New Light on High-End Flashlights

With days getting shorter, flashlights get more use, especially in a combat zone. The Hobbit Hole has given away a number of Pelican and SureFire xenon and LED lights to the troops. These are high-quality lights, but are rather basic in design. This was done to keep our costs down.

While we won’t be giving away any more flashlights, some new, and more expensive, lights have come on the market. If you have the spare change, these new lights offer some very advanced features, but at an increased price. But these are lifetime investments, and are great to hint at for a Christmas present for yourself.

The picture shows, from the top, our standard Hobbit Hole folding knife, and the Pelican xenon light, both included to give an idea of size. Next is a light that just recently appeared on the market, the “Lightsaver”. At the bottom is the Blackhawk “Gladius”. If the Pelican is a Chevrolet, the Lightsaver is a BMW, and the Gladius is a Rolls Royce, and priced accordingly.

I’ll mention the Gladius first, because with a street price of $180, there’s lots of great features, if price is no object. Since price is an object to all of us, I’ll just metion the features, and go on to the surprising Lightsaver.

The Gladius features heavy-duty aluminum construction, and the one-inch main body diameter allows it to be used in a weapons mount. It, and all the other lights shown, use two CR123 lithium batteries. The end cap has both a pushbutton, and a control ring. The four settings on the ring include lockout, momentary on/off, and a dimmer position, where holding the button lowers the LED from full brightness to very dim. It’s a nice feature.

The fourth position is the most important one for operations such as checkpoints. It’s a seven-per-second strobe. When your eyes are completely adapted to the dark, being hit by this bright strobe brings several seconds of disorientation and confusion. Those seconds could be vital to you, especially at checkpoints and vehicle stops at night.

The brand-new Lightsaver, (best price I’ve seen so far, $79) is another LED with heavy duty aluminum construction. It also has a one-inch body, so it can fit in a flashlight mount. There is even a remote “tape” switch for it, but at $50 it adds considerably to the cost.

Again, its main purpose is not to mount on a weapon, but to be used in the hand. The pushbutton turns the light on with one push, and off with the second. However, if you hold down the button, you get the same seven-per-second strobe flash as the Gladius.

These are the first two pocket LED flashlights with strobe capability I’ve seen, and the Lightsaver costs less than half of what the Gladius does. $80 is still a pretty steep price, but it’s in line with other high-quality aluminum LED flashlights.

Both of these lights also have serial numbers, so if your fancy flashlight “wanders away”, you stand a better chance of recovering it.

I wish our military could give away flashlights like these to everyone who goes outside the wire after dark. I wish the Hobbit Hole could give these away for the asking. That’s not to be, in either case.

Instead, I just want to call attention to these new high-end flashlights so individual troops are aware of their existence, and can purchase these worthwhile items if funds allow. They will give a long lifetime of service.

Add comment November 9th, 2006

This Old Helmet, Episode 1

Introduction

The PASGT (Personal Armor System Ground Troops) helmet (“Kevlar”) has been in the US military inventory since the early 1980s. It represents a significant improvement over the steel helmet, which had served since the early 1940s.

The PASGT has provided significantly improved protection against fragmentation, but was not considered to provide significant ballistic protection.

The helmet could actually prevent penetration by fragments with as much energy as a handgun round at point-blank range. But the helmet would deform over two inches in the process, usually inflicting severe or fatal blunt trauma injury to the head. This lack of blunt trauma protection also meant the helmet could not provide any protection in automotive accidents.

In the course of developing improved helmets over the last few years, the old web suspension system, little changed from the steel helmets of the 1950s, was replaced by special cushioned pads that provided superior blunt trauma protection, and improved comfort.

These pads are part of the Advanced Combat Helmet (ACH), now in production. At the same time, various companies have developed update kits for the current PASGT. This brings the helmet up to the same level of protection as the new ACH.

Future articles will feature some of these upgrade kits. But whether you have a new ACH, or upgraded PASGT, the key to maximum protection and comfort is in fitting the pads to the individual wearer. This takes a little bit of time, but it’s an investment in your safety and comfort.

Fitting the pads

Whether you have an upgraded PASGT helmet, or a brand-new ACH helmet, fitting of the foam pads is the key to both increased protection, and increased comfort. It is also something that should not be rushed, because you are customizing the fit for yourself alone. A new pair of boots requires breaking in. These new helmets require time to find the best pad layout. Plan to spend at least two or three hours of “quality time” with your helmet, and you’ll be paid back with greater safety and comfort.

First, if the chin/nape strap is already attached, take it off. Leave the plastic H-buckles on, just take off the cloth strap. It’s the last item that needs fitting, and only gets in the way of working with the pads.

Next, a quick word about pad thickness. For the Advanced Combat Helmet, there are two different thicknesses of pads: number 6 (thinner), and number 8 (thicker). Both provide equal protection. The only difference is to assure the best possible fit with the size of helmet you’re working with. The number 6 pad is considered “standard”, while the number 8 is used for a better fit when the helmet is too large.

Oregon Aero, manufacturer of one of the upgrade kits, also makes a thinner number 4 pad. Again, it should be used only if there are problems in fitting. The approximate thickness of the pads is:
· #4: .07 inch
· #6: .09 inch
· #8: 1.1 inch

The round pad goes into the bottom of the helmet first. Try to get it centered as well as possible. Then the two “trapezoid” pads go in the front and rear of the helmet. The narrow part should be touching the round pad.

