Because the longer I go along in this career field the more I see people willing to just throw pouches on without a whole lot of critical thinking as to how the layout needs to work for them. And to add to that, there are also the people who are just going to buy the cheapest option available without looking into things like durability, quality, etc. I don't want to be legalistic or have a bunch of robots that just go off of the policy and can't or won't think for themselves at one end of the spectrum, and at the other end I can't have people just throwing magazine pouches on wherever they want to. I am trying to strike a balance somewhere in the middle, and that was my reason for asking in this forum.
Quality of gear has nothing to do with the topic, which you presented as concerning a method of carry.
Someone can buy low quality pouches for the belt too. I've seen people put mag pouches on completely dumb positions on the belt. Does that mean you're now going to prohibit belt pouches?
That'd be pretty ridiculous, right?
If you must have a policy, something to the wording of, "pouches must be worn upright and forward of the hips. Deviation from this policy must be approved on an individual basis by the {insert big swinging dick title here}".
If you have a separate policy that already addresses low quality gear which prevents people from wearing Fobus and other junk on their belt (we do), then that should be sufficient to tackle the idea of people putting Fobus pouches or whatever on their carrier. The method of carry is a completely separate conversation.
"Are you ready? Okay. Let's roll."- Last words of Todd Beamer
This conversation seems to have moved around a bit.
Usually, crappy gear placement (and crappy gear for that matter) are problems that solve themselves. Especially if you provide training that tests gear. Real life also helps sort out crappy gear since crappy gear falls apart. How does go..buy once, cry once?
Lots of us, myself included, start with a bunch of junk on our belt and lighten the load over time. I'm at the point now where I am a total minimalist with my belt (and external vest when I wear one). Keep as much crap off as possible, keep nothing on my back (between 8 o'clock and 4 o'clock), and keep it as light as can be. Over the years, it seems like more and more crap has been mandated for us to carry. I keep finding creative ways to try to lighten things up. I certainly understand the appeal of the external carrier. I personally think most of them look like crap (I still like a crisp LAPD blue uniform and black basketweave), but I get it. Anything to make carrying twenty-something pounds of junk easier and save your back. Just don't make the damn this so huge and full of stuff it looks like you have on a life jacket with a parachute attached.
As stated before, to answer your original question, when I have worn an external carrier I have mags mounted on it vertically right at the bottom of the carrier above where I typically would mount mags on my belt. It works reasonably well for me. It's basically a non-issue and not much slower than wearing them on my belt.
You don't have to dictate what is optimal to everyone. Give them options to keep things somewhat uniform and then let them figure it out. There is a guy that is a cop's cop at my place that wears his mags on his non-dominant side horizontally on his belt facing the buckle. It looks super awkward to me, but he's fairly quick with it, scores high at every qual, has been victorious in an OIS while wearing that setup, and sees no problem with it. What the hell do I know? If it works for him who cares?
Unfortunately, placing a restrictive policy in place is only going to hurt the switched on guys that want to optimize their load bearing capacity in addition to enhancing their ability to problem solve during a gun fight/UOF incident.
There is no winning here. There will always be people looking to do stupid shit they cannot logically justify. Conversely, that SGT mentioned above will also exist in that he can attempt to justify his mall ninja shit but ultimately, we all know its stupid.
Ultimately, I dont think load carriage has the capacity to really hurt someone unless they read the policy and think they dont need to carry spare magazines anymore. If you are transitioning to a new vest system perhaps a brief overview should be filmed and put into your online policy system with an optimal way in which Deputies/Officers can or should set up their vests?
The guy's and gals with half a brain will look at that video and critically think. The morons will be lost either way and will probably violate the policy anyway. Lastly, that SGT...yeah, he's probably just a moron. :P