Private Bloggins

The FrontLine™ has been a long evolution.  The intent here was to get the gear of the leg.  According to studies done by Defence R&D Canada, anything worn on the leg can cause the wearer to expend up to 15% more energy when walking.  And gear worn on the leg just sucks anyway.  We decided to mount the Medic’s first line casualty treatment gear on their chest where it was most accessible.  The challenge was to keep it low profile and not impede other equipment worn there.  All the ones that were on the market mounted their magazines behind the pouch.  Mags are heavy, if worn forward, when the pouch is opened, they can dump or cause too much weight on the flap.  We wanted the mags forward for a nice clean draw and overcame the front heavy issue by making the pouch a top loader preventing it from opening too far.  We also put rigid HDPE in the outside flap for more support.  The advantage is now you can work out of it, even while in the prone and you’re much less likely to dump the contents because the flap doesn’t open that far.  The internal MARS™ also lets you secure internal contents.

I’ve done a modification to the mounting method of my personal FrontLine™.  Keep in mind this is a person mod and is not sold this way (unless there is customer demand for such a product).  During marine interdiction operations when climbing the caving ladder to board a ship (or really anytime you are climbing), anything at all on the chest pushes you further away from what you are climbing and makes it much more difficult and strenuous.  What I’ve done to mine is attached four ITW GTSR Split-Bar Latch  onto the front of my plate carrier, and four GTSR Split-Bar Body on each side of my FrontLine™.  On the back of the FrontLine™ I locked in two ITW Snap Dragons with two MALICE CLIPS®, and used 1″ webbing and a triglide to lock them onto my plate carrier.  I tied little two bead lanyards on the Snap Dragons for an easy pull.  This allows me to quickly release the FrontLine™ from my plate carrier leaving a very low profile front for climbing.  It can be very quickly reattached.

On the front I’ve mounted a First-Light® Tomahawk™ mounting bracket.  I wear the light on my belt on a second bracket, then if I require a task light, I move it from my belt to my FrontLine™.  I don’t like it permanent on my chest to keep my profile lower.  I really dislike head mounted lights because everywhere you look, you shine your light, including right into people’s faces.  The best task light I’ve found is chest mounted.  I can look wherever I want without compromising my position or blinding people.  The other advantage is that the light is always on the casualty so anyone that comes to talk to you can see what is going on.

FrontLine™ open to show contents.

FrontLine™ side profile, shows personal quick release/attach modification and First-Light® Tomahawk™ attached.

FrontLine™ mounted to the front of a plate carrier.

Also of note is that I remove the secondary mag retainers that come with it.  Just a personal preference.  Contents of my personal FrontLine™ are advanced level and are as follows:

Outside:

• 1 x Customized quick release mounting system
• 1 x First-Light® Tomahawk™ mounting bracket
• 3 x 30 round carbine mags

Inside:

• 3 x Pair of Nitrile Gloves
• 3 x Cas Cards
• 1 x Wrist Restraints
• 1 x Sharps Shuttle
• 1 x 4″ Olaes® Bandages
• 1 x Blast™ Bandage
• 2 x Combat Gauze® Z-Fold
• 1 x Combat Gauze® Trauma Pad
• 2 x C-A-T®
• 1 x SOF-TT®-W
• 3 x Warrior Wipes
• 1 x S.A.S.™ – Surgical Airway Set
• 2 x 14g x 3.25″ angiocath’s
• 1 x 28Fr NPA
• 1 x HALO Seal 2 pack
• 1 x Triagular Bandage

FrontLine™ w/3 Mag Pouches

FrontLine™