When I first received the The Fight and Flight Leader’s Arm Board I didn’t anticipate how useful it could be to a non-military user like myself. I was actually a bit surprised that Dave, owner of Fight and Flight Tactical, even sent it to me at all. I have never needed to carry around pictures of high value targets or anything like that. After spending some time with it, I was surprised at just how many uses I found for it.
Fight and Flight Tactical Leader's Arm Board
Overview
At its most basic, the Leader’s Arm Board is an organizer for important information that must be available to you quickly. It attaches to your wrist (or a number of other places) and allows you to carry and quickly view information like maps, pictures, ballistic information, or anything else you can fit on a note card.
The top flap opens to reveal the first vinyl window. This window can be loaded quickly without unfolding the arm board.
The Leader’s Arm Board is constructed from 1000D nylon. It features 3 clear vinyl windows that can be used to display information. These windows are layered over one another so that they can be unfolded one at a time. All 3 of them are covered by a flap that is not detachable but can be secured out of the way with hook and loop. There is an elastic pen loop on the interior for securing a pen or alcohol marker for marking directly on the vinyl windows. A removable kydex stiffener is used to allow the Leader’s Arm Board to hold its comfortable curved shape and to provide a solid backing for writing on the vinyl windows.
The exterior of the Leader’s Arm Board features a 2″x3″ panel of loop material for attaching various types of patches. It also features a wrist strap that is removable, reversible, and completely ambidextrous. The wrist strap is threaded through webbing that can be used to attach the Leader’s Arm Board to any MOLLE interface using something like MALICE Clips. The webbing is covered with loop material so the panel can also be affixed via hook and loop.
After lifting the flap and first vinyl window, two more windows are revealed.
Quality
The Leader’s Arm Board shows the type of quality that you would expect for something that is designed to be exposed to the elements constantly and take a beating. There are bar tacks everywhere you would expect to find them. The hook and loop areas that will be stressed frequently are double or triple stitched. All of the cloth edges are covered and reinforced with color matched binding tape. The wrist strap is wide enough to be comfortable and has rubber threads woven in to keep it from sliding around on your arm. There is a lot of hallmarks of quality and attention to detail in the execution.
In Use
I used the Leader’s Arm Board the hardest for some navigation. I like to hike a local orienteering course whenever I can sneak away and this turned out to be a tremendous tool for tracking and organizing navigation information. I carried coordinates, location clues, UTM cards, small maps, quick reference information right on my wrist and in an easy to access format. I also found that the grab handle on the exterior flap was the perfect place to mount a small compass like a Suunto Clipper for a quick direction check. These are the types of things that you might like to have handy on any hike.
I also found it useful for carrying ballistic information like hold overs and reticle dimensions. I can also use it to outline the drills that I pre-plan for a day at the range. So, while I have never been in the military, I found a lot of use for this.
The top most window will easily accept a 3×5″ index card but the inner two windows required that the card’s width be trimmed. I would deal with a fraction of an inch more width for the ability to use full size index cards. This is definitely something that I would change.
The clever backing allows it to be mounted on the wrist, MOLLE webbing, or Velcro (hook and loop).
The design of the Leader’s Arm Board allows it to be worn comfortably over a wrist watch. If you are wearing something like a Garmin Foretrex, you will want to mount it on the opposite arms since they don’t really fit together comfortably.
The kydex stiffener is easily removable. If you are going to mount this to MOLLE webbing, you will need to remove it. I found that it was comfortable to wear with or without the stiffener but if you are going to be marking the vinyl windows, the stiffener really helps.
The back of the Leader’s Arm Board has loop material for attaching the pouch to a hook and loop surface. Most surfaces that you would want to attach this to, like the top of a plate carrier, will also be loop material so you will have to make some field expedient adapters. This can be accomplished easily by cutting a few strips of adhesive backed hook material and folding it onto itself so that it can be used to join two loop surfaces.
The outer most vinyl window is accessible from the outside of the Leader’s Arm Board. When it is curved around your forearm, this opening pulls open a bit which could allow rain or debris to enter. It isn’t gaping open and I didn’t have any issues, but a bit of hook and loop to close the opening might go a long way.
The Leader's Arm Board can lay flat for more mounting options when the stiffener is removed.
Conclusion
Like I said above, I was surprised at just how many uses I had for the Leader’s Arm Board once I spent some time with it. The quality is very good and the design is functional. I can’t speak to it’s uses on the battle field, but this blogger found it to be useful in my fields of pursuit.
Check out the Leader’s Arm Board on FightandFlight.com.
