Use
To ready a STABO harness for rope extraction, the two leg straps (normally folded and stowed during ground operations (secured by utility tape or rubber bands)) were freed from the back of the harness, routed up between the legs, and each leg strap was then snapped onto a V ring, with one mounted on each lower front waist of the harness. A standard issue LBE pistol belt was laced through the center sections of the rig, and fastened around the operator's waist, which served as the main closure device for the overall rig on the operator.
The operator was extracted using a dual rope (or strap) 'Y' design system (one per each STABO rig), lowered by a helicopter. Each strap end typically retained a large carabiner fastener, which was clipped to a large V or D ring permanently attached to each upper shoulder strap of the rig. Once both carabiners were attached to the upper V/D rings on the rig, the operator could then be lifted out vertically by the helicopter. (This extraction method was often referred to informally as the "strings" method.)
The STABO rig was far more secure, safe and comfortable than the McGuire rig, and perhaps most importantly, it allowed the unrestricted use of the operator's hands, to operate any weapons during the frequently 'hot' extractions from a combat landing or pickup zone. Further, the rig was equally effective if an operator was wounded or unconscious.
As the STABO rig was used as the base for operator's personal LBE harness, it was worn for the full duration of the combat operation, in which to allow for rapid extraction by the rope ("strings") method, if a conventional helicopter LZ could not be quickly established (which was frequently experienced in South East Asia, as reconnaissance teams were operating deep in heavily-forested enemy territory).
The current US Military method for extracting troops using the helicopter rope method, is the Special Patrol Insertion/Extraction (SPIE) system, a direct and close descendant of the STABO rig system that was developed and pioneered in Vietnam/SEA.
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