Do Not Buy From 215 Gear

215 Gear wrote:There are those in the tactical industry that would respect many of the comments Raven Concealment Systems makes, never the less say the presentation may not be professional, however right they are. I am not one of these people.
As the owner and founder of 215 Gear and actual Special Operations member, I can attest to their statements. The amount of time wasted in even reading email or seconds wasted on the phone, listening to what might be a legitimate customer question or comment, to then “reveal” themselves a fake, airsofter, or just plain homo; makes a company want to not deal with customers direct.
Raven Concealment Systems hit the nail on the head, no person actually doing job “X, Y or Z” has to name drop in the conversation, the vendor should already know who they are. If you are asking for a “T&E sample” your unit is not special enough to use any such wording in its official name and you should feel like an asshole for asking.
I and those I have been fortunate enough to work around spend much of our careers lying to people about what you do for a living, let alone telling someone over the phone for a free hand out. The real Members emulate the words “quiet professional” and don’t look for acclaim or freebees.
At 215 Gear, we do not associate with airsoft or any similar homosexual game/act. We do not make our product in K-12 or extra fat. The only reason a manufacturer would is to cover the market of kids and fakes running around the woods, pretending to be something they are not. It is nice to know another USA manufacturer stands by their principals, rather than just make a quick sale.

Our friends at 215 Gear seems to have stirred up quite a storm and we
thought we’d like to make a statement too: veterans, officers,
airsofters, and anyone who use Pantac products – we love you all. We do
understand some companies want to tailor their products to a specific
market, and we wholeheartedly support our friend’s business decision.
But in Pantac USA, we do not discriminate and as long as you are using
our gear the way they are intended to, we will support you.

Case in point, I don’t think it is right to say that “military member
and law enforcement can benefit from your hardware not rusting” and then
effectively imply that airsoft users can deal with rusty belt buckles.
(See their facebook post here: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.])

From our personal experience (remember, half of Pantac USA’s employees
are US military veterans), our soldiers obviously need our equipments to
withstand any environment you can possibly imagine. But at the same
time, airsoft users play in the rain, roll in mud, and got dragged over
all sorts of terrain too. Do they not deserve hardware that doesn’t
rust?? In fact, from years of dealing with professional vs. recreational
users, the airsoft/paintball players actually gave us very close
feedback compare to our military customers – proving they use our gear
nearly as hard as some in the military. Granted their comments are not
always 100% spot-on (compare to military needs), but we it is not
something that should be ignored.

Now, for the record, one thing we do agree with 215 Gear is that we do
not condone anyone posing to be someone that he/she is not. In fact, if
some 15 year old calls us claiming to be DEVGRU, we’d bitch-slap him
too. There is certain respect that we must pay to those who risk their
live every day so that ours can be kept safe. Pretending to be one of
them for your personal benefit is not acceptable, and on that regard we
will firmly stand behind 215 Gear. However, this does not mean every
civilian shooter or recreational users are evil liars. If you are not
making false statements, it matters not if you use our gear for military
exercise, professional training, or just some fun. It is not going to
make our armed forces any less effective, it is not going to deplete
their supply, it is not going to reduce our gear’s quality. So why do we
need to single-out one group of users? With that said, for our airsoft
users out there: if you want to make your hobby a respectable one, do
not be ashamed of it. If you play airsoft, say you play airsoft. And say
it loudly. We won’t treat you any differently from our customers who
hunt tangos in the Hindu Kush. Being honest is respectable, and if
someone handle you like a criminal just because you are telling the
truth, we’d be the first to tell them they are full of shit.

I hope this small rant did not offend anyone; we make our gear for many
professions and Pantac gear are used world-wide by military,
law-enforcement, and private professionals. We know our users, including
many of our fans here, literally depends on our gear for survival, but
as long as we are not neglecting our core user groups I see no wrong in
supporting civilian and recreational customers. If even by selling more
volume we can keep our price lower, reducing military spending alone is a
measurable achievement that recreational players have contributed to
the tactical gear community.

Please feel free to re-post this rant online; we are not trying to start
a war but we felt that as a professional tactical gear manufacturer
there are different approaches we can take. There are ways we can
benefits the professional and recreational users alike, and we'd like
other gear manufacturers to consider our plea: Do not discriminate. It
doesn't do us any good.