USMC-4 ARCTIC DECADES OF GEAR & CLOTHING IN NORWAY

[msgt norway]

im starting this topic since no one else have writen or posted much about USMC gear

used in the cold regions.

 

i will post pictures of the gear i have in my collection based on my memory and pictures

from the annual exersices USMC held in norway in the time frame :1970 to 2000.

 

first out is these:

 

 

 

early 1970s, gear used in that time :m67 web gear,cotton snow suit,vb boots,helmet with mitchel cover.

od helmet liner,cold weather parka with the white linning and coyote hood.

wool gloves.

 

 

 

start of 1980s, gear used in that time:alice webbing,helmet with woodland cover or rdf/erdl

cold weather parka with regular liner like the m65 jacket.fake fur trim on the hood

vb boots,leather gloves with liners.cotton snow suit.

 

-cold weather mittens was also used by the usmc in these time period:

 

 

there will also come more about: specialy arctic gear/items like snow shoes.rations and al other gear the usmc used

in norway or other places in cold weather conditions.

 

best from ken,norway

input like pictures of gear and other info about the usmc in arctic is very welcome!

[USMC-RECON0321]

Hello,

I can contribute some pictures to your thread. I was in 2nd Bn 2nd Marines Fox co. in the late 80's and deployed to Norway for the cold weather exercises in Feb / Mar 1989.

Sorry for the poor quality pics, but my best option was to just take pictures of my 35mm pictures inside an old photo album.

 

A few of the pictures are from Bridgeport Ca. and Fort McCoy Wisconsin on our workups to the final phase of the cold weather training in Norway. We were approximately 200 miles North of the arctic circle, training north of the town, Tromso Norway.

 

Troy

 

We only used these 10 man tents a few times, they were very warm and included a wood stove, but very heavy and required us to pull them around on ahkios sleds like a dog team and still try to be tactical at the same time.

 

 

Once the Bn or Co. set up for the night, we would dig snow trenches and gun pits connecting everyone. Kind of like a wagon wheel when it was done and the CP in the middle.

 

[USMC-RECON0321]

Dinner time using the squad stoves. It's hard to tell but we made a table out of snow, then put a flattened out MRE box on top.

 

 

 

Snow cave. Once you dug it out, you would then light survival candles inside to melt it a bit, then blow them out for the condensation to freeze and it would be a pretty solid sleeping area.

 

[USMC-RECON0321]

inside

 

 

Never got to ride in these, but they sure looked fun. We did get pulled behind them on our skis once in a while.

 

 

These are the shelters we used 90% of the time. Norwegian Tent sheets.

 

[USMC-RECON0321]

I believe these were taken in Fort McCoy WI. But show the basic load pretty good.

 

 

[USMC-RECON0321]

Helo pics in Wisconsin and then Norway

 

 

 

 

Notice the Humvee in the background with the white top and doors. Also the depth of the snow along the roads.

 

[USMC-RECON0321]

This is a post card I sent home from Norway

 

 

A picture from the Helo.

 

[USMC-RECON0321]

More tent pics

 

 

 

 

[USMC-RECON0321]

 

This picture is interesting, taken in Norway near the end. I'm using 3 snowshoes as a chair, melting snow in my canteen cup for drinking water and you will see I now have on experimental cold weather boots with square toes to fit the cross country skis with a new binding.

 

[USMC-RECON0321]

 

 

 

[USMC-RECON0321]

I'll add more later.

 

Troy

[Leatherwringer]

Great thread! love the snowshoe chair

[msgt norway]

thank you USMC-RECON321 !

keep them coming:)

 

very nice pictures,and very good close ups of the tents and gear.

 

i can see that you used the swedih/norwegian stove 111

i have a cold weather manual from the 1980s specialy writen for the usmc

and that manual have chapters for the 111stove and the norwegian tent

we called the button tents when i was in the army.

 

here is the 10 man arctic tent:

 

 

 

there is also a 5man tent that looks the same but smaler,but have never seen it used in norway.

 

cheers ken,norway

[RustyCanteen]

This is a very interesting thread, just looking at all the pictures makes me freeze though!

[USMC-RECON0321]

 

This was the best part of getting on the bird, The heat from the exhaust!!

