Philippine Made Gear: Venum Woosatch-Style Chest Rig

Venum Woosatch “H-Back” Chest Rig

By Diego

Continuing on Venum’s product line, we will also take a look at their Venum Woosatch-style H-Back chest rig. Unlike the other second line products Venum offers, their chest rig is one that has the the distinction of clearly resembling its original counterpart, in this case, the American made, High Speed Gear Incorporated Woosatch vest.

RMFB PNP officer with an olive colored Venum H-Back chest rig. Also note the black drifit combat shirt.

As covered in a previous article showcasing the Venum Banshee-style plate carrier, the company Venum, found in Misamis Occidental in Mindanao, do not formally name their products. This is true of many Filipino gear brands, opting to use generic names such as “bandolier” for a chest rig for example. Thus, due to the H-Harness system, their chest rigs are simply called “H-Back” by distributors.

Its features are very reminiscent of those found on the HSGI’s Weesatch series of vests, having two buckles below each shoulder strap, clasp loops that hold the admin panel together, similarly imitated HSGI shoulder pads and magazine pouches with a thin velcro secured flap covering the magazines. However, the Weesatch and Wasatch’s magazine pouches are internally sewn into the waist area of the vest as opposed to the Venum’s external, MOLLE attached 4 cell pouches. This mirrors the HSGI Woosatch variants, which have a plain MOLLE body that requires MOLLE attached magazine pouches. One key difference between Venum’s chest rig and HSGI’s Woosatch is that the HSGI Woosatch, Wasatch and Weesatch come with a rear plate bag, those three are vests that can be run with SAPI armor or plateless as recce vests just like a configuration of the Eagle Industries RRV vest. Venum Woosatches simply have an H-Harness system found on modern chest rigs such as the Mayflower UW chest rig.

A reseller’s compilation of the different Venum chest rig color offerings. The 3rd and 4th to the last are their Banshee style carriers. H-harness system in clear view.

Again, as with virtually all Filipino tactical gear, a full set of pouches will come included upon purchase. Venum’s H-Back comes with the 4 cell magazine pouch with secondary retention buckles, an admin pouch, and two general purpose pouches on either side. Color schemes for the Woosatch style rig range from a black variant with olive green MOLLE, tan, coyote brown, nutria brown with black or olive MOLLE, OD green, olive green, black, PHILARPAT, and more. Interestingly enough, almost all of Venum’s H-Back color offerings have been documented in use with various police and military agencies.

Special Forces Regiment (Airborne) during a public demonstration. 2nd operator to the right has an OD Venum chest rig.

As can be noted by Venum’s page on Facebook, it seems as though the Venum company had a slight name change to Venum-X. With that name change came slight alterations to their products as well. Around mid-2020, all of Venum’s plate carriers and chest rigs switched over from the regular skeletonized buckles found on the magazine pouches, plate carrier cummerbunds, and chest rig waist straps to fully molded buckles. Although no complaints arose concerning the durability of the previous skeletonized buckles, it is likely that the full mold buckles are more durable. Otherwise, Venum-X’s products are cosmetically the same.

Venum H-Back in OD green. Note the Venum-X PVC patch and newer full mold buckles. This H-Back variant has a pistol holster, a feature seen on previous Venum gear iterations.

Because of the nature of the area of operations Philippine police and military find themselves in, many opt to wear a chest rig instead of a plate carrier. Some units do not require armor plating, as the unforgiving tropical climate plus the hilly terrain of areas such as Mindanao make chest rigs a more suitable option for such conditions. Some notable users of this chest rig include the Philippine National Police Special Action Force, army Special Forces Regiment (Airborne), and army Scout Rangers. Infantry and Regional Mobile Force Battalion police officers have been known to also private purchase Venum-X rigs.

Army Scout Rangers wearing the SOCOM distinctive uniform. Note the 6th man to the right has a tan Venum chest rig.

A PNP-SAF trooper during exercise. This is the coyote brown color scheme.

From a milsim and impressionist standpoint, these chest rigs are a solid, comfortable, economical, flexible and wise investment for anyone wanting to use one piece of gear for numerous Filipino kits. These rigs are seen in use with every conventional and special forces military unit, save for the Light Reaction Regiment or MARSOG. Regular RMFB police officers and the SAF police tactical unit also utilize these very rigs. It is a ubiquitous, robust chest rig that is “kosher” for the vast majority of Filipino impressions and has a sufficient pouch lot with GP pouches that comfortably house snacks, glowsticks, and even snugly fit USGI 1 quart canteens. Venum H-Backs are to not be overlooked when planning to venture into Filipino kit territory.

Army infantryman with his OD Venum H-Back.

#nofarbzone

Venum H-Back in black with olive MOLLE

Venum H-Back in full black