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DM1975
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Ok, so I am having to see a therapist now due to some medical problems and having to deal with cronic pain syndrome. So I was telling her how I have been having difficulty reajusting to being in the US after Iraq and how I realy want to go back but I am probably going to have to get out of the Army, or at least the Infantry, which I do not want.

 

We were trying to find something that I could do to keep me involved in things like that and help to get my agression and I thought about maybe doing some Vietnam reenacting. Problem is I dont know squat about this stuff. I also would want to get in with guys who take it serious and would not make a big mochary out of it. If you can tell I have alot of animocity towards most reenactors.

 

Anyways, I talked to my cousin, who is also an old Infantryman and he wants to start doing it too. Question is how do you go about it? I mean, do we start a club or a group? Where do you do the reenacting at? What kind of missions do you do? I am at a total loss on this. We are wanting to reenact a CCC Recon team in SOG.

 

Niether one of us know squat about reenacting so any help would be appreciated. I have been to a few reenactor websites but still dont have my questions answerd or have overlooked something somwhere. Thanks.

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Reenacting may well bring on some other frustrations that will aggravate your situation. This is particularly true if you think you can work out your anger-aggression by pretending to "kill" someone.

 

Any self-therapy you try should be discussed with your professional therapist before you get involved. There should be a mutual agreement of the goal(s) in participating in any activity that is intended to be theraputical.

 

I worked at a large airport in the U.S. and developed alot of anger and hostility against virtually everything and everyone. From my experience the process to get my head straight took a long time (3 years) and I finally retired, which fortunately I was in a position to do.

 

Your fixation on staying infantry is a personality issue that you should also discuss with your therapist. In my military guise I was Military Police, Armored Cavalry, Division G-4 staff, battalion S-4, AG and finally Public Affairs. I have to share with you my time in combat arms was exciting and provided allot of interesting training, developed leadership skills and the time in the field taught me to appreciate AG and Public Affairs in air conditioned buildings on post, clean rooms and beds at night, good food and etc. In other words there is no reason to stay infantry your whole career.

 

In studies it was found that WWII soldiers were better able to adjust to civilian life because at the end of the war they had the opportunity to talk out the common experiences with soldiers of the same unit because of the time it took to get troops home and discharged. The war of course was “honorable” because it fought aggression and mass homicide. The troops were welcomed home, shown appreciation, honored and given their jobs back.

 

The so-called Viet-Nam Syndrome of soldiers discharged shortly after return to the states arose out of a number of differences in the way in which the deployments took place. The vast majority of the soldiers were drafted so weren't particularly interested in going into the military much less Viet Nam. Individuals rotated into units already deployed, saw troops regularly depart and new troops regularly arrive. At end of tour the individual simply departed in much the same way they arrived. The "war" was extremely unpopular at home and many people refused to report for induction, refused to soldier or refused to fight. The use of drugs was common although not universal. The situation in V-N was a nightmare of political intrigue, no-fire zones, enemy everywhere and no where and brutal criminal acts of torture, rape and murder. Incompetent leadership was more common because of the nature of the draft, officer candidate acceptance and training. Apparently the most critical factor was that troops were literally in the boonies one day and discharged the next. That is of course an exaggeration but there was no time or anyone for returning veterans to talk it out, "stand-down" and adjust. For many the adjustment was difficult or even impossible and many are still suffering today, although there has been much therapeutic healing. Viet-Nam veterans are getting better care in VA hospitals, the VFW and other organization have helped veterans find outlets for previously contained anger and frustration, and the "Wall" in Washington, D.C. has done much to give the veterans a focus point and assurance that their experiences are appreciated.

 

My understanding is that units train and deploy to Iraq, and then rotate to stateside posts for MWR, training and reequipping. I assume that the Army is at least recognizing the problems troops in and returning to Iraq may be having and providing opportunity for therapeutic counseling.

 

Your dedication to the infantry is good in that you and people you trained with are working together and taking care of one another in a high-stress conflict. The one factor I would be concerned about is the machismo of individuals (in police work known as the John Wayne syndrome) that makes an individual internalize personal frustration and anger that is not shared with fellow soldiers for fear of appearing to be less macho. This is a dilemma, you need to express your feeling among a group of people that don't express feelings, in fact somehow believe they're immune from feelings or think they know how to "blow it" off. All this comes from fathers, sports coaches and drill sergeants that tell that being a "man" and not showing emotions is critical to self-esteem.

 

If you are unable to relate to your fellow soldiers in any way except to demonstrate how "bitchin" you are and how much beer you can drink you are doing yourself a disservice. My suggestions are to work out any therapeutic plan or activity with your therapist and agree on a goal as to what the activity will do for you. Be open to mood altering prescription medication. Consider a career (MOS) change; it may not be as bad as you think being something other than a "ground-pounder."

