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Boonie and bush hats of the Vietnam era


craig_pickrall
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craig_pickrall

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This is the exact same net used with the first pattern hat.

 

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1969 dated

 

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craig_pickrall

This is a label from another second pattern hat made with rip stop material and dated 1968. There was a good deal of variation in these labels during the Vietnam era. They varied from maker to maker but also there were variations with the same maker.

 

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craig_pickrall

This is a second pattern hat made in 1969 with rip stop material. It has had the brim shortened and a wire added along the edge for shaping. This was a popular modification.

 

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craig_pickrall

US made Rain Hats of the Vietnam era. Since these are similar to the Boonie Hat I have included them in case someone runs across one.

 

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Interesting thread! I will look and see if I have pics for some of my boonies.

 

Here is a theater made boonie/bush hat worn by Capt Charles Darnell during his SF tour in Laos under Operation White Star. It is made from parachute silk. Note the prominent sun fading on the top. There are plenty of cool photos of this exact pattern of headgear in Shelby Stanton's Illustrated History of Special Forces. That book is a must have for SF collectors.

 

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---Chris Hughes

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Here is a textbook example of a CISO made tiger boonie commonly seen being worn by Special Forces personnel. CISO was a logistical support center on Okinawa that made sterile items for Special Forces, SOG, CIA, etc.

 

This example is part of a group belonging to a Mike Force vet. The tiger beret is also CISO made.

 

---Chris

 

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  • 1 month later...

Here's a couple of I have picked up recently both with 1968 dates and I have to say I honestly don't know if these are brown or green dominant, but it looks brown to me:

 

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I picked up an Vietnam-made camo bush hat from the estate of retired Marine Sgt. Major. It has no label, only the size 56 stamped inside. I have been looking all over the web for more info on these and there's no much. The one I have is a a very small size and I found someone else's comment elsewhere on the web about finding one of these with a vet's gear and how it was also very small. So I wonder, where these made for ARVN troops?

 

Here's the one I picked up along with the Sgt. Major's ERDL boonie from his Vietnam tour and a closeup of the size stamp:

 

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One of the early posts in this thread shows an in-country camo hat (different camo pattern than the above) in a photo from Stanton's Vietnam uniforms books:

 

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  • 8 months later...

Really interesting thread guys! Thanks for sharing thumbsup.gif

I wonder if there is any that has a SOG black boonie to show?

 

Best regards, Martin

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Hello,

 

Your hat seems belonged to a Vietnamese soldier, probably a trade with the Marines vet. I can see a wrting "SAT CONG" what mean "Kill Communist" and his name inside the hat

 

Very nice hat

 

 

This is an interesting thread ! Seems like there was a definite progression in styles and designs as time went by.

Here's one I picked up in the last couple years locally at an auction. The mother had died and it looked like absolutely everything was being sold off. Included in the $3 lot I purchased was this hat. I did't want a stinkin' repro hat and came close to putting it in a bag full of Goodwill items. I'm sure glad I didn't !

I've since found out it is a legitimate theater made piece from about 1967. I followed up with one of the mothers kids who put me in touch with the USMC vet son who wore this hat while in Vietnam and brought it back in '68 where it stayed in the attic of his parents house till the auction.

Except for a few details I was able to gather from the vet over the phone the first time I talked to him, he his unwilling to discuss anymore details about his military career with me.

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  • 9 months later...

So how many camo patterns did they use in South Vietnam during the war?

 

I picked up another apparently Vietnam-made camo bush hat from the estate of a Naval officer who retired in 1962 (he skippered the Oriskany in 66-67). My eyes are blurry from going through the forum's very long tiger stripe thread to see if this pattern shows up in there, but no luck.

 

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  • 8 years later...

I recently acquired a ripstop OG-107 boonie with label reading in part "Hat Sun OG107 DSA-100-72-C-0391." It is otherwise identical to the common '68 and '69 examples. I could swear I once read that these were produced for the USAF but can't find my source. The only other example I know of currently is shown on the LJ Militaria website.

 

Can anyone comment on this hat?

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