In this video I break down the US Army issue ATAP and how I use it and what I carry. While I am not in the army, nor a paratrooper, I think this rig has amazing potential for any infantryman and should be considered. Thanks for watching!
Used an issued tap in darby. Fucking thing didn’t fit, sagged, chafed, couldn’t really put enough shit on it. Bought one of these on darby pass…. Never looked back and saved my life in mountains when the rucks got heavy. When I got to Florida I could open it up while digging fighting positions and when it got too hot. Laying prone pulling security I just popped open that front and I was comfortable. Definitely a great purchase.
To be fair the reason your tap sucked ass in darby is probably mostly because the harness that comes with the tap is ass. With any H harness or X harness it works fine.
The army comes full circle. We have reinvented web gear. Good job, whatever general got that approved and now sits on the board of whoever produces it.
I'm glad to see some decisions I made with my own LBE echoed here and validated. First, those tactical tailor mag pouches are absolutely perfect for this application. For all of the reasons you mentioned. They also come with shock cord to restrict them down for fewer mags or other smaller items. I also found that dropping canteen pouches a little lower makes it easier not only to wear a pack but also to access the canteens when the belt is worn around the waist like it should be. I pilfered the inner belt of a FLC and married it to m1967 h harness suspenders to make my own MOLLE LBE and it shares some of these ideas. General purpose is the name of the game here. I use four tactical tailor UMPs. The first two for mags, the second two for radio, IFAK, could be an expedient holster, a m18 smoke, whatever. Along the back I have four GP canteen pouches. The outer two hold canteens and the back two are for sustainment though that could be changed around depending on needs.
@TheGruntPerspective is sharing gear and considerations of a warfighter. It is not set in stone. It is ever evolving, considering various missions and different climes and places.
Our Stryker Brigades up here at Fort Lewis have also been issued these now. I like it so far. Better than the TAPs in my opinion. But I’m also a salty old Platoon Sergeant who grew up on web gear.
“Some people think it’s silly.” I don’t. In fact I think a person is not very experienced when they don’t have some type of water container (like canteens) on their person at all times. I have had a couple of people tell me “My water bladder has never failed” but when I ask them what their MOS is they never respond. Hearing “we’re out of chow” does not affect you like hearing “we’re out of water.” The former makes you shrug your shoulders. The latter makes you want to cuss a blue streak. Always, always carry more water than you think you need cause you never know what’s going to happen. OK. Rant over.
I think your channel is awesome. I learn something every time I watch your videos. Thank you for your service and everything you do. Keep up the good work Devildog.
I have one and use a G.I. Waist pack to carry the "survival items" Great idea on the cleaning kit, although I went old school on my rifle and got a A2 stock that carries a full cleaning kit in the buttstock.
Love your vids so much. I hope in the future you make some videos on some more issued USMC gear if you have some ways to make using them a little better. Im a little restricted when it comes to using unissued gear
Bravo-Zulu on your OUTSTANDING Video on the A-TAP and your Setup! I purchased an A-TAP at the End of December for Venture Surplus along with the Eagle Industry HG-VS-MS-5KH H-Harness because I wanted to compare the two and I had read good and bad things on both but I have been setting up individual Chest Rigs for different long guns I own and I wanted to try something a little different since I already have two USMC TAPs setups: 1. Standard Combat Load of SIX 30rd PMags plus one 20rd quick reload pouch w/77gr MK262 Mod 0, Three Pistol mags Glock 20/21 w/2rd extensions, IFAK and Tourniquet this Rig is for my MK12 Mod 0 rifle or M16-A4 Clone and I would carry either my Glock 21 or 41 MOS pistol. 