During World War II, a clandestine operation group was created, combining personnel of the British Special Operations Executive, the U.S. Office of Strategic Services, the Free French Bureau Central de Renseignements et d’Action (“Intelligence and operations central bureau”) and the Dutch and Belgian Armies called Jedburg. The “Jeds” were dropped by parachute into occupied France, the Netherlands and Belgium with military objectives to conduct sabotage and guerrilla warfare and lead the local resistance forces in actions against the Germans. One of the first teams in; codenamed “Hugh”, parachuted into central France near Châteauroux the night before the Allied landings in Normandy; codenamed Operation Overlord. Additionally, As the Jedburgh teams’ mission was to inspire overt rather than clandestine resistance activity. They wore military uniforms and were equipped with a variety of personal equipment such as medical supplies, food such as “K” and “C” Ration packs, sleeping bags, field glasses and detailed maps of their operational areas, which were printed on silk like their radio ciphers. However, Agents who had previously been dropped to resistance groups had carried only covert articles (e.g., a gun, a shovel (to bury their parachute) and false papers).
In keeping with the clandestine nature of this special group, RE Factor and Tactical Distributors Inc., launched The Jedburg Cover shirt and is the first shirt design for those who carry, by those who carry. The goal of Tactical Distributors and Re-Factor Tactical is to make the perfect cover shirt with the design help of our customers and professionals. The Jedburg’s appearance is designed to allow you to blend into everyday life. The shirt offers an athletic cut which allows for enough room for your pistol but still gives a nice appearance for everyday wear. The pearl button snaps give you quick access to your pistol and the reinforced inner walls of the shirt help you clear the pistol for your draw. In addition, there are tactically placed pockets at the bottom of the shirt that aids in swinging the shirt when conducting a concealed firearm draw. Finally, the shirt includes a stretch fabric throughout to allow you to easily present your pistol or maneuver if needed.
If you have read my previous concealed carry shirt posts on the Vertx Speed Concealed Carry shirt and the Arcteryx Skyline shirt, this new one has got to be my new favorite. They have taken many of the key items found in other shirts and have made it even better. One of the key additions and a real tactical (meaning operating function that supports the training and deployment) capability is the strategically placed pockets at the bottom of the shirt that allows the operator to quickly deploy their concealed firearm. Having some weight at the bottom of the shirt facilitates the sweep and clear approach to interacting with your tool of choice (i.e., Firearm, knife, taser, etc.). The next feature that I truly like is the light-weight and stretchable material, unlike other shirts that have made good shirts, many of them do not have the freedom of movement that Jedburgh has. For those of you with large shoulders, muscular backs, and small waist, it is hard to find an athletic shirt that does not pinch when in your proper shooting stance, this shirt alleviates those problems.
Continuing with the shirt’s functionality, as mentioned at the bottom of the shirt there are pockets to put weight into or store other EDC equipment, and is covered with a liner that keeps printing minimal if you are wearing your firearm in AIWP (appendix inside the waistband) carry mode. While the design concept of the reinforced liner is theoretically valuable, the material choice is inconsistent with a covert shirt. The choice of material is similar to that you would find in a dog chew toy and the best way to describe it when moving is “crinkly.” It makes so much noise that after mass retail purchases everyone would know you are wearing this shirt due to the sound. While I received this shirt a few hours ago, I have not washed it and hope that after a few the material will lose its noise, perhaps in the next version a couple of layers of silk would improve the noise quality while keeping the non-printable theory alive.
*Feature photo courtesy of Tactical Distributors YouTube Page
