Not familiar with this style OD jungle jacket

[Tonomachi]

I saw this which at first I thought was a SVN War era jungle jacket but then I noticed that the pockets were wrong. Did they make an OD rapid deployment force uniform after the SVN War? The 2nd Ranger Battalion scroll is the current design that I believe came about in the late 1980s. You can't read the label as it is washed out.

[GUDMAR1975]

The Army issued OD jungle utilities after the woodland cammies proved too hot during the Grenada Operation in 1983. Most of the blouses had the traditional slant pocket. A few -- like this one -- were made with the straight pocket. I wore OD jungle utilities as Marine attending Army Ranger School in 1986.

 

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[Tonomachi]

The Army issued OD jungle utilities after the woodland cammies proved too hot during the Grenada Operation in 1983. Most of the blouses had the traditional slant pocket. A few -- like this one -- were made with the straight pocket. I wore OD jungle utilities as Marine attending Army Ranger School in 1986.

 

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Many thanks for this information. So I'm guessing these uniforms were sort of a stopgap before they came out with the light weight woodland pattern camouflage BDUs.

[GUDMAR1975]

Yes. Stopgap is a good way to describe it.

 

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[treesuit]

There are some photos out there and on the forum here of 2/75th Rangers at Ft. Lewis wearing both straight and slant pocket OD jungle fatigues. What you have there is a excellent example. Also of note is that the 1-509th PIR at Ft. Polk wore OD straight pocket jungle fatigues as OPFOR personnel before the introduction of more ACU style OD fatigues.

[seanmc1114]

Here is a picture I posted on another topic in this forum showing the RDF fatigues worn alongside the traditional third pattern jungle fatigues by instructors of the 82nd Airborne Division Recondo Course at Fort Bragg, NC around 1984 or 1985. Note that one of them is wearing a BDU cap, so BDUs would have been available for them to wear. This configuration of camouflaged BDU cap and olive green jungle fatigues was common in the early years of the BDU when, as stated above, a cooler uniform was needed in tropical areas such as Panama and Grenada before the lightweight BDUs were introduced. However, all but one of the instructors are wearing knit sweaters underneath their fatigues suggesting the weather may have been a little cool, seeming to negate the need for the lighter weight of the jungle fatigues.

[seanmc1114]

There are some photos out there and on the forum here of 2/75th Rangers at Ft. Lewis wearing both straight and slant pocket OD jungle fatigues. What you have there is a excellent example. Also of note is that the 1-509th PIR at Ft. Polk wore OD straight pocket jungle fatigues as OPFOR personnel before the introduction of more ACU style OD fatigues.

Here's one showing members of the 509th as OPFOR troops wearing a combination of straight pocket RDF fatigues and slant pocket jungle fatigues. I believe this was around 1990.

[seanmc1114]

Here's one showing members of the 1st Battalion 508th Infantry in Panama in the mid-80s. These photos tend to suggest the wear of the RDF patter and slant pocket fatigues was more of a personal preference than a unit wide issue.

[seanmc1114]

Here's one showing soldiers of the 3rd Ranger Battalion at Fort Benning in 1985. Most have slant pocket fatigues but at least a couple have RDF fatigues.

[treesuit]

Here is a picture I posted on another topic in this forum showing the RDF fatigues worn alongside the traditional third pattern jungle fatigues by instructors of the 82nd Airborne Division Recondo Course at Fort Bragg, NC around 1984 or 1985. Note that one of them is wearing a BDU cap, so BDUs would have been available for them to wear. This configuration of camouflaged BDU cap and olive green jungle fatigues was common in the early years of the BDU when, as stated above, a cooler uniform was needed in tropical areas such as Panama and Grenada before the lightweight BDUs were introduced. However, all but one of the instructors are wearing knit sweaters underneath their fatigues suggesting the weather may have been a little cool, seeming to negate the need for the lighter weight of the jungle fatigues.

 

 

Just curious as to the photo and your answer. Could it have been a schoolhouse requirement? Sometimes Army schools operate much differently than the rest of the Army perhaps the school cadre made it a requirement. Also it doesn't appear most are wearing the five button wool sweaters but maybe three button lightweight sleeping shirts? Am I wrong on that assumption, does look that way?

[Tonomachi]

Thanks for posting these photographs.