Vietnam Jungle Hammock

[graffspee]

Just picked up this Jungle Hammock from a guy who was a Jungle Warfare instructor in Panama. It is the type with the netting but not the rain cover. It is in NOS condition. I have found very little useful information on these things for the Vietnam period. I have seen them referred to as the M-1965 Jungle Hammock but looking at the tag for this one. The DSA number seems to indicate a 1962 contract on this one. It is constructed almost the same as the later dated ones I have seen. Was there a specific field manual for these hammocks? I have found a tent manual from 1945 that has a small section on the setting up of the WW2 version but have found nothing on the Vietnam era version.

 

[craig_pickrall]

I have a 1962 dated manual that was put together to cover jungle gear. A lot of it is left over WW2 gear including the double buckle canvas jungle boots. I think this hammock is covered in the manual. I am in the woods camping at the moment so I do not have access to my photos. I will post what I can when I return home.

[graffspee]

I have a 1962 dated manual that was put together to cover jungle gear. A lot of it is left over WW2 gear including the double buckle canvas jungle boots. I think this hammock is covered in the manual. I am in the woods camping at the moment so I do not have access to my photos. I will post what I can when I return home.

 

Thats cool... THANKS!!!!

[craig_pickrall]

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/ind...howtopic=146617

 

The manual I mentioned is actually 1961 rather than 1962. I thought I had posted this to the forum earlier but could not find it. I just posted it today at the above link. It does not show your hammock. The only sleep gear covered is the poncho and lightweight blanket.

 

I think the hammock you have is shown in a manual with the poncho used as a top cover for it. I just can't recall which manual. If I come across it I will post photos.

[bootsandbooks]

I have one with 1965 contract date that I used sparingly in Vietnam in 1970 pictured here: M-1965 ?

 

I used this smaller ARVN hammock more often: M-1966 ? because it packed away tighter and made less "swooshing" noise than the stiffer M-1965.

 

With either for rain protection the poncho was used as illustrated "hung from bushes" in the manual cited above but tied to the same trees as the hammock and for shade the poncho liner (light weight blanket cited) was used in the same manner. Those procedures were a part of JWS when I went through in 1969.

 

Never used mosquito meeting in the field. The ARVN hammock, when used without spreader sticks, would cover almost all exposed skin if you wore the boonie hat and kept your jacket collar up, sleeves down and buttoned, and your trousers bloused or tucked into your boots.

 

I would suspect the M-1965 hammock did see more use in bunkers in firebases and basecamps.

 

M C

 

Added: never had the ocassion to use the M-1965 hammock as a litter in the field - never enough time to cut poles - if the casualties could not be carried fireman style a regular rain ponch was used - not ideal, but expedient.

[bootsandbooks]

I never used mosquito meeting in the field.

 

Looking at your second photo is the mosquito net attached with velcrow or permanently sewn?

 

In use the mosquito net would be tied to the trees at each end in the same fashion as the poncho but also a spreader stick would be added at each end or the corners tied outward to keep it off your body. The rain or shade fly would be draped over the net.

 

Reminds me that my Arty FO was so enamored of my ARVN hammock he had his (wealthy and indulgent) grandmother send one for himself and his RTO. She purchased the deluxe model from Abercrombie and Fitch in New York. They arrived with the mail on a field resupply. The hammock bed and built in rain fly were heavy canvas. They probaby weighed 40# and once opened could not be folded any smaller than a footlocker. They carried them for three more days on the mission and I never saw either aftrewards.

[bootsandbooks]

In this earlier thread Field and Personal Gear Reference if you scroll toward the bottom there are schematics from the instruction tags for the:

 

M-1965 with mosquito net and canopy (post 11)

 

 

and the M-1966 with just the poncho rain fly (post 13)

 

 

Both correspond to Jungle Warfare School (then called Jungle Operations Training Center) instruction in 1969.

 

From personal experience with the ARVN version of the M-1966 the hammock would be hung so low my butt touched the ground and would only be used in a patrol base or night ambush in heavy concealment in the CP or reserve positions. Troops on the line would not use the hammock. If it was raining heavily they might use the poncho for partial personal cover or over their position if it did not reveal the position or impair fields of vision and fire.

[graffspee]

Thanks for looking into it.... From what I have been able to find(which is very limited). The Hammock I have seems to be a type that was supposedly issued to Advisers early on during our involvement in Vietnam. The Mosquito netting is attached with velcro like the M1965 Hammock but it does not have the rain cover. The guy I got it from did mention that you were supposed to use the poncho as a rain cover for it.

 

Doing an extensive search on the net I only found a couple of other examples of this type that have sold on Ebay a few years ago. I am suspecting at this point that it was part of some developmental design that led to the M-1965 version. I am just surprised how little info is out there on them.

