Well, that's a pretty good response to my very wierd question. You have cleared up a lot of other questions in your response. I appreciate your time and your efforts very much.

I found some info on the Lightfighter Tactical Forum suggested earlier that helped as well.

Again, thanks for your time.

Michael

The bigger problem in trying to answer your question is that a lot of guys (and gals) carry thier own gear becuase they like it better than the issue stuff.

Where did military Camelbaks come from? Becuase a lot of units had purchased them with thier unit money, and everyone in a unit that didn't buy them was buying them anyway. Eventually, the military broke down and issued them rather than working on a small mountain of plastic canteens that has been growing since Vietnam. Everyone was buying reflex sights out of pocket for long time, now DoD is issuing them. The Army and Corps are FINALLY issuing goggles that work with helmets, after two decades of issuing tanker goggles to everyone that didn't even really work well with the helmets worn by armour crews, much less the standard k-pot, during which time people were buying them. The list goes on and on like that.

It all started with "the best money can buy at lowest bid," and the age old requirement that everyone look exactly the same, equipment wise. In days of old you couldn't even carry anything that showed if it was non-issue, left handers were issued a right handed holster, etc etc etc...

Ok, now this is getting interesting.....

Ugh. Those things stink to high heaven. I bleach mine out every time I am about to use it.

Gah! Then you probably never get the bleach taste out of the things. I've got a friend who actually likes how they taste, so he was welcome to mine when I switched to polycarb bottles. He also likes powdered eggs. *shrugs*