1980s gear questions

[Fender Rhodes]

If any of the items were missing upon return to the states, individuals had to write a statement of loss, the circumstances how the items were lost, and have it signed by a Colonel or above, before that Soldier could be discharged. There were a few cases where these items were lost

 

Guys were losing auto-injectors all over Camp Commando when I was there in early '03. The new gas mask carrier made no provision for carrying them, so guys just shoved them into the carrier next to the mask. We'd have random alerts all the time and when guys would open their carriers and grab their masks, the injectors would go flying. At one point I must have had 8 of them (we were allotted 2 if I remember correctly). I was always turning in to the NBC guys ones I found laying around. I never lost mine, but for the life of me, I can't remember how I worked around not having a place to carry them. I think I had them in my upper blouse pocket with my pens and notebook.

[msgt norway]

Rakkasan187: I am writing a book at this time and a lot of the post 1980 information will be included in it.

 

is this a gear book or something about your sevice time?

 

cheers ken,norway

[Rakkasan187]

Rakkasan187: I am writing a book at this time and a lot of the post 1980 information will be included in it.

 

is this a gear book or something about your sevice time?

 

cheers ken,Norway

 

Ken,

 

The book is about my time in service, after I got out and went into the reserves and when I was called back on 9/11. There will be a lot of pictures of my gear and time in the service as well. Thank you for asking.

 

Leigh

[msgt norway]

rakkasan187:

 

let me know when you finish the book,i want to buy one!

would like to read about your service time.

 

btw if there is any pictures that i have made that you want to use

in your book or something,feel free to use:)

 

cheers ken,norway

[Rakkasan187]

As promised,

 

I have taken and opened my 1980's rime capsules. The Rucksack and Duffel Bag were opened today and I took and laid the gear out based on a field gear layout inspection. I will start with the rucksack first and then I will show the duffel bag with a description of the items.

 

From the left is the waterproof bag containing the shelter half and sleeping bag with cover. The center is my rucksack with LBE on top. To the right is my duffel bag which still has the painted markings for my unit B 6/502nd Inf. 2nd Platoon. On top is my body armor.

 

 

Second picture shows the front of my gear, with rifle. This is how we would line our gear up in formation prior to moving out to the field. You will notice the M72A2 LAW rocket tube and M-60 machine gun ammunition. It was standard SOP for all Berlin Soldiers to carry the LAW rocket. Extra ammunition for weapons such as the M-60 or 90 mm recoilless rifle was also carried.

 

 

 

[Rakkasan187]

Since I was a squad leader I did not carry the M60 as much as I used too, HOWEVER, on certain missions I was asked to carry the "PIG" and this was again how I carried it, with the bandoleer attached and extra ammunition on my ruck.

 

Sine I already took pictures of my LBE, you can go back through the posts and see my .45 pistol, ammo pouches and M60 items.

 

 

[Rakkasan187]

This shows the Tactical unit marking on the bottom of the duffel bag. Name and social were on the side, but for obvious reasons I will not show that. You may also notice yellow tape. This was an internal marking system to identify the platoons in the Company. Red was 1st platoon, yellow second, Blue for third, white for Headquarters and Black for Mortars.

 

 

On the back of the rucksack between the ruck and the frame were 20 sandbags. This again was a Berlin Brigade SOP that all soldiers would carry these sandbags to help build their fighting positions in the defense. They padded the rucksack and even on some occasions came in handy as a pillow.

 

[Rakkasan187]

This is an overall picture of all the gear carried within the rucksack. The weight of the ruck to include contents was approximately 79 pounds. It didn't seem that heavy 20 years ago....

