The Humble Tie-Down
As it is a new year and some of us are going over our equipment, doing the annual service on big things that don’t require much maintenance, I found myself reminiscing on doing tie-downs in the 82nd. I realized how spoiled we are. Some of you don’t know about ALICE. We have been spoiled with MOLLE. But as trustworthy as she is, I have had her break on me. So, I thought it would be a good time to write an article discussing tie-downs. I know this can be a broad topic so I’m going to try to keep it focused on items that we carry. I know there are a lot of things for vehicles and boats, that’s a whole other realm.
The basic ALICE clip required a reinforcing 550 cord tie-down. So much so, there was a locking loop designed in the metal. When I first showed up in the 82nd Airborne, my first night was spent tying all my ALICE clips closed and ensuring all my pouches stayed on my Loadbearing Equipment (LBE). The importance of being able to tie a good clean square knot with a locking hitch on either side was reinforced the next day as my squad leader smoked myself and the other new members of the squad for every one of them that wasn’t tied properly. This leads us into talking about knots. I say it all the time, “If you can’t tie knots, tie lots.” That doesn’t always work. We need to practice our knots. We need to know what each knot is used for and the best place to use them. I’m not going to tell you what knots to tie for your tie-downs because individual situations may vary. We are not in the 82nd where uniformity is a priority. The important thing is that you have a good locking knot that won’t come undone and become a weak point.
I am guilty of often making the assumption that everyone knows what I am talking about and has a good understanding. This paragraph is going to be about 550 cord. If you’re well-versed in 550 cord, feel free to skip to the next paragraph. 550 cord, as it is commonly referred to, is the same as paracord, as in the same cord that attaches your risers to your parachute. The riser is a span of webbing that then attaches to your harness. It gets the nickname, 550 cord, because an individual strand of paracord has a 550-pound test. Which means that it can withstand a drop of 550 pounds without snapping. It is comprised of a woven nylon tube filled with nylon filament. The number of filaments is generally around 8, depending on the brand, you may have more or less. To have the full strength, the paracord requires the filament core. The term often used is gutted versus non-gutted. To gut 550 means you have removed the filament core causing it to be smaller but weaker. There are other cordages out there that have similar properties. There’s the craft cord often found at craft stores, hence the nickname, which has a 330-pound test. So, pay attention to what you are buying. Just because it says paracord doesn’t mean that it's real paracord. My preferred is SurvivorCord by Titan. It’s about three times the price but you are getting a lot more. It has a copper wire, a fishing line, and a waxed jute in addition to the normal filament. It’s also stronger.
Let’s talk about tying down our equipment. First thing to consider about a tie-down is will the tie-down interfere with the use of the item. Example, traditionally, pistols have been tied down with a lanyard. The problem is this interferes with you being able to go off-hand. This is the reason I don’t have a lanyard on my pistol and ensure that I have a serviceable holster for weapon retention. However, I do like to put tie downs on my night vision devices. A lot of the newer mounts and helmets come with shock cord to act as tie-downs on your night vision. I personally have had mounts fail and had my nods fall into my lap as I was driving, but because I had a tie-down, it was easy to get them back up and hold in front of my eyes. Doing airborne operations, it’s really important that your nods are tied down. Some things we just don’t want to drop. So, when tying down my NODS, I didn’t just do the classic sunglasses loop that hung around my neck. I used just enough cordage to my tie-down point, on my collar or helmet, I’ve used both, for it to stay secure but not enough cordage that I could strangle myself. The important thing is, think about how that tie-down could interfere. There may be a better point to tie to.
Tying items to our weapons systems. Coming from a military background and having spent hours walking hands across the drop zone looking for that Aimpoint sight that fell off someone’s weapon, I definitely understand the value of tying your expensive lights, lasers, and sights to your weapon system. This is a time that I prefer to use something other than paracord. Most often you end up gutting the paracord for weapon tie-downs, which weakens it considerably. So, I prefer to use a thin gage bailing wire. The advantages to this are strength and the size it takes up is minimal. The con is, once you wire it, you must cut it off to move it, or, if this is a work gun and you have to disassemble it for cleaning or accountability. It does, also, require specialty tools to do the tie-downs correctly. Gutted paracord, you just tie knots.
A temporary tie-down is for an item that I will store in one location and I’ll be moving it throughout my activities. An example might be my radio that will be going from my backpack to my assault pack to my kit, all depending on what I am doing on that particular mission. So, for this, I’ll have a good tie-down on the radio that ends in a loop that I secure to a snap link. I then use the snap link to clip into my backpack, etc.
Other Items to consider tying down, obviously, anything expensive or important. Something that is often overlooked is your canteen/water storage device. It’s 2021, I don’t judge. Tying down around the mouth of your canteen then having about double arm’s length of cordage wrapped around your canteen will help secure it and still give you enough room to drink and refill. Remember, water is a sensitive item.
I started this article off remembering tying down my pouches. Anything that we’re attaching to something else can be reinforced. Whether you are attaching a new pistol mag carrier to your war belt or external pouches onto your assault pack, throw a little extra 550 cord on that. Remember, one is none, two is one. Having that extra reassurance that your stuff isn’t going to get torn off when things get hairy will give you peace of mind. When you’re static on the flat range and the weather is perfect and ideal, you can count on all your equipment to work properly, but we all know, that isn’t reality. Things go wrong. When we’re running through the woods and we stumble and fall, we want that peace of mind. Because you’re reading this article, I know that you’re a person who takes these things serious. I hope this is giving you some motivation to burn your fingers a little with that melted nylon 550. Ah, the smell of 550 in the morning.
Like most preparations, you are spending your valuable time and effort working in the comfort of your home. Dry and well rested and fed, at least I hope you are, with the idea that you may never actually depend on this preparation. But that time that you do, it is worth ten times the amount of effort that you spent. No one wants to wander around in the dark and cold looking for that lost item. Life sucks when you have to use a Pepsi can that you found for a canteen because you didn’t tie down your canteen, and it got washed down stream. The old saying, ‘an ounce of preparation is worth a pound of cure’ is so true.
Chris