Hey man, thanks for doing this. We like to make it a point to sit down with our people and talk about some cool stuff. For the viewers at home—is that the right thing to say? I like to touch the fourth wall sometimes. Michael "Maz" Masseria… close enough?

Yeah, yeah, that's close enough. Right, yeah. But if we could off-ramp real quick, there’s a cool thing to talk about because you've got a cool nickname that obviously fits. I had visions of joining the Army and getting a badass nickname. I got through RIP and all that stuff, and I was at Battalion thinking, "Okay, any day now, I'm going to get a cool nickname." But my nickname just ended up being Sizelove for my whole career, so there's probably something to that. Congrats on an awesome Army career, and on having a cool nickname. Could have been worse, that's for sure. So, talk to me about what got you in this chair—going back, you know, to whenever you want to start.

I joined in 2015 and went directly into the regiment. It took me a bit of a long route, just shy of a year to get there, but I spent my entire career at 1/75. You know, doing the Lord's work, as much as you can say. But yeah, I was there, and it was a good time. I would never go back and not do it again. Just being there and learning from the guys I was with, from my first team leader to others, and seeing how things are supposed to work and operate the correct way—that was awesome.

And going along with that, you know, form, fit, function with gear is always changing with jobs. When I first started, I was a Grenadier, then a Bearer, then a saw gunner, and then I went over to our sniper section. Continuously, about every 12 to 18 months, my job was changing, and with each job change, the load carriage changed too. We undercut that, and what I mean by that is when you're in it, you're living that life every day, actually doing the thing. You're in that whirlwind, you know? You kind of lose sight—I know I did—of how important those changes are and how development happens.

It’s like, yeah, dude, I’m fit, I shoot a gun, whichever gun that may be for whatever reason. Sometimes I wear that equipment to do this thing, and sometimes I wear that gear for something else. It just kind of happens naturally. Then, when you're there a little bit longer, once that phase is over, you’re like, "Oh man, now I can do this thing better than I used to because of the gear."

Being a guy who joined in the late 90s, early 2000s, mid-2000s—you’re too young, no offense, to have seen the wild changes that were happening at that time. When you got to Battalion, you got a Crye, okay, so yeah. When I got there, I had an LCE. And those incremental changes, those incremental load carriage improvements, they directly correlated to performance. It’s huge. Even with the ABS system, I remember my first team leader made me take out the black interior liner on it, and it immediately made it lighter and cooler. Just small tweaks to your gear can make your quality of life so much better, and that impacts you daily. You know, ounces equal pounds, pounds equal pain, kind of thing.

And you know, "Mission drives the gear train." I hear that a lot, 100% correct, but really, innovative gear allows us to do things we used to not be able to do. The mission doesn’t change, but the route you take to mission success could change wildly depending on your equipment. That’s the rest of the story that the internet folks don’t see when they're like, "Mission drives gear." It's like, okay, thanks, appreciate that, tactical philosopher dude, but let’s look at the rest of the story a little bit deeper.

That’s where I think, anyway, we make improvements at the 10% and below level on each little thing. The value is when you start stacking those. When you were a sniper, you’re familiar with the term "tolerance stacking," yeah? Absolutely, 100% right. It’s the same concept—if I can do a 10% improvement here, here, here, and here, that starts adding up quickly, and it will allow us to maybe take a different route to mission success.

So, you've had an awesome time at First Range Battalion. And then you decided to leave… kind of. So, don’t get out of the Army, don’t get out. Don’t do it. This is something you and I have both talked about. Coming from an organization like that, it’s like, if you’re not in it 100%, then you’re not in it at all. That organization, specifically, and all the other great ones in the military, deserve 100% of you. It’s not what can your country do for you, it’s what can you do for your country. And you know, I didn’t feel like I was 100% in it anymore, so I removed myself from it while I was still young enough and still had the ambition to go start another career. Hence why I’m here and learning what it’s like on the outside. It’s tough, but you come into a great company like this, you can have success as long as you have that same drive that you had when you were in.

I would say that a healthy dose of culture and operational principles—principles of being a man, of being a mature adult—is important. The same principles that made me successful in the Army still make me successful today. Absolutely. Probably the same with you so far, yeah?

