Hi al,

 

I recently acquired the pictured vest with a bunch of stuff coming out of "Special Forces".

 

I have not seen a vest like that before, maybe some of you can provide some info on it ?

 

 

Could be private purchase maybe ?

 

Thank you

Noone ? Not the sligthest idea ? Or just not "old" enough

This is not military, however as soon as you say something like that, someone will come out of the woodwork with a picture somewhere. With that said, I believe this to be a police purchase. It has the look of Ranger body armor, but it has the wrong material and it doesn't have the rifle butt corner cut like the Ranger armor had. I think this was probably used by one of the many SWAT/LEO that used the woodland pattern for years, my guess anyway.

I'm with Hawk on this one. Plus, unless I am missing it, I don't see a DOD contract number?

it is exactly what I thought when I first saw it... the only doubt I had was that I got it with a bunch of other gear directly from the woodworks as you call it, from a Special Forces Group. Anyway, thank you all for your opinions and your time..

 

Most likely will a picture of it worn during the Noriega Raid or something like that will show up 3 days after i sold it for a buck ;-)

Well, there you said the key word, SF. It is quite possible that when the Army was still wearing the useless PASGT vest, some SF trooper used unit funds to purchase a COTS vest and after the operation, it simply disappeared into his duffle bag and viola, you now have it in your grip. It may have military use while not being military promulgated.

Lads-

 

Look at the tags closely and you'll see it was made in 1997; when I went to Macedonia for UN Peacekeeping in Sep 1998 we had similar vests issued to us, but they had plates - I believe that some of the contracted security guards (KBR) wore these vests - simple fragmentation protection & can protect against 9mm / 44 mag (Level IIIA)

 

Chris

Yes, that is the case for the vest and basic aramid panels, but that big pocket on the front is to hold a trauma plate. I had a ABA vest I sold to Nokomo, had a plate pocket in front just like this one.

One can not tell by the pictures but it has Pouches for plates on front and back. From the size they look like they would fit the 4corner plate that goes into the RBA. The material itself is what I find most strange.

 

Actually the complete Vest feels like a 90s serbian ripoff...

 

Again, thank you all for your input.