Qualification for gear queers

[Doc Safari]

This thread has brought out some pretty funny posts though!

Yep. And I don't care what none of y'all say, I'm not giving up my gen-u-ine military contractor baseball cap with American flag velcro patch in coyote tan, neither.

[Junglist]

Haha! Exactly but this whole fobbit business is on the rise! I think mainly due to video games. You know how many people buy some ridiculous DE .50 (no offense of you own one but please admit they aren't for everyone) just because it was on call of duty? Or some oversized revolver used for turkey shoots but all of the sudden it's tactical because it was in call of duty..... Right? These are gear queers of the worst! They annoy me to no end!

I was recently told that they want me to work in the detachment HQ as the guy in the slot at present will be deploying in the development detachment. I have no desire to sit at the FOB hanging out in the TOC.

[Von Rheydt]

All the talk of "gear queer" makes me wonder what would you all qualify as a gear queer? Just curiosity speaking.

As some have said there are positives and negatives. There are those that need to know all about kit for their work, and there are those who buy and fondle kit because they are sad lonely people.

The Brits use the term "kit pest" to describe a gear queer.

It is one thing to be a gear queer with good skills, but if you are a "shit bloke" who happens to be a kit pest, you are not well thought of.

Kit monster is used too ...... mainly for those who accumulate kit.

You would not believe the amount of kit that is being destroyed in Iraq right now. How about a connex full of brand new Paraclete vests with plates being torched? Our contract is running out in a few days and everything is being destroyed. Cheaper than sending it back.

S'nuthin, I can show you places in the UK where entire collections of Sherman tanks were buried after WW2. Some years ago a mate dug up some WW2 Harleys - he is a hobby metal detecting treasure hunter. He said that from the excavation of the dig it looked like a trench had been dug, lined with canvas tarps, the bikes ridden in, greased up, covered up and then buried. Local farmers regularly complain about metal gear snagging their ploughs (plows) .... I have seen a couple of salvaged, rebuilt M1 carbines - woodwork was rotted to shite on both, metal was 85% ok and polished out fine before refinishing.

Two reasons are mooted around for the burial of kit: 1. Too expensive to ship back to the USA; 2. They were just a tad suspicious of Ivan so thought the would leave a stockpile in the UK....just in case.

[seb5]

That has me humming Mortarritaville in the background. Reminds me of 2007.

[Surf]

i have a friend who's the resident 'gear queer' on his SWAT team, but he's the one in charge of equipment selection and training. he's as enthusiastic about the latest in gear as i am, except he's coming from the end user point of view.

This pretty much sums me and one of my job duties up perfectly.

Depends on how you use it. "Gear Queer" is one of those terms like "that guy" that can be used self-deprecatingly or in good humor, or it can be used more seriously as a derogatory term.

Whenever I teach a class I always look em over, look at their kit, pistols, rifles etc and pick out "that guy", or "those guys". In a jovial break the ice manner, usually during a weapons inspection to verify unloaded, I generally make it known to him / them when checking them out that he / they are "that guy". I usually preface it by saying there is no problem with it, because amongst my peer group I am also thought of as being "that guy". I continue on by saying, I hope you know how to use that shit and your not "that other guy". It usually gets a good laugh from everyone and it also gets my thoughts out on "that other guy". But that other guy usually can't help themselves anyway but I have methods of dealing with that as it arises.

[The Cat]

Yep. And I don't care what none of y'all say, I'm not giving up my gen-u-ine military contractor baseball cap with American flag velcro patch in coyote tan, neither.

Brown. Coyote brown.

[Dachs]

Haha! Exactly but this whole fobbit business is on the rise! I think mainly due to video games. You know how many people buy some ridiculous DE .50 (no offense of you own one but please admit they aren't for everyone) just because it was on call of duty? Or some oversized revolver used for turkey shoots but all of the sudden it's tactical because it was in call of duty..... Right? These are gear queers of the worst! They annoy me to no end!

Hahaha. The flip side of that is being a guy who loves both video games and guns. I love talking with the self proclaimed gun gurus at work about guns "I use on COD" or telling them that "I got my eotech because thats what I use on COD and want to be consistent."

The look on their faces before they realize I'm just messing around is priceless.

[Bad Medicine]

Hahaha. The flip side of that is being a guy who loves both video games and guns. I love talking with the self proclaimed gun gurus at work about guns "I use on COD" or telling them that "I got my eotech because thats what I use on COD and want to be consistent."

The look on their faces before they realize I'm just messing around is priceless.

Yeah and that you pop a quarter in a machine and out comes a soda that gives you the ability to reload 3x faster!

[J8127]

I fall into the unit gear guy category. I spend way too much money trying out new fancy guccy bullshit but on the flipside I have used it all downrange and turn around and tell my unit what to be buying everyone else and train all our new guys how to set their shit up.

The only gear queers I have an actual problem with are the ones who use stupid gear and equipment to make up for a lack of skill. Hey if you buy your own Ops-Core Helmet and Crye JPC to go play airsoft in because thats your thing, more power to you man, but when you have three flashlights, an IR pointer, two visible lasers, and a 1-8 shortdot on your Bushmaster with 50 rounds through it and you don't even understand how a firearm works, then I want to punch you.

EDIT- And my desert tan velcro cap with U.S. Flag has been on my head on missions in Iraq and Afghanistan and isn't going anywhere either, viva la poser hat!

[BCmJUnKie]

How about this for a "qualification", you buys all kinds of useless SHIT and dont even SHOOT, or rarely shoot.

Practice is the only way to progress. You dont get better by having top of the line gear and go to the range every few weeks, or every 6 months.