How The Government Works

RECENTLY I READ AN ARTICLE BY Stephen Moore chief economist at the Heritage Foundation “Governing right out of Atlas Shrugged’’ a novel by Ayn Rand. All who have read the book marvel at how it appears she predicted what we are living through these days.

Now I will quote from his article; “The Obama administration had to admit this past week that the U.S. economy shrank by 1 percent from January to March. This is supposed to be the fifth year of an economic recovery and, yet, we lost ground in income and output. The reason is very simple: Atlas is still shrugging. I’m referring of course, to Ayn Rand’s masterpiece, “Atlas Shrugged,” written more than a half century ago. In that work of fiction, society is driven to the brink of collapse under the weight of destructive laws, edicts, regulations, and taxes. The worse things get, the more the politicians try to fix things.” It is this last sentence that I am concerned with when I think about my experience when it comes to sleeping bags and the military.

As I have written in the past when Natick sat down with Tennier Industries to copy my two bag system in the mid 1990’s they in concert bastardized my product. My product has been in use since May 1993 and I have not had a failure yet. Their product has failed from its inception and each and every time they have come out with a new solicitation making changes to overcome the deficiencies the new bag does not perform in the field any better than the old bag. If memory serves correctly they at Natick have put in the changes about four times to date. With all of my knowledge I cannot tell the difference from one contract produced bag to the next if the color doesn’t change. I cannot tell you the number of bags that I have sold to Army soldiers as a result of the issue bag not performing.

A couple of years ago Natick came out with a new bag slated specifically for the Marine Corps that had a center zipper rated for 25 degrees. When it was tested they found out that the bag did not work at the temperature so they wanted to get a liner to boost the temperature capability. The contract was awarded and 125,000 of the bags were made, however I never heard of the liners being made. I have heard from time to time from a Marine that the bag doesn’t perform which did not surprise me. It is at these times the Marine is calling to order one of my bags.

In my April 2013 commentary I wrote about Natick looking for a -20 degree bag again for the Marines. This time as I reported I shamed them into buying my Ultima Thule since it already had a national stock number issued to me by the Navy and was rated by the Navy for -35 degrees. After testing that showed it out performed every bag that was ever tested at Natick they chose to go silent on it. Instead they again as reported set up a company in El Paso TX with Mountain Hardwear (MH) to make their somewhat laminated construction bag. MH calls their bag line Lamina. This company in El Paso is a multimillion dollar company so they engineered a machine called a Lamatron which is used to combine the nylon to the fiber. I went to the company websitewww.Readyone.org and was able to see quite a bit on their online video as to the construction of the sleeping bag. Even though the video shows other aspects of what the company does. With respect to the sleeping bag itself, -20 is an absolute pipe dream. The weight of fiber used even if they made the bag as I do is in adequate for the temperature. Since they are making the bag with a center zipper the amount of insulation running down the center of the bag is severely inadequate which compromises the bags heat retaining capability. Heat rises and will easily move through the thinnest area it comes in contact with. Therefore there is a major cold spot about 60 inches long or whatever the length of the zipper happens to be right down the center of the bag. The hood section is shaped like the hood of a hoodie.

There are two aspects of the bag that I approve of; one the fiber used is Climashield which is what I use exclusively to make Lamilite and two; they are not quilting the nylon to the fiberfill. It is a tacking of the fiber to the nylon versus an overall lamination as I have. The weight of the fiberfill they use is comparable to the weight that I use for my Over bag, Nautilus bag and Desert bag. All three items are rated for +40 degree and higher temperature capability. Now I could be wrong and they may very well be using two layers and it appears that is what they are doing which would give the bag a +15/20 degree capability, but certainly not -20 as they claim.

Their production cost must be very high. Even if they are cutting a multitude of layers at one time they have to lay one ply of fiber with one ply of nylon under the Lamatron machine. If there were several layers of the fiberfill layered and a layer of nylon were place over the top layer of the fiberfill the pressure of the machine would distort the bonding, they must have a hard surface to eliminate the distortion so one layer at a time is fused on the Lamatron machine, lamination does not occur. They do show markers where the nylon and fiberfill have to line up to get uniformity from bag to bag. Another aspect of slow production is the fact that the fiberfill is cut larger than the nylon. This means the sewing operator must carefully serge the two materials together and the serging machine has a cutting blade that will remove the excess fiberfill. From what I could see on their video it is about one inch wider than the nylon all around. This means a slow production time since the sewing operator would have to carefully cut off the excess fiber to match the nylon. That would be a very slow i.e. a time consuming sewing operation. This would have to be done to four layers of fiberfill if in fact they are using four layers. Unfortunately the sewing operation was not shown in the video. As far as I could research the contract is valued at $10,000,000.00. I have heard two quantities; one of 30,000 units which would be $300.00 each and one for 36,000 units which would be $277.77 each.

Since these Natick people are not schooled in the field of synthetic insulations by choice I might add, they do not know that even continuous filament fiberfill will collapse and not return to original loft when it is to light in weight. They will see this when the bags are used, slept in and stuffed and unstuffed for a while. There is not enough density of fiberfill. So aside from the bags not performing at the specified temperature they will not last very long.

Now keep in mind that there is a royalty being paid to MH. Also the Lamatron machine must have cost several thousand dollars to make and it appears that they have several. They call the machine a Lamatron so one thinks it is a lamination that it does, but it is not. True lamination can be seen when you look at ply board, each layer is completely adhered to the one above and below, or as I do in any Lamilite insulated product. What they are doing is essentially spot welding the fiberfill to the nylon.

