powerful magnets found in SOF gear?

so this is something I keep finding in SEAL and SF used chest rigs, powerful silver magnets about 1"X .75"X3" sometimes wrapped in 100mpr tape or electric tape. what are they used for? why do they keep turning up in SOF used rigs? I think I have 3 now and 2 came out of NSW used gear I got from different people and 1 came out of a SFLCS RRV I got outside of Ft Bragg so probably SF used. it seems they are half way common as another collector I know found one in a mag pouch on a used 6094A. no one I know seems to know what they are for or why they keep turning up.

This article may offer a clue. On of the items listed in this survival kit is:

Suspended Navigation Magnet

a. Identifiable north painting feature

b. Magnet suspended from thread/string

c. Packaged in plastic with easy tear pre-cuts

http://nation.time.com/2013/02/21/youre-a-seal-stranded-in-hostile-territory-whats-in-your-survival-kit/

Are you sure they aren't some type of counter-weight, to be worn on the back of your helmet, to balance out the weight of your NVGs?

most counter weights are lead or sand bags. I think they my be something to secure explosives as they are extremely powerful and would probably damaged anything electrical. they can rainbow a TV screen from a couple of feet away lol. I still have one around somewhere, I will see if I can find it and take some pics.

I was thinking along the lines of a breacher application as well but it really was a SWAG on my part.

Any chance they might be fore a quick release system of some kind for metal gear? Keep the magnet in your pocket, attach some kind of thing you need on quick release, outside the pocket, but it sticks. Just a thought, although I'm not a gear guy so I wouldn't even know what that 'gear' might be

that's not a bad ideal and as powerful as these things are I can see it holding something in place, also they tend to be in mag and GP pouches with only 1 layer of fabric between them and the outside so not a lot between them and what you would want to stick to them.

I've seen strong magnets used in pouches to attach them to metal surfaces (ie side of a vehicle) so the user can get to the contents quickly.

They're used for breaching shotguns to stay in place when not using the shotgun. I've seen it done before and also a nvg counter weight as mentioned above