 

I certainly hope that you do a great deal more than try to get the answers on this or any other forum. The way to look at it is that you are a good person that deserves “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Any self-serving non-sense that you are a noble person serving and suffering for others needs to be reassessed and balanced out with your own needs. I can tell you that you are involved in a completely uncreative “line of work.” If you feel a need for creativity you may be in the wrong place or need to do something creative: write, paint, take photos and etc. to achieve a balance between the uncreative and creative.

 

Reenacting may just expose you to more frustrations, and the expense may aggravate your anxiety over finances. Use your therapist for your needs; don’t go expecting to be “fixed.”

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Ok, well, not quite answering my question but in retort I am wanting this to work out agression not from pretending to kill people, but form the physical aspect of it. I could just as well throw a ruck on once a week and go for a hike I guess but I notice in training that the tempo is up so much more during activities such as the squad assault cours or react to contact drills.

 

Secondly, I am seeing a therapist, as mentioned before, who suggested to me to get into something physical that could help me channel my agression and frustraition on doing something like that, not from the simulated act of killing someone.

 

Third, I am probably not going to be able to stay in the ARMY, much less the Infantry. If I have to do some kind of soft skill then that is fine but I still love the Infantry and want to keep some involvment in doing the things I love about the Infantry.

 

Fourth, I dont know how long it has been since you were in the Army but soldiers now days, even in the Infantry talk to each other about their issues. It is not so much the "macho, I'm a man and I will prove it" atmosphere it used to be (I was in during those days as well).

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Oh, and creativity wise I already have that covered. I paint, build models, do carpentry work, even dabble a bit in taxidermy and have even went to school for photography at one time. But still, that does not help me on how to get into reenacting.

 

And please do not assume I have the delusion of nobility. I do not right up front assume you are a jerk do I?

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Oh, and creativity wise I already have that covered. I paint, build models, do carpentry work, even dabble a bit in taxidermy and have even went to school for photography at one time. But still, that does not help me on how to get into reenacting.

 

 

If you do a google search there seem to be lots of links about Vietnam reenacting; http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=v...G=Google+Search - but one of them says that this area of reenacting is pretty new, so perhaps there may not be that much going on: maybe you can start something. Vietnam era gear and uniforms are still very affordable compared to WWII stuff. I think I'd start by looking at some of the sites referenced by Google and get an idea what kind of gear people are using and then start putting that together: that certainly gives you a goal (or lots of goals really when you start looking for all the pieces of gear and uniform).

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Thanks for the info. As far as other period reenactors go do they do it as members of a club or certain organization? I know one group I looked into lets volunteers come and reenact for a small fee.

 

I just have no knowledge of what to do either way. I will google it some more and see what I can find.

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Thanks for the info. As far as other period reenactors go do they do it as members of a club or certain organization? I know one group I looked into lets volunteers come and reenact for a small fee.

 

I just have no knowledge of what to do either way. I will google it some more and see what I can find.

 

I know we have a few folks on this forum who do reenacting, but it does seems to be somewhat of a separate world from collecting, if only in that the focus on the collecting for a very specific time period and purpose. Most of what I have read elsewhere on the web seems to indicate that there are a lot of club-type reenactment groups and that seems to be the norm.

 

By the way, last weekend I attended an inter-tribal pow wow put on by one of the local Indian tribes and met a military reenactor who had a unique spin on things: he is Apache from New Mexico and portrays an Apache scout serving with the US Army in the late 1800's: it was an impressive getup he was wearing for sure.

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Thanks. I think that this will be a good little adventure for me to explore. Trying to form a reenactment group that is.

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Thanks. I think that this will be a good little adventure for me to explore. Trying to form a reenactment group that is.

 

 

I have also done the reenacting thing before it was called reenacting. It would be best for you to join a group and get some experience before forming a group. If you think you're going to gather guys that will assemble a V-N "impression" and spend four days on a simulated long range patrol in the "bush" I guarantee that will be an interesting experience. And a real leadership challange. People will get in touch and inquire about joining. You'll have to coddle a few to even get them to show up for a meeting, and there better be beer and pretzles. People will have more excuses why they can't show for meetings, or they will be no call-no show. Before you ever get into the field you will have people show up with the damnest set of uniform and equipment you ever saw. You can use every leader skill short of court marshal to get them to get with the program and proper impression. You will find members that want to do static displays at public events, like sitting in an M151 eating canned food to simulate C-rations or you may find a few people actually willing to simulate combat. It will be helpful if there are other groups in the area to interface with. Let's say you want to simulate a 2-day long range patrol. After about .5 klick one will ask where the latrine is, another will ask when does the pizza and beer helo arrive and another will ask "are we there yet?" A couple will be constantly on cell phones unless you prohibit them, but haveing them along in the event of accident would be a good idea. At about 1 klick someone will ask for some water because they didn't fill any of the canteens they are carrying. Upon arrival at a camp spot about 5 klicks short of the days objective you can lay out a nice camp and organize security. Then turn around a find everything in a jumble and no one on guard. Without asking a fire will soon mysteriously ignite and the "ole lady's" prepacked steak and potatos will be on the menu and on the fire. In the morning two members will have withdrawn back to the "firebase" and at least one will complain of having been "eaten alive" by every insect known to man.