Generally people who are working for the government do not get fired when they make mistakes. If the mistake happens to be brought to the attention of their immediate supervisor that person may tell them to correct the mistake. In the field of insulation at Natick the people charged with investigating the insulations that are available to them and testing them do a cursory job. “CURSORY” according to the Oxford Universal Dictionary; “PASSING RAPIDLY OVER A THING OR SUBJECT; HASTY OR HURRIED”. This is how they function. They of course would disagree with me saying that they take as much as two years or longer to examine all of their studies that have been done. In my opinion having had dealings with Natick they do a cursory job. However, they tend to put things down or aside and if you ask them how things are going on a particular project, they tell you things are inconclusive at the moment. The reality is that all Natick employees work in concert. They require funding from the federal government coffers to operate. I see it as a make work situation. So if someone makes a mistake and things have to be done over it really doesn’t matter. In most cases the supervisor doesn’t know about a mistake until someone from outside of Natick makes it known, so the person who made the mistake is told to fix it versus how to fix it. As you look up the chain of command in the government you see the same way of doing things. It happens at all levels and always has. When things go bad they have to find a way to correct them. Chances are they will not correct them, then what would they do? Blank.

I have noted this behavior for years, actually since 1969, only then I was not aware of how the system worked against new product development and educating the Natick employees, something they dearly need when it comes to insulated products such as sleeping bags and outerwear, but are dead set against learning. That is also symptomatic of people employed by our government.

As for Readyone Industries their video states that;” they set out to design the world’s best sleeping bag”, which I find almost amusing if not for the fact that the product they are making is designated for use by Marines. Readyone Industries has absolutely zero background in the materials required to make sleeping bags specifically the insulation. When you think about it all they are doing is copying just like Mountain Hardwear did THE best sleeping bag ever manufactured and that is WIGGY’S. The only thing that they have done at both companies is make a sleeping bag the LOOKS like a WIGGY BAG. Neither of the bags actually performs like a WIGGY BAG. The greatest form of flattery is being copied, as it is a mark of distinction that is being applied to you. Unfortunately the Marines who will be issued these bags and told they are good for – 20 degrees use will find in short order that they have been given erroneous information. Once they find that the bags do not perform as desired Natick will have to look into the reasons why, they will not recognize them and will need more funding to resolve the problem.

FOLLOW UP TO POOR FUNCTIONING SLEEPING BAGS

My June 2014 newsletter basically dealt with a center zippered sleeping bag being produced for the U.S. Marine Corps. The bag in question is a center zippered model for use as low as -20 degrees. Whoever designed or engineered this bag shows a significant lack of knowledge about where the insulation should be positioned in a sleeping bag for maximum heat retention. In addition they should also know how the bag is going to be used and what the user will be wearing in a military situation. They also do not know what weight of insulation should be used for a sleeping bag that is to be used in a -20 degree temperature environment.

Experience should be the greatest of teachers. When the Natick/Marine Corps adopted the center zippered bag for use at 25 degrees and tested it they found out that it did not work for the temperature so they looked at an insulated liner that apparently was never made but they made the bags regardless of their ability not to perform. The reasons for lack of performance were #1 the major cold spot built into the bag with a center zipper. As a manufacturer of sleeping bags I know that a uniform thickness of insulation over your body will give the best possible insulation and when you make a bag with a center zipper no matter how you try to cover the zipper with a draft tube it does not work very well. I make one for maximum low temperature of plus 25 degrees. Some customers have asked for a zero or -20 degree bag with a center zipper and I refuse to make it because I know the short comings. #2 the problem with the original bag was that the fiberfill was quilted even though it is Climashield, it was quilted. Each stitch line represents a cold spot and with maybe a dozen stitch lines that means a dozen cold spots the length of the bag. While the new bag is not quilted so there is a uniform loft throughout the bag it is not heavy enough to perform at -20 degrees in and of itself. Then to add to the problem you have this single major cold spot going the length of the zipper.

The next critical problem deals with what the Marine is wearing. During the warring in Iraq the injuries suffered from IED’s included the synthetic underwear that Marines were wearing melting into their skin. Now they must wear materials that will actually retain the moisture that the body emits. During the cold weather we naturally wear several layers of clothing so any perspiration we are emitting does not get away from us unless we are wearing fishnet underwear which Marines are most likely not wearing since it is not issue. Therefore, almost all of their perspiration is retained in their clothing. When the Marine now gets into his sleeping bag he is wearing his clothing and if the temperature is less than 32 degrees the cold air settling on the surface of the bag does not come against adequate insulation to keep it from penetrating especially along the zipper, and the moisture that is in his clothing starts to cool and eventually and I believe within two hours the Marine is starting to feel a chill and or is getting cold and as a consequence does not sleep.

In May of 2005 the Chilean military lost as many as 150 soldiers returning from a training mission in the mountains. They found themselves in a white out situation and hunkered down. anyone who has had to trudge through snow knows that you generate significant perspiration as they were experiencing and when they got into their sleeping bags which were not meant for such conditions the froze to death. It is called hypothermia. They probably had retained an enormous amount of moisture in their clothing.

Marines are human beings and their bodies function just like the Chilean soldiers bodies so why would things be different? They will not be as far as I am concerned the Marines would open themselves to a potential hypothermic situation. Today I am happy to say that the Chilean military is buying Wiggy’s bags. They made that decision after about 6 months of testing in the field, not on dummies; i.e. a copper manikin.

Will those in charge of specifying sleeping bags for the US military ever take into consideration which sleeping bags have never had a problem regardless of the temperature range needed, doubtful. These people simply refuse to educate themselves. They seem to function on the basis of a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing.