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msgt norway
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msgt norway

made some pictures today.

didnt use camo paint,just wanted to show the gear

had to use a bandana couldnt find my erdl boonie.

recon4.jpg

 

recon3.jpg

 

recon2.jpg

 

recon1.jpg

 

and i know there was not snow in vietnam,spring in norway is just around

the corner in about 3 months :D :D :D

cheers from ken

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Interesting display. I can't tell for sure what sort of magazine pouches you have but they look like 30rd ones. During 1967-68 (certainly before late fall of 1967) the nylon true M-16 pouches were in scarce supply and we had to use canvas M-14 ammo pouches for the M-16 magazines. I carried the M-60 or a shotgun most of the time so my experience with them was limited to the first month (or less). I seem to remember that the pouches were divided in half on the inside by a strip of cotton tape. We, of course, cut that out so we could put three M-16 mags in them.

 

Interesting tidbit on the canvas cotton pouches; as most know, the pouches were closed by slipping the metal "ring" of the cover over the metal ring of the pouch, then slip the canvas tab through to secure it (complicated to explain but a look at a pouch itself would make my inadequate description clear).

 

During operation Swift in Sep 67, we engaged a group of NVA on a hilltop as they were preparing to move down to join the attack on 3/5. We had just crossed a stream at the base of the hill and we were sopping wet. When two of our guys pulled the tab to open their ammo pouches to get a reload, they found the stream water made the canvas tabs swell and it jammed the pouch cover tight. One guy finally got his open but the Bobby Earp hat to cut the pouch strap with his K-bar in the middle of the firefight to get his open, cutting his wrist in the process.

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msgt norway

the m16 mag pouches are the m56web ones,i dont remember the dates

on them but i cant fit a 30 round mag in them.

i have the nylon 30 round pouches m67 but i have them

on a m1967 set and those fit my 30 mags. :)

 

thank you for the feedback

 

cheers from ken

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Sgt_Rock_EasyCo
the m16 mag pouches are the m56web ones,i dont remember the dates

on them but i cant fit a 30 round mag in them.

i have the nylon 30 round pouches m67 but i have them

on a m1967 set and those fit my 30 mags. :)

 

thank you for the feedback

 

cheers from ken

 

Those appear to be the M14 mag pouches.

 

Rock

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... didnt use camo paint,just wanted to show the gear

had to use a bandana couldnt find my erdl boonie...

 

And wasn't planning on needing ears next summer ;)

 

Takes me home man, looks a bit like my last station in Alaska...heck looks like Finland too.

 

Where are you in Norway?

 

T-Bone

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msgt norway

howdy T-Bone!

 

i live in the north of norway,close to tromso.

its above the arctic circle so we have almost the same clima as

alaska.

but today we just had 5-celsius and thats not cold at al.

 

cheers ken

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howdy T-Bone!

 

i live in the north of norway,close to tromso.

its above the arctic circle so we have almost the same clima as

alaska.

but today we just had 5-celsius and thats not cold at al.

 

cheers ken

 

Nope, spring is right around the corner. I think they are colder in Anchorage now.

 

Still, watch your feet, jungle boots don't like snow...wanna guess how I know that?

 

Tromso, you are almost in reindeer country...say hi to Santa Claus and the Julnisse, they should be kicking back and relaxing right now :lol:

 

Have you ever seen the m67 USMC top pack for the LBE/

 

T-Bone

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msgt norway

have not seen the m67 USMC top pack for the LBE/ live,just in pictures

i gues theyre hard to gett?

 

btw i dont have reindeers here where i live but if a drive

north for an hour or so il find some :)

 

 

T-Bone do you have any cold weather gear for trade or sale?

have lots of royal marines gear for trade around in my basement.

 

cheers ken

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pwmiraldi67

Hey very nice!!!

Id recommend the M-16 over the CAR-15, although some Marine recon and force recon marines got em, they were far and few between, thats all!! looks good!! there are some great pix on the web of some recon marines usuing Army butt packs on their sides or on their hips like saddle bags, really cool!!!

nice job!!

i didnt know it snowed in Vietnam :) LOL

 

here in cali its about 75 degrees and cloudy BUUUURR!!! cold!!!

 

Paul

post-2472-1237149203.jpg

post-2472-1237149247.jpg

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Two things I noticed about the third Marine from the left stick out in my mind, the taped mags, and the fiberglass stock on his rifle. From what I've heard, FG stocks weren't very common on M14s in RVN, and how common were taped M14 mags ?

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have not seen the m67 USMC top pack for the LBE/ live,just in pictures

i gues theyre hard to gett?

 

btw i dont have reindeers here where i live but if a drive

north for an hour or so il find some :)

 

 

T-Bone do you have any cold weather gear for trade or sale?

have lots of royal marines gear for trade around in my basement.

 

cheers ken

 

Take a look at this one w00t.gifpost-5772-1237154756.jpg

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Two things I noticed about the third Marine from the left stick out in my mind, the taped mags, and the fiberglass stock on his rifle. From what I've heard, FG stocks weren't very common on M14s in RVN, and how common were taped M14 mags ?

 

Are you talking about the Fiberglas upper forestock on the M-14? I don't remember a single one of our M-14s that had a wood upper upper forestock. All of ours had a selector switch on them and the Fiberglas forestock gave better barrel ventilation and cooling than the wooden one.

 

Regarding the taped magazines....I don't think taped M-14 mags were all that common but it would have been merely a matter of personal preference with the individual Marine. There was no "rule" against it.

 

When I carried the M-14 on point, I found it just as fast for me to get a fresh one out of the bandoleer (I had the local Vietnamese tailor resew a couple bandoleers to fit the M-14 mags into) or the pouch than fooling around flipping it over. Having a second mag taped upside down also exposed it to getting jammed in the mud when you had to hit the dirt and I personally didn't want to risk it. I carried at least 10 (15 if I could get them) loaded magazines to the field. I didn't want to mess around trying to load them from stripper clips in the middle of a fight.

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Hey very nice!!!

Id recommend the M-16 over the CAR-15, although some Marine recon and force recon marines got em, they were far and few between, thats all!! looks good!! there are some great pix on the web of some recon marines usuing Army butt packs on their sides or on their hips like saddle bags, really cool!!!

nice job!!

i didnt know it snowed in Vietnam :) LOL

 

here in cali its about 75 degrees and cloudy BUUUURR!!! cold!!!

 

Paul

 

We did have limited access to Car-15s. When I was a patrol leader I carried a 12ga shotgun as my primary weapon but I carried a Car-15 as a back-up, along with several 20rd magazines. When I carried the Car-15, I slid the magazines into 5.56 bandoleers (I usually carried 10 loaded ones for the back-up Car-15). In the attached picture below, I am in the Ashau on one of the few patrols we took a scout dog on. I have a 12ga shotgun but you can see one of the bandoleers with the Car-15 mags hanging on my chest.

post-1107-1237160237.jpg

 

Buttpacks were frequently used in Recon, particularly by radiomen. A significant portion of their rucksack was taken up by the radio so they need additional storage for food, water, and ammo. Everyone had one issued but not everyone used one. You can't really see it but I am leaning back on my canvas buttpack (I don't remember any nylon ones in 1967-68). On this particular patrol (a short 4-day patrol), a buttpack was all I carried to the field.

 

I honestly don't recall any buttpacks worn like saddlebags (but that's just my recollection). It's matter of where you were operating. We almost always operated in thickly vegetated ares. The wider a Marine was, the easier it was to catch on vines, elephant grass, trip wires, etc. Wearing them like saddlebags would made the individual half again as wide as otherwise. Not saying it wasn't done...just that I never saw it done.

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heres one of my Favs 3d Batt Recon being inspected by Curtis LeMay in 1967-68

 

paul

Is the lower (black and white) shot , the guys in tigerstripes holding the flag) a picture of Recon Marines? The guy on the left looks rather portly to be a bush Recon Marine.

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pwmiraldi67

Hello USMC Recon

 

Well sir you would know more than me about that!!!! Thanks, yea I knew some had em, ie the CAR-15 but I knew guys in ranger companies who only had one or two in the whole company and they all told me they got em from SOG and usually the barrels were completely burnt out from firing the tracer ammo!! But hell, if you carried one thats good enough for me! :)

Yea I hear what your saying aboput the 2 buttpacks would make a guy a little wide, Ive only seen a few pix and I think they are of the same Marine wearinf em as saddle bags, if you look at the photo of the Marines taken from atop the truck looking down you'll see the marine of which I speak, note the two saddlebag Buttpacks, just thought it was interesting.

