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June 2008
COMPETENT AT INCOMPETENCE
In 1968 I became aware of the US Army
Research and Development Center, (USARDC) Natick, MA.
I was at the time the sales director for the first company
that ever produced the continuous filament fiberfill
for Celanese; it was named Polarguard. We introduced
the product to Natick and they actually embraced it at
the time. I had been doing experimental work laminating
fiberfills and found the Polarguard to work exceptionally
well. Actually of all the fiberfill battings I laminated
the only one to work was the Polarguard. I presented
these findings to Natick and the only area they chose
to experiment with it was for glove linings. There it
proved to work better than all other insulated linings;
and to this day that is as far as they have gone. Since
they were looking at the Polarguard for insulation in
sleeping bags, I presented to them the idea of laminating
the Polarguard for all of the reasons I use it (Lamilite)
today. This idea fell on deaf ears; as it has to this
day.
The Army’s USARDC has been working
(?) on developing a new sleeping bag or system since
1968 without ever having achieved the objective. Imagine
working on making a sleeping bag for 40 years and still
not succeeding? This is what I call “competent
incompetence”! I have known all of
the people who have been involved in this project dating
from 1968 until this very moment they have not had, and
do not now have any background of the knowledge required
to make a sleeping bag that will perform for any specific
temperature condition.They, those whom we employ working
in the textile area of USARDC are very competent at not
developing a sleeping bag that will perform as they would
like it too; therefore demonstrating their incompetence.
The question that begs to be asked is why when there
is at least one maker of sleeping bags whose bags do
in fact perform in all of the temperature conditions
they are rated for they don’t try them?
In 1993 when I created my version of
a two bag system (other companies had made them before
me) for the Marine Corps I did not know how well it would
perform. With all of the basic knowledge I had at the
time I still did not know how well the product would
perform until it was used in the field by humans not
tested on copper manikins. What I know today is a very
simple fact of life with respect to my two bag systems; THEY
HAVE NEVER FAILED! That is correct, I have
never heard from any one that has any of my FTRSS combinations
that have failed to perform at the temperature that I
have applied to them. I do know from personal experience
as well as hearing from hundreds of customer’s
especially military personnel that my sleep systems have
performed at temperatures lower than the published ratings.
Over the last 40 years (1968-2008) I
have offered to share my knowledge with those in the
employ of USARDC all to no avail. They have chosen to
work with the information presented to them from individuals
who have never made a sleeping
bag in their life that actually worked for the condition
that it was made for or ever made a sleeping bag in the
first place. One fellow I worked with some years ago
was very successful selling sleeping bags that he purchased
from me. When he decided to start manufacturing on his
own he chose not to buy the Lamilite which I certainly
would have sold him; but instead used the chopped staple
fiberfill product known as Primaloft. All attempts on
his part to make a credible sleeping bag were failures
as I expected. He then tried to make bags copying me;
a law suit against him ended that. Recently the Marines
in conjunction with USARDC placed a Request for Information
notice for a sleeping bag for +20 temperature condition
with a certain weight. I wrote about this and the article
is posted on my follow up articles site. I would not
offer a candidate bag because what they were asking for
could not be accomplished. However, this fellow who has
never been successful in the past has shown them a candidate
sleeping bag that will work he claims; nonsense! To
the best of my knowledge they have embraced this bag,
it is quilted. Why you ask because he is incompetent
and they do embrace incompetence.
There is one fellow in the employ of
USARDC who sent me an e mail after reading my account
of the tragedy of the Chilean military losing 150 soldiers
to hypothermia (March-April 2006 newsletter in the archives).
He said and I quote “From my perspective as an
equipment specialist, one that has built sleeping bags
in the past and will field more in the future I look
forward to your submissions backed by data from Kansas
St. with wet and dry Clo values for your insulations.” I
guess I disappointed him when I chose not to submit a
candidate bag. I find it interesting that a person who
has had a career in the military has somehow also acquired
the knowledge necessary to make functioning performing
sleeping bags. If this is so why hasn’t this individual
started his own business as a sleeping bag maker or since
he is in the employ of USARDC why doesn’t he use
this wealth of knowledge to educate those he works with
as to what materials will work in
the making of sleeping bags for the military? Then of
course they would be able to specify the components necessary
to accomplish the mission. The stark reality is they
have been totally successful at failure to provide a
sleeping bag to the troops that does in fact perform
as desired. With regard to his comment about the wet
and dry clo values, maybe he should read the January
2007 article about Lamilite neutralizing water. Chances
are he has read ever article I have written.
Keep in mind that all of
the sleeping bags that have emanated from the USARDC
have been of a quilted construction. Whenever I took
the time to show them my bags construction; laminated they
found reasons why it would not work or would not work
for military application. I have kept all of the letters
from them stating these many fictitious reasons. I believe
the reason they chose not to embrace my bag is because
if they did their 40 years of stonewalling will come
to an end.
Several years ago I wrote to then President
Reagan that the military was approving the shingle construction
sleeping bag from The North Face Company with the Gore-Tex
bivi bag. The target price was $155.00 for the set. I
received an answer from a Major General in the Pentagon
telling me how much they appreciated my concern for the
soldiers but the bag system was a done deal. My response
was that he had know knowledge of manufacturing and even
less knowledge of insulation and when they had exhausted
all possibilities I would still be around making the
best sleeping bags in the world. When a solicitation
to bid came out the low bidder was somewhere in the area
of $435.00 per set. No contract was ever placed.
My comment to the Major General is the
same to USARDC today; when you have exhausted all possibilities
I’ll still be around making the best sleeping bags
in the world. Reflect on my motto “SIMPLY
THE BEST”!
It appears to me that the USARDC employees
in the textile area are competent at maintaining
their incompetence.
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