Dropzone Tactical Recce Smock and Squeeze Me liner

[Kal]

Just looking for any input from those that have these items or have seen them in action.  Seem like pretty good pieces of kit, well thought out and constructed.  Price is a bit obtrusive, but you do get what you pay for.  Any and all advice will be appreciated..... 

 

[Bartok5]

I have the DZ Recce Smock and have used it quite a bit in the field.  It is an excellent piece of kit if you are fan of the "smock" concept.  DZ's product is unquestionably the best smock that I have ever owned, which is saying something.  I've had the Arktis and the Survival Air Sea Services "Kit Carry" smocks, along with more foreign-issue smocks than I can list.  The DZ smock beats them all in terms of design, functionality, quality of manufacture, etc.  It was money very well spent, and you are absolutely correct - you get exactly what you pay for.

You can buy "cheap", and keep buying until you finally get it right.  Or you can save yourself a bunch of heartache, cost and disappointment by purchasing the best possible kit right from the outset.  My reasonably experienced vote goes to the DZ Recce Smock.  It is the "Cadillac" of combat smocks, and is available at a 20% discount to serving members (mine was $360 CAD delivered). 

Just my $.02 as a VERY satisfied DZ customer.

 

[Tpr.Orange]

do you guys have a link to it?

 

[Tpr.Orange]

nevermind found a link for 399.99 you gotta be crazy..

Looks like a great jacket but for that price ill stick with what i got.

 

[MPSHIELD]

http://www.dropzonetactical.com/clothing/reccesmock.html

 

[Med5]

that looks great!! To bad it is not an approved order of dress, Yes I agree our kit is lacking however if we start allowing our troops to piece together what ever kit they want then we start to lose our professionalism by looking like rag tag soldiers who lack discipline.

 

[kyleg]

Allow me to play the devil's advocate for a moment, Med5: As the name suggests, the recce smock is meant to be used on recce missions, where remaining unseen is among the top priorities. Wouldn't it then be unreasonable to say that a soldier must use only issued kit in order to look professional, if he/she won't (shouldn't) be seen? PLus, the fact that it IS made in CADPAT should count for something, as it is not as if the soldier is wearing German Flectarn pants and an AUSCAM shirt with Vietnam Jungle boots.

 

[devil39]

that looks great!! To bad it is not an approved order of dress, Yes I agree our kit is lacking however if we start allowing our troops to piece together what ever kit they want then we start to lose our professionalism by looking like rag tag soldiers who lack discipline.

Some might agree with you Med5, but many of us wouldn't.   I serve in a regiment (or have in battalions of that regiment) that in the old days allowed US Rain gear, Danner Boots and Norgie sweaters, we thought nothing of it.

In training many wear goretex stealth suits.   My cadpat combat jacket never makes it to the field.

On operations in battalions of my Regiment you will see Eagle Industries dropleg holsters, chest rigs, and troops in the mountains wearing civvy hiking boots, to name just a few transgressions.   A troop of mine with a cadpat smock on operations would be allowed to wear it, unless someone of higher rank told me otherwise.   That happens rarely in my experience.

Common sense adaptations are generally accepted, Look Cool Factor (LCF) mods will likely be squashed.    By the same token I have on occasion disallowed pieces of issue kit to be worn on operations, for instance desert boots on operations in the mountains.

Different strokes for different folks Med5, I prefer my way obviously.

 

[48Highlander]

    Besides which, who are we trying to impress by looking proffesional?  Other armies?  Not really, if they work with us they'll know our level of proffesionalism, as they also certainly will if they're working against us  ;D  Terrorist groups?  Somehow I doubt they have any respect for uniformity.  That pretty much just leaves "the public", and judging by CF policy public relations is deffinitely a big priority.  The majority of civvies I know aren't very impressed by uniformity either, except when it comes to formal parades.  When it comes to soldiers dressed for field work, civvies are much more likely to be impressed by soldiers wearing all sorts of add-on kit and accessories than by soldiers all wearing the same issued kit in exactly the same way.  It's the whole special-forces-ninja-sniper-commando sub-culture.  Those who actually care about the military tend to think that these non-issue bits and pieces make a soldier look more dangerous and effective.  So if we really want to make ourselves look good in front of the public, why discourage troops from personalizing their equipment?

    And from my own perspective, a section of soldiers who are able to customize their equipment in order to overcome whatever shortcoming they may have a problem with look a lot more proffesionals than a section of soldiers who all look the same and have all sorts of problems with their kit.  Anything that makes a soldier able to function more freely and comfortably is a bost to his effectivness, and what's more proffessional than being as effective as possible at your chosen career?

 

[KevinB]

48 great responce...


as Devil39 stated the Pat's at least 1st and 3rd allow it worn - just NOT in garrison.

 

[Scoobie Newbie]

2 VP have a recce CADPAT smock in the system.  Some of them where really bummed that they had to give up the Brit smock. :'(

 

[Bartok5]

I tend to agree wholeheartedly with Devil39 on the utility and acceptability of good-quality after-market kit.  Perhaps our shared time with 3 PPCLI on operations has something to do with our somewhat "non-conformist" but emminently practical approach.... 

CFL is correct.  I know for a fact that limited stocks of the DZ "Recce Smock" have been purchased by more than one "Western Battalion" to kit out their Recce Platoons.  The smocks were purchased using unit and/or sub-unit generated NPF.  Those "enlightened" units have recognized the Recce Smock as the superb piece of kit that it is, and have authorized them for field wear.  I saw several Western-based  sniper teams sporting the DZ Recce Smock during this year's CISC. 