This is probably a good time to put a plug in for Three Rangers, because you used or participated in their services. I got to put this out there for the masses, you know, all like 12 people that’ll watch this on YouTube. There were a couple of other 1/75 Rangers that Blue Force Gear onboarded prior to you getting here, and I had a heavy hand in those recruitments because I was looking for success, and I know where to find success, so it was easy.

You were on the tail end of that. And then, when you wanted to onboard here, you got no support from me. None. In fact, I didn’t even answer the phone. Like, this guy is calling me again. I can’t do it again. And I felt terrible about that the whole time. But what I was hoping would happen is exactly what happened: no inside track, no help, no going and talking to the boss saying, "This is my boy, can you help out?" None of that in your case at all, because it wasn’t necessary. And I was guessing, I didn’t know then, but I thought it probably wasn’t necessary. Like, this guy can absolutely come and just do this process standing on his own two feet, sticking his chest out, and doing it. And that’s what happened, thank God.

And not for lack of trying—text, email, call, LinkedIn, Instagram—I hit you up any which way. That’s being a good sniper, you know what I mean? Like, "Hey, if this final firing position isn’t going to do it for me, I’m going to move to the right." And it worked out. It just goes to show you, or went to show us and everybody at this company, the real you. You set that standard upfront and efficiently. Not that the other Rangers that work here aren’t great too, but they got kind of an inside track because I wanted them on the team, so we could skip over some parts.

That was awesome. I know in our professional relationship since then, that was kind of a key thing. Like, hey man, I apologize; that was on purpose on my part. And it still worked. And now you’re one of my lifelong friends, so it ended up for the best. I’m glad to hear that, you know.

For the viewers at home, yeah, you do these things, you start getting these weird ticks, and you don’t know why. So, I understand, because I know we’ve talked about this. You were an operational user of Blue Force Gear prior to working here, correct? A couple of key pieces of equipment were available at the time, and some that weren’t available then, but now are. Which is kind of a neat story too. So let’s go to the stuff you did use that was available at the time when you were, you know, running and gunning in really hot places around the world.

On my first deployment, I happened to be hanging out in one of the white tents, bunch of USO boxes, just hanging out there as they do. They got protein powder, snacks, Chewies, and I see a little thing with a Blue Force Gear tag. And I go, I’ve heard of that company. So, I grab the tag, pull it out, and it’s two items: a micro trauma kit, belt-mounted, and a boo-boo pouch. I’m like, man, I’ve seen the micro trauma kit. One of the team leaders was wearing one. I was like, I’m going to put my medical gear in there and use it as well. So, I put that on my belt, put the boo-boo pouch on my belt as well, which was awesome for my batteries at the time. I hung on to my 123s in there. And just so happens, about three days into my first deployment, I ended up treating somebody with it—a couple of real live gunshot wounds. A guy had a gunshot wound on his left leg where I put a bandage on, and then he had a sucking chest wound. It all went really well.

It was funny talking about that specifically. We’ve talked about it when it comes to medical gear, whereas I happened to use my personal medical pouch on somebody else’s organizational med pouch. My organizational medical pouch on somebody else.

My team leader happened to be on the roof pulling security, watching over me, and after he debriefed me, he said, "Hey, Maz, check it out. You did an awesome job, did everything I taught you, you were cool under pressure, and you did the right thing. However, can you explain to me why you used your med kit?" I was like, "Well, the guy was shot." He goes, "Yeah, but that’s for me to use on you, bud. All in all, you're my guy, and I’m here to take care of you." So he said, "From now on, don't do that. Get another med kit if you want to use it on partner forces."

So, within 72 hours of me having a BFG medical pouch, I ended up using it in live action, which was awesome. It speaks to the quality of the company and why I came here—it's something I've used and I know works. I make a point, even now, whenever I hear stories about people doing medical play for the first time. When the chips are on the table, they mention that first time they had to do it.

When you were doing your triage, what was your first reaction? First moment a guy rolls up, he’s on the back of a Humvee, and he's got that gunshot wound on his leg. He’s got a crappy tourniquet on—clearly some foreign-made arts and crafts. His leg was just bleeding a little bit, kind of pumping out. I go ahead, take that tourniquet off, and it started bleeding arterially. It was squirting, and I thought, "So that's what it really looks like." I put my tourniquet on, tightened it down, and that bleeding stopped. That was my first "Oh, crap, this is real."

