First of all why in the world would they wear NVGs for a day time ex/ photo session. Ear pro is also an impediment to battle field awareness no matter how you skin the cat. Knee and elbow pads are just not a necessity, they are available throughout the units (I suppose) but are usually not used because 1. Dictates of the activity in progress 2. They are cumbersome and limit mobility. As much as fan boys would like them to wear every thing imaginable all the time, its is neither practical nor useful. People watch a few tactical videos/ hollywood war movies and think they are gear gurus. Far from the case mate.
Was practicality typing this answer but thought better of it, trying to explain for the Hundredth Time why the little gear seen in public photos and the heroics seen in Hollywood movies aren’t reality. Too many people just think every bit of kit tossed on to a soldier is improving his or her performance or that equipment is the only thing that matters. Annoys me to no end.
Even regulars have access to modern NVGs in the PA. I don’t know what makes people think that the SSG doesn’t, they just see Quad NVGs in a game and assume that is the only modern NVG and everything else is obsolete, despite having never
once seen an actual picture of SSG from a night Ops.
I‘m also surprised to hear that they think Ear protection isn’t present in the SSG or that it’s always used by everyone In other SFs, Though I agree with this one strongly, PA needs to pay more attention to ear protection, even if they think it’s not worth it, it’s good to see SSG at least has starting adopting it now.
Knee and elbow pads are very preference based, you can see even the best SFs not using them and using them as needed and wanted, I’m not sure what the poster thinks a “modern” knee pad is (Lol?) but they are already standard issue to regulars And more so to SSG. It’s their choice to use them or not.
The most hue and cry I see on the forum is about helmets. SSG is almost always using FAST helmets. What else do you want them to use? And no, SSG and not even regulars in PA use original PASGTs, just because it looks like a PASGT doesn’t make it one, modern PASGT style helmets have been in use with even US forces forever And are
still the standard helmet for The Entire USMC and several units in the US army.
PAs standard issue helmet (and the one seen hence seen on SSG before) is the ACH/LCH series (which FYI US forces and SF widely used until the mid 2010s) and not the 80s PASGT series. If only people would bother to do research.
Firstly, Am talking in general about their equipment and from what I have seen in general, Am not talking about the exercise mate. Have a re-read.
I could give two hoots about what they wear when on exercises abroad or at home.
Also, I forgot and thanks for the knock on my hollow head MR General, That NVGs and certain equipment do not have omnipresent mandates. What would we do without you Mr General
The point is a regular SSG soldier is not carrying quality tools for the job he does. Rather they are playing catch-up even though they have been on frontline battles.
The rest of your post is swinging at air type non-sense
You keep complaining but don’t have anything to back up what you say they are missing. They are a force from a third world country, we Don’t have money to throw around. If the SSG was playing so called “catch-up“ then they wouldn’t be performing as well as they did.
I’m not saying they’re the best equipped, not even among the top few, nor are the perfectly trained (if anything I think they need modern training practices a lot more than they need new equipment), And PA can certainly equip them better by managing funds better, but I think whatever The SSG is doing and whatever they’re being given is working, because last I checked a certain neighbor who loves to show off their SF with The latest Panoramic NVGs, rifles, optics and whatever else had quite a predicament when two lightly armed freedom fighters took over Their airbase and held it for an entire week because their SF said “
We aren’t trained for this situation“
The SSG, like every other arm in the PA, needs modernization, of course there are efforts underway to Do so (if you really think SSGs training and kit hasn’t improved in the last 20 years then I’m afraid this is hopeless already), but we cannot expect them to look like a first world SF just because they spent 20 years on the frontline, if anything that War
was the reason they didn’t get better gear, we simply didn’t have the money to buy it for them Because we had a damn war to fund, All the money came after the war ended.
