My "modded" gear...

Hey all, I am wondering how many of you out there would be interested in seeing all of my gear that I have modified? I have a large A.L.I.C.E. ruck that I have done a lot too as well as a small Camelback. I have a chest rig, helmets, a RAV, and uniforms. I have been asked a few times about what I am wearing and how I did it, so, I was thinking a thread here would be a good way to put the information out there for others.


Hope to hear back from you all soon.

Post up the pic's

I second that motion. Post 'em up!

DO IT!

37 views with only 3 reply's??? Not sure this makes it worth the frustration of this old guy trying to figure out how to post pic's. Here is one of a sling I made. I hope the actual pic comes up...

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COOL!!! IT WORKED!!!

This is a copy of a VTAC sling. It was made almost exactly the same way. The main mechanism is the QR from the ALICE ruck shoulder strap.

One advantage of this sling are ease of use. It is a 2 point that uses the QR of the ALICE strap for quick adjustment. Pull the long running end to tighten it to your chest for when you need both hands free. The rifle could also be thrown over your shoulder and tightened to your back. Mine has a QD swivel at the front and a fastex clip at the rear in case I want to totally ditch the sling. With the fastex clip at the rear, I could clip it to a Wolf Hook on my shoulder.

Looks pretty darn close from what google shows. What're the advantages to a VTac though?

Here is a chest rig I wore in Afghanistan. It wasn't painted like this though. I have another FLC that I took pic's of to show how to change the FLC (vest) to a chest rig.

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Here is how to make the chest rig seen above.

First off, you need the Army FLC (Fighting Load Carrier). Forest Park Army-Navy has them in the 3 color desert for $25. You also need some fastex buckles.

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The FLC is basically 3 pieces...

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There are 2 "T" straps that hold the belt in. Undo these and pull it out. Then, zip the 2 vest sides together and feed the belt back in.

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One thing that is missing is the "H" strap that is part of the vest pieces. I have already cut mine off. YOU DO NOT NEED TO DO THIS. I did because I wanted to. It is a bit more bulky with the "H".

For adjustment, I have the main waist belt and the 2 shoulder straps. All use fastex clips to make it easy to ditch. These clips will also let me tighten/loosen as needed. For the waist strap, I tucked all the extra webbing back into the vest "pocket" then pulled out enough for me to grab. The desert one has the ends taped. These are also easy to use while wearing gloves.

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The top part of the vest is folded over and then held in place with zip ties. This allows you to change how much or little area you want.

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After I tighten the shoulders, I just tuck the loose ends down in front.

This is a very light rig and easy to set up. As seen in some of the pic's, there are 2 mesh pocket's on the inside. These are good for dead rags or maps (think BattleZone)

This is my finished one. For the back, I uses part of a chin-strap assembly from an NVG head-harness.



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The same rig as used in Afghanistan.

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I hope you liked and maybe picked up a trick for your own kit.

i will be doing one of these andy, just to let you know this looks freaking sweet. great tutorial to

Man thats awsome Ima make me one to
its so light weight lookin

Here is a simple mod I did to a Camalback Carrier that I picked up for $25. It started as a 3 color desert pattern but I tossed it into some Rit dye.

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I just added some elastic webbing. I use it to hold chem lights, pens, etc. I was just bored and wanted to do something.[

A.L.I.C.E. ruck anyone? I love mine. This one is my 5-6(?) one. When I was Active, we used to be able to take gear and uniforms to Supply and DX(Direct Exchange) stuff.

Most of these mods are pretty standard stuff. Change out hardware for fastex QR ones and change out shoulder and kidney pads.

I also braided some thin rope pieces into a sturdy carrying handle. Now that its done, I just need to take it out for a spin. Harris says it is noticeably more comfortable.

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On mine, I tried my hand at stitching on some MOLLE to the map pocket so I could add the 3 color "butt pack" on top. On the sides, I have an aid kit, e-tool, and 2qt.

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The major mod I made was chnging out the old metal frame for the new MOLLE frame. This piece took some time to do. About....5 yrs. Most of it spent getting the courage to cut it up. Also, I had a couple of deployments to do.

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If anyone is interested, I have all the pic's that show how and where to cut the frame, as well as how I hooked it all together.

I really never thought to use zip ties in replace of stitching something. Time to go add some zip ties now thanks for the tips.

I have finally finished doing up a set of Woodland BDU's. I added pockets and velcro mostly. I have pockets in pockets. I will get some pic's posted soon. I also did up a tactical vest using the 3 color DCU one shown above. I dyed it using RIT Dye and added ammo pouches that were also dyed.

If you have any questions just ask. Leave some comments as well.

My unit's SOP for full battle rattle over here requires us to wear the FLC over the IOTV which I thought was retarded when doing "infantry" maneuvers but made sense when gun-bunnies like us are running around the gun line. The only problem people had when they wore the FLC over the IOTV was they would have to adjust it when it's at it's vest configuration. I set mine like how yours is after seeing it on some NCO that had a 82nd combat patch. People gave me a hard time because my FLC was set up differently than theirs but I laugh back when we start running around the gun line. I honestly think that the FLC is a stupid piece of equipment. Yeah sure it saves your back from aching on training exercises but in this unit where our training exercises are also real time alerts, and real time alerts call for the IOTV to be worn, why not just wear the pouches ON the IOTVs. Well the Army's common sense isn't so common anymore anyway. Yay for our CSM. If I could reclass out of artillery in a heartbeat, I would. Should've been a baby blue.

/rant

Here are a few pic's of my RAID style BDU's.

I added some pockets to the inside of the thigh pockets. These were taken from some ragged out ACU's I had. These are great for holding spare mags and first aid items as well as other small items.
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I added lower calf pockets as well. Overseas I carried an extra Izzy Bandage on the right and a ziploc bag containing a small section of VS-17 panel, 2 mini IR chem lights, and a Turniqwik (basically a large rubber band with a hook at each end).
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I decided to replace four of the belt loops with larger ones for added strength.
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The blouse pockets were all changed. The larger bottom ones were moved to the chest, and the chest pockets were moved to the arms. Velcro was added to the arms as well.
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I also made a new rig to be used with this uniform. It started as a 3 color DCU FLC. I also picked up some cheap 3 color mag pouches. I dyed it all an ODish green.
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I hope this helps if you are thinking of trying it.

This is a set of FRACU's that I dyed using a mix of green, tan, and maybe brown? I call is Sewerflage, due to it kind of looking like nasty sewer water.

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Uniform on the left is FRACU's. This version is more tan than the original ACU's.
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Here shown with my dyed green rig.
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Leave comments and let me know what you think.

Do you do your own stitching sarn't?

Yes I do. I used to do it all by hand. That sucked. Now I have a simple machine. It has worked great so far. One of my next big projects is the addition of MOLLE to my ALICE, as well as a few other mod's.

Today I picked up 2 DCU tops and a pair of pants to do the RAID mod's with. Stay tuned.....

I have lurked on YT since about 2006. I recently took the plunge and started posting video's. My first one's are on my RAID modded DCUs. You can search "How to RAID mod DCUs" or I think you can just search GAandy. Follow along as I show how I did my uniform. I will also do vid's on my gear.

The reason I am doing these is because when I searched for vid's on how to do the stuff I wanted, I found very limited information. My hope is that by making these, others will find what they are looking for and get some motivation to "get off the pot".

Hope you enjoy.