London Bridge Trading Company Chest Rig

I just picked this vest up today from our local surplus shop. This is a 2002 to 2003 time period commercial LBT chest rig. NOW......during that time period, many SF soldiers who were deploying to A-Stan were having to buy their own gear due to a shortage in military stores. Basically, there was not enough gear to go around and many soldiers had to buy commercial versions of military vests in order to meet their mission requirements. Also, many teams/groups were having to buy vests like these in bulk for their missions. Blackhawk, LBT, etc. had all their gear on backorder due to such high demand. That is no longer the case now, but there was a time when the US was getting geared up for war, that items like this had to be bought commercially to fulfill mission needs. This vest came out of Ft. Campbell area (probably 5th SF Grp.).

Nice to see another LBT!

Do you have a vest factory by your house or something? I don't think I have ever seen one at any surplus store or show I have been too. Well anyway I am glad you are finding them.

5th AD wrote:Do you have a vest factory by your house or something? I don't think I have ever seen one at any surplus store or show I have been too. Well anyway I am glad you are finding them.

Not exactly. However, I do live close to Ft. Campbell (home of the 101st ABN and the 5th SF Grp.), close to Ft. Knox, and close to one of the units of the 19th SF Grp. (Army National Guard). Does this answer your question as to how I get a lot of Special Forces items? All I do is hunt for this stuff. Basically every weekend is spent looking for militaria. I'm an addict.
Arch

nkomo wrote:

5th AD wrote:Do you have a vest factory by your house or something? I don't think I have ever seen one at any surplus store or show I have been too. Well anyway I am glad you are finding them.

Not exactly. However, I do live close to Ft. Campbell (home of the 101st ABN and the 5th SF Grp.), close to Ft. Knox, and close to one of the units of the 19th SF Grp. (Army National Guard). Does this answer your question as to how I get a lot of Special Forces items? All I do is hunt for this stuff. Basically every weekend is spent looking for militaria. I'm an addict.
Arch

Good for you man.

Nkomo, this model is the LBT-0292d chest rig.
It's one of their masterpieces.
You can see it in some SWCC photos.
I have one too, but is a custom version made for SWCC, it has larger harness and is spray painted:


Look at theese pics for reference,SWCC soldiers, US navy:
this one seems to be like yours:


And this one is exactly like mine: