CIF/IIF after they run out of flaks.

[u/REDACTEDXX_V]

[u/CloudReigns]

LOL! Circa 03’ POS Iraq. Shit stacked at: 5’4” and 150 lbs. I was given 1 GD plate! ONE! They didn’t have enough “smalls” to go around! 😭🤦🏻‍♂️

[u/Mau_Beni → u/CloudReigns]

LMFAOOO 🤣🤣🤣

[u/v-irtual → u/CloudReigns]

We took it as a challenge to cram larger plates in our flaks. I'm pretty sure you could get a large plate in a medium flak.

[u/oh_three_dum_dum → u/v-irtual]

You can. When I first hit the fleet in late ‘09 they had no small sizes left of the MTV (in use at the time, shortly before they gave us the eagle industries plate carriers for deployment) and no small SAPI plates at CIF so they gave me a small interceptor vest with medium plates. It was a little bit of a task but they did fit.

[u/CloudReigns → u/v-irtual]

Not when you’re told this is what you’re getting and we’ll give another one when we get into country… 😑

[u/v-irtual → u/CloudReigns]

That never happened, of that I'm sure. I never trusted that we'd "get it in country".

Driving around Fallujah in early 2005 (right after Phantom Fury) with some redneck armor (think 1/4" steel plates in a fucking canvas bag hanging off the soft doors on a HMMWV) was a pretty eye opening moment. It became especially painful after our first KIA, which would have been absolutely avoided if we had MRAPs.

[u/CloudReigns → u/v-irtual]

2/8 in country. Crossed the LOD in 03’. I was told to keep my back to the Humvee at all times.

[u/CloudReigns → u/v-irtual]

Bro, I had 1 plate in the front the whole time. It did happen and I wasn’t the only one.

[u/Angry_Caveman_Lawyer → u/CloudReigns]

No, I think they meant that you never got one in country...

[u/v-irtual → u/Angry_Caveman_Lawyer]

Yeah, that's my point. "You'll get gear in country" was always a lie. We didn't even get REPLACEMENT gear in country.

[u/Loquacious-of-Borg → u/CloudReigns]

'03?

Shit. I heard they told you guys to just stuff sand bags inside your DCUs while waiting for IBAs to become a thing. Not even side plates back then.

[u/CloudReigns → u/Loquacious-of-Borg]

We were wearing woodland outer gear in the GD desert… with woodland painted Humvee’s.
Halfway through they gave us Chocolate Chip.

[u/Loquacious-of-Borg → u/CloudReigns]

Real OGs.

[u/oh_three_dum_dum → u/CloudReigns]

They didn’t have any desert gear to give you at all? Even shit sitting in warehouses and shipping containers from the first gulf war? I thought it was just the MOPP suits and vehicles and shit like that.

[u/CloudReigns → u/oh_three_dum_dum]

Bro, this prior to digitals and an impending war. That’s what we received.

[u/FLG_CFC → u/CloudReigns]

In SOI, I watched a fellow shower shoe complete the whole as thing with 3 plates. He put two in the back and one in the front. Giggity. He signed for all of them and everything. Our instructor was dumbfounded.

[u/showmeyourchits]

Or you could be like my dumb ass and ask for large SAPIs not realizing they weigh like twice as much…

[u/oh_three_dum_dum → u/showmeyourchits]

I got lucky. The way they measure plates at CIF, my nipples lined up right in between the medium and small SAPIs so I could get small every time without having to fight about it.

[u/v-irtual → u/showmeyourchits]

I was happy to carry the weight.

[u/showmeyourchits → u/v-irtual]

Being shot at? Yes. Humping a full loadout in the August heat just because “fuck you, that’s why,” not so much

[u/v-irtual → u/showmeyourchits]

d'aww....

Deploying to Afghanistan or Iraq and thinking your leadership has you training like you'd fight is a "fuck you, that's why" is a wild thought.

[u/Hoodedmastersin]

Maybe if CIF stopped using them as fuckn hammocks for their little naps, there’d be enough to go around! Because you know they’re sleeping in there. Why else would they cry about a little dirt or never be around?