tips on assembling gear for Vietnam reenacting

[BOLO]

http://david.brubakers.us/Vietnam/Vietnam_...ment_page_2.htm

 

 

heres some good info on how to properly wear your VN gear

[BOLO]

http://david.brubakers.us/Vietnam/index.html

 

this reenactor has the look of a Vietnam Grunt

[Stinger Gunner USMC]

Nice Page, Very imformative

[surplus sammy]

Love the look of the second pic,plenty of mags & frags

[jgawne]

I never thought I would see the day when there would be instructions for how to assemble M-56 gear.

[pwmiraldi67]

been there done that!

funny, alot of his info came from my book, Lyles and Stanton's book, but no credit to any of us, oh well!

 

p

[T-Bone]

been there done that!

funny, alot of his info came from my book, Lyles and Stanton's book, but no credit to any of us, oh well!

 

p

 

Don't feel bad PW, looks like he ripped of a few Army TMs also.

 

That's why I pontificate about weird stuff from the Balkans

 

Got anything in the works that we should know about?

 

T-Bone

[pwmiraldi67]

Don't feel bad PW, looks like he ripped of a few Army TMs also.

 

That's why I pontificate about weird stuff from the Balkans

 

Got anything in the works that we should know about?

 

T-Bone

 

hey t-Bone,

yea I was in a pissy mood that night, dog was throwing up and not eating so I was just venting, Ive since contacted the guy and he explained he took over the site and lost some of the credits and would be happy to credit my works, nice.

 

heres a few sample photos from the upcoming book

as for anything new, well yes Im almost done with a book dealing with SF in Laos during White Star, just bought another 300+ original photos from a guy so that brings the total to 850+ original unpublished never before seen pix of SF in Laos.

also finishing up a reenacting handbook for SOG reenactors, based on observations as well as the original TM on SF recon should be about 130 pages with diagrams and lots of photos (900+) on a seperate CD.

 

heres a little taste of the reenacting book........

RT EQUIPMENT

A BRIEF INTRODUCTION:

 

INDIVIDUAL EQUIPMENT. Each team member should normally carry the following items, which will be explained in greater details in the following chapter:

 

1) Sterile jungle fatigues.

 

2) One Flop brim hat with portion of panel sewn inside the top.

 

3) Jungle boots.

 

4) Pistol belt.

 

5) Harness, Complete.

 

6) First aid packet.

 

7) Pill kit (for contents see chapter on medical & survival equipment).

 

8) Knife (Heavy & Sharp).

 

9) Four plastic 1 qt canteens with water purification tablets attached (see diagram).

10) Smoke grenades (at least one of every color in the SOI).

 

11) Compass.

 

12) Small survival kit (for contents see chapter on medical & survival equipment).

 

13) Individual weapon.

 

14) Weapons Cleaning Kit.

 

15) Signal Mirror.

 

16) Signal Panel.

 

17) Strobe light.

 

18) Pen flare gun with 4-6 flares.

 

19) Four or six ammo pouches (canteen covers can be substituted see chapter on LBE & gear).

 

20) Rucksack with reinforced straps.

 

21) Rations.

 

22) Maps.

 

23) Poncho.

 

24) Poncho liner.

 

25) Can opener or pocket knife w/can opener.

 

26) Waterproof matches.

 

27) Insect and leech repellent.

 

28) Jungle sweater or sleep shirt.

 

29) RT-10 or another survival radio.

 

30) Pilot’s Penlight.

 

31) 6 foot length of nylon cord (e.g. para cord or 550 cord).

 

32) Swiss Seat (12 ft of rope).

 

33) 2 snap links or “D” rings.

 

34) Note book and pencil (not pens).

 

35) Two plastic water proof bags (or more).

 

36) SOI & KAC code books.

 

37) Gloves.

 

38) Extra socks.

 

39) Claymore mine.

 

40) Two cravats or drive on rags.

 

41) Fragmentation grenades (WP or other can be substituted).

 

42) Serum albumin unit (complete). (see diagram on how to make these)

 

 

 

 

 

 

TEAM EQUIPMENT. One of each of the following items of equipment should be normally carried on a team:

1) Camera and film.

 

2) Binoculars.

 

3) AN/PRC-25/77 with extra batteries. (2 per team)

 

4) M14 mines and booby-traps as required.

 

5)M-79 with assorted types of ammunition.

 

6) Anti intrusion devices as required.

 

7) Two pair of hand cuffs. (for POWs)

 

 

 

ORGANIZATION AND COMPOSITION OF RECON TEAMS (RTS)

 

GENERAL: there are essentially two basic recon teams; the (12) man team; i.e. ‘Heavy’, and the (6) man team. Often the teams will be augmented or diminished for specific missions. It is desirable that the RT leader be given a voice in determining the size and composition during the planning phase of a mission.

 

 

THE SIX MAN TEAM. The six man team is usually composed of two Americans and four indigenous (*Indigs) team members. It is made up as follows:

 

a. 1-0 Team Leader (US)

b. 1-1 Assistant Team Leader/Radio Operator (US)

c. 0-1 Indigenous Team Leader.

d. 0-2 Interpreter. *

e. 0-3 M-79 Grenadier.*

f. 0-4 Scout.*

 

THE 12-MAN TEAM. A typical 12 man team may be organized as follows:

 

a. 1-0 Team Leader (US)

b. 1-1 Assistant Team Leader(US)

c. 1-2 Radio Operator (US)

d. 0-1 Indigenous Team Leader*

e. 0-2 Interpreter*

f. 0-3 M-79 Grenadier*

g. 0-4 M-79 Grenadier*

h. 0-5 Scout*

i. 0-6 Scout*

j. 0-7 Scout*

k. 0-8 Scout*

*Indigenous Team Members.

 

*Each Command and Control (C&C) element, later CCN, CCC, and CCS will at all times (In Therory) have Six teams on the ground in their AO (Area of Operation). A Seven team will be on standby as a Bright Light Team, used in case any one of the 6 needs a Prarie Fire extraction, POW rescue, downed pilot or downed chopper, this team is ready for immediate launch!

Each team will receive a one week stand down after a mission

 

enjoy!

[Justin]

I never thought I would see the day when there would be instructions for how to assemble M-56 gear.

[T-Bone]

hey t-Bone,

yea I was in a pissy mood that night, dog was throwing up and not eating so I was just venting, Ive since contacted the guy and he explained he took over the site and lost some of the credits and would be happy to credit my works, nice.

 

Paul,

 

Remind me to piss you off more often

 

As I told you it was meant very tongue in cheek, and with all of the respect in the World.

 

This is GOLD, if everyone else does not appreciate it at least I do.

 

I need to send you pictures of a Jungle Blouse in W'P Poplin I found. The darn thing has had ALL of the labels and pockets removed. Ever heard of, or seen, anything like this before?

 

T-Bone

[Niner Alpha]

Reenacting advice at that linked site is interesting but if anybody gets into it they should keep in mind that troops went to the field with different ideas of what was necessary depending on AO and length of time an operation would take. Also, in each platoon the men divided up the extra machinegun ammo and claymores and Law's and other odds and ends. The first rule was never take anything you didn't need to or you weren't assigned to carry no matter what the outfit.

 

Uniforms would not all be the same. Some got away with just jungle hats. Some couldn't even own a jungle hat and had only the helmet. Some wore flack jackets and some not. Some pegged their pants legs and some not. If you want to play reenactor be sure you study the particular unit you wish to pretend to be like.

 

Here is a photo I took of a radio in the delta of Vietnam. Note D rings hold canteens to the frame that holds the radio, no canteen cover or cup. All radios, PRC 25, had to have extra batteries, which are in boxes straped in under the radio. There are also a couple of hand flares tubes. Note the poncho liner rolled up at the top and there is a claymore bag tied to the bottom of the frame that was used for c-rations. Ammo is carried as loaded magazines put in the issue cloth ammo bandoleers and no canvas pouches.