There is only so much MOLLE real estate your carrier can provide before you may start to realize gear management is a bit more complex than initially thought. Likewise, certain items in your kit serve better around your waistline than your carrier like pistols and dump pouches. For these situations and gear, the next line of solution is the battle belt.
What is a Battle Belt?
A battle belt is a rigid and firm accessory that is worn on the top of your clothing and typically includes an external webbing for pouch attachments. The battle belt comes in many forms, but the most common design consists of three pieces.
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- Interior belt. This is a smaller Velcro belt that goes through your belt loops, which answers the commonly asked question of “Does a battle belt go through belt loops?”. You typically don’t mount anything on this, although there are items like knife holders sized for this belt. You’ll want to make sure to cinch this one down nice and tight to get a more comfortable fit from the duty belt, which we’ll cover next.
- Duty belt. This is a wider, more rigid belt that secures to the outside of your interior belt. Inside, it has the corresponding Velcro attachment to stick to your interior belt.
- Outer belt. This is a sleeve that fits over your duty belt, featuring Pouch Attachment Ladder System (PALS) webbing for your Modular Lightweight Load-carrying Equipment (MOLLE) compatible pouches. The outer belt is what you’ll be using to secure most of your emergency and defensive tools. Some manufacturers roll features from piece number 3 (outer belt) into piece number 2 (duty belt), resulting in only two pieces.
What Can/Should I Carry on my Battle Belt?
You can use your battle belt to efficiently carry the following:
- Pistol and Holster
- Pistol and rifle magazines
- Tourniquets
- Individual First Aid Kit (IFAK)
- Dump pouch
- Grenades
- Helicopter retention leashes
- Knives
- Chem lights
- Other items like radios, GPS, flashlight, and intermediate force devices.
Battle belts work with your MOLLE pouches. If there are items you prefer carrying on your hip rather than your chest, you can move them from your plate carrier to your belt. Keep in mind your body favors the carrying of heavy items on your hips and transitioning heavy pouches like NODS GP type pouches to your hips can prevent unnecessary lower back pain and strain.
Why Use a Battle Belt?
A battle belt is often part of the professional uniform for military, law enforcement, and security personnel. You may see law enforcement and security use just the inner and duty belts (pieces 1 and 2) if they choose to affix their gear in ways other than with PALS webbing
In some cases, there may be job-specific tools like a handheld radio, baton, handcuffs, OC spray, or a taser. But you don’t need to be a professional in that sense to utilize a battle belt.
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You may choose to have a battle belt for EDC (everyday carry). You may want to take it with you in your vehicle, along with a ballistic vest, and be prepared to defend against an attack out in public. A battle belt is something you can have at the ready, to throw on quickly if things get crazy.
Another popular option is to keep a battle belt for home defense. You can have it staged near your bedside with your home defense tools ready to grab and go. In the event of a home invasion, you won’t be fumbling around in the dark for the tools you need.
How Should a Battle Belt Fit?
A battle belt fit should be snug and secure, but not too tight as to restrict movement or cause discomfort. Make sure that your setup includes the items you need, but doesn’t cause discomfort in the back or torso due to weight of your items.
Battle Belt Setup
How you set up your battle belt depends on what you want to do with it. What’s your job? What’s your goal? When setting up your belt, consider where you want your items and where you DON’T.
For example, you may not want to set certain bulky items up in the front of your belt if it makes it difficult to take a prone position. Get into all the positions you may find yourself in and see how they feel.
Let’s talk about some considerations on where you want your gear. For reference, we will be talking about positions of the battle belt in the “o’clock” positions for ease of reference.
12 O’Clock Position: This is your belt buckle. Some battle belts allow the swapping and changing of different buckle types for different uses. We recommend Cobra buckles where any high-strength vehicle tethering application is required.
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11-12 and 12-1: Keep FREE of gear. At the least, gear that dangles like gloves and chem lights on a paracord is really going to favor use in this area. Bulky gear can prevent the proper prone position and smaller gear pouches and knives can limit torso movement when needing to bend at the waistline to pick something up or tie your boots.
2-3 or 9-10: We suggest mounting your pistol holster in these areas. If you’re right-handed use the 2 to 3 positions and if you’re left-handed the 9 to 10 positions. Opposite of these positions (for each various-handed shooter) you should mount your magazine pouches. Take special note that your pistol is able to be drawn with your carrier on. You may need to remove and reposition pouches on your cummerbund to ensure you can draw your weapon uninhibited.
4-3 and 7-8: The following positions will favor your largest and bulkiest pouches. This is because these positions will typically allow you to sit in a vehicle without bulk preventing your back from using the seat.
5-7: These positions are recommended to keep free of any bulky gear, or use something thinner in profile like a lower back IFAK or a collapsible dump pouch. The reason being is any bulky pouches in this area will prevent you from sitting in any position other than the unsupported upright, and more dangerously, runs the risk of paralyzing you in the event of a fall on your backside. DO NOT mount large bulky one-off items in this area, and take note with dump pouches that the items in them sit at or below your posterior. Take note of what items you put in your IFAK as we recommend keeping only soft items like chest seals and gauze as items like decomp needles and tourniquets can run the risk of injury during a fall.
For a complete video breakdown of a battle belt setup, check out our Battle Belt Setup video.
Conclusion
However you decide to set your battle belt up, you must train with that setup. The more you train with your gear, the better you can tweak your system to your specific needs.
Don’t make the mistake of just copying someone else’s design exactly. They may be an expert and know all the ins and outs of their equipment, but they are not you. You should fine-tune your battle belt configuration the same way you would do with your plate carrier based on what works best for you.
View our AR Battle Belt
Source: https://t-tees.com
Category: HOW