Ive donated the photos I have to the Recon web site maybe youve seen em?

thanks

paul

post-2472-1237162551.jpg

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Are you talking about the Fiberglas upper forestock on the M-14? I don't remember a single one of our M-14s that had a wood upper upper forestock. All of ours had a selector switch on them and the Fiberglas forestock gave better barrel ventilation and cooling than the wooden one.

 

Thanks for your response, and your service. You paid the bill for my freedom, and for the most part go unappreciated, particularly you veterans of Vietnam, thanks again.

 

I am talking about the rifle stock, if you look close you can see in that picture the Marine with the M14 has a fiberglass stock. The profile is right, and there isn't a stock liner screw, that would be above and inbetween the trigger group and the magazine on a rifle with a wood stock.

 

For instance, one of my rifles with a USGI fiberglass stock,

IMG_0269.jpg

 

Do you remember seeing many FG stocks ?

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Thanks for your response, and your service. You paid the bill for my freedom, and for the most part go unappreciated, particularly you veterans of Vietnam, thanks again.

 

I am talking about the rifle stock, if you look close you can see in that picture the Marine with the M14 has a fiberglass stock. The profile is right, and there isn't a stock liner screw, that would be above and inbetween the trigger group and the magazine on a rifle with a wood stock.

 

For instance, one of my rifles with a USGI fiberglass stock,

IMG_0269.jpg

 

Do you remember seeing many FG stocks ?

 

Sorry, my mistake. I thought you were talking about the forestock.

 

I'm afraid I don't remember any Fiberglas stocks on our M-14s but honestly; I don't think we really took al that much notice of what kind of stock our M-14s had. It really didn't matter all that much as long as it wasn't cracked or broken.

 

You'll also notice that you won't see very many slings in pictures of Reconners. The issue web sling with the metal clip and adjuster tended to rattle and make a bit of noise and making a metallic noise while running around in Nate's back yard was a very bad thing. Some of the guys with M-14s had jungle slings made of nylon cargo webbing straps and parachute cord (no metal) and I had one made at one time for the M-60 when I carried it. I didn't use it all that long, though.

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Hello USMC Recon

 

Well sir you would know more than me about that!!!! Thanks, yea I knew some had em, ie the CAR-15 but I knew guys in ranger companies who only had one or two in the whole company and they all told me they got em from SOG and usually the barrels were completely burnt out from firing the tracer ammo!! But hell, if you carried one thats good enough for me! :)

Yea I hear what your saying aboput the 2 buttpacks would make a guy a little wide, Ive only seen a few pix and I think they are of the same Marine wearinf em as saddle bags, if you look at the photo of the Marines taken from atop the truck looking down you'll see the marine of which I speak, note the two saddlebag Buttpacks, just thought it was interesting.

Ive donated the photos I have to the Recon web site maybe youve seen em?

thanks

paul

 

Looking at the picture again, I see that the guy with the saddlebags is the M-79 gunner. That would make more sense. He probably stored the extra grenade rounds in it. I almost wish I'd thought of that! The attached pic below is from about my second or third patrol, and my first with the M-79.

 

We didn't have any of the fancy grenadier vests. You can see where I've cut the shoulder straps off the some of the bandoleers and draped them over my cartridge belt. My idea was to offer me quicker access to them in a firefight. Seemed like a good idea when I thought of it back on the combat base. However, I was definitely a "wide body" on that patrol.

 

The darn things snagged on virtually every vine, twig or branch. The snaps were pulled open on a some of the securing straps and I lost 4-5 rounds along the patrol route. Needless to say, I only did this one time. You will also notice that, contrary to what I said about slings in the post above, I have the sling on my M-79. What can I say? I was a FNG. The first evening in the bush on this patrol, one of the old heads strongly suggested I remove it...which I did instantly and never used one again.

 

post-1107-1237234920.jpg

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Corpsmancollector

Fantastic thread gentlemen :)

 

I cant express how wonderful it is to read the words of a recon marine who was THERE. Its not often I personally get to chat to many USMC personnel, over on the other side of the pond!

 

Thank you.

 

Best wishes all,

 

Will

 

P.S. Some great pictures Paul, thanks for sharing. They're a great reference :)

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