Kit versus Skill: Why does Impressionism Exist

So as I am sitting here reading an article in the New York Times about “Qaeda Militants Seeking Syria Bases” enjoying my subpar Chinese food in a stereotypical box with stereotypical Chinese architecture plastered on the front and back, and Starburst Jelly Beans, I suddenly remembered that my friend and Task Force Kilo XO, Drew Kazanis, has recently posted a blog about some topic I found interesting but just couldn’t find the time to read. It was scandalous. His “Kit versus Skill” post was not good read and not eye opening. It was full of the standard arguments that any other “speedsofter” has. I apologize for the derogatory and offensive term but I am just livid. He dare questions the majestic nature of the Crye CAGE Plate Carrier (CPC) and the godliness of Project: Odin, a “tricked out” m4 as Drew would put it. Everyone knows that you perform as well as your gear and he dare question that logic that has been standing for thousands of years. Wood beat the fist. Stone beat wood. Bronze beat stone. Iron beat bronze. Steel beat Iron. Gun beat steel and Drew is beaten by high grade polymer from a KWA. 

If you couldn’t tell, most of the above was sarcastic. In fact, the only thing that wasn’t sarcastic was the beginning involving the stomach turning Chinese and Drew writing a post about “Kit versus Skill”. You can find the blog post here:

http://justacrazyairsofter.blogspot.com/2014/03/kit-vs-skill.html

Most of his points are valid. In the end, a $100 dollar Crye Precision vertical 5.56 magazine pouch is a pouch that holds magazines. A CPC is a carrier that is designed to hold plates. However, what I will be doing is defending and justifying the “kit” perspective of the argument just to provide a more holistic perspective.

The “hardcore” milsim world can be categorized to be known as impressionism. Impressionists attempt to recreate actual military kits based on reference pictures. These kits can span any decade or era and any military unit around the world. Some of the most popular kits are modern United States Special Forces, including but not limited to Parajumpers, Rangers, Army Special Forces, Combat Applications Group (CAG), Devgru (Seal Team 6), Navy Seals, etc. Other kits span from Russian kits including FSB based kits, as well as SASR, and UKSF. Hardcore impressionists, attempt to recreate the most realistic kits possible regardless of time and money. This includes getting details right down to the pack and the IFAK.

Drew’s argument focuses on the “gearwhoring” portion of an impressionist. Its true, there are people who collect gear and never play or play so poorly that they are routed by six year olds playing cops and robbers with finger pistols. However, that’s mostly not the case. Impressionists are typically motivated to not only creating the most realistic kit possible but they are also motivated to perform in a very organized and militaristic fashion. This motivation spawns from them performing well above average at various large events that require militaristic organization in order to maintain event integrity. I can attest to this with my experience from Milsim West: Crimean Crisis. Our platoon was all extremely motivated Impressionists who drilled during our “off-time” in order to better ourselves for the event. We, then became an extremely effective platoon that was an asset for the Company and before you even argue that impressionists wear pointless gear, all of my “pointless” gear such cobra cuffs and chemlights were used at Crimean Crisis.

This can also be measured with psychology. The behavioral model (the basis of all behavior) argues that there are two routes to determining a person’s behavior, nature and nurture. Nature is more of the “I’m born with it” aspect where behavior is thought to be genetic and there is Nurture where people believe that behavior spawns from “influences and experiences” throughout a person’s life. Both routes do have a motivation factor. No matter if you are “born” with an attitude or you developed an attitude over time, motivation equates to an amplified amount of desire. This desire, then, amplifies the behavior’s quantity and quality. This means that the behavior from impressionists are amplified from motivation and they tend to be the ones who push themselves the hardest on the field and the ones who listens to orders the most.

This off-time drilling did come off at elitist, which is what I think, is the problem with impressionism. Although most are good people, some do come off as elitist and full of themselves. This could be the reason why perception of performance is skewed. The kit, coupled with the typical type A personality, can give the appearance that the person is cocky and elitist.

As much as I debate with Drew, I realize that he does have a point. Impressionism does have weak points. However, comparing kit and skill is like comparing apple and oranges. You can’t really compare them, you can only find a time and a place for them. Milsim type events every weekend would be dull while always having speedsofting games would be very dull as well. No one ever said that having kit and skill was mutually exclusive. You can have kit and the motivation as well as the skill and the tenacity. If you don't agree... well the picture below just says it all.