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"Woodland" reenactors?


Sabrejet
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DeltaOscarAlphaUSMC

Looks like it is meant to hold and conceal the bezel portion (minus wrist strap) of a wristwatch.

 

Thanks, It was a gift from the surplus store along with the patches, so I didn't really know what it was.

 

Daniel.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Back when you guys were issued black leather boots, were you required to shine them?

Daniel.

Daniel,

 

Yes we were required to have them highly shined while in garrison. Some would also "spit shine" their boots to get a very high mirror like finish.

 

While in the field it was hard to keep them shined, but we did the best we could. We would carry small shoe shine kits in our duffel bags that had a small tin of black shoe polish an applictor brush and a buffing or polishing brush.

 

Leigh

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Depends on your unit. If you are Naval Aviation(navy/Marine Corps) then your work boots are safety boots and they are never polished. Wax and Liquid Oxygen are not a good combo. Also even though we wore booties when working on top of the A/C if your boots have polish on them as you move around you grind polish into the paint which is not a good thing. Our Combat boots we had to polish but we only wore them for formations that took most of the day and for duty days. If there was any chance of flightline work being done than the uniform of the day would be flightline wear(cammies or coveralls) and flightline boots. Most dog and pony show formations were done in Charlies. Tell you the truth probably the reason why why boots from boot camp have survived to this day and have not falen apart is actually how little in 5 years i actually wore them once I got out to the fleet. We even wore flightline boots to go to Camp Pendelton for rifle requals. The Air Wing is vastly different in some things than the ground side.

Mack

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Sgt_Rock_EasyCo

Back when you guys were issued black leather boots, were you required to shine them?

Daniel.

 

The black leather combat boot of the 1970's and 80's needed to be kept shiny in the Army. We were issued two pair of standard black combat boots and the Drill Sgt's told us that they should be rotated so that you broke them in evenly and wore them out evenly. In reality we only wore one pair for Physical Training (Yup, we ran in boots) and the other we kept clean and shiny for display in our lockers. In boot camp we were required to keep our boots free from dirt and brushed shined nicely. No dust in between tongue and laces, no dust or dirt anywhere- at least during inspections.

 

In Jump School boots were required to be spit shined pretty much. Uniforms, haircuts, shave, shined and all had to be clean and shiny. Any gigs and you were in trouble.

 

At my duty station some guys used the black combat boot, some the jungle boots, for field use. During morning formations in garrison there was an inspection *every single day* with every aspect. In my unit a brushed shine boot was minimally acceptible for regular inspections but when there was a big "Dog and Pony" show all of us brought out our spit shined jump boots. Jump boots were mandatory for wear with the Class A uniform in Airborne Units and they best be shined up nicely.

 

Personally, I found it beneficial to keep my garrison boots spit shined so that when a dog and pony show arrived I didn't have to work for hours and hours on my boots. During Guard Mount (Inspection) they often chose one more guy than needed and if you were chosen as "The Man" based upon having a superior appearance and knowledge then quite often you were dismissed from having to perform guard duty and was awarded the day off- I got that a couple of times and was out eating pizza and drinking beer while the other guys were walking around a building in the cold at 3:00am.

 

To some degree, how shiny your boots are is a reflection of your personality. It doesn't make you a good combat soldier but it does help reflect on your personal belief in appearance.

 

Rock

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Fender Rhodes
while the other guys were walking around a building in the cold at 3:00am.

 

I don't miss that nonsense one friggin' bit. But for the most part it did come to an end when buildings like the armories were hardened with electronic surveillance. Still problem children ended up pulling duty around them for habitually screwing up.

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  • 1 month later...

Mack's post is an excellent example of how in Desert Storm, each unit almost got their own individual uniform or supply. While researching DS uniforms for the anniversary last year, I found that uniforms and equipment varied almost down to the company level. My living history group decided to go with all desert camo so the public had a chance of recognizing it. And there was ample evidence to support that many units got all the 'chocolate chip' stuff, but that very few had desert boots until the very end (if then). DS was very well covered at the time and many books geared to modelers came out during the Desert Shield buildup. These books and newspaper photos prior to the actual invasion proved this point out.