 

 

[Rakkasan187]

These items were carried in the top flap of the rucksack. Every spare space was used to carry necessities. One had to determine what was important. As a squad leader I made sure I was prepared for my Soldier's needs. Across the top is a VS-17 (Visual Signal) Panel for marking Landing and Pickup Zones (LZ and PZ) the orange item next to it is a road guard vest used during road marches. The entrenching tool and carrier was mounted on the outside of the rucksack. Other small items I carried were: camouflage paint and sticks, a pocket bible, a small sewing kit with extra buttons, safety pins, needle and thread, an extra watch band with a compass, a wallet, foot powder, extra pin on rank and dog tags, a deck of threat vehicle cards, an MRE spoon, extra blank adapter, extra ear plug case and ear plugs, a triangle bandage (cravat), some Velcro blousing straps and some regular blousing straps, chap stick (hot and Cold weather)

 

 

 

 

Other gear that was carried in the rucksack itself: from the top, an extra soft cap. the soft cap needed to be the same material as the BDU's. For example, hot weather BDU's = hot weather cap, cold weather BDUs= cold weather cap. There was no mixing of the materials. A spare set of BDUs (these were cold weather) a sleep shirt. To the right of the BDUs are 3 pair green wool socks, brown t shirts, brown underwear, to the left of the underwear another cravat and below is a brown towel. To the right of the towel is my Ranger Handbook that I took apart and laminated all the pages to waterproof them. To the right of the Ranger book are special gloves used to handle concertina and barbed wire. Above the gloves is a poncho liner.

 

 

[Rakkasan187]

Under the sleep shirt on the left is the GORTEX rain jacket. This was a private purchase item at the time, since it was still being tested. The first time I saw the GORTEX was while I was deployed to Vicenza, Italy. The 325 Airborne folks there were field testing it. I preferred this over the wet weather gear. I still carried the Wet weather pants but never used them. To the right of the gortex is a PEAK stove and 3 gas bottles. I purchased this stove at the British PX and used it to make hot chocolate and hot ramen noodles for myself and my squad members. Next to the stove are two 30 round M-16 magazines taped together. This is what I carried in my rifle. 1 mag had 5.56 ball and the other was all tracer rounds so I could mark targets for the M203 grenadier's. Extra OD green 100mph tape is to the right of the mags. Below the mags and tape are my German Mountain boots. These were nicknamed "Herman the German" boots (No disrespect intended to our international members). These were some of the best and warmest and sturdiest boots I ever wore. They were very comfortable in the field and in garrison, they spit shined to a high gloss. I wore these until the Danner Matterhorns came out. You can't see in this picture, but I have dog tags laced into both boots. To the left of the boots is a field jacket liner. This could be worn in the Gortex or I used to wear it under my BDU shirt, rather than wear the bulky coat.

 

 

 

To the right of the boots is the OD green MOPP or NBC suit pants with rubber gloves and white liners. To save time in donning the NBC gear we used to take the white liners, put them in the black rubber gloves and then roll the gloves down for quick access. Then these gloves were placed into the left and right pockets of the pants. This was again an internal Company SOP.

 

 

 

[Rakkasan187]

In the three outer pockets of the large rucksack per SOP we carried the following: In the center pocket in a waterproof bag were wet weather pants, in the right pocket was a change of socks, t shirt and underwear, in the left pocket were personnel hygiene items, razor, toothbrush and paste, soap, wash cloth. These items were located in the same place in everyone's rucksack. There were three smaller pouches above the three large outer pockets. In the left pocket I carried a box of heat tabs, (these were backups incase I could not use the stove due to the flames) (The heat tabs could be used by digging a small hole in the ground and then heating your food. The blue flame could not be seen from inside the small hole) The center pocket I carried and extra blank adaptor for the M-16 and an extra M60 machine gun sling as well as a jungle sling adaptor. The right pocket I carried an M-16 weapons cleaning kit.

 

 

NBC gear that was carried in addition to the M17 mask, was the personal decon kits and M256 chemical detection kit. Since I had been trained in NBC, I was responsible for the Platoon NBC items. Other items to note are spare filters for the mask, GTA's for NBC warning reports and M258 personal decon kits. There is also a smart card for use of the atropine injector. These items were also carried in the pockets of the NBC suit top.

 

[Rakkasan187]

These are the NBC chemical Booties. These boots were supposed to be worn over your combat boots. These rarely fit over the boots and in most cases we would used our wet weather boots as a substitute. I wore a size 11 boot and they did not have any boots in my size so I did not have to wear the over boots. We always told the soldiers to get 2 sizes larger so they could wear the NBC boots.

