Iraq Ninja
09-24-10, 00:34
Looking back over the past decade, many aspects of the warfighter's kit has evolved. One aspect of this that has always intrigued me is clothing.
With the recent release of Arc'teryx's new line of clothing, it struck me how far we have come since the days when cotton was king on the battlefield. Though I have yet to try the new Arc'teryx clothing, there is no denying that it is the current hot topic in the tactical clothing industry.
First came the new clothing patterns using the standard materials. In some ways Crye led the way in breaking the mold in design, but other companies upped the ante by using state of the art materials. One stumbling block was the fact that the warfighter often survived explosions, but suffered from burns. Thus began the trend for fire resistant materials.
I suspect that 50/50 NYCO based clothing, along with the other traditional materials will be in our inventory for a long time, and the average grunt will not benefit to the current trends. But, it is interesting to see how far we have come.
So, what does the future have in store for us? Have we pushed the current technology to the limits? I think that the current high costs associated with these new designs will be a limiting factor in how prevalent they become, even for those who need such items.
Thoughts?
With the recent release of Arc'teryx's new line of clothing, it struck me how far we have come since the days when cotton was king on the battlefield. Though I have yet to try the new Arc'teryx clothing, there is no denying that it is the current hot topic in the tactical clothing industry.
First came the new clothing patterns using the standard materials. In some ways Crye led the way in breaking the mold in design, but other companies upped the ante by using state of the art materials. One stumbling block was the fact that the warfighter often survived explosions, but suffered from burns. Thus began the trend for fire resistant materials.
I suspect that 50/50 NYCO based clothing, along with the other traditional materials will be in our inventory for a long time, and the average grunt will not benefit to the current trends. But, it is interesting to see how far we have come.
So, what does the future have in store for us? Have we pushed the current technology to the limits? I think that the current high costs associated with these new designs will be a limiting factor in how prevalent they become, even for those who need such items.
Thoughts?