Packing the buttpack

[fallout]

What are the regulations on packing the m61/56 buttpack? What goes in it? any pictures?

[Keystone]

From FM 21-15 August 1961 edition.

[Keystone]

Page 2

[fallout]

thanks

[fallout]

Is there a exact packing list?

[Steve B.]

Packing lists vary from unit to unit.

 

When I got to the 3rd Battalion, 39th Infantry, 9th Infantry Division fresh out of Basic training in 1973, we carried the 5-buckle black overshoes, the wet weather gear top & bottom, the poncho, shaving gear, and a C-ration in the butt-pack. It was difficult to fit all that in, and usually the overshoes were stowed on the outside using the straps provided.

[bummer]

In Alaska we carried broken down mre's, extra socks, poncho and liner, gloves and anything else you wanted in the summer. In the Winter it was matches, heat tabs , folding stove, extra socks, foot powder, extra trigger finger glove liners , granola bars and a parka.

[patches]

Never seen a Buttpack in Jan 80-Dec 82, not even in Alaska, it wasn't part of the TA-50 at Hood neither, just assumed it was an obsolete item.

[Trooper B.A.R]

Packing lists vary from unit to unit.

 

When I got to the 3rd Battalion, 39th Infantry, 9th Infantry Division fresh out of Basic training in 1973, we carried the 5-buckle black overshoes, the wet weather gear top & bottom, the poncho, shaving gear, and a C-ration in the butt-pack. It was difficult to fit all that in, and usually the overshoes were stowed on the outside using the straps provided.

That pretty well sums up what we used the pack for. In Basic we carried our poncho tucked into our web belt. 5th week, and qualification, we were issued the Butt pack, suspenders, and 2 magazine pouches. Our poncho went into the pack, along with some rations, socks, and our boots,(as above, our boots straped to outside). We then marched to the range.

[Linedoggie]

We used to put Spare socks, pair gloves, Food, Weapon cleaning gear, flashlight, camo sticks, basically a grunt purse

[sgtmonroe]

basically a grunt purse

 

Of course we called a different item a "purse" - the map case (aka "fag bag") - "Hey Eltee, don't forget your purse!"

[gwb123]

There may have been a set packing list in the infantry units, but in many of the support units I served in it was just what you thought you were going to need easy access to in the field or on patrol. C rations and dry socks were the main things; perhaps a rifle cleaning kit.

[Rakkasan187]

A lot of great information on this topic..

 

I will only echo what others have said that every unit did things differently. In the 1980's gear question post, you will see what I carried in my butt pack. A broken down MRE, gloves and liners, weapons cleaning kit, some graphic training aids, and a few other items. Some of the guys in my platoon who had butt packs would carry a few extra boxes of 5.56 ammunition, 550 cord, mess kit spoon or fork, just some small items..

 

Leigh

[Sabrejet]

As with most other things in the military, it appears there was the "regulation way" as prescribed in the FM....and the "practical way" customized to the suit needs of every individual GI...specific mission requirements excepted.

[bummer]

Never seen a Buttpack in Jan 80-Dec 82, not even in Alaska, it wasn't part of the TA-50 at Hood neither, just assumed it was an obsolete item.

We received ours from cif after we went from the 172 LIB to the 6th ID (L) up until that point I never used one.

[BEAR]

mess kit spoon or fork, just some small items..

Don't forget to put your clean socks in your mess kit so the knife, fork and spoon don't make you sound like the tin man when you are sneaking through the woods.

[patches]

We received ours from cif after we went from the 172 LIB to the 6th ID (L) up until that point I never used one.

That's the damndest thing I never seen one, I woudn't mind having one, I know now that the Nylon versions were made, the Training Pack, but even at Benning in early 80 these things were not seen. Here's another related item we never seen, the Poncho Liner, never seen these.

[El Bibliotecario]

I once saw a unit SOP for what would be carried in this pack. Besides numerous other items, it included three pair of fatigues.

[global village idiot]

The reason why there is no packing list for butt packs or ALICE packs or really any individual equipment is because it's meant to be adapted to the mission.

 

During the First World War, the Soldier's carrying equipment was more-or-less made expressly for the stuff he was supposed to carry, and all Soldiers carried more-or-less the same stuff. Afterward, the carrying equipment began to be more adaptable to the individual Soldier's mission, and Commanders were (and still are) encouraged to tailor the gear the Soldier carries to the mission.

 

You see this expressed in Field Manuals which give plenty of information and guidance on equipment weight, volume, capabilities and so forth, but next to nothing as regards what to carry and exactly where to carry it. From my own experience in the Army (1987 to present) the only standardized packing lists I've ever seen are the inventory lists called "Components of End Item" for things like optical instruments, field kitchens and vehicles.

Individual equipment has no standardized packing - it is left up to the Commander and/or the Soldier. You will not find any standard packing list for the butt pack, the ALICE pack, the newer MOLLE packs or anything, because they don't exist above the unit-level.

 

gvi