Alright then, girls and boys! Get rid of your silly spandex suits and sign up for the Armored Division lickety-split! After all, why go hippity-hoppity on a shooting competition stage, when you could also plow through it like a MOTHER-LOVING TANK?
And to let everyone know who you are and what you do, here is a morale patch for you. Slap it on your clothes, gun bags or that F350 truck you need to haul your steaming pile of Armored Division gear around the country and the gun competitions.
Stolen honor missions can also be executed wearing this patch, if you primarily do your warfighting with a bowl of nachos and a six-pack, from the comforts of your living room couch. We will not judge.
What is TST?
For all you ignoramuses, TST is a Finnish military abbreviation for "taistelu", combat.
Required gear for Armored Division (Finnish SRA TST)
- Shooters need to carry these in the beginning of the stage (In the stage briefing, it can be instructed that some combat division mandatory gear is not needed on that stage):
- The pistol which the shooter is using in the contest. The pistol is carried in the holster which the shooter is using in the contest; if a pistol is not needed in the stage then the shooter can insert an empty magazine into the pistol with the range officer's permission.
- At least 90 rounds of ammo which are in at least three 30 round magazines. The exception to this are the magazines of rifles which are using "long" cartridges (for example 7.62x51), in this case a full magazine of 20 rounds is enough
- At least 30 rounds of pistol ammo which are in at least two magazines
- At least 1 liter of water (Note: Shooter can drink the water during the contest, however shooter needs to make sure that he/she is carrying at least 1 liter of water while on the stage)
- Knife/multitool (Length of the blade has to be at least 90mm / 3.6")
- Flashlight
- Gloves (Color needs to be discreet so that the gloves could be used in military service (in a real military of a real country))
- Sling (Needs to be carried, not necessarily attached)
- First aid kit (Has to include at least CAT / tourniquet)
- Plate carrier / Chest rig
- Long sleeved shirt and pants with long legs (Color needs to be discreet so that the gloves could be used in military service (in a real military of a real country)).
- Military grade boots (Color needs to be discreet so that the boots could be used in military service (again, in a real military of a real country)), the boots need to have support for the ankle and cover the malleolus
- Total weight of the gear has to be at least 12 kg / 26.4 lbs
Gear which is tallied in the total weight (rifle, clothes, shoes etc. are not tallied in the weight):
- Pistol the shooter is carrying
- Plate carrier / Chest rig
- Battle belt / Shooter’s belt
- Helmet (All accessories attached to the helmet are also tallied in total weight. Note: Hearing protection, goggles etc. are not tallied in if the shooter doesn’t use a helmet)
- All protective vests
- Gear that needs to be carried during the stage (listed above)
- All the gear which is carried by the shooter on his/her plate carrier, belt, chest rig etc., plus also knee and elbow pads
Just one more thing…
If you didn’t immediately get a raging TST-on, read these: