1st Gear First Responder gear review –CATI Body Armor EMS Package AR600 with the multi-curve CQB lvl 3+ plates

1^st Gear — First Responder gear review

CATI Body Armor EMS Package AR600 with the multi-curve CQB lvl 3+ plates

 

Body armor really is one of those things that truly falls into the category of equipment and skill sets it is far better to have and never need than need and not have. Because the one and only day that you really do need it and don’t have it, could be your last. It’s really a pretty simple insurance plan. But that’s really how the 1^st responder community really approaches most things. It’s the reason we take the time to completely refuel, check oil and fluids, oxygen levels and completely clean and restock the ambulance when get done with what is usually several back to back bad calls at 03:30 in the morning. Because 1^st responders know that one of the fates named Murphy, is just watching and waiting with a Cheshire cat grin for you to not to just once to teach you in, no indefinite terms, that you really should have. It’s best just not to tempt the fates when one already works so closely to death.

 

So, I work in a VERY rural district in the Rocky Mountains. There are times that runs can take up to 6 hours’ round trip. There are times that even running code 3 (with lights and sirens) it will take us an hour to get to our patient. When you live in such a remote community you must rely on yourself and your team, simply put, because there is no one else to call for timely back up. Often, we are called out to remote back country locations that are way out in the middle of nowhere and we may be the only 1^st responder team going (as in no law enforcement) even if we request law enforcement there are times they just cannot get out to you in time. It is times like these that being self-reliant is the best prescription. There are also a ridiculous number of (jregistered) firearms per household. Don’t get me wrong here, I am a huge support of our rights to arms for self-protection (pretty much every fellow first responder I know are) but there are times that you may be dealing with a mentally unstable individual with a large amount of high caliber firearms back in the middle of nowhere that needs medical help but you could be walking into a potentially an unsafe situation. It is times like these that I have my own EMS body armor on hand.

 

My personal choice in this equipment is CATI armor’s EMS package using the AR600 with the multi-curve CQB. According to their website: AR600 Armor Plate is an Ultra High Harness (UHH) steel used in the most demanding of armor applications.  While it is not a true NIJ rating, it achieves the level of Level 3+.  What this means is that in addition to performing at NIJ Level 3 standards, it also is Special Threat tested to the 5.56 round of M193 up to 3100 feet per second.  Level 3 steels to not protect against that velocity.  Defeats all lower threats and special threat tested for M193.

 

 

You can ask yourself well how do I know if these plates will really hold up under fire? Well some crazy vets from the NITC Training Center(think 12^th Mountain Division and Army Ranger types…not desk jockeys and cooks) out of Idaho have put these though paces, they put over 250 rounds onto a single plate consecutively from 9mm FMJ all the way through 3 rounds with a 50 cal. It was only the last three rounds from the 50 cal. That were able to penetrate! But judge for your-self how they held up here’s the video.

 

 

I also have the trauma pads inserted as well. This is actually a very light set up for the amount of protection and with curved plates that contour your body lines it makes them noticeably thinner than traditional plates. This comes in handy when you have to kneel down or fit through confined spaces while giving care to your patient. It stays more out of the way. I have my carrier in navy blue with highly reflective white EMS, the Star of Life patches on both the front and back. I have not ever been shot at in the line of duty working with the ambulance. (It has only happened once while I was working as a fire-line EMT on the wildland fires last year.) I hope I will never have need of this equipment in the future, but I can’t count on that.

 

You can get into the exact same setup I personally use from CATI Armor for about $385 with everything; plates, trauma pads, carrier, ems patches. Shipping will be extra. But I can guarantee that it will be immensely less expensive than the ambulance ride, ER, surgery and recovery that if you are lucky enough to survive you will have to pay for! You can make a very, very bad day a little better with the addition of this gear.

