Posts
Being the kind of geek I am, I put together Vietnam era web gear to go along with my retro M16 clone.
Looking into things, and picking a date for it, led to some interesting choices.
First, I am using an M1943 entrenching tool and not the M1951 as one might expect from a 1967 recreation.
The Army did develop, and purchase, some M1951 entrenching tools. Production halted in 1953 until the supply of the M1943 model dropped below the needs of the Army... In 1968 when the familiar tri-fold tool we still use replaced both the M1943 and M1951.
It was noted that the M1956 universal ammo carrier was too deep for M16 magazines, so a shorter version was developed. Some may even have been issued before a nylon version with a plastic latch was developed. You can't find an M1956 M16 pouch, but the M1967's are almost everywhere.
Even so, the M1967 kit was thin on the ground until late 1969. By then 30-round M16 magazines were starting to show up, and that required yet another change to the magazine pouches. Going from 80 72 rounds to 90 84 rounds per pouch.
They were still issuing that pouch when I was in the Army at the end of the Cold War.
The Marines had it worse.
ReplyDeleteOlder brother brought home his e-tool when he rotated back from Nam. I played with it in the back yard.
It was a 1943 model.
Didn't see a trifold myself until Ft. Knox in 1982.
USMC issue was those same triple-30 pouches, from '83-'88, anyways.
Ours still had the full grenade carriers with retaining straps on both the outer side panels, but the rear support strap, like yours seems to have, had long since departed the scene on every one I ever saw.
They also had the grenadier vests for the 203 guys, but those lived in the armory, "only for use when 40mm warshots were issued". IOW, just to check a box for unit inventories.
Then again, as noted previously, in late '84 in 2d MarDiv I was still issued an M16A1, a steel pot w liner, and the early Nam-era M1956 turtle-plate frag vest. We didn't turn in our post-Korea-era and 'Nam hand-me-downs and get PASGT gear until mid-to-late '85, IIRC.
Then again, I got issued an M2A1/M101A1 howitzer from 1941 that, per the breech stamps, had been rebarreled three times: first after Guadalcanal, again after Chosin, and yet again after Tet. When you're the red-headed stepchild, nothing ever gets thrown away, because there probably isn't going to be any more gear.
I swiped those pics from a web page.
DeleteMy 30-round pouches are the very similar, but later ALICE pattern without the strap.