BY BRIAN M. MORRIS
When I joined the Army back in the mid-1980s, the gear we were issued was often manufactured by the lowest bidder, and that usually resulted in the military getting what they paid for with gear that could be counted on to tear, spring a leak, or break a buckle just when you most needed it to perform. Another problem with gear back then was that it seemed to take so long to get through all of the levels of approval needed to get it issued that by the time it made its way to the troops, it was often obsolete!