1.5 years and <5 operational hours: dead - ATN PS31-3 1x27mm Night Vision Goggles

I will preface with I am a United States Navy Petty Officer. I purchased this unit from Opticsplanet February 2022, meant to be an upgrade from 2 other personal units I have. In May 2023 I was traveling to and from “work” which required a flight. My unit was inside of a memory foam lined pelican, inside of a carry on bag. When I arrived at my destination, I open the lined pelican to find my left tube objective lens completely separated from the housing, and the right tube loose. The case never left my possession, except to go into overhead storage. I returned the unit to ATN as it was still within warranty. ATN determined the set screws around the perimeter of the O lens portion had never been tightened- this was 100% a factory defect. They tightened the screws, put the blown out lens back together, and sent them back to me. Upon arrival, it was painfully clear that ATN’s technician never cleaned the interior right side tube. While the left side had 2-3 new foreign objects, the right side has ballpark 100 particulate contaminants, of which 40 or so are easily distinguishable. You might miss them if the unit was not focused to your eyes- but ATN confirmed that an ATN technician Quality Assured the unit- this is where I got mad and the Petty Officer came out. When you lie on official documentation, we call it gundecking. ATN’s tech could not have possibly QA’d the unit before it left RMA. As in- not just that he missed 40-100 dust particles, as in they built the unit, never QA’d it the first time, sent it out to a military customer, it failed during its first real travel (not even use), it was accepted for RMA, determined it was a manufacturer defect, repaired incompetently, never QA’d a second time, and sent back out. I contacted both ATN and Opticsplanet. Opticsplanet stated they understood the failure was not associated with wear and offered to allow me to return or exchange the unit- I opted for a replacement and I was told I would be emailed a return slip. After and hour of no return label, I receive a call back- Opticsplanets employee was mistaken, and they will not replace the unit. I call back ATN- who states to return it for RMA again, which I adamantly refuse. At this point I have a unit that is the build and workmanship quality of less than a toy. ATN gets a reality check and states they will replace the unit, if I pay the $200 insured shipping. I am sending the unit back to be replaced, and I will believe it when I see it. As for L3 31’s, I’ve seen them fall off the back of a tank and remain unsacathed and functional. I’ve seen a friend go THROUGH a wall with them on his head, and the Wilcox failed, nods were good to go. By comparison these failed inside of a tempurpedic pelican and desintegrated. Take it from a Navy Petty Officer- I would not trust these with my life.