Lee,

 

Do you remember Nam Type Jungle Boots in DS?

 

I know the ADA guys in Israel had them with their Woodland BDUs.

 

I was wondering how wide spread this was. Had an SF vet tell how they sealed the vents with rubber cement to keep out sand.

 

Timo

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Also, any of you know what this is for?

attachicon.gifDSC_0018.jpg

attachicon.gifDSC_0020.jpg

 

Daniel.

Daniel

 

That is a watch strap with cover, very popular for a while. Yous is fancier than mine from back then.

A few years later I got one in Israel with a hole you push your watch through and the whole thing covers the watch, strap and all. It also has a cove for the face of the watch. Very tactical, before anyone knew what that meant. :)

 

T

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Do you remember Nam Type Jungle Boots in DS?

I know the ADA guys in Israel had them with their Woodland BDUs.

I was wondering how wide spread this was. Had an SF vet tell how they sealed the vents with rubber cement to keep out sand.

Timo

 

 

When I deployed to Saudi Arabia in November 1990, all of the officers and most of the NCO's deployed wearing jungle boots. A good number of the enlisted bought them at clothing sales too. We sealed the vents with silicone, but I don't think it would have been that big a deal if the boots hadn't been sealed. My first impression of the "field" in Saudi was that it was much like I thought the moon might be. No vegetation, no living things anywhere. If you were anywhere near a town, you would find (literally) TONS of garbage laying around, or flying when the wind blew.

 

Shortly after arriving in Saudi, we found a boot factory that was making camel skin boots. Many of us bought a pair since they matched the desert camo BDU's. After becoming an advisor to the Saudis, I started wearing the Saudi issue jungle boot, which were similar to the US made ones except they were tan nylon uppers and suede leather lowers. The soles had the chevron pattern and were a pinkish color. Wearing them was like wearing tennis shoes. They were just great to wear and the most comfortable boot that I ever wore in the military.

 

Allan

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DeltaOscarAlphaUSMC

Daniel

 

That is a watch strap with cover, very popular for a while. Yous is fancier than mine from back then.

A few years later I got one in Israel with a hole you push your watch through and the whole thing covers the watch, strap and all. It also has a cove for the face of the watch. Very tactical, before anyone knew what that meant. :)

 

T

Thanks! Didn't really know what it was for when I got it.

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  • 2 months later...
DeltaOscarAlphaUSMC

Hello! It's been a long time, and I've progressed a lot on my Gulf war Loadout. The M17A1 gas mask arrived about 3 weeks ago, although I was so caught up with exams I couldn't post proper pictures.

Thankfully I'm done with exams so I have some free time to post pictures!

 

post-150236-0-24986800-1403388065.jpg

post-150236-0-83117100-1403388160.jpg

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Brings back memories wearing those..

 

Probably not good ones, I trust? Every time I even think of all the time I spent cooped up in one of those, I shudder. Even the later M40 masks were no improvement to speak of.

 

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DeltaOscarAlphaUSMC

Wearing one of these in the desert at 110º F doesn't sound like fun at all.... must be nostalgia :D

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Rakkasan187

Wearing one on the sweltering heat was no fun, but wearing full MOPP posture when it was -12 degrees and snowing then believe me it was a pleasure. We had one training event where we wore full MOPP gear for 18 hours, it was a rather unique experience. Everything we did was by the buddy system. There were even procedures for using the latrine in MOPP4.

 

Leigh.

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I was always amused by the technique we learned to see if the air was clear.

1. Find a private and take his weapon away from him.

2. Have him break the seal on his mask, take a small breath and reseal his mask.

3. Observe his reaction.

 

Glad we never had to try it!

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