Show Your DCUs

[Sbas]

I really seem to enjoy watching DCU and ACU jackets lately...but on the forum not to many topics show DCU's or ACU's. I really got intrested in these jackets after reading about OIF, and watching pictures made by soldiers who fought there.
So that's why I want to ask you all to show your jackets. They may be jackets worn by you, but jackets in your collection are great also.

Sbas

[316th FS 324th FG]

Not the greatest pic, but here is a jacket that a NH National Guardsman gave my boys for their collection. He was assigned to 1st COSCOM. 1ST COSCOM was replaced with the 1ST TSC, and they no longer support Airborne, so wont wear the Airborne tab any longer I believe.

 

Had worn pin on rank insignia on the collars.

 

Not the best picture, sorry about that.

 

D

[Desertrat]

 

 

My DCU ( 6 color), 24th ID on both sleeves

[USMCRECON]

The following are pictures of the last DCUs that I wore. Left is the shirt (jacket) and trousers. On the right is the gor-tex parka.

 

[USMCRECON]

Here are the front and back with the combat vest and camelback. This camelback was my \very last one. It's brand new. I bought it private purchase and never wore it out in the field.

 

[ItemCo16527]

This was a lucky find at a militaria show last year. This DCU shirt was worn by the Assistant Commander of the 35th Signal Brigade in Iraq. I've obscured his name as he is still on active duty.

[USMCRECON]

Thanks guys, really nice! I like that combat vest USMCRECON

 

Kepp them comming

 

Thanks. The only DCUs that I have are ones I personally wore in the desert.

 

I have other DCUs (all chocolate chip pattern) that I wore during the (first) Gulf War with SOCCENT. They're currently all in an A-bag in my storage locker. I haven't had the time to go over there and pull any of them out as of yet but when I do, assuming this thread is still active then, I'll post them.

[USMCRECON]

Thanks. The only DCUs that I have are ones I personally wore in the desert.

 

I have other DCUs (all chocolate chip pattern) that I wore during the (first) Gulf War with SOCCENT. They're currently all in an A-bag in my storage locker. I haven't had the time to go over there and pull any of them out as of yet but when I do, assuming this thread is still active then, I'll post them.

 

I went back through some old pictures from the Gulf War. Perhaps these will suffice until I can get into the bag and haul out the actual items.

 

I was promoted to Major on 1 September 1990 so this is obviously after that....probably about Oct 1990 or so. It was taken at King Fahd Airfield where SOCCENT was posted along with 1st SOW (as they were designated then), elements of the 160th SOAR, the 101st, and the composite A-10 wing. In the background is an MC-130 and an AC-130. Wearing standard chocolate chips, basic web gear, and soft cover.

 

I deliberately fuzzed up the security badge.

 

[USMCRECON]

I went back through some old pictures from the Gulf War. Perhaps these will suffice until I can get into the bag and haul out the actual items.

 

This one was taken on the first day of the ground war, still in southern Kuwait wearing standard chocolate chips. I didn't have a desert camo cover for my flak vest but it didn't matter all that much as I didn't wear it past the afternoon of the first day anyway.

 

[USMCRECON]

This one was taken on the third day of the ground war. I am talking to the Marine OV-10 FAC overhead to get some air support on an Iraqi position. Wearing chocolate chips and night parka but no helmet or flak jacket.

 

[USMCRECON]

Last one for now. This one is my Kuwaiti "Commandos" and me taken shortly after the Iraqis pulled out and we reentered Kuwait City. It was taken on the grounds of the Kuwaiti Ministry of Defense compound. The one next to me with the sunglasses is the one that almost got me killed the next day.

 

I'm in my chocolate chips with no flak jacket and just soft cover, as are the Kuwaitis. I am carrying a wire folding stock Ak-47 that I picked up earlier from an Iraqi POW rather than the issue M-16 POS.

 

[gunbarrel]

Bill,

 

Thanks for posting these very interesting pictures I have a Marine Corps DCU in my collection that has the EGA and "USMC" stamped on the left pocket, but no provisions for name tape. Does that sound right to you?

 

Thanks!

[USMCRECON]

I guess I'll do one more. and call it a night

 

This one was also taken on the Kuwaiti Ministry of Defense compound. Both the Kuwaitis and I are wearing chocolate chips with soft covers and no flak jackets. This is a rather crappy picture, it was taken by another of my Kuwaitis and it is a bit out of focus.

 

I had just been given the small Kuwaiti flag, attached to a broomstick, by an older Kuwaiti civilian. He told me he had been hiding it since the Iraqis invaded and he wanted me to have it. If the Iraqis had caught him with a Kuwaiti flag, they would have executed him.

 

About a half hour after this picture was taken, the guy to my left (with sunglasses) would almost cost me my life.

