Quick update

Just a quick update. I bought some FSBE 2 stuff and won one auction on Ebay. Some stuff will be coming in from France next week: 1x 2005 belt weapon catch, 1x 2005 leg panel, 1x 2004 dive belt adapter, 1x 2005 dive belt adapter and 4x 2004 M4 mag pouches. Got all of that pretty cheap and the leg panel was too cheap to pass up.

My FSBE 2 is on the verge of being finished, finalized. All I am missing now are the small  pieces like holster adapter, 90° MOLLE converter, sabre pouch, baton pouch and the first line kit, consisting of warbelt, suspenders.

Other than that, it's pretty much complete. I never thought I would own a whole collection, just got really lucky these last couple of months.

I will probably not move on to MLCS/RLCS/SFLCS, because I don't want to spend all that money again on a new set. In the coming months I will probably continue my hunt for an MSA Sordin MICH RANGER COMMUNICATION SYSTEM (MRCS) and probably a real MSA MICH 2000 and a real NOROTOS 3 point shroud. Those are pretty easy to find compared to the FSBE 2 stuff.

Anyway I'll post some pics when the stuff gets here!

Signing off,

mil-freak

FSBE 2 Issued CIRAS

Coming weekend I will be receiving an FSBE 2 issued CIRAS. This system was on sale a few years ago from a French collector. It was sold to someone in Belgium and after a while it was sold on to someone in the Netherlands.

I was interested in buying it a few years ago and asked the Belgian ex-owner if he still had it. But unfortunately he said he had sold it.

Then a few years pass and this time I asked him who he sold it to. He did not remember unfortunately. So I posted a thread on a Belgian airsoft forum, on which the CIRAS was sold, asking who bought the CIRAS. Nothing more, nothing less. And almost straight away, I received a PM from a Dutch guy telling me he bought it a few years ago, and he asked me why I wanted to know.

I of course, made him an offer he could not refuse and so we will be doing a trade. A few of my items for his CIRAS.

Here are some of the pics he took for me.

Lovely old CB color

 

This will basically conclude my search for FSBE 2 armor, as I will have all the issued armor systems. The CIRAS, RRS-V and MBSS, all dated 2004 and 2005! I'm a happy guy!

Incoming stuff

Here are the 2 latest purchases I made on Ebay:

FSBE 2 med pouch, no tag, but I suspect it's an early edition judging from its color. No black zipper though. But it comes from a well known seller from whom I got my MBSS.

I will also have another FSBE 2 med pouch coming in from another source. This guy didn't contact me after I paid him. I filed a paypal dispute a few days ago after 17 days of no replies to my PMs. And today after having paid 25 days ago (and 2 days before the dispute gets judged) he finally contacts me and said he has sent it and will send me the trackingnumber ASAP.

I don't know whether to believe him or not. But one thing is for sure, I won't be closing the dispute until I get the pouch. But if I do get the pouch and paypal has decided in my favor and reimburse my money, I will send him the money. I hate scammers and I won't scam anyone myself.

The other purchase I made is an LBT-1476A also known as London Bridge Trading Direct Action Backpack. They were on sale for $80 on Ebay, usually they sell for $151 on LBT's website.

I couldn't choose the color and they were only available in LBT's Mouse Gray which is their version of Ranger Green aka Smoke Green.

Fortunately Ranger Green is one of my favorite colors apart from Coyote Brown.

So I was lucky they were selling this version.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJzEbFgMFlM&feature=channel

I will be using this pack daily for work.  It's not too flashy and doesn't have any camouflage pattern on it, unlike the other backpacks I have. So this will suit my needs better.

FSBE 2 RRS-V

Pics of my recently acquired FSBE 2 issued RRS-V (Rhodesian Reconaissance Vest) made by Eagle Industries 2004.

Unfortunately no tags other than the old green tag. No idea as to what it means.

Buckle is dated 2004 and are National Molding buckles as opposed to ITW Nexus buckles which are used in the newer stuff.

Comparison between civilian 2007 version on the left and FSBE 2 issued 2004 versio on the right. Notice the color difference.

And loaded with ammo pouches, frag pouches, hydration carrier and admin pouch (all FSBE 2 issued).

Different config, but with MBSS back plate and MAP (all FSBE 2 issued).

Allied Industries admin pouch w/LT

I never thought I could find one, let alone having one in my possession. I'm talking about the FSBE 2 issued Allied Industries admin pouch with lightholder. It's one of the more rare pouches and really hard to find, but I did get one after all. Again, it cost me an arm and a leg, but it was so worth it.

As you can see it even has the original operator's flightbadge on it (notice the Recon Jack symbol!). A US Marine did a background check for me and as it turns out, the owner is still in the USMC and still active in MSOB. I can't disclose his rank or MOS though or which Battalion he is in.

Surprisingly it also featured 2 lights inside. One is a mini Maglight and the other is a little red LED light. All that together makes this my favorite piece in the collection so far. It's not the rarest piece nor is it the most expensive piece, but the personal touches of the original owner/operator make it unique and therefore extra cool in my eyes.

And here is the NSN tag. It's an early edition from 2004 according to the contract date, so that makes it worth even more.