 

 

There’s also one other big reason that I can think of to support CATI Armor, they have so far unpublicized program where they are donating full sets of armor to rural local law enforcement agencies that are in need of and cannot afford to outfit their LEO’s with this life saving equipment. I personally know officers from two different states that now have their back covered thanks to the generous donations from CATI Armor!

 

Check out CATI armor at www.catiarmor.com tell them Spyder sent you.

 

If you are a manufacturer of equipment or supplies for the 1^st responder community and would like to have your gear reviewed please email me at spydersthompson@gmail.com to set it up.

 

I’ll have another review for you next week.

 

Spyder Thompson

 

The post 1st Gear First Responder gear review –CATI Body Armor EMS Package AR600 with the multi-curve CQB lvl 3+ plates appeared first on Oath Keepers.

Teacher Says FL Shooter Was in Full Body Armor, Face Mask, and She Thought He Was a Cop

A teacher who witnessed the Florida School shooting said she saw the shooter firing a barrage of bullets down the hall and she immediately thought he was a police officer because he was wearing full body armor.

The post Teacher Says FL Shooter Was in Full Body Armor, Face Mask, and She Thought He Was a Cop appeared first on The Free Thought Project.

Media Continues Perpetuating VPC Machine Gun Deception

The lie depends on misrepresenting why the Founders admitted the right of the people to keep and bear arms. (Washington and Lafayette survey Valley Forge encampment — Library of Congress)

“The days are growing colder, and millions of American hunters will soon pursue a time-honored tradition,” Dana Milbank of The Washington Post sneers. “They will load their automatic weapons with armor-piercing bullets, strap on silencers, head off to the picnic grounds on nearby public lakes — and start shooting.”

Right off the bat this apparatchik lays in with the demonizing lies. The very title of the piece and the subject he launches from, “recreation” and “hunting,” have nothing to do with why the Founders included the Second Amendment in the Bill of Rights. And everybody’s up on where”sporting purpose” mandates originated, right?

But Milbank knows it’s not about hunting. His intent here is to spook the herd and incite the ignorant to demand government take away a right they never learned enough about to value or to use. From you who do.

He’s counting on them being unaware that states establish seasons year-round for specific game, as well as limits on what can be used, how many may be taken, and where. As for “armor-piercing bullets”, that’s sour grapes over the Obama administration’s failure, with cheerleading by Fourth Estate Fifth Columnists like Milbank, to ban M855 ammo, “the second most popular variety of ammunition used in the nation’s most popular rifle.” Such ammunition, by the way, does not meet the legal definition of “armor piercing.” The fact is popular rifles fire ammunition penetrates body armor rated for handguns.

Then again, there’s no ridiculous lie about ammo you can’t feed a crowd primed to swallow whoppers:

Yes, anyone who would vote for this … this thing … is that stupid.

Including the swipe at “silencers” is simply Milbank adding his voice to those attempting to gin up opposition to the SHARE Act. And to maintain that hunters will “star shooting” at “picnic grounds” is just an outright lie, which should not surprise anyone considering the character who wrote it.

Another lie, one that has been refuted so many times that for anyone to continue spreading it means they’re deliberately deceiving people, is using the term “automatic weapons.” Not once in his creed does Milbank use the word “semi-automatic,” and that’s straight out of a strategy originally laid out by Josh Sugarmann of the Violence Policy Center back in 1988:

“The weapons’ menacing looks, coupled with the public’s confusion over fully automatic machine guns versus semi-automatic assault weapons—anything that looks like a machine gun is assumed to be a machine gun—can only increase the chance of public support for restrictions on these weapons.”

Pravda’s got nothin’ on U.S. “Authorized Journalists.”

By bursting out of the starting gate with nothing but deception, Milbank kills any incentive to slog through the rest of his screed. If you do anyway, NRA has posted a comprehensive fisking of it that confirms it only goes downhill from the opening paragraph.

