As an army, we have long favoured belt kit over chest webbing. With some exceptions – Northern Ireland, some periods of Herrick (Operation Herrick is the codename under which all British operations in the War in Afghanistan were conducted from 2002 to the end of combat operations in 2014), some units issued with Virtus – kit carried on the chest is generally frowned upon. Part of this has to do with IED threat mitigation, part with practicality (trying to remove magazines in the prone can be problematic), but much, like many things within the British Army, has to do with habit and experience.
As we attempt to shift our focus towards the Fight Light/Project Payne mentality and more battalions convert from Light Role to Protected Mobility, Armoured or Mechanised Infantry, chest rigs and battle vests have enjoyed something of a resurgence.
For those of us who are vehicle mounted – as I was when I purchased the Platatac Peacekeeper – a chest rig makes a lot of sense. It is more practical to wear within the tight confines of a mastiff, and (and this is true for all roles), it keeps you honest.
If there’s no physical room to pack Jetboils, Jack Flasks, spare headtorches, six carabiners, three different types of knife, two sticks of double As, 48 hours’ rations, a puffer jacket and four spare pairs of socks, then you have to reassess what you actually need to carry in order to fight.
The Peacekeeper is an incredibly robust piece of kit which has weathered a 6 week TX and two long-range patrol competitions without a single issue. It is incredibly lightweight and packable, and could easily be stuck in the bottom of a Bergen or side pouch for a transition into OBUA.
In terms of sizing, I’m 6 foot 5 and have a 46 inch chest but the Peacekeeper fits me well with or without armour. It has an elastic with a very slight amount of give in it on its horizontal retaining strap, which means you can don it with ECBA (Enhanced Combat Body Armour) or Osprey without readjusting it. The rig itself is retained by means of two shoulder straps about two inches wide (I wear mine crossed) and a horizontal strap.
Although there is no padding on these they are surprisingly comfortable, and only the horizontal strap needs to be unclipped to remove it.
Where the Peacekeeper really excels, though, is in pouch design and placement. It can actually fit a remarkable amount of kit for something so small and light. On the front it has a triple magazine pouch (similar in design to Crye’s).
Because the pouches have elastic around them and a fair amount of give, they retain anything from one to three mags each snugly, so you could carry anything from three mags to nine. The pouches are also handy for a variety of objects because they are so adaptable – they can take LUCIE (Laser Utilizing Communications Equipment), HMNVS (Head Mounted Night Vision System) binos or other bits of kit quite easily, although they aren’t padded so I wouldn’t start clambering through high windows with fragile items in there.
In addition to this, the Peacekeeper has a large map/notebook sleeve in the rear, which can also be fitted with Platatac’s triple magazine insert (for even MORE ammo!).
Below the ammo pouches the Peacekeeper mounts a horizontal “fanny pack” type pouch, which is big enough to take 2x smoke grenades and can fit a variety of handy bits and bobs. On the sides, it has two strips of molle PALS, which allow for a degree of customisability.
On my own rig, I had a slimline dump pouch, a knife pouch, a small admin pouch and a smoke grenade pouch. Finally, on the sides, the Peacekeeper has two medium zipped utility pouches, with interior retaining loops, which have two smaller pouches mounted to their front which close over with a Velcro flap.
Again, Platatac has thoughtfully provided an interior slimline pocket on the inside of the rig behind each of these pouches. You’ll be wanting a daysack/jacksack for water, warm/waterproof kit and radio, or you can look into the Platatac back panel. You may be able to fit a water bottle into the side pouches, depending on type, or you could mount a Blackhawk type 2x PALS pouch for a Nalgene on the available MOLLE.
To put things into perspective, here is what I was able to fit in the Peacekeeper:
- 4-6x Magazines (on one occasion, 4x 7.62 G3 mags)
- LUCIE + Spare batteries
- Lightweight Binos
- Garmin 301 + Spare Batteries
- IFAK
- Smoke grenade
- Headtorch + spare batteries
- Leatherman
- Cam Cream
- Ear Defs + Spare
- Map
- Notepad + pens
- Crib Cards
- Snacks
- Gloves (on grimloc)
- RCK
In summary, the Platatac Peacekeeper is a great piece of kit, and for around £80 ($105.00) it’s pretty spectacular value too. My one complaint is the printed multicam straps have started to fade – it would be good to see a woven version. It’s lightweight, very robust, and remarkably spacious for its size.
Build Quality: 4/5
Value for Money: 5/5
Practicality: 4/5
Allyness: 5/5
This Kit Pest Review was written by Tom Lagana. Hopefully you enjoyed it and if you have any thoughts or comments related to this article then leave a comment!
Material Disclosure
I am not bound by any written, verbal, or implied contract to give this product a good review. All opinions are my own and are based off my personal experience with the product.
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