[bootsandbooks]

Doing an extensive search on the net I only found a couple of other examples of this type that have sold on Ebay a few years ago. I am suspecting at this point that it was part of some developmental design that led to the M-1965 version.

 

 

That could very well be. In addition to their own staff and equipment The Tropic Test Center in Panama utilized the various troop units to field test gear. I was XO of a company in the 3/5th Infantry, part of the 193rd Infantry Brigade. The company attended JOTC as a complete unit when all others were on individual assignment. We were issued experimental jungle fatiques and the then experimental squad radios which clipped to the helmet. The clothing and equipment was strictly controlled but a few sets of fatigues were never turned in (don't ask me how I know). I need to dig those out and see how they are labeled. Perhaps the hammock was acquired the same way.

 

Here's a description:

 

US Army Tropic Test Site

 

As providers of equipment for use around the globe, it is frequently necessary for military materiel developers to meet the challenges posed by the world's harsh climatic extremes. To ensure that humid tropic challenges are met, Army systems began to be tested systematically in the Panama Canal Zone in 1962, with the establishment of the Tropic Test Center (TTC) under the U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command. However, TTC history goes back much farther.

 

Several "crash" testing programs were instituted in Panama during World War II to ensure that military equipment deployed to tropical locations remained effective. Many years after the war, in 1962, the surviving activities were consolidated into one agency - the Tropic Test Center. Numbering well over 300 people during the Vietnam War days of the 1960's, the organization has since been downsized and placed under the management of U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground.

 

The Tropic Test Center mission is to plan and conduct tropic environmental development tests on a wide variety of military systems, materials, weapons, and equipment of all conceivable types, sizes, configurations, and uses. The center's laboratory facilities provide detailed information on tropic-induced failures and other environmental effects. All testing in Panama is conducted to the same stringent environmental protection standards as similar activities in the United States.

 

Testing in the tropics is essential because heat, humidity, solar radiation, insects, fungus, bacteria, rainfall, and other factors combine synergistically to degrade the performance of man, machines, and materials quickly. The unique combination of several tropic microclimates in close proximity to a large metropolitan area with a comprehensive support infrastructure, an indigenous technical work force, and an expanding scientific community combine to make Panama the best place in the world to conduct tropic testing today.

 

The Tropic Test Center's workforce was composed primarily of Panamanian scientists, engineers and technicians, with supplemental assistance available through using specialists from the universities in the Republic of Panama.

[graffspee]

That could very well be. In addition to their own staff and equipment The Tropic Test Center in Panama utilized the various troop units to field test gear. I was XO of a company in the 3/5th Infantry, part of the 193rd Infantry Brigade. The company attended JOTC as a complete unit when all others were on individual assignment. We were issued experimental jungle fatiques and the then experimental squad radios which clipped to the helmet. The clothing and equipment was strictly controlled but a few sets of fatigues were never turned in (don't ask me how I know). I need to dig those out and see how they are labeled. Perhaps the hammock was acquired the same way.

 

Here's a description:

 

US Army Tropic Test Site

 

As providers of equipment for use around the globe, it is frequently necessary for military materiel developers to meet the challenges posed by the world's harsh climatic extremes. To ensure that humid tropic challenges are met, Army systems began to be tested systematically in the Panama Canal Zone in 1962, with the establishment of the Tropic Test Center (TTC) under the U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command. However, TTC history goes back much farther.

 

Several "crash" testing programs were instituted in Panama during World War II to ensure that military equipment deployed to tropical locations remained effective. Many years after the war, in 1962, the surviving activities were consolidated into one agency - the Tropic Test Center. Numbering well over 300 people during the Vietnam War days of the 1960's, the organization has since been downsized and placed under the management of U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground.

 

The Tropic Test Center mission is to plan and conduct tropic environmental development tests on a wide variety of military systems, materials, weapons, and equipment of all conceivable types, sizes, configurations, and uses. The center's laboratory facilities provide detailed information on tropic-induced failures and other environmental effects. All testing in Panama is conducted to the same stringent environmental protection standards as similar activities in the United States.

 

Testing in the tropics is essential because heat, humidity, solar radiation, insects, fungus, bacteria, rainfall, and other factors combine synergistically to degrade the performance of man, machines, and materials quickly. The unique combination of several tropic microclimates in close proximity to a large metropolitan area with a comprehensive support infrastructure, an indigenous technical work force, and an expanding scientific community combine to make Panama the best place in the world to conduct tropic testing today.

 

The Tropic Test Center's workforce was composed primarily of Panamanian scientists, engineers and technicians, with supplemental assistance available through using specialists from the universities in the Republic of Panama.

 

The guy I got it from stated as much. He was down in Panama in the early to mid 60's and he said he brought a couple of these hammocks back with him as he was attached to the Quartermasters.

