MAR-CIRAS

[Nkomo]

I picked this MAR-CIRAS out of the Bragg area a little while ago and just now got around to taking pictures of it. This is a later made/used version of the MAR-CIRAS.

 

[kriegsmodell]

Very nice .....

[BagmanL6]

Top notch Arch. Top notch.

[Nkomo]

Thanks kindly, fellers.

[riflegreen297]

Nice find. It is always interesting to see how others set up and ran their kit.

[Nkomo]

Nice find. It is always interesting to see how others set up and ran their kit.

Thanks. I agree with you that it is interesting to look at pieces of gear to see how they were set up.

[manayunkman]

What is the story behind this piece of equipment?

[Nkomo]

That is a good question. The CIRAS (Combat Integrated Releasable Armor System) was a body armor that was made by Eagle Industries and had MOLLE webbing so the user could customize the pouches for specific missions or could be customized to the user's own preference. It was mainly a Special Operations used item and came in two different cuts....Land and Maritime.

 

Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combat_Integrated_Releasable_Armor_System

[taucco]

What is the story behind this piece of equipment?

 

To make things simple:

 

-It is late 90's, let's say 1998. ALICE era is ending, MOLLE era is starting. Army, Navy and USAF special forces receive a kit with a vest, pouches, a body armor, rucksack, helmet, communication and cold weather clothing, called SPEAR. It would set the basis for today's items (today General issue Helmet used is still the same, shape of bulletproof insert is still the same, shape of hard armor plates is still the same to name a few).

The body armor (BALCS) is a simple front/back panel thing, buckle closure at the sides.

-1999 this happens https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTj-Gab3JIw, Force recon marines (wearing at the time a police style armor vest) die drowning without managing to get out of their armor carriers.

-Quick donning of armor becomes an important thing (special forces first, from 2007 even general issue armor carriers would have quick ditch capabilities as well).

-Us marines are the first to field a neutrally buoyant body armor, later they would add an impromptu quick release cable that makes the vest fall away from the user when the cable is pulled.

-Upgrade for the BALCS body armor is searched.

-Poor man Tim d'Annunzio owner of Paraclete (which invented and patented MOLLE webbing in 1993 and got ripped off by Natick) is ripped off again when his patent https://patents.google.com/patent/US6948188B2/en?inventor=Timothy+B.+D%27Annunzio got copied again and a 1/1 copy of the patented RAV vest (a VERY successful one in Special Forces) is made by Eagle Industries as the CIRAS

-To avoid patent infringement (paraclete sued eagle industries) the CIRAS is remade in a slightly different form: enter the LAND and Maritime variants. Allegedly the Maritime version is a lighter version and has a simpler ditch mechanism located under the chin for a Maritime environment, the land one is more protective and bulky with a different closure and ditching mechanism location.

-When SPEAR is over around 2002-2003 and various Load Carrying Systems take his place the CIRAS is the selected armor. Navy and Army special forces get the Maritime variant, Rangers and Recon/Force recon Marines get the Land variant. This would stay up unchanged until 2010/2011 when they were superseded by newer things.

 

Arch's one has pouches from the Special forces kit as well. Along the Body armor you got several different vests and a boatload of pouches.

[Nkomo]

Thanks for the explanation, my friend.

[Skysoldier80]

That must be a pretty recent setup because the Coyote Brown stuff didn't really come into play with the Conventional Army until 2013ish. Most of the stuff I wore was OD (private purchase) or that crap ACU stuff. My last deployment, I got all OCP issue stuff. May be something from one of the SOF guys?