2. Combat Load 6 PMags plus 16rds of Service Grade 00 Buck, 16rds of 1oz Slug plus 20rds of Door Breaching Round, plus Three Sig P226 9mm/40sw Extended Magazines, IFAK and Tourniquet this is for my CAR-15 and Mossberg 590 Breaching shotgun. I started looking into the USMC TAPs after a visit from a old Devil Dog buddy that meet while the Navy had me stationed in Norfolk VA and he visited me last summer with his family house shopping because he is retiring this summer. He had a couple of the USMC TAPs with him setup for a couple of his long gun and he showed me how good they were and also told me that they were EXTREMELY Reasonably priced specially in comparison to the Velocity System UW Chest Rig Gen IV and the Haley Strategic X Chest Rig and Heavy Chest Rig. Velocity System UW Chest Rig Gen IV is for my Bren 2ms Haley Heavy is for AR10 that I built Haley X Chest Rig is for a AR15 300BO I build The Great thing about the USMC TAP has been that I can build two for the price of a Haley or Velocity System and still have money left over but retain a quality Rig that is made in the USA. The TAP and the A-TAP are ALLOT better than the gear I used back in 2003-2006 when I was part of a Harbor Security Team and we were issued Blackhawk Omega Tactical Vest with flotation device attached to them by the Parachute Riggers and we had body Armor under the Vests but the Salt Water and Air killed the Vest within 9-18 months even if we took real good care of them like I did mine, I used to let mine soak in cool fresh water with a little dawn dish soap which was we were told to do but the Salt Spray from being on the Patrol boat manning the M240B while going 40MPH or faster was lots of fun but got the salt all over the gear and then we had to CLEAN EVERTHING specially the weapons that is why I preferred to work from the helicopter which was my secondary position because in the Helo I was either manning the M240B or the AR10/SR25 7.62NATO rifle which was allot of fun to shoot from the Helo. You are 100% correct on the amount of real estate available on the A-TAP and your Video is going to help choose the pouches I need to get since I have not gotten them yet but I will say that the Eagle H-Harness is a little more generous with the amount of space considering that they give you 10 columns of MOLLE on each side panel and 6 columns on the rear panel I put 4 of the Eagle Industries double two mags per pouch and still had room on the side panels and the back was clean which I am planning to put a butt pack since I have a Molle waist pack inbound for the A-TAP in Multicam for the rear panel.
@@TheGruntPerspective Do you have any suggestions for a small pack that can be attached to the A-TAP and/or Eagle H-Harness? I am still working on my H-Harness rigs as Do-All type of Rig that carries plenty of ammo plus some medical, water and couple of MRE right now but I would like to add a small pack to the rear panel to balance the ammo load that I would carry upfront.
we got issued these in 101st, honestly never touched it sense I run my own TAPs that I modified or my mayflower rig, but might dig it out and mess around with it
Not sure if this is obvious but you could use the buckle feature to quickly adjust your kit for a rucksack. Rucksack on, quickly unclip so it clears the frame. Rucksack off, clip to raise the sytem, Then maybe throw on a belt full of extra gear.
very nice! any chance you can do an alice belt kit setup? i know its not issued anymore, but the way you do things and explain things, itd benefit the people on a budget, like me
Who makes that rifle maintenance kit, or at least the pouch? That looks to be exactly what i've been looking for. Thanks for the great video. I have one of these rigs ordered and this gave me some good ideas.
The ATAP is one of those things that looks great at a glance, but the closer I look the less I like it. Just some rearranged hardware and slight dimension changes and it would be amazing. But the most shocking thing was the story about how some Marines don't carry water on their person in training...? What...!? That actually sounds insane to me, some senior NCO has seriously dropped the ball to let the idea of not having water even form in someone's mind. You guys literally just spent 20 years in the desert, come ON.
Thanks for the informative video. Helped me plan mine out pretty well. After putting it it use, I have a dumb noobie question about the FS tube. Mine seems to come undone very easily. Any problems with this? Worse case scenario, I can just add a carabiner to make it more secure unless you've found a more elegant solution. Thanks.
