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Nam modified jungle fatigues


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From a very large grouping to a Nam USAF vet comes these modified jungle fatigues. I believe he was stationed at an air base in Thailand. There are a few different variations here that he wore. It looks to me like he had most of these fatigues locally tailored, some to resemble the 2 pocket OG-107 pattern. I am not sure what the reason for this was, possibly a regulation for them to wear the 2 pocket OG-107's only? Whatever the reason it makes for some interesting looking modified fatigues. All of the jackets I beleive have Thai made tapes & ranks. I am not an expert on Vietnam militaria so please, all comments welcome. Thanks for checking them out! - Rob

 

 

First up -

 

The only unmodified jungle jacket.

 

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Jungle jacket, all 4 pockets removed, new top pockets made from original removed pockets, exposed buttons on pockets and down the front.

post-168-0-24500100-1551577735_thumb.jpg

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ERDL jungle jacket, all 4 pockets removed, new top pockets made from original removed pockets, exposed buttons on pockets and down the front.

post-168-0-30085500-1551578059_thumb.jpg

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Only reason I can think of to remove the lower pockets on the jacket is so you can tuck the shirt into the pants like on the old fatigues.

 

Maybe un-tucked jungle jackets weren't authorized on that base?

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Thanks, that might explain the jacket in the second photo with the two lower pockets removed. It still leaves me scratching my head as far as the jackets in the 3rd and 4th photos go. They have had the top pockets redesigned and the buttons down the front exposed.

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milsurp_scout_14

Was he in for a long period post-Vietnam? Those last two seem to have been styled after the later OG507's. If he did have a long career, maybe he had to alter them to fit in with the later style.

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Fixbayonets!

Was he in for a long period post-Vietnam? Those last two seem to have been styled after the later OG507's. If he did have a long career, maybe he had to alter them to fit in with the later style.

 

Possibly, I am waiting to see if I can get any paperwork from the family. Can you please tell me the main differences between the OG-107's and the OG-507's? Thanks!

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Fixbayonets!

No brainer.

He was a tuck in sjhirt kinda guy.

owen

 

Could be Owen but why the need to redesign the top pockets and expose the buttons down the front on the last two jackets? Also, why the need to remove the side pockets from the trousers?

 

Rob

 

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milsurp_scout_14

Besides a slightly different shade, the OG507's had only two straight pockets (on the chest), with all buttons (pocket & main row) exposed. They look almost exactly like the top in picture #3, with slightly different bottoms to the pockets. I agree though that tucking the shirts in might have been a motivation.

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The clipped pockets and flaps are just a tailors variation.Could be he modled them after Thai shirts.Custom is custom.

 

Vietnamese camo shirts often had larger squared off pocket corners and flaps.This said I have seen custom tailoed shirts with different pockets.

 

The Korean war and post war periods saw lots of modified HBT shirts as well.

 

Look at this WW2 shirt....nothing new to modify something....Long pockets removed.Short ones made and added as well as pockets on each sleeve.

 

 

 

post-342-0-47257700-1551673832_thumb.jpg

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Fixbayonets!

Thanks for the info Milsurp & doyler, perhaps I was overthinking the reasons for the modifications.

 

Rob

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Comfort is main reason, temps and humidity in SE Asia were rough. Any lightweight shirt/ trousers beat wearing a “ pickle suit”. IIRC many AF uniforms had shortened sleeves, some CO’s could dictate tucked in shirts too, dependd where one was. Nice pieces.

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alarmadillo

 

Can you please tell me the main differences between the OG-107's and the OG-507's?

 

 

Awesome score on the jungle jackets, and there's some really great fatigues being shown in this thread.

 

I like collecting fatigue shirts. I'm far from an expert, but I have noticed some things about the shirts I have acquired.

 

From what I've seen, the main difference between OG107 and OG507 is that OG107 is natural fiber fabric (called cotton sateen), and OG507 fabric is a cotton / poly mix (identified as being permanent press).

 

Early OG107s have specs printed in the neck, later ones have white fabric tags, whereas OG507s have yellow tags.

 

Pocket design seems to vary. My earliest OG107's (dated 1956) have pockets with "clipped" lower corners and square flaps. I have some 1965 dated shirts where the flaps also start having clipped corners. 1966 and later dated shirts have pockets and flaps both with V shaped bottoms. This also seems to be where the buttons changed from flat rimmed buttons to the thicker domed buttons.

 

Buttonable sleeve cuffs also seem to be a design change. My early OG107 shirts have straight sleeves, no cuffs; the earliest sleeve cuffs with a button I've collected is dated 1966.

 

My earliest OG507 with a readable (yellow) tag is 1987.

 

All of the OG507s I have are V pocket and flap, and have cuffed sleeves.

 

My comments are based on contracted, issue shirts, not private label, or "PX" shirts, and are not made as any kind of authority on the subject. I just like collecting fatigues . . . or rather, I guess that I'm a uniform "bottom feeder"!

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I'm pretty sure the first uniform I was issued was an OG-507. They were cotton/poly permanent press. The poly blend was hot and uncomfortable in the Fort Benning August climate, for sure!

 

1987 sounds too late for OG uniforms unless they were made for export. I'm pretty sure even the USAF had switched over to BDUs by 1987.

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