In recent years, several companies started offering low-profile, minimalistic plate carriers. Ferro Concepts’s Slickster, Spiritus Systems’s LV119 are very popular and often featured on Instagram photos and videos of some well-known gun community influencers. Recently, 5.11 came up with their own version of low profile and scalable body armor – all mission plate carrier.

Why would anyone need a low-profile plate carrier? I wondered that myself until I first started working in Iraq. Initially, when you’ve only seen Iraq on the news, you tend to be afraid of everything. You want to have a body armor with front and side plates, helmet, 12 magazines, and some frags and smokes even if your mission is just to go buy some candy in a corner shop inside the Green Zone.

All Missions Plate Carrier in a scaled-up configuration.

But the reality is different. In most of Iraq, the threat level is very low now, and security guys who look like characters from “Call of Duty” are made fun of. In Baghdad, many security teams are dressed in business casual style – blazers, ties, and well-shined shoes, not helmets and machineguns like you would expect. In this environment, low profile plate carrier becomes a very good option.

Some try to use standard plate carriers in a low-profile capacity, wearing them under plaid shirts. When a friend of mine did that, it looked so ridiculous I just couldn’t keep my mouth shut. “Hey, bro, you look like a pregnant hippo today!”, “When the baby is due?” and stuff like that.

Author, unsuccessfully trying to use standard body armor as a low-profile carrier.

At the same time, there are regions of Iraq where the situation is much worse – Mosul, for example. In that place, you want to ditch blazers and ties and scale up your armor. And it looks like all mission plate carrier can do all of that.

Here you can see two out of the three available cummerbunds.

Every part of it allows you to scale it up or down. You can have a slick front and back plate with no pouches on it, no cummerbund and just two straps on the sides, remove padding on the shoulders straps so it won’t be visible under a shirt.

Inner cummerbund has integrated pouches that can be used for magazines and radios.

But when things look tough, you can add HexGrid panels, that are compatible with MOLLE pouches, put all your additional gear on and go full commando, striking fear into the hearts of your enemies.

HexGrid panels on the back of All Mission Plate Carrier.

I really want to give AMC carrier a try. This concept clearly makes sense – instead of having two sets of body armor: one low profile and another “full retard SHTF” plate carrier, I can have just one and finally free some space in my closet for more guns and ammo.

Currently, the MSRP of all mission plate carrier is $279.99. You can also watch a detailed product demonstration in this TFBTV video.