 

I write the above in hyperbole but talk to anyone that has ben in reenacting for awhile and they will tell you "war stories" about reenactors.

 

It is better to keep the group to a small dedicated cadre than to open the door to all comers. One way to do this is to make having a complete impression (uniform and equipment) before they can participate or are even made members. The impression should be inspected to assure completness, correctness and compatibility with the group impression. The probationers should be allowed to participate as support to theb group. No uniform but allowed to set up, make beer runs and etc. During this probationary period you will soon get an idea of how compatible the individual is to the group members.

 

You're going to be dealing with people, which may be good thing or not. They certainly will not be as dedicated as your companions in the Army.

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Now that is what I was looking for. I see your points in all of this and will take it all in considation as I agree with you on it. I talked to my cousin today about it and we hashed out a few ideas and a few guidelines, some of what you have mentioned above. I know dealing with civilians in any manner like that is not like dealing with soldiers and that is what we intend on doing is selecting individuals we want that will contribute.

 

One thing we thought of was to set up a rank system based on how many meetings they attend and to let them know up fnt that combat simulation will be our main focus. I understand there will be no shows and non team players to deal with and I am sure I will learn alot along the way. I will certainly listen to all advise.

 

We figure we would be upfront about our main focus being combat simulation and we also would like to do some static displays as well. I feel that if we get a good base of hand picked, like minded people to start out with that we can mold it into what we are looking for. We both agreed that it had to be fun as well as period correct. I intend to write up a rough draft of by-laws tomorrow. Maybe you could look them over for me and make some suggestions? I would appreciate that.

 

I ike your idea of a probationary period as well. And I am pretty good with dealing with people. I am not your average, loud mouthed, attitud having NCO, I worked for six years in law enforcement before I came back into the service and learned public relation skills the hard way. I dont yell, and I dont get angry (at least I dont show it outright) with my men. I guess I have different leadership skills than most the NCO's I work with but everyone that works for me respects me and are well disciplined. Maybe that will help me, I dont know, but I will see.

 

Thanks for the suggestions, I will send your post to my cousin as well to kinda help give us some ideas.

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All I can say is if you make up your own unit great. If you decide to join a unit then do some research and pick a good one. I am a member of a unit that is full of great people that take reenacting seriously. We have many active military in our unit as well as firemen, EMT'S, and even a FBI agent. So there are many units out there that I am sure have members in them that you can relate to its just a matter of finding the right one.

I am not sure if you have done so yet but check out the wwii forum there are alot of great people on there and they have a VN section also. Here is the link..... thumbsup.gif

 

http://ww2reenactors.proboards35.com/index.cgi

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Reenacting…as I understand it you plan on starting a “club” for the purpose of reenacting a unit during the U.S. Army deployment to Viet Nam. Fortunately there are lots of veterans around, millions of photo images and quite a few references that cover the uniforms and equipment of the period.

 

Reenacting in in a sense staging a play or simulating history. All the real live elements of organization are required to make the “play” successful and interesting. Here are a few based on my experience as a member of several “historical” groups, now known as reenacting. In 1974 when I reported to my first unit of assignment after OCS my “reputation” as an historian and reenactor preceded me. The unit was Troop C, 1/18th Cavalry, 40th ID (Mech), CAARNG. The First Sergeant and several members of the unit owned horses and were interested in starting an historical cavalry “riding group.” The 1st Sgt. approached me and inquired if I was willing to organize a mounted “reenacting” group. I asked what period he had in mind and of course he said the Indian wars period, although what he actually said was something like “The cavalry like in the movies.”

 

I happened to have seen a quantity of M1902 McClellan saddles that had recently been sold by the movie studios. They weren’t in great condition but I thought they could be repaired and restored. To get to the point I suggested the uniform of the last of the mounted cavalry circa 1938-41. He agreed to this and away we went.

 

I was trained as an instructor in The Incident Management System and I’m going to borrow a little from that source and others in my recommendations how to get organized. First I will refer to jobs as hats that someone has to wear.

