HawesEA2

Here are some photo's for you to use as a reference for your SF costume. I will include two and one of some kit. Enjoy and I hope your time in SFAS and the Q course are filled with fun memories (if you do pursue the dream, De Oppresso Liber). I'm not too posting picture savvy so hopefully this works the first time. Faces have been blackened out for obvious Opsec reasons and to protect the identity of the operators. No Airsoft here http://http://http://

Here are a few misc photos I found of Galactic Imperial Marines: http://i348.photobucket.com/albums/q353/HawesEA2/SWGALACTICMARINE.png http://i348.photobucket.com/albums/q353/HawesEA2/marine3.jpg http://i348.photobucket.com/albums/q353/HawesEA2/marine2.jpg http://i348.photobucket.com/albums/q353/HawesEA2/marine1.jpg The last photo is of the Marine actually being sold in stores which I never saw personally. I think this would be a cool costume but don't know if it would ever be approved for 501st?? Thanks for looking.

I played Star Wars Galaxies for a long time on Chilastra server and I remember the leader of our guild wore an Imperial marine set of armor in game that looked more like the Snow Troopers but with colored armor instead of white. It looked pretty slick.

Camaraderie at it's finest! Very cool photos :snowtrooper:

OK, I'm new to FISD (only been here about a week) but I have gained a wealth of information and love perusing through the forums. That's how I stumbled upon this thread. As I have no pictures of TK Armor to post because I'm still in the process of building everything, I would like to share my story in hopes that it will motivate somebody else to 'Get their life back.' I am 6ft 1in tall and currently weigh 240lbs. When I was in high school I weighed a scrawny 140lbs and couldn't gain weight to save my life. I joined the military after school and went through my BCT and AIT training at Ft. Benning, GA in the summer of 1991. After 13 weeks of training and while on a family day weekend before graduation, I got to weigh myself for the first time. I gained 35lbs of muscle mass. To my surprise I couldn't fit into the clothes I had worn to Ft Benning. Throughout my military career, I managed to keep my weight at a very healthy 185lbs. I was able to do this due to the very 'on the move' lifestyle, coupled with 3 square healthy meals per day. While an Airborne Infantryman in the 82nd ABN DIV at Ft Bragg, NC, I was always on the go. I never did so much PT (physical training) ever in my life as i did in that unit. Throughout the years and different units, my weight stayed the same till I got to recruiting command. Long story short: I injured my spine on a mass tactical combat jump one night in the early 90's. Approximately 2am, I exited the door of a high performance aircraft, counted to 4 and felt the opening shock of my chute opening. A few seconds later I noticed another paratrooper heading in my direction from a higher altitude. He ended up landing on top of my chute and got entangled in my suspension lines of my canopy. There was a full moon that evening and I was able to watch his footsteps on my canopy as he ran across the top of my chute. We ended up leap frogging (his chute would inflate and hold us both up in the air, then his would collapse and mine would inflate and vice versa-all the way to the ground). Attached to my body was all of my combat equipment, somewhere in the realm of about 120lbs. Normally about 150ft up you pull a tether strap and lower the equipment below your body so it hits the ground first then you, as it dangles about 15ft below your body attached to a D-ring on your parachute harness. Needless to say, with everything happening, I never lowered my combat equipment. I hit the ground hard enough that it blew two discs out of my spine. I sucked it up and drove on like we were all trained to do because mission comes first. Years go by, and finally my back pain is to the point where a CT Scan is done. That leads to a MRI and ultimately a fusion of my spine from L4 to S1. I had two discs removed and two carbon fiber cages inserted in between the vertebrae. A bone graph was taken from my left hip and mixed with stem cells and spread over the construct to promote bone growth for the fusion. A titanium rod and three screws were also inserted for strength and stability. That surgery was in Sep of 2004. In Aug of 2005, after 14 years of active duty service my career was taken from me when I went for a medical board to get a permanent profile which would keep me from having to do things that would possibly further hurt my back. I was honorably discharged under medical conditions with a severance pay. At this point in time my weight was approximately 245lbs. I collected unemployment for 6 months while looking for a job at the end of 2005. I was hired with a company to sell commercial air time on a certain big cable tv provider. During my time there, I made a decision to lose some weight. So with the help of the VA's MOVE program I met with a dietician and was given a bunch of information on how to stay healthy and lose weight. I followed the dietician's plan to the tee. I lost about 20 lbs in 6 months but I was always hungry because of the small portions I was eating. I left that job to work for the government in another field I won't name here. I managed to maintain a weight of 225lbs while doing this job. However during the course of one of my job functions I had an elevator malfunction on me and drop me 14 floors at a rapid rate of speed comparable to an amusement park ride. When the elevator abruptly came to a stop it jarred the hardware I had in my back loose. This led to another back surgery to have a spinal cord stimulator installed in my lower right stomach with a cord the wraps around my right side under the skin that attaches to a lead connected to my epidural layer of my spinal cord. I went up to 300lbs in weight after this injury. I was tremendously out of shape, depressed, and a walking time bomb of health problems. A friend of mine from the military told me about an author of a book that he felt I needed to read. At first I was skeptical yet open minded. Now, I'm not on here to promote this guy or his book in any shape or form. However, I will tell you this, I have done many things, from weight watchers, to Slim Fast all with minimal results and always feeling hungry. The book was called, "The Paleo Solution" by Robb Wolf. A little back ground on the author: He was a research biochemist and now is one of the most sought after strength and conditioning coaches in the