Fielding Better Gear

When the Army first sent soldiers to Afghanistan in 2002, complaints poured in from the war zone about outdated and inadequate gear, ill-suited to the modern battlefield. In many cases, soldiers used their own money to buy commercially available clothing, equipment and body armor. The Army responded with the Rapid Fielding Initiative, a kit of about 50 items ranging from new socks and boots to improved ammunition packs and squad radios meant to improve a soldier's mobility, survivability and lethality. With much of the equipment coming from lists of battle-tested gear already in use by Special Operations forces, the kits include:

Individual

• Advanced combat helmet
• Interceptor body armor with enhanced small-arms protective insert (a composite ceramic plate designed to withstand multiple hits)
• Shoulder and underarm armor inserts
• Close combat optics for M-4 rifle
• PEQ-2A infrared aiming light
• Camelbak hydration system
• Improved first-aid kit
• Ballistic eyewear and goggles
• Monocular night vision device (attaches to helmet)
• Knee and elbow pads
• Army combat boots (hot and cold weather pairs)
• Fleece bib and jacket
• Cold weather cap
• Gloves
• Modular sleeping bag
• Moisture-wicking T-shirts
• Infrared markers (attach to helmet)
• Visual language translator card

Squad

• Thermal weapons sights for machine guns
• Tactical assault ladder
• Grappling hook
• Battering ram and door pry bars
• Flex handcuffs
• Multiband radio
• Fiber-optic viewer (to see under doors or around corners)
• Viper (Vector 21)/Mark VII hand-held laser target locators
• Machine gun combat ammo pack
• Enhanced medic kit
• Helmet-mounted radio system
• Roadside bomb site exploitation forensic analysis gear
• Expray explosive detection field test kit (an aerosol spray that can detect whether an individual has handled explosives)