Swimmer's Over the Beach Harness

[jinX]

Quick question:

Was the following item used by SEALs or other Special Forces during the Gulf War? If so, who was usually using it?

http://www.londonbridgetrading.com/1195A.jpg

I know that a lot of custom vests and lbe were worn during that period (as now), but just wondering if this particular one was available then (or if it is a pretty recent addition).

Thanks http://www.specialoperations.com/ubboard/smile.gif

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"I am not a stormtrooper, I am a soldier of my country."

"I am not a terrorist, I am a freedom fighter."

[This message has been edited by jinX (edited 12-04-2000).]

[JStarz]

This is no official info, but it might help; The Over the Beach Harness is mainly used as a weight bearing system , used to compensate the buoyancy of a wet suit. During the Gulf War, only SEALs performed amphibious operations and according to details from a report about the recently de-classified diversion operation on the Kuwaiti shoreline (and only acknowledged amphibious ops at all), SEAL operators didn't wear wetsuits for they had to penetrate inland and didn't have time to switch attire. This is not official of course i saw it on Discovery Channel, but if this harness was used, it had to be by wetsuit-equiped operators, the extra weight of the lead weight system being tough on the back and useless,dead weight. As far as I know, no other units performed amphibious ops so i think nobody used it, except maybe Force Recon ( though i never heard of amphibious FR ops in the Gulf).

Hope this help

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The more you sweat in peacetime, the less you bleed in combat

[jinX]

Thanks much JStarz, for the extremely informative info http://www.specialoperations.com/ubboard/smile.gif

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"I am not a stormtrooper, I am a soldier of my country."

"I am not a terrorist, I am a freedom fighter."

[Sosah]

Hey not sure if you know this or not JS, but the padding found on the waist of the OTB gear is not "lead weight". It's closed cell foam used for flotation and buoyancy. The OTB gear and various other LBT products (namely their 'H' based systems) tend to be geared more to riverine or beach -as the name implies- operations. I've seen a few photos of SEALs using the OTB rigs, though not gulf war era. Most notably there was even a commercial on awhile back for the USN that even showed operators wearing tan LBT OTB gear and 3-color desert cammies as they walked up the shore of a beach. Why not try this question out on the SEAL forum?

[JStarz]

Yeah Sosah, i saw those pictures of SEALs wearing OTB harness (post-gulf war). I knew about the foam enclosed in it there is a descrpition of it and good picture at www.londonbridgetrading.com. (http://www.londonbridgetrading.com.) But i heard of some integrated weight system used by SEALs and Dutch SBS,i thought it could be the same since it's listed as Weight Bearing System at LBT.com. But maybe it mean the weight of the equipment. I agree that we should bring this to the SEAL forum since i got no official infos.

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The more you sweat in peacetime, the less you bleed in combat