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Apparently the Marines just phased out their ILBE pack system for a new one .They are already fielding it but the oficial date is 2013.
So now you will see plenty of ILBE's cheap in the market and at ebay....

http://marinecorpstimes.com/news/2011/0 ... e-051611w/

Some how I see a lot of Gunnies snickering when that was designed.

I would be happy our "boy´s" would get such great equipment.

housil wrote:I would be happy our "boy´s" would get such great equipment.

Oli, the Bundeswehr have that great equipment. Is the damn british Berghaus Vulcan monster, our friend Cracker sent me one and I've used during the summer.

Pros: big, confortable, very solid (I've filled to the brim, 40 kg weight, marched some 20 km on mountain paths and never had a back pain)

Cons: you can't resist to wish to fill it to the brim... and it's BIG! (120 l capacity).
Regarding FILBE, I'd like to have one in my collection, seems nice and solid.

The Berghaus is not regular issued.
The "all purpose" is that 65l one:
The worst thing is, that one does not have a well padded "hip belt", just a webbing strip. So you carry all the weight with the shoulders and not with the pelvic. That one kills you after a couple of km and could make your hands getting numb from squeezing the nerves running at your sholders

For a good 70 l military style backpack, I reccomend the British Snugpak Rocketpak, very confortable, very good. Is a 40 l "body" with 2 auxiliary 15 l each "strap on rockets". My only complain is that is not having a zipper on the bottom side, to put there a sleeping bag easily.

I must say that this new USMC pack looks alot more comfortable and rugged than the LC1 ALICE packs that were issued when I served in the army national guard. I'm also curious if the USMC have a new system for Navy hospital corpsmen who are assigned to Marine units that is based on this pack.

Actully I saw this topic on another forum a few months ago. I think, AR15.com, as I recall. I saw the instructional DVD video and judging from the pack components some items and the original design look like they were copied from the Army's MOLLE packs. The side sustainment pouches, frame, shoulder straps, and kidney belt look somewhat similar. The patrol pack is a little bigger in cubic inches wise and the main pack is rather box-like looking.

RationTin440- The MILBE does not have a separate system for Navy Corpsman. Theoretically the system would be issued to Corpsman as they went to Fleet Marine Corps units but they still have to carry an aid bag. I didn't see anything in the training DVD that mentions a different system.

As for now, if you want to pick up on the older ILBE patrol packs, and complete rucksack system they are out there at very good prices. Ebay is a excellent start. The entire rucksack system was thought up and designed by Acr'teryx civilain packs so its durable!

rationtin440 wrote:I must say that this new USMC pack looks alot more comfortable and rugged than the LC1 ALICE packs that were issued when I served in the army national guard. I'm also curious if the USMC have a new system for Navy hospital corpsmen who are assigned to Marine units that is based on this pack.

Tin, the only time when I'm find the "navy corpsman" backpack was in the equipment list of Petzl SOS casuality evacuation system. There is a mention about an Arcteryx "Corpsman" backpack, some details you'll find here:

Ugh, it's stuff like this that makes me think about just how much money we waste on frivolous things like pack design. First the Corps was too good for a MOLLE rucksack, now they have a modified version of one. It would have been much simpler and cheaper if they'd just adopted the MOLLE system from the get go instead of striving to be different then the rest of the military.