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Fun day at the AUSA expo
Bullzeye
Member Posts: 3,560
Went to the Association of the United States Army National Expo today at the Washington DC Expo Center.
It was insane. Like 10 football fields worth of military vendors, manufacturers, suppliers, distributers, and agencies.
Pretty much every weapons designer, ammo supplier, and tactical supply company I've ever heard of (and some I hadn't) were there with full set-ups. Live weapons on display, free videos/posters/stickers/keychains, and lots of people just begging you to amble on up and say "So, what makes your rifle/grenade/mortar/rocket so special?"
Now of course, all of this polish and enthusiasm is 99% dedicated to hawking their product to the Army brass. But that doesn't mean yours truly Joe Snuffy can't go nosing around being a nuisance and asking the bigwigs the burning questions! [:D]
The whole thing was like a dream come true. Huge walls of weapons and lots of people to talk to. I went to the FN-USA booth and discussed the P90 at length with Paul Evencoe, Director of FN-USA's Military Division. He was a really cool guy, and we talked for awhile about the P90, the Five-SeveN, the SPW sniper rifle, and my beloved SAW.
Then I went the HK-USA booth and spoke to Peter Simon, Vice President of HK-USA. He got pissed for some reason when I told him I was trying to modify my G3 cocking lever tube so I could attach a PSG-1 foregrip, and then refused to give me an autograph, so I went and talked to his chief technical advisor, some guy who spoke heavily accented English and had just flown in from the Obendorf plant this morning.
I met the President of Barrett Rifles, Ronnie Barrett. He signed a poster of an M82A1 for me and told me about their new line of 6.8mm M4 uppers. Looks fantastic to me. They also have a new line of vehicle-mounted .50BMG rifles with short barrels and EOTech sights, designed for close combat.
Met Avi Zafir, VP of Marketing for IMI, who told me all about the Tavor and the Negev. That Tavor does look pretty good, although I can't shake the feeling that nothing with a barrel that short can be accurate.
I was going to talk to the guy from Milkor USA, but he was busy talking to some actual buyers, so I checked the goods out myself. They make an awesome-looking rotary-magazine 40mm grenade launcher. It's got some sort of a new optical red-dot sight that I can't quite understand. They also had their BXP subgun there.
Oh, and R. Lee Ermey was there signing pictures at the Team Glock tent. I called him Gunnery Sergeant and went to parade rest when he addressed me. He rolled his eyes. Whoops! Guess I won't make the mistake of showing respect to a retired jarhead ever again. At least I got a signed picture out of it.
"Our finest tribute to our fallen dead would be to convince their sons that we were not Rambo and neither are they. -Gus Hasford
It was insane. Like 10 football fields worth of military vendors, manufacturers, suppliers, distributers, and agencies.
Pretty much every weapons designer, ammo supplier, and tactical supply company I've ever heard of (and some I hadn't) were there with full set-ups. Live weapons on display, free videos/posters/stickers/keychains, and lots of people just begging you to amble on up and say "So, what makes your rifle/grenade/mortar/rocket so special?"
Now of course, all of this polish and enthusiasm is 99% dedicated to hawking their product to the Army brass. But that doesn't mean yours truly Joe Snuffy can't go nosing around being a nuisance and asking the bigwigs the burning questions! [:D]
The whole thing was like a dream come true. Huge walls of weapons and lots of people to talk to. I went to the FN-USA booth and discussed the P90 at length with Paul Evencoe, Director of FN-USA's Military Division. He was a really cool guy, and we talked for awhile about the P90, the Five-SeveN, the SPW sniper rifle, and my beloved SAW.
Then I went the HK-USA booth and spoke to Peter Simon, Vice President of HK-USA. He got pissed for some reason when I told him I was trying to modify my G3 cocking lever tube so I could attach a PSG-1 foregrip, and then refused to give me an autograph, so I went and talked to his chief technical advisor, some guy who spoke heavily accented English and had just flown in from the Obendorf plant this morning.
I met the President of Barrett Rifles, Ronnie Barrett. He signed a poster of an M82A1 for me and told me about their new line of 6.8mm M4 uppers. Looks fantastic to me. They also have a new line of vehicle-mounted .50BMG rifles with short barrels and EOTech sights, designed for close combat.
Met Avi Zafir, VP of Marketing for IMI, who told me all about the Tavor and the Negev. That Tavor does look pretty good, although I can't shake the feeling that nothing with a barrel that short can be accurate.
I was going to talk to the guy from Milkor USA, but he was busy talking to some actual buyers, so I checked the goods out myself. They make an awesome-looking rotary-magazine 40mm grenade launcher. It's got some sort of a new optical red-dot sight that I can't quite understand. They also had their BXP subgun there.
Oh, and R. Lee Ermey was there signing pictures at the Team Glock tent. I called him Gunnery Sergeant and went to parade rest when he addressed me. He rolled his eyes. Whoops! Guess I won't make the mistake of showing respect to a retired jarhead ever again. At least I got a signed picture out of it.
"Our finest tribute to our fallen dead would be to convince their sons that we were not Rambo and neither are they. -Gus Hasford
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Dave
How different the world would be if we could consult the veteran instead of the politician. - Henry Miller