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BAR Belt in the Vietnam War


New Romantic
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the BAR belt proved to be a very successfull design...very good belt for its days even for today...very strange the US army did'nt produce a modern copy of this in the 60s & 70s in nylon...the M1956 equipment that came after i dont think was the same successfull...small magasines capacity...inadequate number of pouches...slide keepers digging around the waist area...etc..

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In 1970-1971, in I CTZ, I wore a BAR belt, chock full of 20-rd M-16 mags. They were not unusual in USSF and VN CIDG -- and NOT for use with BARs. Some people -- US and VN -- would wear one as a bandolier, diagonally across the chest, either in addition to one at the waist or in addition to a normal M-16 belt rig. In Thuong Duc District (SF ODA), it was daily wear. later, in Quang Tri Province (after SF, in MACV) it served as my berm alert rig -- the local US commnader banned all non-standard, non-US weapons from such "official" use, fearing a fratricide incident in the dark. He regarded my favored M-14E2 as non-standard. I recall seeing an RF LT wearing a custom-made chest apron (a bra?) with two (maybe three?) BAR sections sewn to tent canvas with M-16 slings as suspenders. His theory was that the loaded mags would act as armor against chest shots...

 

I instructed PFs on the New Family of Weapons -- M-16s, M-60s and M-79s. As they converted, the Old Stuff was passed down to the PSDF (Popular Self-Defense Forces) (village militia). I recall the BAR as the PSDF squad auto wpn, and requiring a crew of three of the little scrawny fellas. Two carried the weapon itself, one at the front, one at the back, sometimes using two loose-end slings -- one attached at the front, one at the butt -- as handholds, with a BAR mag belt spiral-wrapped around the gun. They would have one BAR mag belt worn bandolier style between them (12 mags, plus one in the gun). The third guy followed along with a chogi stick, with a buttbag, ammo can or claymore bag at either end filled with another 12 or more mags. I scrounged some GP ammo bags from the Navy in Da Nang and they appreciated the "upgrade". IIRC they could -- and DID -- get 20 mags in each, but that was quite a heavy load for the third guy, so they probably put 10-12 in each bag. They also had M-2 carbines or trench shotguns to carry.

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sas%20erdl.jpg

I knew I had a pic of SASR using one,he's got the for CO's use only issued pot belly too.........

I think you just made more than a few overweight SOG re-enactors SO happy with that pic, regardless if he is Aussie. :lol:

 

J. Andrews, do you remember if those BAR belts were khaki (WWII issue), or later green ones? The already posted pics seem to show surplus WWII belts.

 

Greetz ;)

 

David

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They were both. Mine -- hand-selected from a pile -- was green, Korean War era, only laundered once or twice. Some were WWII khaki PAINTED OD or OG.

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  • 9 months later...
VolunteerArmoury

I just stumbled onto this thread. I don't have any photos or specifics but I do recall a former instructor of mine also a dear friend so I'll ask him again but he was a Platoon Leader in the 11th ACR in VN & mentioned them using BAR belts for the M16 mags. I'll ask him about it and see if he has any photos around showing it. Maybe he'll address the canteens but with a Cav unit they may not have carried them but left the canteens on the track.

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I think you just made more than a few overweight SOG re-enactors SO happy with that pic, regardless if he is Aussie. :lol:

 

J. Andrews, do you remember if those BAR belts were khaki (WWII issue), or later green ones? The already posted pics seem to show surplus WWII belts.

 

Greetz ;)

 

David

 

Which SOG re-enactors would they be dude? I will go and check them out.

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For the use of BAR belts in Vietnam, by regular units.... I suppose a few were used in the early part of the war, up until the mid part of the war.

M1956 web gear was already out and in circulation, so I think if anything...perhaps it might have been a personal preference upon obtaining it.

On the other hand of things, a lot of S.F guys liked these.....there are tons of photos of them being used.

They were a common site among indingenous people as well, not only the Garand belts were used in large numbers.

But for regular troops....yes, but to a portion, I'd say if anything....between 1964 and 1966.

Duffy

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VolunteerArmoury

http://www.mortkunstler.com/gallery/produc...lastcat46.ihtml

 

Does anyone know the basis for this print? It is supposed to early VN (advisory era) and that's all I know. But I noticed everyone's wearing rifle cartridge belts and I believe it's depicting US SF advisors. Mort Künstle does research fairly well but everyone does make mistakes.

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