world. I bought the book which was a really good read by the way. I was extremely surprised by the content as most books related to diet and nutrition tell you what you should and shouldn't eat and always stress to eat small portions, blah blah blah. This guy took the time to explain your entire body and what each organ does and how what you eat determines how these different organs work to produce certain chemicals and enzymes, etc to break your food down. It explains everything in lay mans terms that i was able to relate to. There are many stories from different people also in the book. Some people you may even be able to relate to. Now when I started reading this book not only was I fat but my body hurt and ached all the time. I wasn't aware that certain foods contain things that cause inflammation and cause pain. What I really liked was that Mr Wolf actually tracked his progress and his study findings by using his own blood work and shows the markers in the blood and how they improved, etc (I guess it helped that he was a research biochemist). So the month was February 2011 and I came to the conclusion I was going to die young if I didn't do something so I read the book and started following his advice. Bottom line up front is this: PALEO as it is called is nothing more than eating like a caveman. Basically, eating food that we as a species are meant to eat. There are many products that are on the market that contain chemicals, etc that we as a species haven't evolved enough to digest. Grains being one of those things. He talks about how the Food Pyramid is completely flawed yet the government still tells you it's correct. If you think about it, we feed cattle grain to fatten them up before slaughter, when in all honesty their diet is supposed to be grass. Well if this type of food, which came about by agriculture, (GRAIN) fattens cattle up, what do you think it does to a human being? I learned that I needed to only shop on the outside edges of the grocery store, and stay completely out of the aisles, where all the man made garbage is. First thing i noticed by following his guidelines were that I was never hungry. I ate three meals per day, breakfast, lunch and dinner. In each meal I ate a lean protein from meat source, Dark Green veggies for my carbs and always, always, always ate a healthy fat with every meal. I also cut out all carbonated beverages and drank nothing but water and if I wanted flavor I added a slice of lemon to it. In roughly 3 months I dropped 60lbs of body weight, yep 60lbs. Here's the funny thing, I never once went to the gym to work out because of my low back injury. I not only dropped weight but the severe pain i was having drastically dropped. It's amazing what the human body can do when you feed it a proper fuel source. I took it a step further and went gluten free which is the main reason why I think all of the arthritic pain I was experiencing almost totally disappeared. I basically cut out all foods the caused inflammation, like milk, dairy, certain Legumes and grain. I didn't have to kill myself in the gym and actually there is a chapter or three on working out in the book. I am sure I would have seen even more results if I would have worked out. The thing is, he doesn't talk about spending countless hours in the gym. He talks about 20 to 30 minutes a day doing exercises that utilize more than one muscle group and movement at a time. His training philosophy is utilized by some Spec Ops groups in the military now because of the explosive speed and power individuals can achieve by eating and working out this way. The amount of protein I was taking in basically quelled my hunger all day long. The carbs from the veggies aided in that also, but the key was the healthy fat which the body needs to properly digest food and aid the body in healing, etc. Funny thing is the doctor and other government groups tell us we should be eating a low fat diet, well, after reading this book and seeing the scientific evidence, I totally disagree. Healthy fats, from nuts, olives, avocodo's, Olive oil, etc are key to health. My blood pressure dropped to normal, my sugar levels in my blood are all normal now and my cholesterol improved big time. All because I am eating the things my body needs. The same things a caveman ate many moons ago. Also called the Hunter Gatherer way of eating. Not only do I feel better, but I am no longer in a depressed mindset and I get plenty of sleep which is probably the second most important thing in his teaching. Without sleep the body doesn't heal and produce certain chemicals needed for digestion and weight loss, etc. It's all a vicious cycle and we are nothing more than a high performance engine. If you put the right fuel in the engine, the engine runs at peak performance, put the wrong fuel in the engine and you get pinging and sludge build-up and ultimately failure. If you don't want to buy the book, don't. He has a website filled with tons of information all free. I love Star Wars, and I love being able to give back to others so that they too can better themselves and also be productive. I am joining the 501st to be able to put a smile on someones face, especially kids. I have three young children and ultimately what it comes down to, is i owe it to them, to be there for them whenever they need me. I can't do that if i'm dead from diabetes or a heart attack or laid up with back problems and pain. I am truly sorry if this is really long and drawn out, as that was not my intention. I just saw this thread and felt I needed to share my screwed up life and how I have managed to turn it all around for the better. I ultimately managed to get down into the high 220's in weight loss from almost 300lbs. I am at 240 now, but I haven't really been sticking to the regiment I started. It's a work in progress and all I'm trying to show is it can be done without killing yourself. Here's to trooping and looking your best and ultimately living a long and healthy life:) His book is "The Paleo Solution", his name is Robb Wolf and his website is www.robbwolf.com If I helped one person who reads this thread then I have been successful. Pass it along. Once I get my armor I will post a 300lbs pic of myself and what I look like now. Cheers

Armor and helmet look nice. I'm in the hunt for a set of armor minus the bucket. I'm a bigger guy 6ft 1 and 230lbs and have been looking at the AM kit but now i see this one. Decisions, decisions. I just want to make sure whatever I get looks good. Anyways, best of luck on your build, I'm watching and getting pointers.