V.I.P.E.R. Flat IFAK, A1 MultiCam® Arid

Tasked by USASOC to go outside of the box and design a next generation load carriage plate carrier, we innovated moving the first aid kit to the lower back but keeping it rapid access.  In 2011 the Science and Technology of Army Special Operations Command brought us in to incorporate solar panels in the rear plate carrier for Special Forces soldiers.  The top half carried the panels opening up the bottom half for the elements of a SOF IFAK.  At first it was a sleeve built into the shell of the rear plate carrier, but soon we moved it as a module down onto the belt realizing that it forms a great lower back pad.  From there, we watched SOF operators across the spectrum have the “ah-ha” moments when they realized there was a great place for the IFAK that was out of the way, but not out of reach.  Obviously, the conventional Army realized the same thing as they incorporated our design in the IFAK-2 project making 900,000 IFAKs. The strategy we approached this design with looked deep into