the army surplus url

By the way, the army surplus dealer that screwed up my order so bad was Uncle Sam's at armyynavydeals.com. The customer service guy was nice enough on the phone, and blamed the problem on their inexperienced seasonal help during the Halloween rush, but he could have offered me some sort of discount or at least expedited shipping for their mistake. Or as I mentioned in my last post, they could have allowed me to bill it to their shipping account, instead of offering to reimburse me for shipping the return. I'll post a follow-up when and if I receive my replacement order.

holiday consequences for army surplus

I finally received my army surplus order yesterday, and was quite disappointed. The BDU pants were the wrong kind and the Danish web pack that I was going to use for caving and hiking came in without any straps. I was already a bit annoyed that it had taken them 12 days to ship my order, and then I receive it and two out of three items are wrong. I guess I should have gone ahead and ordered 5.11 tactical pants directly from a dealer instead of relying on an army surplus outlet during the Halloween rush. I immediately called the store and they were friendly enough. They apologized and promised to make it right. Of course, I need to return the pants first and they say that they will refund me the shipping cost. Why couldn't I just bill it to them, since it is their mistake?

I guess I'm lucky that this wasn't a Halloween costumer order, seeing as today is Halloween. This is an inherent problem with ordering from army surplus stores online, though. They carry so many different styles of clothing, and even within those styles there are subtle variations and degrees of wear and tear. So how can one expect to actually receive what is pictured on their website? It will be interesting to see if they get my replacement order correct. If not, this will definitely be the last time I order from an army surplus store online. As much as I like the idea of recycling clothing and picking up items that have been washed many times over and are now extremely comfortable, I'm thinking that the predictability of buying new has its advantages. I may have to just stick to dealers of new tactical clothing so that I know in advance what I am getting when I place my order.

tactical gear for civilians

A long time ago, I picked up a pair of BDU pants from the local army surplus store. They were used, washed about a million times and dyed an interesting shade of dark blue, so that the camouflage pattern was barely noticeable. They are the most comfortable pants I have ever owned and the extra cargo pockets are awesome. I went back to the store but couldn't find any more in my size. I returned to the store several years later, and had the same problem. Just the other day, I finally found a pair online of some British BDU's that I am hoping will be the right size.

So why am I buying military pants? No, I'm not a fashion whore so much as a utility fashion enthusiast. I've recently gotten into several new hobbies that require lots of pockets and durability. One of these is spelunking in underground caverns. Another is hiking and another is skateboarding. Each has its own rugged challenges but I find that tactical style pants serve them each quite well.

So I was more than happy to take on an assignment to review a TDU site - that's "Tactical Dress Uniforms" for the combat-impaired. The site is called LA Police Gear and they offer the latest in 5.11 Tactical gear and clothing. The site is a Yahoo merchant store, and it's fairly easy to navigate. Their prices are reasonable - A pair of rip-stop TDU pants will set you back about $40, and these are new not used or surplus.

They include free ground shipping and all kinds of goodies with each order, from free hats and kneepads to belts, socks and coffee mugs. One thing that really surprised me was that they offer free shipping both ways. So even if you get the wrong size or the wrong item, you don't have to worry about paying to ship the item back. This is something that I don't think I've ever seen being offered. Most stores will only pay for return shipping if they screw up the order.

For some really incredible deals, check out the boots in their closeout section.

built to last

I've been getting into caving recently, and like any hobby in comes with a certain amount of initial expense. There are lots of things to consider - packs, helmet, lights, pads and of course some rugged clothing.

Unfortunately, I'm on a limited budget when it comes to new hobbies, because I already have so many that I have spent lots of cash on - some of which I don't end up using very often. For example, I've tried to get back into skateboarding, but find that I don't always have the time or energy. So all of that expensive padding and my custom built board don't get as much use as I would like. I can probably use some of the same pads for caving too, though. That's always a great approach - finding hobbies that can share resources.

One of the things that I didn't have already was a good sturdy backpack to take with me on my underground excursions. I checked out some outdoors outfitter shops and saw some really cool packs made by companies like North Face, but seeing as I don't know the longevity of this new hobby, I just couldn't justify the expense.

So I decided to check out the army surplus shop once again, and ended up ordering myself an olive drab Dutch military web pack that can be worn as a backpack, shoulder bag or strapped to my waist web-style. It may not be very fancy looking and it may not utilize all of the latest and greatest trends in outdoor fashion, but it serves its purpose. It also looks as though it has seen its fair share of military field training so I have a feeling that it will last me for a while - at least until I have decided that caving is a hobby that I want to be involved with for the long haul.