If you ever dig out those Jungle Fatigues I would really like to see a pic of them. I have been collecting Nam and WW2 related Jungle uniforms and equipment since the early 80's. The cool thing about it is all the variations in the progression of the designs of the stuff. Even in items of the same type and general year of manufacture.....

[tw5270]

Thanks for looking into it.... From what I have been able to find(which is very limited). The Hammock I have seems to be a type that was supposedly issued to Advisers early on during our involvement in Vietnam. The Mosquito netting is attached with velcro like the M1965 Hammock but it does not have the rain cover. The guy I got it from did mention that you were supposed to use the poncho as a rain cover for it.

 

Doing an extensive search on the net I only found a couple of other examples of this type that have sold on Ebay a few years ago. I am suspecting at this point that it was part of some developmental design that led to the M-1965 version. I am just surprised how little info is out there on them.

 

 

My Uncle was in Vietnam in 1962 as a" Military Adviser". He returned in 1964 and brought my Aunt with him. My whole life when I went to his house in the summer he had a hammock like this hanging in his back yard. He always said it was the only thing he kept from Vietnam other than my Aunt. (and a few knives).

 

Growing up camping with my father and uncle a lot we always used ponchos over hammocks instead of tents. I know this doesn't help but I have seen the hammock before...

[bootsandbooks]

If you ever dig out those Jungle Fatigues I would really like to see a pic of them. I have been collecting Nam and WW2 related Jungle uniforms and equipment since the early 80's. The cool thing about it is all the variations in the progression of the designs of the stuff. Even in items of the same type and general year of manufacture.....

 

I don't have my camera handy right now but this reference, photo of the label, and contract number match exactly:

 

Coat Men's Combat Tropical Mosquito Resistant

 

I'm not sure if the trousers I have them hanging with were worn at the same time but they do not have the mosquito resistant label. I think the contract date on the trousers is 69 but I'll have to recheck those and several others I have to be sure.

 

They would have been issued about May or June 69 and apparently were worn quite often as they have been laundered and starched (yes we starched jungle fatigues in garrison in Panama) a few times and have some tears and holes. They were patched at the PX with the nylon U S Army tag (can't tell if embroidered or printed), black on og printed name tag on what looks to be woven canvas or cotton, subdued sewn-on 1LT rank and Infantry branch insignia, but a full color cut-edge Jungle Expert pocket patch. There is a ghost of the 193rd Infantry Brigade SSI on the left shoulder (would have been full color) but I do not know when or why it was removed.

 

I might have needed it for my class A greens for travel (see next para) as those still had the USARSO patch from my initial assignment in Panama in 1967 and 68.

 

I was retroactively promoted to Captain (as/of 19 October 1969) in late November 1969 and departed for Vietnam 3 days later so would not have continued to wear the jungle jacket with the prior rank afterwards. I did have an all classroom orientation course at Fort Benning en route with some leave time before and after. I'm pretty sure I wore the class A greens at Benning and the khakis to Vietnam. The jungle fatigues from Panama would have likely shipped from there to my home with my household goods or hold baggage. I would not have worn them on leave (too proud of my Captain bars) but my younger brother might have while I was in Vietnam and that might account for the holes and tears.

 

The bringback uniforms I have from Vietnam in 1970 all have the 1969 contract date. They were never patched while in country but I did have the current patches sewn on in the mid 1990s so are not period correct. I've worn those for color guard and other ceremonies in the years since.

[bootsandbooks]

My Uncle was in Vietnam in 1962 as a" Military Adviser". He returned in 1964 and brought my Aunt with him. My whole life when I went to his house in the summer he had a hammock like this hanging in his back yard. He always said it was the only thing he kept from Vietnam other than my Aunt. (and a few knives).

 

Growing up camping with my father and uncle a lot we always used ponchos over hammocks instead of tents. I know this doesn't help but I have seen the hammock before...

 

 

Good memories - that does help establish a time line and place.

 

I used the two hammocks I brought back many times over the years and still do for backpacking and they are just as sound now as 42 years ago. The red Cambodian dirt has never washed out of the M-1966.

 

The only other item I used consistently after I came home was my boonie hat but the top completely wore through 20 years ago and all thats left is the quilted brim - pretty much like my hair.

[graffspee]

Good memories - that does help establish a time line and place.

 

My Dad was a Marine when I was growing up and did a couple of tours in Vietnam. He gave me some of the stuff he had brought back and thats how my Vietnam collecting started.. As for WW2 My Grandfather was a Paratrooper in the 101st. and 17th. Airborne Divisions . In 1947 he transferred to the Air Force and was Air, Sea Rescue with SAC. He retired after 23 years in the Air force and had close to 10 Years in the Army . I come from a long military heritage so I guess all this is in my blood. I do enjoy collecting and researching this stuff. that is for sure...