I had the same thought because the first casualty I ever got to treat was a right arm amputation, below the elbow—a hand grenade. Thankfully, not on one of our people. I ran up to do my casualty assessment, saw it, and was like, "Ooh, crap." I ran over, did my casualty assessment, and the arterial blood was just spurting out. Same thing, I thought, "Huh, it really does look like that." And then it’s like, "Oh, crap, it works." Yeah, exactly.

Glad to hear that the gear worked and you were able to effectively and efficiently treat a casualty. Lesson learned on the organizational med kit versus personal med kit. We still get to educate, or I should say, we still have to talk about this stuff. We've been talking about it for 20 years; this is not a new concept. But sometimes we just do a bad job at communicating. Organizational med kits are for you to wear so somebody else can use that on you. If you want gear that you use on other people, that’s a separate requirement. It’s fun to educate on that kind of stuff.

It was eye-opening too. At the time, he was my team leader, but I believe he was still a tab. It took a guy like him who knew the right answer. We’ve talked about this, and he’s the kind of Ranger I would follow blindly, which I don’t say easily. He’s the kind of guy I was like, "He said it, I took it as law, and he was right." This was almost 10 years ago, and I still believe that to this day. He was 100% right.

There’s nothing better in life than collecting people, or being in the same orbit of people, that you would follow to hell with an empty canteen. That used to be the old thing: "I’d follow that dude to hell with an empty canteen," and it’s like, yep, check. That’s what it’s all about once you boil out all the crap.

So anyway, for the interest of the marketing team—at the time that happened, we had micro trauma kits done. R&D was done, and those micro trauma kits, you could wear them on the belt, on the chest, anywhere. Most guys are running them on a belt now. The belt technology at that time, I know when I was operational, if I had to sum it up, I'd say it was hot garbage. But you’ve got to get through those stages to get to where we are now. It wasn’t negligence on anyone's part; technology just wasn’t there, lessons weren’t there yet, but now they are.

Talk to me about the rest of your belt setup. You know, I was a young E3 private pretty much, and I didn’t have a whole lot of money. I knew I needed to put things on my belt, specifically because I was carrying so much gear elsewhere. So, I took a regular rigger belt, low-rated, went to the rigger shed, and created my own MOLLE system belt. I bartacked the crap out of it so I could put all my pouches on where they needed to go. The one I had was this big, bulky pad that was hot, heavy, and I couldn’t bend over in it. The one I made was functional, so I just created what I knew worked.

I pulled it out of the museum. It was my belt, you know. I’ll show the camera here. I went ahead and took a Skedco clip on, sewed in the buckle, and the Cobra buckles came off of the Skedco. It still says Skedco on it, scavenged off. I took some hook pile and sewed it in there—not great, but it’s on there, and it worked. And it got the job done. There’s both of them right next to each other, and I got my tourniquet on the top.

Let me just say, this is a Blackhawk rigger’s belt, which is the staple. You folded in one-inch nylon and bartacked it into an approximation of MOLLE slots. I used another piece of one-inch as a spacer so that it was even across. And obviously, the ubiquitous dump pouch, which I don’t know, man, I’ve always been told you can’t run dump pouches in combat or you’ll get killed. I ran a dump pouch in every gunfight I’ve ever been in; obviously, you have too.

The boo-boo pouch—I love this pouch, but I also have issues with it. The issue is the name. There’s a long backstory on how it got called the boo-boo pouch. Originally, I used it to carry 123s, AAs, for my nods, lights, sights, and all that good stuff. Later, I used it for my 162 and 163 batteries because we kept switching radios. By the end, I had two boo-boo pouches for two batteries, since the 163 burns through battery life due to running line of sight and satcom. So, at the end, I could reload the radio without losing the fill.

One of the crowning achievements in my old organization was taking all of the Serpa holsters, lining them up in the company, and giving a class. I grabbed a breaching hammer and said, "These are Serpa holsters. Here’s what you need to remember about them." I started smashing them, one after another, and shattered every one of them. I put them in a bag and told the supply guy, "You can turn all these in, right?" He’s like, "Yep, I got you."

The only reason I was using that holster was because of the position I was in and all the driving I was doing. My 40-inch waist didn’t fit in cars with the standard holster. I get it, you can’t deadlift 575 for three reps with a small ass. And then, obviously, the micro trauma kit with the beginnings of a tourniquet hammock on top.