At the end of the day, the Recce Smock is no different than a Stealth Suit or a "better-than-issued" pair of boots, gloves, etc.  It is constructed of genuine mil-spec CADPAT material and cannot be mistaken for anything other than Canadian.  My own experience has been that most folks (of all ranks) don't give it a second glance in the field.  And if they do, the comments are universally postive.  Soldiers know a solid, practical piece of kit when they see one.  The most frequently asked question by those "not in the know" is when they can expect to receive their issued smock - at which point I must regretfully shatter their expectations of truly practical and functional issued clothing. 

I have never received a negative comment from my superiors (Cmdt Tac Sch and Comd CTC) regarding my use of the DZ smock in the field.  Instead, I have fielded many questions from soldiers of all ranks who are manifestly dissatisfied with the lacklustre performance of the issued combat jacket.  Even those who did not previously understand the inherent logic of the smock concept (versus a heavy, hot, non-breathing jacket) immediately "get it" when the idea of a lightweight 3-seasons outer shell is explained to them.

At the end of the day, individual and unit acceptance of practical and functional after-market clothing and equipment is largely a cultural matter.  It all depends on your military military background.  There are those (even today) who honestly believe that "if it isn't issued, it isn't acceptable".  And then there are the growing number of "cowboys" who take a more practical view and apply the best tool for any given job (within reason, of course).  There are arguments for both approaches, but at this point in my military career I am not about to be swayed by the "uniformity at all costs" crowd.  Uniformity of dress in garrison is one thing.  However individual performance and practicality in the field trumps "parade-square" uniformity every single time.     

 

[DropZone]

Thanks for the kind words regarding our Recce Smock Mark. To the best of my knowledge the Smock has been approved for FIELD WEAR ONLY by 1, 2, 3, PPCLI, Loyal Eddies, Southern Alberta Light Horse, and the Royal Winnipeg Rifles. There may be other units that have approved it by I am unsure of who. We sell a great deal of them into B.C. so I assume the reserve elements there are allowed to use them as well.

We currently sell them in quantity to the :

RCMP
U.S. SOTF
DEA

We have sold them to smaller agencies in the U.S. and Canada as well.

We now offer the Recce Smock in MultiCam. Due to extremely high demand world wide, delivery in all colours is about 12 weeks.

We have also sold in quantity, our Squeeze Me and Fleece Patrol Jackets to various law enforcement agencies in Canada and the U.S.

The Squeeze Me unlike other "high loft" jackets uses Lamilite for insulation which does not use heat in its processing into a batt. All the other synthetics that I am aware of, use heat in the forming of batts. Heat embrittles the polyester fibers just like heat hardens metal. Brittle fibers equal short life span.

So the Drop Zone Squeeze Me is as warm, if not warmer than any other "high loft" jacket on the military market, but also far more durable.

For what its worth, I am still using the Squeeze Me that   I acquired in 1989!

Kind Regards
Brian Kroon
www.dropzonetactical.com
"friends don't let friends use issue kit"

 

[Kal]

Thanks to those that wrote in, your advice is always appreciated.  I've heard good things about these products before, tid bits mostly here and there. 

In my experience, it seems more and more soldiers and higher-ups are relaxing the dress standard for the field and ops.  I too believe that a soldier should be judged by their performance and skill rarher than what they look like.  Although, there has to be somewhat of a standard too, there can't be soldiers running around with brit cam smocks and marpat pants.  That is a very unlikely case that I and probably no one else has seen, but just as an example.  As long as your shirt and pants are issue and all your kit is either OD or CADPAT I don't see anything wrong with it.  No one is going to think you're not Canadian.  A couple of years ago when I first joined the reserves, CADPAT kit was just coming to our our unit and the regiment was also tried supplementing kit until the issue stuff came.  We had US woodland cam boonies and knee/elbow pads, OD uniforms, CADPAT gloves. helmet covers and other small items.  Now some people tend to talk about looking unprofessional, well, in getting issued some kit like that, in the field, our unit looked a little rag tag at times.  This has nothing to say about the conduct of our unit, however.  The regiment has airborne and recce qualified soldiers, mountain ops instructors, a SM that is sniper qualified and a good many troops that have been on tours and stationed in Germany when the base there was still alive. 

I forget who said it, but it was a statistic for user acceptance saying that a piece of kit could pass with a 80% user satification rate.  What about the other 20%?  Sadly, that 20% tends to be the infantry, too, the soldiers who usually need that kit the most and have to entrust their lives in it.

 

[purple peguin]

expensive$$$$ 

 

[Thompson_JM]

Very very expensive kit.

then again... when youre doing that job full time, it makes sense to pay more up front, and have a quality piece of kit then to cheap out and keep replacing....


Regards.
josh

 

[COBRA-6]

Looks like I waited too long, the price has now gone up!  (now $449.99 for CADPAT )

A good buddy of mine purchased a smock last year, is thoroughly pleased with it, and is now wearing it in Kabul. Regarding the use of "non-issue" kit, the Comd and RSM of the NCE are both impressed with it, and have no problem with it's use... perhaps the "army of the west's" cowboy mentality is spreading east...  ;D

 

[Armymedic]

no its not...

TFK in no longer letting anyone wear any off the shelf clothing as an outer layer in theater.

 

[COBRA-6]

Really? Did it just change, cause he told me that only a couple of days ago...

 

[Armymedic]

we are going into tans...is the smock in question green, perchance?