 

[Rakkasan187]

Another close up of the items carried inside the top flap of the ruck. Every item had a purpose. It was learned through experience that these items were added. Other Soldiers carried items they used on a daily basis in the field as well. You had to be ready for any unexpected situation. I recall several times when I lost a button to a pair of pants and that night I was sewing another button on. The sewing kit was a real lifesaver at times. Extra pin on rank was also helpful but you soon learned to put sew on rank on all items that you could. Losing a clutch back and finding out the hard way when a pin sticks you in the collar bone, you soon learn to make adjustments. The pin on rank was used on my pile cap, and on occasion on my gortex until I could find the loop rank that went on the coat. The OD item under the MRE spoon and ear plug case was a sleep cap. These came in the sleeping bags. They were similar to the pile cap, but not as heavy. they had Velcro that could be placed on top of your head and this could be worn under the helmet without being seen. They were useful during the cool nights and mornings in Berlin. Foot powder (the white bottle) was also just as important as your weapon in the field. It was my responsibility to ensure the Soldiers in my squad changed out their socks daily and used foot powder.

 

[Rakkasan187]

That's all for now, I will post more pictures later and I will post the contents of the duffel bag as well.

 

Leigh

[fallout]

Very nice pictures, how many injectors do you have?

[ScottG]

Great stuff Leigh, oh the memories, the painful sore feet and shins memories... I was 5th I.D. at Ft. Polk but I am still convinced that (Mechanized) in 5th I.D. was a myth. I even did some time in a main support unit that had to road march to the field sites. Anyhow, I found my individual first aid kit from Desert Storm (same as I had in the 80s) so I thought I would put the pics here. Scott.

 

[ScottG]

Inside shot consists of: one extra bandage between the carrier and the plastic box

Small iodine solution bottle

camo muslin bandage

2 x pill bottles

Gauze roller bandage

Eye dressing kit

2 packs Cederroth band aids

Bottle of water purification tablets

lip balm

And of course an inventory card of all of the above items with stock numbers.

 

Hope this helps someone with their displays! Scott

 

[fallout]

Thanks.

[Rakkasan187]

Very nice pictures, how many injectors do you have?

 

 

Not sure. I think 2 or 3 I will have to get them out.

 

Leigh

[Rakkasan187]

Inside shot consists of: one extra bandage between the carrier and the plastic box

Small iodine solution bottle

camo muslin bandage

2 x pill bottles

Gauze roller bandage

Eye dressing kit

2 packs Cederroth band aids

Bottle of water purification tablets

lip balm

And of course an inventory card of all of the above items with stock numbers.

 

Hope this helps someone with their displays! Scott

 

 

 

Scott,

 

Thanks again for contributing to this post. This is going to be a great 1980's reference tool.

 

Leigh

[fallout]

 

 

Scott,

 

Thanks again for contributing to this post. This is going to be a great 1980's reference tool.

 

Leigh

 

It already is, very helpful. PM sent on the injectors.

[ScottG]

Thanks guys, I will find my M17A1 mask with accessories and get it posted, its just a matter of time as I think it is in my storage locker. I also have a complete combat lifesaver bag somewhere... Again, just need to find it. Scott.

[BEAST]

This has been a very interesting post. Take ScottG's first aid kit, for example. It is interesting for me to see equipment that was being issued to other units that we never carried. Also to see the differences in the items carried by a light fighter versus mech infantry.

[BEAST]

Great stuff Leigh, oh the memories, the painful sore feet and shins memories... I was 5th I.D. at Ft. Polk but I am still convinced that (Mechanized) in 5th I.D. was a myth. I even did some time in a main support unit that had to road march to the field sites. Anyhow, I found my individual first aid kit from Desert Storm (same as I had in the 80s) so I thought I would put the pics here. Scott.

 

 

Scott, Was each Infantryman issued one of these?

[BEAST]

This is a photo of me carrying the 60 taken at Benning in 1986. We are wearing MILES, so it was during a tactical exercise, but I don't appear to be carrying much ammo. I assume my A-gunner was carrying the remainder.