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Modern Day Marine Expo ends today

It’s become tough to see it all in a day.

With more than 400 vendors hawking everything from LED flashlights and comfy socks to up-armored Humvees and amphibious assault vehicles, the Modern Day Marine Expo in Quantico, Va., is nearly double the size it was just five years ago.

Which means Marines have to exercise time-management skills if they want to climb through every Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle on display, fire a few rounds in Laser Shot Inc.’s modular shoothouse or scale a climbing wall for a CamelBak.

“There’s a huge leap forward in technology and intelligence systems over the last time I was here. The sheer number of vendors out here is amazing,” said Lt. Col. Brian Fitzpatrick, an intelligence officer assigned to Marine Corps headquarters.

The 27th-annual event holds the usual staples for any well-equipped Marine, including weapons, ammunition, cartridges, armor, sleeping bags, tents and communications gear.

But it also features big-ticket items that Marines seem to be chomping at the bit to acquire.

At one space, BAE Systems showed off an MK44 30mm automatic cannon mounted on an amphibious assault vehicle. At another tent, the same corporation demonstrated its “Remote Guardian” defensive weapon for the V-22 Osprey.

“I am excited and encouraged by this,” said Master Sgt. Martin Reyes, maintenance control chief for Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 162, speaking about the weapons system. “The aircraft is awesome, and this will make it that much better.”

The Marine Corps has not committed to purchasing the turreted system, which is designed to be belly-mounted on the aircraft.

In fact, Remote Guardian has not been tested onboard the V-22.

But a spokesman for BAE Systems said the system, which was built with feedback from V-22 crew chiefs, maintenance personnel and pilots, could fill a requirement raised in the fiscal 2008 defense supplemental spending bill “It really comes down to the needs of the Marine Corps. We could deploy behind the squadron if the service wanted it,” said Clark Freise, vice president of defense avionics for BAE Systems.

The Modern Day Marine Expo in Quantico, Va., has become one of the largest U.S. trade shows for military gear. Its location gives companies a chance to showcase their newest products before the Corps’ top planners and troops.

Vendor Lee Davis, a captain in the Kentucky Army National Guard, showed two Marines a 500-pound Frag 5 door for up-armored Humvees, and the system that helps troops open and close the heavyweight portal.

“The first thing Marines always want to see is our door,” Davis said, pointing to a battered, shattered section of a Humvee that had been the target of an improvised explosive device in Baghdad earlier this year.

“This is much better than what we had when I was over there,” he said. Davis deployed to Afghanistan from 2005 to 2006.

Drawing big crowds were the Young Marines booth, with celebrity spokesman R. Lee Ermey, and the ever-popular Taser table, where Marines queued for the chance to receive the shock of a lifetime.

Sgt. Chris Hamann, 25, assigned to Defense Mapping School at Fort Belvoir, Va., stood stoically for nearly 10 seconds while a company representative tased him.

“That was my entire purpose for being here. It’s why I came,” he said. “You have one life to live, and you never know what you are capable of until you try it.”

Modern Day Marine continues Thursday on Lejeune Field at Marine Corps Base Quantico. The expo floor is open from 10 a.m. until 3:30 p.m.