Task Force Eagle Shoulder Holster Rig

[CNY Militaria]

I picked this up last weekend at an antique store. A nice leather shoulder holster for a left-handed Soldier. Clearly Army used as it has 100MPH tape on it and has "Task Force Eagle" stamped onto it. The training pistol did not come with it, but the marks left in the holster correspond with the betetta in it.

 

See this link for more detail on TF Eagle: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/age...my/tf-eagle.htm

 

 

 

[Nkomo]

VERY nice holster!!!!!!

[RTS]

Very nice LOOKING holster. Where the thumb-break is, it's awful hard to form a good grip on the weapon

and quickly and safely draw. Nice craftsmanship and good collector's piece!

[craig_pickrall]

A nice looking rig Schottzie. How does the mag pouch and holster attach to the belt or what is used to anchor them?

[hawkdriver]

I actually know the answer on this one. That is a theatre made holster used in Bosnia (TF Eagle). Folks would buy these for about $15, and since most people were to lazy to cart their M-16 around, a lot of folks not assigned a pistol would trade their M-16 in and get a Beretta. The mag pouches were prone to getting wet and stretching and on occasion, allowing the full mag to drop out between the flap and sie material.

I was Kosovo, so mine was TF-Falcon, but exactly the same. When we go to the field, you will occasionally see someone drag theirs out for posterity sake.

Interesting story. These things can only be carried in the horizontal position. Some SGM got a burr under his saddle and wanted all pistols to be carried in the muzzle down position so that you weren't "pointing" your weapon at people as you walked around. Took the TF commander to stop that stupid idea because it would mean half the TF going out and buying something else and there was no cheap alternative. This was the same idiot that thought it would be a great idea to have every officer's picture in the TF put up on the entry way of the DFAC so that the enlisted guys could study them and know who to salute when they saw officers in PT uniforms. Took the S2 to throw OPSEC out as an issue to kill that idea.

Officers take a lot of flak for wheeling out stupid ideas, but in many cases, SGM are pushing the cart!

[RTS]

Hawkdriver,

 

Apparently some people can't break out of a garrison mentality on deployment, no?

[hawkdriver]

Yes, we call it "we had a war and garrison broke out". That is why I had to wear a reflective belt inside Balad during the war.

[mpguy80/08]

I actually know the answer on this one. That is a theatre made holster used in Bosnia (TF Eagle). Folks would buy these for about $15, and since most people were to lazy to cart their M-16 around, a lot of folks not assigned a pistol would trade their M-16 in and get a Beretta. The mag pouches were prone to getting wet and stretching and on occasion, allowing the full mag to drop out between the flap and sie material.

I was Kosovo, so mine was TF-Falcon, but exactly the same. When we go to the field, you will occasionally see someone drag theirs out for posterity sake.

Interesting story. These things can only be carried in the horizontal position. Some SGM got a burr under his saddle and wanted all pistols to be carried in the muzzle down position so that you weren't "pointing" your weapon at people as you walked around. Took the TF commander to stop that stupid idea because it would mean half the TF going out and buying something else and there was no cheap alternative. This was the same idiot that thought it would be a great idea to have every officer's picture in the TF put up on the entry way of the DFAC so that the enlisted guys could study them and know who to salute when they saw officers in PT uniforms. Took the S2 to throw OPSEC out as an issue to kill that idea.

Officers take a lot of flak for wheeling out stupid ideas, but in many cases, SGM are pushing the cart!

 

I have one of these holsters around here packed away as well... they weren't made from the best materials, but they served the purpose. On Eagle Base in Tuzla, during Operation Joint Forge, we had "Salute Alley" that was the main road up to the Balkan Grill Mess Hall. The Mess halls there had the Chain of command posted too... for awhile... till they realized how many Bosniaks were paying attention to the pictures. Eventually, we MP's scouted out another route up to the mess hall and avoided Salute Alley all together. My profile picture is taken at Sapper Point, on Eagle Base in the summer of 2000, holding a Russian VSS Silenced Sniper rifle.

 

"SNIPER CHECK, SIR!!!!" Was our greeting of the day... and the response was usually a dressing down, but a few got the hint at how stupid that road became. Especially after a whole platoon lined up seven or eight paces apart and forced the officers to salute, drop the salute, salute again... it got old real quick and was pretty much dropped.

 

Wayne