Sunday, September 29, 2013

Polish wz89 Combat Sack

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'Sigh' this thing:
This is the polish combat pack.. It's a Sack okay!? can we just be honest for a moment, this is not a combat pack designed to keep all the vital gear of the polish soldier, this is a camouflaged potato sack.. 
Ugh.. alright, here's the history of the thing..

History:
Poland was liberated and occupied by the USSR during World War 2, and later gained autonomy and entered into the Warsaw Pact.
Typical for the Warsaw Pact armies, the polish camouflage patterns have rarely had any camouflage properties.
In 1968 the polish army introduced the wz.68 Moro LWP(Ludowe Wojsko Polskie) Pattern, otherwise known as the Worm Pattern, because it looks like worms.

This is so stupid that i wouldn't even bother describing it, if it wasn't actually the thing i do on this blog.
Someone in the polish army actually had the thought, "Uhhhhhhhh.. We should, you know, like, make a camouflage pattern, that looks like worms, because if we were spotted by the enemy, they wouldn't shoot at us, because they would just think that we were piles of worms shaped like humans" and his superior looked at this man and said something like "HALLELUJAH! THAT'S BRILLIANT!!!! keep this up and you'll make General some day!"
Its ridicules, but as we progress through polish camouflage history, you'll notice that this ain't the last time this happens..

In the 1970's the polish special forces started experimenting with the Gepard(Leopard) Camo:

And here is my question: "What the actual fuck was the experiment?". Was this some sort of psychological experiment designed to prove how much bullshit soldiers would take? Or were they actually trying to camouflage themselves as Leopards, to blend in with the natural population of leopard, that had just EXPLODED in Poland during the 1970's. In fact i have made a chart showing the population of wild Leopards in Poland, starting in the dark ages until the end of the cold war.
    

So maybe i was wrong..

The next thing the polish army came up with was the wz.89. Zába Pattern, which in polish means Frog, but it was nicknamed the Puma Pattern, again i guess, because of the abundance of wild Pumas in Poland.

And can i just point out that this is what a puma looks like:
WHAT THE F... I don't even care anymore....


As we know, every time a new camouflage system is introduced, new gear is issued, and this is were the nightmare pack joins the polish army.

THIS IS 1989!!! HOW CAN THIS EVEN BE REAL?? in 1939 the Swedish were issued with stuff like this:

Is it really that ba...
Let me stop me right there. This is not that bad, nothing is this bad, this is a bad dream, a literal nightmare, you are expecting to wake up, but you never do...
I am thankful everyday that i was not in the polish army during the 1990's..

Here is what the carrying system looks like:

So they decided to do this, 2 wide nylon straps so you can carry this like a backpack, but they added carbines to the straps, so you can make yourself a handy shoulder bag, that you will have no possible way of hauling around..
The straps are not padded and they are made of Nylon, combine this with the fact that the sack has a load capacity of around 70 liters, you have, put mildly, a very uncomfortable pack. There is no back support and the entire thing is made of soft cotton.
In Short: Its a Cotton sack, 70liters capacity, dreadful.

Do i even dare to ask.. anything ells?
I have 3 things for you:
1: 
You can write your name on a piece of paper and slide in here, making it possible for other people to know that this is yours and then proceed to beat you. The nametag pocket is NOT covered in plastic and not waterproof.

2: 
Rubber bottom, this is the only positive aspect. Waterproof bottom, so when you put it down, the stuff inside won't get wet, not until the thing falls over and gets drenched, because the rest of the pack has the same watershedding capabilities as wet paper.

3.

YOU CAN MAKE IT BIGGER... ARE YOU KIDDING??? just stop...

Anything negative?
I'm not even going to answer that question...

Price?
Considering how bad this pack is, its actually quiet expensive. i bought mine for 10£ on ebay(16$, 12 Euros)
And it doesn't matter how much or how little you pay for this, if you pay human money for this, you are getting hustled. Not by the guy selling it to you, but by the 1989 all star polish army team.

Verdict?
For the first time ever, I am going to give this pack: Nothing. It is simply so bad that the few positives get killed by the huge negatives aspects. I hate it, so very, very much.  

Thanks for reading
Chris.

Note:
I do realize that this was probably not issued as a combat pack, as it more closely resembles the Bundeswehr Seesack. So it was probably a sack issued for transporting gear to and from barracks, and/or bases of operation, and not used for combat. 
BUT, as long as retailers label these as combat packs, i reserve the right to review them as such.

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12 comments:

  1. Your not wrong!
    Have you looked at the Czech M85 sack? Might be worth a review.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Could you send me a link on it? Is this the one you mean?

      http://images.ontheedgebrands.com/get/w/400/h/400/A51-MS6550.image?notfound=notavailable

      Delete
    2. I got mine from Wrights Army Surplus (including the all important yoke!) on ebay.

      Delete
  2. In poland this sacks are cheeper, about 10 pln (ca. 2,5 euro or 3 dolars), but the proce is low because nobody want to buy that :P But sellers describe this as very good backpack...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm amazed that people actually try to sell these of as good "rucksacks". Its kinda one of the reasons i wanted to do this blog in the first place, got sick of the mislabeling and general "Buy this, this is the best thing since steak".

      Delete
  3. I think these packs are great. I use them for travel. Can hold a lot of things. I like the top loader and it's expandable. No zippers to break or people to unzip and steal. Holds contents good, we'll stitched. They knew what they were doing. It's quite smart. Great price at around 10 bucks. Can think of worse. Have used them on several trips.use it to carry groceries, beer, do laundry while travelling. Sorry you feel that way. Bag not for you but grest for me.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I view it almost like an expandable duffel bag, or seabag. Can easily load up a weeks worth of clothing for a trip, check it in or carry on overhead bin. But I use it to carry water and other essentials when travelling, plus a sack to transport items back to hotel. Perfect.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Straps are not padded but so what? The straps are wide enough to not dig in your shoulders. The only thing bad is the clips that the straps hook on to the d-rings. I cut them off and used 3 inch caribiners. I made some videos on YouTube on those.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Straps are not padded but so what? The straps are wide enough to not dig in your shoulders. The only thing bad is the clips that the straps hook on to the d-rings. I cut them off and used 3 inch caribiners. I made some videos on YouTube on those.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I view it almost like an expandable duffel bag, or seabag. Can easily load up a weeks worth of clothing for a trip, check it in or carry on overhead bin. But I use it to carry water and other essentials when travelling, plus a sack to transport items back to hotel. Perfect.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I think these packs are great. I use them for travel. Can hold a lot of things. I like the top loader and it's expandable. No zippers to break or people to unzip and steal. Holds contents good, we'll stitched. They knew what they were doing. It's quite smart. Great price at around 10 bucks. Can think of worse. Have used them on several trips.use it to carry groceries, beer, do laundry while travelling. Sorry you feel that way. Bag not for you but grest for me.

    ReplyDelete