 

[CNY Militaria]

Great pics! What did the sunglasses wearing Kuwaiti do?

[jeremiahcable]

Bill,

 

Thanks for posting these very interesting pictures I have a Marine Corps DCU in my collection that has the EGA and "USMC" stamped on the left pocket, but no provisions for name tape. Does that sound right to you?

 

Thanks!

 

 

 

That is correct for early to mid 90s when those items were Marine Corps supply system stock and not the property of individual marines.

[USMCRECON]

Bill,

 

Thanks for posting these very interesting pictures I have a Marine Corps DCU in my collection that has the EGA and "USMC" stamped on the left pocket, but no provisions for name tape. Does that sound right to you?

 

Thanks!

 

Hi Jeremiah. A fair number of the Desert Storm Marine DCU jackets that I saw had EGAs, either with or without the USMC, on the pocket but I don't believe it was universally applied. I believe the DCUs the Marines got were of the standard "everyman" variety and those that had or could get the iron-on stencils, applied them as the ones I saw looked like they were of the black iron-on variety.

 

Below is a photo I took of Gen Boomer that I took during a post liberation pep talk. He and his entourage are standing on a flat-bed trailer as a "field expedient" stage.

 

Initially I thought it might show some of the EGA/USMC stencils but after previewing it, it's really not good enough quality to really pick them out. Further, the flak jackets, which were supposed to be worn for the formation, are covering many of the pockets. I went ahead and left it in the post anyway, as an interest item.

 

[USMCRECON]

Thought I'd add a picture of me in Iraq in late '04. This is, as I recall, the start of an extended patrol. Worth noting is that like a lot of marines I wore my gear on the flak jacket. Colors as can been seen were a mix of what could be had.

 

That's cool, Jeremiah. The later flak vest was considerably more effective than the ones we had in DS/DS.

[jeremiahcable]

That's cool, Jeremiah. The later flak vest was considerably more effective than the ones we had in DS/DS.

 

 

Thanks for the complement Bill. I came in during the summer of '94 and DS gear is what we had pretty much my whole first enlistment. The one nice thing about those earlier flak vests is that you can open the front a bit when on a forced march. The new ones overlap on the front and don't leave a lot of room to move or breath deeply, especially with a SAPI plate in it!

[USMCRECON]

That's cool, Jeremiah. The later flak vest was considerably more effective than the ones we had in DS/DS.

 

I just found the picture I was looking for. This one should answer your EGA/USMC stencil question, Jeremiah.

 

[gunbarrel]

I just found the picture I was looking for. This one should answer your EGA/USMC stencil question, Jeremiah.

 

Thanks, Bill! The one in my collection looks exactly like that one!

[Manchu Warrior]

This is me in in 1998 during "Operation Desert Thunder" I was with the 3rd ID and we spent six months locked and loaded on the Iraqi-Kuwaiti border waiting for a war that never happened. This was when Saddam kicked out the UN weapons inspectors.

[hawkdriver]

We had both AACU flight suits and the desert IABDU's. This picture is of the desert flight suit with the ACU Air Warrior. The pink bunny is optional.

 

[swag]

Hawkdriver - You got your replacement already!?? Lucky.

[Sbas]

Thanks USMCRECON, Jeremiah, Hawkdriver, Manchu Warrior and Swag for posting your own pictures! I really LIKE them

 

Keep them comming

[USMCRECON]

Great pics! What did the sunglasses wearing Kuwaiti do?

 

It really wasn't a big deal and it only lasted a minute or so.

 

In fairness I should preface my comments by saying that the term "Kuwaiti Commando" was more of a nomenclature than a capability. Most of these guys were students in the US when Iraq invaded Kuwait who volunteered to go back to liberate their country. While their hearts were in the right place, they only had a couple weeks of military training before they were sent over. They really didn't know much beyond which end of the M-16 to point at the bad guy.

 

We were directed to locate/mark unexploded ordnance stored/stashed around the K-MOD. Before we began I told my Kuwaitis not to touch anything and to call me if they found something. Shortly after we entered one room full of cases of grenades, mortar rounds, RPG reloads, etc., I heard a faint "tink" and one Kuwaiti called "Major Beeel, Major Beeel, I find something" (Beeel was their pronunciation of Bill).

 

When I looked, he was standing next to a stack or ordnance crates with his hand around a grenade and shaking visibly. He'd seen it lying on top of a case of mortar rounds and loose RPG reloads and, of course, picked it up. The pin was attached to a wire that ran behind the RPG rounds and mortar round cases and it worked as intended, pulling the pin. Luckily, when he grabbed it, he also depressed the spoon. I just took it from him without letting him drop it, got my NCOIC to clear the building of troops, and disarmed it. All in all, a pretty simple and straightforward deal.