sweetly at your friendly local seamstress and have her reinforce some of the seams while she's sewing on the velcro for your nametags and shoulder patches.

3)  If you don't like 3-Color Desert, don't buy it.  Don't blame the manufacturer for your bad choice in color :-)

-Chris

Delta_echo:  Transmitting from a Motorola 7100 FRS/GMRS radio, I did not encounter any problems with people understanding me.  You HAVE TO hold the PTT button down for at least two seconds so the first part of your transmission doesn't get chopped off, but you have to do that on many for-real sets as well.  The PTT button is built like a tank, and is easily attached to your LBE.  The mic itself is solid and won't slip during use.  I used mine all through OP: Cold Burn, and was able to communicate with other players with no problem as long as the transmission wasn't walked on.   The thing to remember with throat mics is that you do have to vocalize in order to get the mic to pick up.  Whispering does not cause the voicebox in your throat to resonate enough for the mic to pick anything meaningful up.  The Gladiator is, IMO, several steps above a FireFox (which I also have), and is probably the best you'll find this side of a full-scale LASH rig.  

Busta:  Have you actually had any experience with the Pryme Gladiator yourself?  

-Chris

http://www.pryme.com

These people make some seriously good commo gear.  I use one of their Gladiator series throat mics on my FRS/GMRS radio for airsoft, and one of their listen-only earpieces at work.  Both are dead reliable.  I'm thinking of opossibly getting the adapter cable for a ASTRO/SABRE radio so I can use the throat mic at work (especially if I go for ATVs or some other high-speed detail).  

If you don't want to spend close to a hundred bucks on the mic, look at their 4-FUN series of mics.  They have a light-duty throat mic there for $59.- with the right type of plugs for FRS radios.  But Phoenix is right...you get what you paid for.  If you want something that looks hard-core, and holds up to abuse, you're going to have to fork out some cash.  $30.- just isn't going to cut the mustard.

-Chris

Ain't no such thing as a free lunch.  If you carry enough mags to feed your weapon through the day, and have them placed where they're easy to get at (i.e.: up front) then you're going to have trouble going prone.  If you use high-caps you can get away with carrying only a few mags, but they'll sound like a maraca as soon as you fire some rounds, and winding them is a pain (it also exposes you...the winding mechanism on most high-caps makes a very distinctive sound).  Sub-loads work OK, but limit how much you can carry.  

If you're starting out, get the most basic rig you can find that will do the job, and expect to buy a better one later on (you can always keep the old rig as a loaner).  Wear it, use it, and figure out what fits your operational needs.  Then pick up a good rig once you know what you want. None of the teams here have requirements on what LBE you use, so get what works for you in the end.  High-speed/Low-drag is how you perform, not how you look.  As Murphy's Laws of Combat state:  "If it's stupid, but it works...it's not stupid."

So endeth the lesson :-)

-Chris

One of my classmates referred to the magazine of his sidearm as a "clip" during firearms training at the Academy.  He did not do this a second time.  Neither did anybody else.

"A clip is something you wear in your hair, ladies.  The thing that holds the cartriges for your weapon is called a 'magazine'"

-Chris

I have vivid memories of being on the wrong end of someone's M60 at Cold Burn.  Never before has a scraggly six-inch-high clump of dry grass looked so inviting.  Never before have I wished so hard it was larger, denser, and more BB-proof.  

-Chris

A agree with Andy here.  When DET-5 was first started the team patch included some military-specific insignia.  We changed that for the same reasons that have been mentioned here.  I don't wear a service-branch tape on my BDUs, instead I use my team, whether it's DET-5 or SWAIRTAC.  I believe there are some regulations about wearing a U.S. flag patch on one's uniform, but they are rarely enforced (just like many of the other regs pertaining to the presentation of the flag...pet peeve).  I believe there are also laws regarding the wearing of "U.S. Army" insignia and ID tapes on clothing.  Rule of thumb:  If you haven't earned the tab or patch IRL, don't wear it.

The situation for Law-Enforcement (LE) patches and insignia is, if anything, even more serious then for military ones.  I would strongly reccomend against wearing department or unit patches when playing airsoft, and if I encounter someone wearing them, I will - unofficially and politely - ask that the person remove them.  By appearing to be a law-enforcement officer one is committing a crime, even if one does not specifically state "I am a police officer".  At the very least this will engender a severely negative attitude in any law-enforcement personnel encountered while wearing the insignia.  The worst-case scenario is arrest, confiscation of one's airsoft guns and uniform, and, eventually, legislation aimed at restricting or banning airsoft.  Needless to say, this kind of negative interaction with the authorities is something we, as airsofters, want to avoid.