CAMP PENDLETON –
With the Iraq war running hot and hotter last year, the Marine West Military Exposition offered gear to help Camp Pendleton Marines kill the enemy but not get killed.
JOHN GASTALDO / Union-Tribune
Marine Lance Cpl. Orlando Figueroa winced from the shock of a Taser International weapon yesterday at the Marine West Military Exposition at Camp Pendleton.
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The tremendous demand for personal-use items such as rifle slings, gun-mounted lights and body armor was stoked by seemingly incessant urban combat in Iraq during 2007.
In 2008, the Iraq war still drives the expo, and vendors still have a wet mercantile finger in the air. But election-year forecasts are also a driving force, as evidenced by the political chatter among booth handlers during yesterday's opening of the expo.
The two-day event attracted about 200 companies, the highest count in the expo's 16-year history.
“The mind-set of the vendors has changed a lot since last year. The belief is that the Democrats are coming into office and they are going to change a lot of things by pulling troops out of Iraq and making the mission post-war sustainment,” said Larry Olson, a sales representative for Arizona-based Diamondback Tactical, which makes body armor.
“We'll still have forces there, but it will be 50,000 troops between three or four bases” instead of about 160,000 service members currently spread across Iraq, Olson added. “If we don't adapt to that, we are going to go out of business.”
JOHN GASTALDO / Union-Tribune
A Mich helmet with an attachment for an infra-red eyepiece was on display at the expo, which attracted about 200 companies.
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While the latest laser gun-sights and combat knives were on display yesterday, their numbers seemed dwarfed by more prosaic products such as waterless cleaning agents, climate controlled warehouses and computers promoting online college courses.
A representative for University of Phoenix said the number of soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen in Iraq who take online classes “has increased greatly” and steadily in the past year. His estimate underscored the consensus by various military leaders that the U.S. mission in Iraq has broadened beyond combat to include security training and reconstruction work.
The Marine Corps hosts three military equipment expos each year, at Camp Pendleton, Camp Lejeune in North Carolina and Quantico Marine Corps Base in Virginia.
At Camp Pendleton yesterday, young Marines stopped at booths to try on sunglasses or receive free insoles for their boots. Few seemed intent on buying anything.
Two years ago, Marines said they spent an average $400 of their own money on gear before deploying to Iraq. Last year, the figure was $100. This year, many Marines said they liked a lot of items, but not many they needed.
The dynamics in Iraq are changing, as are requests that individual Marines and the Marine Corps as a whole make to vendors, military leaders said.
“They are in business to respond to what we need,” said Col. Clarke Lethin, chief of staff for the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. “Last year, there was an immediacy for some things like the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles and body armor. This year, we are taking more of a long-range approach in understanding the elements in the long war and what we need to do better.”
Retired Marine Col. Jim Bracken, director of the expo, said increased stability in some areas of Iraq and an improved military supply system are directly reflected by what vendors are selling this year.
“When we first went into Iraq, Marines needed individual combat equipment. Now it's more sustainment things,” Bracken said. “The Marines over there are bored to death because it is not as tactical as it used to be.”
Rick Rogers: (760) 476-8212; rick.rogers@uniontrib.com