In a way, gun owner rights advocates should take heart from this, as it further demonstrates that the monopoly of violence lobby wants our guns so badly it’s willing to resort to such contemptible tactics to swindle them away. That gives us an opportunity – if we’ll only take it – to correct the record to those who have not pursued the issue beyond what they take in from the “mainstream media.”

If we don’t make the minimal effort to share the truth now, while things are relatively easy, it will only get more difficult later. An observation from Hosea 4:6 comes to mind:

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

Milbank and subversives like him are counting on it. And they’re the ones with the major media amplifiers.

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If you believe in the mission of Oath Keepers, to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, please make a donation to support our work.  You can donate HERE.

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David Codrea’s opinions are his own. See “Who speaks for Oath Keepers?”

Tags: ‘Authorized Journalists’, body armor, Dana Milbank, David Codrea, green tip, hunting, M855, NRA, SHARE Act, Violence Policy Center, Washington Post

The Gentleman's Guide to Self-Defense: Bulletproof SHIRT

See The Gentleman’s Guide to Self-Defense: Knife-Resistant Clothing.

Everyone knows that guns are great for protecting yourself.

But most people forget that all adversarial contests involve both offense and defense. If you"ve got a gun - but the bad guy gets off the first shot with his gun - you might still get killed.

Moreover, while you might be a quicker draw and better shot than a single bad guy breaking into your house, you might get ambushed by terrorists, gang bangers or other bad guys ... and got shot before you even have the time to draw, point and shoot.

That"s why military and law enforcement officers wear body armor.   If you"re playing to win, you need defense as well as offense.

But civilians - especially those of us who work in financial services, legal, accounting or other professional settings - can"t walk around in bulky Kevlar vests.

But that doesn"t mean that we have to be defenseless ...

A new company called Bullet Blocker (a subdivision of MJ Safety Solutions) tailors a new generation of Kevlar into everyday clothing.  For example, t-shirts:

(The t-shirt,  called the Gabriel, is used by some undercover police officers. And Bullet Blocker"s VP told us that American Secret Service agents have purchased the Gabriel.)

Police magazine notes:

[The Gabriel is] essentially a performance T-shirt with NIJ-certified IIIA ballistic panels added to it.

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As an added bonus, this design also gives the Gabriel a very low profile, making it ideal for undercover applications.

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I wore my Gabriel for a few days under my normal work T-shirt and it was almost invisible. Bullet Blocker"s claims of heat dissipation and a more secure fit both rang true and I can certainly appreciate the benefits of the Gabriel design in any law enforcement setting.

2-piece suits:

Top coats:

Vests:

Sports coats:

Leather jackets:

Every single clothing garment made by Bullet Blocker meets NIJ IIIA standards that will stop a 357 Magnum, 44 Magnum, 9mm, .45, hollow point ammunition and more.

Threat level IIIA is the highest level of protection available in soft body armor, and provides the same anti-ballistic protective coverage area as traditional law enforcement body armor vests.

And all of Bullet Blocker"s clothing can be washed, as the Kevlar panels are removable.

It"s made of anti-bacterial, breathable material.  So it doesn"t get funky right away like heavier materials do.

What"s even better, Bullet Blocker"s experienced tailors can satisfy your special requirements. For example, they were requested to make a bulletproof lab coat:

So they could certainly make you a bulletproof button down shirt, or anything else you might want.

Bespoke and bulletproof!

We tested the Gabriel for comfort.  While it"s technically called a "compression vest", it"s as comfortable as my normal well-made polo shirts made out of thick cotton.

I hit the gym wearing the Gabriel and worked out like a maniac.  The Gabriel was amazingly cool and breathable for a bulletproof vest.

Bullet Blocker also makes a line of bulletproof briefcases, bags and backpacks.

So now even civilians working can protect ourselves while in professional or casual settings, and help shield ourselves from ambush by terrorists or thugs.

And Bullet Blocker can help protect your kids against school shooters:

I haven’t received a cent for writing this review. Bullet Blocker simply provided me a test sample of the Gabriel.