Tour Of Duty TV Show Patch Questions

[otter42]

Why do they all wear MACV patches. And the chopper pilot has 101st A/B and a USMC pocket patch.  Just wondered if anyone had any history as to why they did that. From the credits they had a Lt. COL. as an adviser to the show.

[FNG]

Starting in season 2, they were changed from 196th LIB to MACV to enable them more flexibility with the story lines. First season ratings were low and they tried to get a female audience in the following seasons by incorporating a female cast.  Most people regard seasons 2 and 3 as godawful. The show budget was reduced, they moved from filming in Hawaii to filming on the old MASH tv set.
It's best to just watch the first season and pretend the following 2 seasons never happened.   

[otter42]

Thanks for the info. 

[patches]

Beaucoup foul ups in insignia and gear in this series sometimes, here's one of them, remember the year is 1967-68, so what's wrong with this picture from the show.

 

[otter42]

Helmet and cover?

[patches]

5 hours ago, otter42 said:

Helmet and cover?

Yep, the 1976 type clamp on chin straps and a Woodland cover, unless we're prepared to say he was a GI who trialed these items in 1967 , but in the main from what we seen they get it right with the covers and straps, but the 70s 80s ones are said to still be seen now again, in this case  we would think by the extras and not the main characters. My one problem I always seen was the wear of the U.S. Fully Embroidered Merrowed Edge Subdued 196th Infantry Brigade Patch, this wasn't worn by the brigade in 1967 when it was still a separate brigade in late 1966 late 1967, if any patches were worn during this period, the time period Tour of Duty takes place, it was either the U.S. Made Flat Edge Color ones, the Full Color South Vietnamese Made ones of various types, or either the U.S. Made Subdued on "Twill or the Subdued South Vietnamese Made  varieties, ditto for the MACV patch in the early 68 period in the shows 2nd and third season.

[Baron3-6]

When they filmed the initial seasons in Hawaii, Doug Boyer supplied at least some of the insignia from his militaria store. I knew Doug in Hawaii before he passed away a few years ago. He let me dig through his storage unit: had 2-3 large boxes of NOS full size subdued rank which I believe he mentioned selling some like this to the production crew. Doug had nothing to do with how they were worn / accuracy of the TV show though. 

[Daryl Morning]

What I always keyed on (because I'm a firearms guy) was the weapon Eric Bruskotter is holding in that picture doesn't look like it has a forward assist making it an M16 (instead of the M16A1 he should have had), AR-15 SP1, or a Replica like a Jeager/Adler or more likely a MGC.

 

Another Tour of Duty tidbit I am familiar on was that Lt. Goldman's platoon in Season 1 was Second Platoon, Bravo Company, 3rd Battalion, of the fictional 44th Infantry Regiment which was supposed to be a component of the real 196th Light Infantry Brigade assigned to the real 23rd (AMERICAL) Infantry Division.