Ranger banded, of course. Retainer bands, actually, to be correct. I’m a master jumpmaster too. Retainer bands—airborne retainer bands. That’s the military designation for a rubber band.

What we have here is an end-user that intuitively understood what capabilities he needed out of a belt, why he needed them—form, factor, function, size. That’s what we see here. It’s interesting because some development does happen in boardrooms with people wearing suits or polos, saying, "You know what those guys need? This." But that’s not what happened in this case.

That’s really neat. You’re keeping this, right? Not going to sell it to some surplus store?

No, no, it’ll stay on my back wall forever. I was looking at it earlier and realized I accidentally stole this dump pouch from my team leader. It still has his name on it. I have sets of old gloves that aren’t mine. Right before this, I took out my chalk and found my old bump cards, which I probably should get rid of.

The reason I wanted to talk about this is the history of how it came to be and what you were going after, equipment-wise, especially now working at Blue Force Gear. Someone from your organization brought that concept to us and was like, "Hey, we need this concept." Let’s take that concept because that’s what we know we need, and use it for all the same reasons. We finally, after much testing, development, and feedback, finalized and executed it.

For anyone who hasn’t seen or touched the Blue Force Gear belt, everything is done the right way, with no corners cut. You’ve got a two-piece belt system—interior and exterior. The exterior belt has takers on the inside, pre-cut to size. The inner belt is padded and has a G-hook, so you don’t have to deal with Velcro wearing out. It’s thin, light, and streamlined. It’s night and day, like comparing a Honda Civic to a Ferrari.

I was happy to put on my first BFG belt and realize, "Oh, this is what it’s supposed to be like." You probably didn’t know at the time, but now we’re a bit more developed in understanding how it all works from an engineering level. The load-rated rigger’s belt you cut apart and put a Skedco buckle on—no longer load-rated. If it’s not made in an ISO facility, it’s not for you.

Glad it was okay. Definitely held up, thank God. You were instrumental in chalk belt development. You used the micro trauma kit, and now that you’re at Blue Force Gear, after a few successes, the powers that be decided, "Hey, this is the guy for this mission." Now, you’re actually working the medical line at Blue Force Gear. If everything comes full circle, it’s that.

I started in customer service, got my foot in the door, moved over to our commercial team, worked there for over a year, and was successful. I saw an opportunity where our medical director needed help, so I made the move over. Coming from a great boss who understood me was huge. Culture, like you said, made a big difference. My first sergeant, my first boss out of the Army, couldn’t have been better. He was patient, knew how to talk to me and handle me—couldn’t have asked for a better leader.

Getting into the medical line happened to be perfect for me, and it’s been an awesome position. I’m grateful for it. Now, I’m out here providing options for guys like me. Hopefully, nobody has to dig one of our products out of a USO box, but thank you to the amazing American who put Blue Force Gear products in a USO box and sent it overseas. That’s amazing. It’s really awesome to take a second, put that in perspective, and realize how full circle this journey has been.

I mean, there’s thankfully a lot of us in this industry. You know what I mean? It’s just really awesome to take a second and put that in perspective. Everything eventually comes full circle, just like anything in life. So, it’s kind of cool that’s where it led me. Yeah, I’m just happy to be a part of the team now.

So, go join the 75th Ranger Regiment, yeah.

Working with a company that has such a direct impact on the field is truly motivating. And it’s amazing to be part of a place that has high standards and is always seeking to improve—much like being in the regiment. It’s that relentless pursuit of excellence. And that’s something that sticks with you. I think people often overlook how much these values and lessons stick with you. When you come from a culture of excellence and accountability, you carry that with you in everything you do.

For me, it's been rewarding to see the tangible ways that our products make a difference. Knowing that what we create and refine here could be the difference-maker out there in the real world—that’s what keeps me going every day. Whether it’s in product development meetings, testing, or just those daily operations, it’s the drive to serve and support those who are still out there on the front lines. That’s what it’s all about.

And, you know, there's this idea that when you leave the military, you're just stepping into a regular civilian life, but that's not really true. You find a way to continue the mission, even if it’s in a different capacity. That sense of service doesn’t just go away, it transforms. Being here at Blue Force Gear lets me stay connected to that mission.