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Vehicle crewman's armor vest with Natick label


milsurp_scout_14
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milsurp_scout_14

Came across this vest the other day and happened to look at the label. I am unsure when this type of vest came into use; but based on the label (the 'First Article' stamp), would it be safe to believe this was some sort of prototype? There was a later issue vest of the same type, so I snapped pics of it and its label to compare. It's interesting that when looking closely at the Natick label, it almost appears to have something else printed on the other side. Sorry, image re-sizer flipped the pics. Natick vest is bottom two, later issue is top two.

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  • 4 years later...
Chim Chim the Diminutive

I saw a vest similar at Natick about 35 years ago. It was is made in the large square camo pattern tested in Western Europe (4" x 4" random, green, black and brown squares). There was even an test of this camo on vehicles using much larger squares.

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  • 3 weeks later...
Cap Camouflage Pattern I
On 1/15/2022 at 7:04 PM, Chim Chim the Diminutive said:

I saw a vest similar at Natick about 35 years ago. It was is made in the large square camo pattern tested in Western Europe (4" x 4" random, green, black and brown squares). There was even an test of this camo on vehicles using much larger squares.

 That sounds like Dual-Tex to me, I have seen a few uniforms made in the pattern but I had no idea they made body armor. 

Here is a thread on it 

 

commonwealth_zk51xd041_access_full.jpg.cc2757d0b1bd7d8bde13d312af40409b.jpg

22 February 1979 Natick photo of the pattern.

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Cap Camouflage Pattern I
On 7/7/2017 at 10:24 PM, milsurp_scout_14 said:

Came across this vest the other day and happened to look at the label. I am unsure when this type of vest came into use; but based on the label (the 'First Article' stamp), would it be safe to believe this was some sort of prototype? There was a later issue vest of the same type, so I snapped pics of it and its label to compare. It's interesting that when looking closely at the Natick label, it almost appears to have something else printed on the other side. Sorry, image re-sizer flipped the pics. Natick vest is bottom two, later issue is top two.

Better late than never:

 

Most manufacturing contract requires the manufacturer to make a "first article" which needs to be inspected and approved by the government to ensure the contractor is following the specifications correctly before they start up full scale production. That way they don't waste a bunch of money having to reject the whole first production batch if it turns out someone read a drawing upside down.

 

So in a way it is a sort of prototype, but only for that manufacturer, not of the design of the item itself. 

 

Since by its very purpose this has to be done before the production line is started up a first article will be made by hand and will also often substitute materials they have on hand for unique ones which have to be custom made or ordered for the item. It's very common to see leftover tags turned over like this, this one is actually on the fancier side with the tag typed out, often they are written by hand. As far as first articles go this one it very tame, it is not uncommon to see them using completely different colors from the final product since that's not what the test is concerned with.

 

Now with all that the date on that one is 23 April 1979, while the NSNs assign date for CVC vest was 3 April 1981, so this contract would either be the first production or possibly for trials. Typically an item like this would by contracted through the Defense Logistics Agency so the contract would have a DLA prefix. I'm not sure what department of the army the DAAK prefix is for, but that may suggest this contract was for a trial.

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  • 11 months later...
Cap Camouflage Pattern I

AK60 is the purchasing office key for US Army Natick Command, DA is a standard prefix on army purchasing office contracts, I can't say for certain what it stands for but Department of the Army seems likely. 

DAAK60-79-C-0012 was awarded in November 1978 to Protective Apparel Corporation of America for $32,000 with a completion date set in May 1979.

 

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