Anybody knows what's up with sasskit?

[woof]

Well said BillyBlade, i for one support your stance.

Rob

 

[The Lord Poncho]

Ration packs for civilian disposal are clearly marked as such, and there are some companies out there whom sell those, and those only, to the public. Those are the ones I buy. The ones on a certain auction site are usually stolen, and there have been arrests within the MOD regards the same.

I remember years ago when the aircrew watches were practically unobtainable because they were all going onto a certain site as it started to get popular, people were getting booted from the service over it. The MOD were taking that seriously, as they had an NSN value of about £90 IIRC when you peeled off the lift tab on the packaging. They are going the same way now with other, lower value kit. Thankfully.

With ratpacks, if you are issued them and you dont use them, then they are to be returned to stores. It states that clearly in Queens Rules and Regs. It's classed as theft to do otherwise. They are NOT your property to give away en masse. The argument of they are yours to be eaten, well, ammunition is yours to be fired, you dont give that away either. Jackets and combat rig is yours to be worn, but again, you dont give it away. And up in size it goes. It's a function of scale, but it amounts to the same thing. Theft from the Government.

Regards the 'does it make much difference' argument, well, maybe if people stopped doing it, situations would improve. Looking at the cost of the things, the new experimental ones I'm seeing right now are over £20 per unit cost cost to the MOD, and I'd be pretty unhappy at seeing 30 of those given away, no matter what the deemed good cause. Frankly, I dont see 30 off them as a 'small amount' in any case.

Our opinions differ greatly, obviously, and if I get flamed for having and opinion the same as the official line on the matter, then fair enough, but I'll say it like it is.

We flame benefit cheats for nicking from the taxpayer, so how is kit theft different?

Well, our opinions, as you say, differ somewhat! Nonetheless, I agree with most of what you are saying. But rations are a one off disposable issue. Although i often collect my faecal matter during an exercise, i haven’t once been asked to hand it back to stores, and had its contents analysed to ensure i had eaten all of my ration pack.

All soldiers when issued rat packs go through them, and will bin half of their contents before they head out. This will result in an entire 440 litre wheelie bin full of perfectly usable rations before every exercise. I don't throw my rations away. I eat all of my rat pack, i collect a few extra main meals from the pile of discarded rations, and save a complete ration pack to hand over to the Scouts. This cuts down significantly on their costs, the Scouts enjoy having all their food packaged up, and at the end of the day I have saved something from the bin. As an environmentalist, throwing away perfectly good food seems appalling to me. Especially when the food miles involved in the latest rat packs are horrendous (almost nothing made in the UK, most made in Thailand, Poland, China, America, and the four corners of the globe)

I am not advocating stealing kit and selling it for profit. Trying to draw comparisons to me donating a sachet of unwanted corn beef hash to charity, to selling off stolen ammunition or aircrew watches seems somewhat disproportionate.

It's obviously a pet subject of yours, and fair enough. But i think will sleep tonight on a clear conscience!

 

[BillyBlade]

What you've just put doesnt tie in with giving 30 away, or indeed much of your first post at all..

 

[The Lord Poncho]

What you've just put doesnt tie in with giving 30 away, or indeed much of your first post at all..

I can't see why it doesn't Billy, but having an argument about something as inconsequential as this seems silly. We are a long way away from the purpose of the thread anyhow!

Back on topic, I used to live just round the corner from the old SASS place in Lancaster. I used to pop round quite regularly and Paul would show me some new experimental kit he was knocking up, or sell me samples and odd things that hadn't passed the quality control. I once got a black smock for about £50 because the velcro tabs on the cuffs opened up in a different direction to standard.

 

[rik_uk3]

"This will result in an entire 440 litre wheelie bin full of perfectly usable rations before every exercise" In actual fact it results in several bins filled with perfectly usable rations as seen near Sennybridge.

 

[maddave]

People the original post was regarding the Sasskit smocks I would appreciate it if you keep the thread "on topic" please.

Your cooperation is appreciated

Mad Dave
Moderator

 

[BillyBlade]

I can't see why it doesn't Billy, but having an argument about something as inconsequential as this seems silly. We are a long way away from the purpose of the thread anyhow!

Back on topic, I used to live just round the corner from the old SASS place in Lancaster. I used to pop round quite regularly and Paul would show me some new experimental kit he was knocking up, or sell me samples and odd things that hadn't passed the quality control. I once got a black smock for about £50 because the velcro tabs on the cuffs opened up in a different direction to standard.

Not looking for a fight mate, I'm not into that on the internet. It is something I have unashamedly strong feelings about though, mainly because I've mates who've had to beg the Americans for MRE's when on ops because the loggies had feck all ratpacks to send up the line, due to what was meant to be in stores in the UK not actually matching what was in stores. And you can bet it wasn't a surplus....

Anyways, back on topic. All friends again. No need to poke the cage and wake the mod.

 

[Mike8472]

Monk, he indicated he was moving away from doing the general kit and clothing and just speciallising on the militaria collectables. He was saying it was getting much harder to make the kit of the same quality without massive hikes in the cost to the customer.

 

[edelweiss]

Just been reading the latest posts on this topic after being away for a few days. It looks like the discussion initiated a change, as the sasskit webpage now says "The site is under reconstruction." Shame... but probably understandable given the restrictions on the MTP pattern and the fact that probably most UK military personnel have little use for OD or tan smocks ...

Anyway, thanks again for the help to clear this up.

 

[ashgtiturbo]

There are companies licenced to sell the Multicam and MTP pattern now.

I'm 100% positive that if paul made the same quality smocks as the old but in the official CP multicam or MTP pattern he would have a roaring trade! - places such as Solo int in Hereford are often sold out of Multicam smocks!

As for the sub standard new issue kit, i wouldn't be so fooled. Some of the kit is very good such as the new patrol pack and even to some extent the "new" MK7 helmet (even if it was first released over 10 years ago!!)

However the majority of the clothing issued is as poorly made as the 95 pattern kit and almost all of it made in China, The lads know this and still use a variety of kit privately purchased.

I have a couple of genuine WW2 windproofs in both sand and woodland, the silvermans replicas are fairly reasonable and once washed a few times look closer to the original, I think Soldier of fortune do repros of the WW2 smock too but i have had no experience with them.