With those three pads in place, we’re left with the four oblong or rectangular pads. Some documentation mentions the pads may be oval, but I’ve never seen any. It’s these four pads that are the key to a comfortable fit, and the overall increased safety of the helmet. Adjusting these four pads takes up most of your time, but it’s also where the biggest benefits come from.

Most illustrations show the four pads arranged horizontally around the rim of the helmet. That configuration makes for the tightest fit, but that may not always be best for you.

The secret to a good fit is that these pads can be arranged horizontally, vertically, or at an angle. They can also be placed closer to, or further away, from the rim. Different pad orientation provides different fits, and one will be right for you. This is also where most experimentation will be done. The closer the pads are to the rim of the helmet, the tighter the fit. The closer to the center, the looser the fit is.

The most important thing to remember is to have the pad either cover the mounting hardware, like the A-nuts that hold the plastic buckles, or are close enough to these protruding items that they won’t be able to contact your head in a severe impact.

Take your best guess at pad orientation, and then place the helmet on your head. There should only be a slight amount of pressure, usually around the temples, when you put it on. Slap the top of the helmet to make sure it’s fully seated. If you’re still feeling pressure, the two front rectangular pads may need to be moved a bit.

Once you have a reasonably good fit, wear the helmet for about two hours to “settle” the foam pads. This is the most important part of a comfortable fit.

You should be able to move your head around without feeling any movement of the helmet. If you look down at the floor, the helmet should not fall off. The “lighter” foam in the pads is for comfort, and will take a slight “set”. It’s the heavy-duty foam in the base of the pad that provides the real trauma protection. That, in turn, increases the helmet’s ballistic protection.

After about two hours of continuous wear, if the helmet still feels good on your head, the fitting process is almost over. Now reattach the chin/nape strap, making sure none of the straps are twisted. Adjust the straps for a good fit, and check the final results in a mirror. The helmet should not be tilted either left or right, or forward or backward. There are several FMs that show how the helmet should look when worn properly.

This is more effort at fitting than with the old suspension system, where you adjusted the inner loop of the suspension straps, and you were done. But the payoff in comfort and safety is worth the extra work. As a test, I wore a properly-fitted ACH helmet for six hours straight with no discomfort. In the “good old days”, I could never wear my steel pot for that long without coming up with some excuse for taking it off, with the hope of finding another excuse for not putting it back on.

It’s your head. Invest enough time to keep it safe and happy by fitting it properly.

Add comment November 4th, 2006

The Hobbit Hole basement, part 1

Even when you live in a Hobbit hole as comfy as the Baggins’ hole-into-the-hill at Bag End, you still have a basement where you keep your mathoms, those items that you don’t know what to do with, but are too good to throw away. Among Hobbits, mathoms are usually saved, and given away on birthdays. It’s a Hobbit tradition to give presents on birthdays, not receive them.

In the course of our troop support work, I’ve managed to acquire a few mathoms. It’s now time to give them away to any of our American troops who want them (no matter how odd the item seems to be).

The first item is an adapter that allows small diameter (under an inch) flashlights to be mounted on the accessory rails of a weapon. Flashlights in this category include the Mini Maglite, a flashlight familiar to almost all our troops.

In an earlier article, I mentioned my opinion that using ordinary flashlights on weapons is not the best of ideas. Everything might work perfectly, or the fragile lamp filament might fail on the first shot.

That being said, I still purchased three of these plastic adapters for evaluation. They do hold the flashlight securely, and lock onto the rail properly. However, an AA flashlight does not put out a lot of light. That’s just the nature of the beast.

However, if you want to experiment, these adapters are offered on a first-come, first-served basis. Other AA flashlights might also work too, due to the adjusting screw on the clamp. You’ll have to supply your own flashlight, because I’m keeping the gold-anodized MiniMaglite used in the pictures.

There will be more items from the Hobbit Hole basement as I go through our mathoms, so keep looking for things that might or might not work (if it’s really junk, I’ll be throwing it away), but could be a handy gadget in helping you in the defense of America.

Add comment October 27th, 2006

The Hobbit Hole Part II: Troop Safety and Convenience

While we reluctantly have to discontinue our knife program, the Hobbit Hole remains dedicated to the well-being of our troops. We will be doing this via a couple of programs.

First is “the carabiner program”. We will continue to give away the Grimloc safety carabiner to any and all troops that request them.

These are nice convenience items, and important safety items. You should never use a real “mountaineering” carabiner just to hang a flashlight or water bottle on your IBA. The danger of getting hung up in some tight spot is just too great. The safety carabiner will break under your weight, freeing you. It also doesn’t get hot in the sun, and is not a source of fragmentation or ricochets.

Normally, we’ll send two carabiners via first-class mail to anybody who requests them. If you need more, or need some for your buddies, just ask, and we’ll do our best to serve you. I know that a lot of hydration systems have a loop in each corner of the unit, and four carabiners make for a handy and safe way of attaching the hydration unit to the back of your armor.

If you need four, we’ll send four. If you need four hundred, we’ll work it out somehow.

While the Grimloc carabiner remains our main “product”, we will continue to evaluate other items for their usefulness to the American Soldier and Marine. Coming in the near future will be evaluations of upgrades for the PASGT helmet that significantly increases the blunt force trauma and ballistic protection provided by the helmet.

After that will be evaluations of “helmet gadgets” that can be used with the helmet. Some are good, some aren’t. And some are so cool, I can hardly wait to write about them.

Thank you all for your service to America. The Hobbit Hole will continue to work at the daunting task of coming up with “little stuff” as a way of saying thanks, although words can never be enough.

Add comment October 23rd, 2006