BOLO Posted February 8, 2009 Share #1 Posted February 8, 2009 Boat Gunner, Vietnam A side view of an American swift boat gunner on a river in the southern Delta VN 1968. notice the extra padding on top of the shoulder? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
filupe Posted February 8, 2009 Share #2 Posted February 8, 2009 I have had the opportunity years ago to examine one of these vests. The armour for the main body is actually made up of small overlapping (titanium?) metal plates whereas the 'shoulder pads' are of ballistic nylon. Externally it looks akin to an OD PASGT vest. A little more is written about it in Osprey's Men-at-arms series # 157 'Flak Jackets' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coolman Posted February 8, 2009 Share #3 Posted February 8, 2009 it's called the variable armour vest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New Romantic Posted February 9, 2009 Share #4 Posted February 9, 2009 I looked up vests in Stanton's Vietnam Uniforms book. The vest shown here appears to be the body armour, fragmentation protective, vest with 3/4 collar, titanium/ nylon composite Stanton mentions on pages 92- 94. According to Stanton the vest weighed 9 lbs and had the shoulder pads as seen in the photos and rifle patches were sewn to the shoulder and chest, also seen here. Stanton goes on to mention the vest " was not used often in Vietnam b/c of it's greater stiffness, inflexibility, and heat retention." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiGilio Posted February 9, 2009 Share #5 Posted February 9, 2009 One of these vests was on ebay not too long ago. It went up to over $800 with reserve not met. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Brannan Posted February 9, 2009 Share #6 Posted February 9, 2009 I was on Swifts in Vietnam 69-70 and all I ever had was a flak jacket that would float but wouldn't stop a rifle bullet. I would have been glad to have had something better. Also had the flak pants that always fell around your ankles when things got hot. I guess I just puckered too much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOLO Posted February 13, 2009 Author Share #7 Posted February 13, 2009 I was on Swifts in Vietnam 69-70 and all I ever had was a flak jacket that would float but wouldn't stop a rifle bullet. I would have been glad to have had something better. Also had the flak pants that always fell around your ankles when things got hot. I guess I just puckered too much. cool photo Steve, thanks for sharing your personal experience as a Swift boat sailor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Hudson Posted February 13, 2009 Share #8 Posted February 13, 2009 This is not the same vest is it? It's called "variable armor" too. (this is from the always helpful http://www.vietnamgear.com/kit.aspx?kit=31 ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coolman Posted February 13, 2009 Share #9 Posted February 13, 2009 This is not the same vest is it? It's called "variable armor" too. (this is from the always helpful http://www.vietnamgear.com/kit.aspx?kit=31 ) that's for helicopter crews...the pilots version with armor only to the front & the door gunners both to the front & back Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New Romantic Posted February 13, 2009 Share #10 Posted February 13, 2009 A bit of clarification on the vests shown and discussed thus far needs to be done. The vest being worn by the Swift Boat crew member is the 3/4 collar vest of titanium/ nylon composite as I had mentioned and not the variable armour. Forum Support posted a photo of the variable armour, though it is similar in appearance to the air crew armor Coolman mentions. Here is link which has some good photos. For some reason I can't save them to my desktop. http://www.vietnamgear.com/kit.aspx?kit=31 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captainofthe7th Posted February 13, 2009 Share #11 Posted February 13, 2009 I love his helmet graffiti! Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New Romantic Posted August 5, 2009 Share #12 Posted August 5, 2009 Here's the vest in question, currently on Bay State Militaria's site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New Romantic Posted August 5, 2009 Share #13 Posted August 5, 2009 The 1966 contract label. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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