3 Commando Brigade

I agree with frogman if its not used by the commando/infantry brigade we are looking to emulate then we should not use them, below is a list of standard equipment given to British infantrymen, as you can see thermal equipment is given so by our own terms of trying to emulate a British brigade we should have access to the same equipment.
Cheating doesn't come into it cheating is to use a piece of hardware/software to give yourself an advantage over other players, the goggles are available to all and are standard equipment hence not cheating but equipping yourself sensibly to give you the best chance of coming out of a enemy engagement alive.
So using these arguments the goggles should stay and ppl should be able to use the equipment used by the British military if that's the aim of 3CB.



The infantry section normally has two four-man infantry fire teams. On operations, each fire team is usually equipped with the following:[2]
Weapons

• L85A2 rifle
• L85A2 rifle with L123A2 UGL (underslung grenade launcher)
• L129A1 DMR rifle or 1 × L86A2 Light Support Weapon (LSW)
• L110A2 Minimi light machine gun
• AT4 84mm anti-tank weapon
• L72A9 light anti-structure munition
• L84 White phosphorus smoke grenades
• L109A1 High explosive grenades
• L132A1 Smoke grenades

Vision systems

• Sight Unit Small Arms, Trilux (SUSAT) or SpecterOS[3] Lightweight Day Sights (LDS)
• Advanced Combat Optical Gunsight (ACOG) to be used with the L129A1 DMR rifle
• Image intensified Common Weapon Sights
• Laser Light Module Vario Ray Adaptive Target Acquisition Modules[4]
• TAM-14 small Thermal Imaging System
• Head mounted Night Vision System (HNVS), based on the American AN/PVS-14.[5]
• VIPER 2+ thermal imaging weapon sights
• Commander's target locating systems (CTLS)

Communications equipment

• Personal Role Radio (PRR) - one issued to each member.[6]
• Bowman secure VHF Radio

The thermal equipment you have mentioned Steve are not head worn like the apex goggles, if you want thermal capabilities you can carry certain sniper sights in your inventory or carry something in the binoculars slot that has thermal imaging capability. They are not being taken out, as I understand it it is only the apex goggles that may be removed.

Every player is on a 3 stage path of Arma evolution. Some never make it to the end, and others claim it doesn't exist.
But they're still on the path regardless.

Stage 1
Take every bit of kit available to give yourself the best advantage possible. Respawn infinite lives no concern (injured, out of ammo, wrong AO). Checks the scoreboard for kill count.
Ghillie suit, sniper rifle with x20 auto-ranging sights and explosive rounds, thermal everything, 7.62 assault rifle with UGL, shotgun, explosives, uav darter.
Reasoning: the equipment exists in real life and just like in real life we want to destroy the enemy getting as many kills as we can without getting shot ourselves. 

Stage 2
Restricted gear selection for a 'realistic' loadout for the role chosen in the Section, but particularly removal of thermal optics even if on offer. Enjoys 3 - 5 lives. Puts up with Troop arranging re-supply if they get a wiggle on. 
Reasoning: it's actually not much fun to spot every enemy before they see you. Surprise encounters are memorable. Dies quite often, but usually because the "ridiculous AI aimbot head-shotted me from 800m with a pistol!!"
Particularly annoying if you're a Stage 2'er playing with a Stage 1'er because of their "CONTACT! Enemy soldier in the forest ahead... 1653m bearing 018, unaware"..."BANG! Contact down".

Stage 3
Iron Sights and Beret, dead is dead. Will escape and evade when surrounded, alone and out of ammo, sitting in a bush for 2 hours straight while trying to make contact over a crackly radio for a helicopter rescue. Refuses to respawn until mother/wife/gf pulls the plug.
This player has reached enlightenment. They have realised that without surprise encounters and the danger element of close contact (<400m) the AI in Arma are just not a credible threat making the coop game a boring turkey shoot. Going out on patrol without the right equipment or low on supplies adds to the challenge and enjoyment.

Tongue in cheek, but nevertheless maybe some element of truth born out of observation of 3CB players during the last 4 years+.  ;-)

Steve no head mounted thermal systems are mentioned in your post only handheld or weapon mounted systems.
The VIPIR2+ are weapon mounted systems commonly on GPMG,  HMG and GMG's.
TheFTS is weapon mounted and generally used by GPMG's and SL's.
HNVS do not have thermal capability (We have them on the server BAF mod)
The CTLS and TAM-14 are hand held and generally only issued to SL and FTL's

I don't think much has changed since FIST was introduced.



Also I'm not pushing for a ban I just think they should be discouraged unless called for by the activities taking place decided by the Section lead or Troop Commander.

The issue is very simple. 

The majority of all Commando elements do not have access to thermal imaging systems. They are only ever used for special taskings, commonly when working alongside Special Forces Support Group. The 3CB public server does not represent Marines working alongside Special Forces nor doing special ops. It truly resembles your general bootneck and Commando element. 

Because of this, I don't find Steve's points very valid. 

Oh no. This hits too close to home.

The main issue for me is that the way nvg's and especially thermal vision works in the game is no very far away to how it would work in reality. Especially the thermal vision available for infantry is absolutely "b*llocks". This is my position on in regards of realism. Realism is kind of a secondary position to me in regard.

Gameplay wise I think it has no place on our server. It is completely unbalanced and it does not improve the Gameplay experience. I know I have a tendency to "restrict" my gear quite a bit, especially on the public server. But restricting yourself will usually not give other people a worse experience. It is much different if everyone decides to run around with certain gear.

Otherwise I could just run around with a Ghillie suit, a Javelin on my back, a semi-auto sniper rifle and also a little drone in my backpack.

The list of equipment that i put in is for standard infantry and i realise that they dont use integrated goggles but separate sights etc, from what ppl have said the plan is to get rid of anything thermal that can be use by infantry ie goggles sights etc. i think my arguments are very valid as this is a home office issued list of equipment issued to standard infantry not special forces.
just putting the other side here so we can chat about it i realise it will go anyhow and i can understand seans and jets reasons it does give an advantage to the person using them but having certain gear sets would depending on circumstances. I like Apollo's definitions hehe probably very true i kind of fit somewhere in the middle there i realise ime very new and it is a different kind of role playing arma, be a shame to get rid of stuff cos some dont like it but if its spoiling and not enhancing the sim then yeh bin it but consider the realism and what 3CB want to achieve there is a place for most of the equipment in real life its about where it fits into arma, maybe only certain roles have access to certain loadouts

I feel like there should be a rule to follow instructions from your chain of command. As on the public server situations vary a lot there may just be a fire team online or there may be multiple sections supported by recce and whisky elements. It may be night time, you may be going covert or you may be going overt. This is why SL or Coy should decide what kit is appropriate. An SL should not have to deal with super soldiers in their section when they want to lead in a realistic MilSim way.

I just hate things being banned it takes choice away