 
A final comparison between the other AI and EI admin pouches. From left to right we have: Allied Industries 2007, Allied Industries 2004 and Eagle Industries 2009.

Oakley SI Assault boots

A few days ago these arrived on my doorstep. Oakley SI Assault boots in desert tan color. Actually I never liked the look of these boots before. But seeing them worn by Special Operational Forces operators made me like them more and more.

Unfortunately I was not able to buy the USA made version of the SI Assault boots as Oakley USA does not sell them to A: civilians and B: to people living outside of the USA. There are some that you can find in Ebay auctions, but most of the time these are secondhand, used items. Not such a good idea when it comes to hygiene.

So I got these from www.polimil.co.uk , a British webshop that I used before for purchasing Oakley products. They sell at a very competitive price, about half the price of what sells on Ebay. And they offer good communications and lightning fast shipping. Usually it takes about 3 days from ordering to receiving the product.

I already own and use a pair of these boots in black. The black ones are in size US 10 and I found them to be a little bit too small. Especially when they were brand new out of the box, I had to take out the sole padding to fit my Walkfit® inserts. And still they hurt my feet for a couple of days till I broke them in. Now they fit very well, although I could use a little more room for the toes.

That is why I ordered size US 11 this time and these desert tan pair of boots fit perfectly. There's not much difference between the black and tan boots, except for venting holes on the desert tan pair of boots. Presumably for venting in hot arid conditions. But other than that they are identical.

These are assault boots and as such, they are not recommended to be worn as hiking boots. One disadvantage that I have noticed, is that the sole is very slippery on wet surfaces. Not a good thing for assault boots. But comfort wise, they are excellent.

I usually wear a size US 10 in Bellevilles and for Oakleys I wear a size 11. They run a bit small, and I would recommend buying 1/2 or 1 size bigger. Also they do not set off the metal detector at airports, so they are good to go for traveling.

Alta knee pads

I found these pads on ebay a few weeks ago. They are Alta knee pads in 3 color desert camouflage. I think they stopped making these, so they're kinda hard to get right now. That's why I bought them right away. The price was lower than the current color pads and shipping was low as well. All in all a good deal again IMHO.

 

 

Eagle Industries admin pouch with lightholder

I got this in yesterday: an Eagle Industries admin pouch with lightholder FSBE 2 style.

I ordered this before I sourced the issued admin pouch with lightholder. Most likely, I will be keeping this one to put on my CIRAS, while I put the issued version on my issued RRS-V.

Naturally, I took some pics of it with my current issued admin pouch without lightholder.

 

 

Another score!

Yesterday evening, I closed a deal to buy a 2004 FSBE II issued RRS-V. This means it's in the old coyote brown color, the rare one and therefore worth more. I got a pretty good deal I think. Definitely worth it.

I was talking to the seller, who also happens to collect FSBE II stuff and I learned a lot from him. I am now worried that some of my newer edition stuff might be fake. But then again, all the stuff I got was either from military guys or collectors. So I guess it should be all legit.

Earlier this week I got some other stuff in as well from Canada.

2004 issued SAW pouch

2007 issued shotgun shell panel

issued FROG hood 

FSBE II admin pouch with light!

Score!!!!! I sourced an FSBE II admin pouch with light. It didn't come cheap, but it's well worth the money as a collector's item. I bought it from a guy that sells military gear on Ebay.

As you can see, it comes with the flightbadge of the original owner/operator. The badge features Recon Jack, which is the symbol used by Force Recon Marines. I have blotted out the operator's name for opsec/persec reasons.

It also comes with 2 little lights that the operator attached to the admin pouch, which is a nice personal touch.

And here's the NSN tag. As you can see it's an early version of the admin pouch, dated 2004, which makes it even more rare than the later 2007/2008 versions.

Now the waiting game begins. I'm hoping it will be here within 2 weeks.

New canteen pouch in!

bought this canteen pouch on Ebay. It only cost 29 euros including shipping, what a deal! It's FSBE II issued of course, early gen with a green tag. Nice score even if I say so myself.

And here you can see the difference between the civilian pouch on the left and the military FSBE 2 issued one on the right.

Jacket and some more jacketsssssss ...

I have been taking a lot of pictures these couple of days, because I finally figured out how to use my mother's digital camera. The pictures turned out to be over exposed at first, but I found out how to use the white balance feature.

Some pics are still a bit blurry, because I was too lazy to use the tri-pod. But most of them are ok and I am pleased with most of the results.

So I have been capturing my entire FSBE II collection on digital camera and have added pics of the individual pouches. Check them out here: http://www.photobucket.com/fsbe2.

I also received a black SPEAR fleece jacket today, which I got for a pretty good price.

I already had a coyote brown one, but in size XL, which was a bit too big.

This L fits me perfectly and I can wear it under my PCU level 5 jacket without it all being too bulky. Here's my PCU level 5 jacket by the way. I wear it almost every day. It's light and easy to carry when I don't wear it. It provides good protection against wind but not so water resistant. You definitely won't stay dry in a heavy rainstorm.

 

Besides the PCU level 5 jacket, I also have a PCU level 5 pants/trousers, which completes the level 5 set.

 For heavy rainstorms, I can use my USMC Goretex parka made by Propper Industries.

 

 

 

It's an excellent hardshell made Goretex Military materials.