 

[USMC-RECON0321]

 

 

 

 

[USMC-RECON0321]

 

 

After the Index and meeting up with some of the Norwegian soldiers. I think I still have some of the gear I traded with them packed away in a footlocker. We did a total of 90+ days of cold weather training, Jan, Feb and March 1989 and earned the Arctic Service ribbon for our time in Norway.

 

[USMC-RECON0321]

One more I found. This was our first phase of training in Bridgeport CA. This was a conditioning hump on the mountain, non-tactical, as you can see in the picture the butt of my M16/203 grenade launcher strapped on the pack (insider the red circle). You also notice we were not issued cold weather canteens, so by the end of this deployment about everyone needed new canteens due to using their K-bars to chip the ice out of the spouts and damaging them to get to the un-frozen water underneath. We eventually started wearing our canteens upside down, so when they froze from top to bottom, it would actually be the bottom freezing leaving up the accessible water on top once we flipped it over. You can also see the cross country skis and snow shoes strapped on the pack until we needed them.

 

Note; Sorry about the cheesy USMC regulation mustache attempt, but hey anything to add to help warm your face at the time!!

 

[msgt norway]

just remembered this when you wrote about the frozen canteens:

in the usmc cold weather manual its writen, add 1 sacket of sugar from the mre accesory packet

shake and leave upside down inside your sleeping bag or inside of your jacket

 

yes not many marines did have the arctic canteen,it appered now and then on different exersices.

 

but i would like to know if you was issued the thermas or did you buy it before deporting to norway?

and the bag behind the snow shoes with the thermas in the last picture,what type of bag is it?

 

and many thanks for the super pictures:)

cheers ken,norway

[USMC-RECON0321]

just remembered this when you wrote about the frozen canteens:

in the usmc cold weather manual its writen, add 1 sacket of sugar from the mre accesory packet

shake and leave upside down inside your sleeping bag or inside of your jacket

 

yes not many marines did have the arctic canteen,it appered now and then on different exersices.

 

but i would like to know if you was issued the thermas or did you buy it before deporting to norway?

and the bag behind the snow shoes with the thermas in the last picture,what type of bag is it?

 

and many thanks for the super pictures:)

cheers ken,norway

 

Ken,

The thermos was a personal purchase, actually we were given a list of things to buy ourselves that would be needed, like Danner boots, thermal socks. hand warmers, thermos, piss bottle for your sleeping bag to name a few.

 

The bag on the back of my snowshoes is just the standard issue butt pack.

 

As you mentioned about the canteens, you are correct, we would put all our topped off canteens inside our sleeping bags at night along with your morning meal (MRE), so when you got up the next morning you would have something to drink and eat in a hurry. Once we started out on patrol we would put our next meal inside our parkas to keep it from freezing when it was needed.

 

A couple other notes, we would also put our boots inside a bag at night or your boots would be filled with ice crystals by morning and our weapons never came inside the tents, we would dig weapons pits in the snow just outside the tent and stack them in there.

[m1ashooter]

Great thread. I was at Eielson AFB in the early 90's and the area looks the same. I remember the 6th LID heading out wearing the same gear at 40 below. I was glad to be in the Air Farce.

[msgt norway]

the start of 1990s about 1995

 

 

 

changes in the gear in the start of the 1990s : nylon snow suit,woodland helmet liner,kevlar,the kevlar did come in the late 1980s

but not al usmc units gott it before the start of 1990s,specialy the reserve units.

goretex gloves,the poly pro underwear,bufallo suit.

 

cheers ken

[msgt norway]

here are a few helmet liners used by the usmc in norway

 

a nice view of the buffalo jacket and the wool knitten watch cap.

picture from about 1989 or 1990s

 

the poly pro underwear and a picture of the back of the buffalo jacket and trouser,front picture will come soon

since the one i have is to bad for posting.

 

 

note to the last picture,goretex woodland gloves used by the usmc recon.

and a normal wool scarf used by the usmc.

 

cheers ken,norway

[msgt norway]

today some nice pictures from norway,about 1980s

 

 

 

cheers ken,norway

[msgt norway]

and a few more

 

the yellow sign on the amtrac reads in english :wide load.

 

 

hope you al enjoy the trip down the memory lane.

and please post pictures you have if posible:)

 

cheers ken,norway