It's All in the (Tactical) Pants

One thing you notice at about every FOB in Afghanistan is that there are a lot of civilians walking around base -- all contractors of one sort or another.

And it seems that every one of those civilians (aside from the kitchen workers) are wearing so-called "tactical" pants...and when you get a closer look at their duds, you notice it's pretty much a 5.11 world over there (I say 'there' because we're back from our embed now, safe and sound).

I'll have to admit, I brought two pairs of pants on my embed: one was an old pair of Patagonia cargo pants that have served me well on embeds since 2004 and one was a pair of 5.11 tactical pants in FR material I got for Iraq back in '08.

It just so happens that I received an email while I was over there from a company that built a Web site dedicated to reviewing a wide range of tactical pants -- it's artfully titled The Ultimate Guide to Tactical Pants. There are detailed descriptions of pants from designers like Blackhawk, Vertec, Tru-Spec and EOTAC along with pricing info and a handy-dandy chart with materials and features broken down.

It's maybe more than you'd ever want to know about "tactical pants," but I could see if you're outfitting a group of contractors or a PD or something, this "at your fingertips" kind of resource might be helpful.

Now Ward really liked his Blackhawk pants, and I'm sticking by my Patagucci ones, but if drifting through this web site gives someone in the market for some tactical pants an idea of alternatives to 5.11, it'd be nice to see a little variety cruising around the DFAC (not that there's anything wrong with 5.11...) now and again.