My opinion is he has already done that. Have you watched his armor vids? Are there points which are unclear? From my own experience: Don't wear armor when on long movements, enemy contact is unexpected, and you can stash it in your pack. When contact is expected/likely, wear armor. It's nice to not front load armor. But you have gear needed for YOUR personal mission(s). If you have so much gear you NEED that you have to take advantage of the space on your front, do it. If you can slim down gear and keep the front slick, then do it. A consideration: if you can move pouches off the carrier and onto a belt, and that actually covers all the gear you will need, that is sweet. Keep weight off the carrier if possible. But if it's not possible to keep the weight off, do what the mission requires.
Theoretically - this might look a little dumb - but if you're using a Malice frame - you could probably put a dangler on the back of the ATAP, and it wouldn't be any more problematic than the pouch you've already got. Could plus up what you're able to carry on your kit vs. what has to go in a pack - maybe some additional fieldcraft and survival stuff or a few extra mags? Sort of like a mini butt pack. Could possibly use the USGI waist pack for this purpose. Only real issue would be that when you're not wearing a pack, it might flop around. Probably at least worth experimenting with, could potentially move the whole survival kit from the ruck to the kit.
@@TheGruntPerspective I mean, could you use a dangler, dangling from that back panel on the ATAP? That way, you have two pouches for survival stuff instead of one. That would increase the amount of stuff you could carry.
Well a paint can opener won’t work on a ruptured shell. But for a stuck casing I guess there’s no real benefit to using rods over the paint can thing, but then you don’t have to carry a paint can opener and a bore snake, you can just carry the rods
You're a lot more experienced than me, but one question - if someone was running up to you, and you were a casualty, how would they know where your IFAK is? Do you have a unit SOP on the placement, so they know the mutant pouch is the IFAK? If not, they're either fiddlefucking opening pouches until they find it, or they're gonna use their own stuff. I would consider sewing in a big red medical cross to make it stupid proof, or using duct tape, clear tape, and a sharpie to make a medical cross if you don't want to permanently modify the pouch.
I’d rather just jump a TAP like normal than wear that thing under a harness. Never worn it but looking through the CAASOP it looks like it would be uncomfortable sitting down and just generally catch on everything especially on a small aircraft like a C-130
@@Gatman0311 that I do not know, but I can tell you that that pouch I have does not contain the stuff that came in it. I carry rods, brushes, rags, bore brushes and swabs, chamber brushes, pick attachments, ruptured cartridge extractor, and CLP in there
Alice Gear,Returns why? It was NOT BROKE 782 Deuce Gear,on your Body ,Leather Personnel Carriers,And that Butt Pack could sustain you,a Space Blanket sewed in between 2 Poncho liners with a Candle in between your leg Very Warm .Would not keep you Warm in No.Dakota,Montana or Wyoming Winter Cold but moderate cold say 30's adequate to Task of giving you 4 hrs shuteye.
How about a video on the oaths, invasion on our southern border, and gear set up for that?......But but but but but but. Foreign and/or domestic? That oath tho? Isnt what all that gear and training is for? WE look forward to that upcoming video
@@TheGruntPerspective Is it tho? I suppose all that training, gear, and oath is for foreign lands only huh? Love these types of channels, but we the people have an expectation for all that money we invest in all that gear, training, and experience you have to make this content. I know. Just shut up and keep my head down...Just like oath takers do everyday. When I played I hit the ball to every field because I could. That right field always had the weakest link of that chain. Wait till i hit to left center. I will really cause some tears and emotions.
@allanjarnagin3540 idk I don't like the Royal family, most people don't. They're like Greek gods without the physique, when people stop believing in them they no longer exists.
I think the primary goal of most of his videos is to educate Marines on how to set things up so they have a better chance of surviving the next conflict. Decades of war in the Middle East has instilled a lot of habits and ways of doing things that aren't going to cut it in a future conflict against a heavy weight competitor. We are lucky to witness the journey he is on with trial and error
@@tubeguy4066 You might be right. But the type of load bearing solutions that is shown in these videos would also serve well fighting against Iran and it's regional proxies in the desert, mountains, and urban. Operation Gothic Serpent is a good example of why you should go into the fight with water/sustainment and skip the raid bro setup even in urban environments
