I should introduce myself. Some of you know me, and have seen me at Realms, and other games, usually doing British
Royal Marine. I am a living historian who does US Army Airborne WWII, USMC WWII 5th MAR DIV (well before the Pacific came out)
French Foriegn Legion Indochina, ANZAC SAS VN and Commando company, US Army Special Forces VN, Israeli Paratrooper '67-'73, British Royal Marine early '80s, Welsh Guards early '80s, Scottish 5th Bat Seaforth Highlanders, Black Watch, Irish Rangers,
and 2nd Para Regiment. Needless to say I have lots of trivia floating around in my head. I do alot of research and reading
so if you have questions, ask I may know the answer or where to find it.
There is a terrific book out for photgraphs for this event and others.
The title is Nam A Photographic History
Authors Leo J. Daughterty Gregory Louis Mattson
If you can find used it is pretty cheap, and it should be in your local library.
Another good book is the American Soldier
Author Phillip Katcher
This was put together by Osprey publishing and for those you who model military vehicles they do a good job with descriptions
and full color plates. This one has full color plates of the webgear with all of its parts.
I believe this book to be out of print but again a library should have it.
This is one of the pics from BOTW2.
First some comments, ARC, you look right look forward to seeing you in June.
Sureshot, nice display
To the rest, good work
Here are some info that may help those that are working on US uniforms
The OG107s (tuck ins) were worn in VN up until 1968 these were worn side by side with the OD jungle fatigues
Helmet covers were Mitchell pattern and reverseable
The helmet cover band has no cats eyes
The baseball cap was worn early on and was then replaced by the popular boonie hat
Webgear was M1956 pattern, the buttpack also came out with a M1961 type that is a bit
larger and has a nylon collar on the inside. It is all canvas.
The later pattern gear didn't seem to get sent over there.
Full color rank, qualifcation badge and shoulder sleeve insignia was worn up until 1968, the 101st retained
the full color insignia after that point.
There were two types of camoflage uniforms available through the supply system ERDL aka Falling Leaf or
Tiger Stripe.
There were 20 variants of tiger stripes made. Two of which are being reproduced, US Special Forces
made/sold by Mooremilitaria and VN Marine sold by National Capital historical sales on Ebay.
Nametapes were black print on green cotton web, and the Branch Tape was gold on black
30 rd magazines came out sometime in the early '70s and were not an issue item according to one vet I have
talked to
M16 slings were canvas and very similiar to M1 Garand Slings
Trouser belts had a closed brass buckle and were green or black
Issue watches were plastic with nylon band and had 24 hr time
Popular modifications/changes to kit
Green Parachute cord in place of the boot laces
Dog tag in the lacing of each boot
Dog tags taped together to prevent rattling
Heavy use of black electrical tape and narrow green duct tape to secure items to the suspenders
Marking/writing on the helmet covers and flak jackets
US weapons were not painted
ANZAC SAS weapons were heavily modified and painted
Private purchase watches were worn heavily
Triangular bandages were often worn around the neck or as headgear
Some good sources for VN kit include but are not limited to
Mooremilitaria they have most everything you will need
check out your local gun/militaria shows you will likely find some bits of kit there
Ebay can be good or bad depends on the week
Altama has really good correct jungle boots a bit more than the imported type but I have yet to have a problem
with mine and I haven't been careful with them
Palco has correct green jungle fatigues, tiger stripe fatigues in that pattern didn't show up until circa 1975 in Thailand
They will work for airsoft
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Topic: Post your VN loadout or game pics (Read 5248 times)