 

The first step for me was to secure five of the best of the saddles before they were sold out. I then started doing research in period manuals and examined photo images to determine the proper uniform and equipment. I borrowed from several Army manuals and my own experience to put together a standard operating procedure, which also included material such as rank structure of the period. As you can see I’m wearing the command hat, historical researcher hat, procurement officer hat (S-4), operations hat (S-3) and would soon be wearing the scheduling and conducting training hats.

 

There were of course more hats to be worn and as “commander” it was my “hat” to decide which hats to hand out and which to keep. Since I was the only person that had experience with the historical aspect of uniform and equipment associated with cavalry I had to retain most of the hats. But after awhile I was able to hand off a few hats. Since I did not own a horse all logistics involving the horses was taken care of by the horse owners, so “wrangler” was a hat I never wore.

 

So here are a few of the hats you may want to consider:

 

Leader - HMFIC make command decisions and wear lots of “hats” or hand out “hats.”

Historian/researcher - obtain materials that show correct uniforms and equipment of the period. Besides the military aspect of your unit period it is a good thing to as much as possible get immersed into the period; music, politics, vernacular, everything that help to reflect and “feel” the period.

S-1 Personnel - recruit and coordinate orientation to new “recruits.”

S-2 Intelligence - What are the friendly forces (reenactors) and enemy forces doing, where are they, coordinated exchange of intelligence with friendly forces.

S-3 Operations and planning - Determine training tasks, goals, schedules, trainers, plan field operations with or without friendly forces. Test and evaluate training and operations.

Training - Provide training, coordinate place, time, and provide training aids.

S-4 Supply - provide uniforms and equipment or information where to procure appropriate uniforms and equipment. Coordinate water, food, shelter, transportation, medical services, communication and any other supplies needed to sustain operations and training unless otherwise provided by each individual. Source ammunition as required.

Safety - provide instruction as required to prevent unsafe acts, act as weapons safe officer and range officer if live firing is conducted. It is a good idea to have at least one live firing orientation a year. We tied a social occasion into the range day, but that is entirely up to your imagination.

Entertainment director - This may sound amusing but it is usually important to arrange for the family members to participate once in awhile. There are a lot of activities that can be done to work authenticity into having fun. Like roast a wild boar over an open fire and have a love-in. (Sorry about the love-in thing just my wishful thinking)

Inspector - Inspects uniform and equipment for unit historical correctness.

 

I suppose I could go on with this but I think you get the idea. I’m sure you’ll think of more “hats” as you get organized.

 

I want to address a couple of comments you made:

 

Rank within the group should be based on performance standards not participation.

New members are on probation until they can display a complete set of acceptable uniform(s) and equipment. They can participate if they can show up in a complete uniform, like if they borrow from others. In one group I was in a member had to show a complete set of uniforms and equipment to become a voting member of the group.

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Thanks. I guess you would call it a "club" I don't know. That is why I ask. I know nothing of any of this. If I could find another "club" in the area I would try to get with them and do some learning but I have not found any yet, hence my search for knowledge on the subject via the web.

 

I appreciate your wisdom in this area and I will listen to your advice. I understand that doing this would be a lot of work and I welcome it. I like to work, a lot. I have worked all my life and quite enjoy a challenge. As far as leadership goes, I understand that the logistics will have to be sorted out on all of this and we are prepared for that.

 

As for the history part, I have been researching the unit and the time period the unit operated for quite some time and plan on doing even more research. I have researched the gear, weapons, and tactics, looked at photos, read books, viewed maps.... you name it.

 

As far as rank goes with the participation thing the entire idea we had came up with is based on enlisted ranks alone, as what we are considering was ran by NCO's in the field. We were going to use participation to advance in the lower enlisted ranks. When it came time for promotion to NCO it would be based on performance and participation, and then every promotion afterwards would be the same. This would give us a healthy balance of chiefs and indians we figure since not everyone would put as much into it as the other guy. Throwing a gear requirement in there as well is a good idea.

 

We also want to maintain as much fun in it as possible and would want to spread the jobs out to those who want them, randomly selecting out of the NCO's who would lead the patrols and such in order to give everyone a chance and to also give the lower enlisted the desire to get better and show up more to progress to that rank level.

 

I guess what I am really after is the smaller details like, who do you usually use as bad guys? Is there any national organization on any of this? What type of artillery simulators do you use, where do you get the pyro such as smoke from? Are there any real big rules (other than safety rules) that need to be adhered to? Stuff like that.

 

Trust me, I know I am not just going to walk into this and it be easy, but a smart man asks advice and help correct? Or am I wrong for seeking this advice here?

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None of the "groups" I was in would have described themselves as a club and operated in a quasi-military manner. There was certainly no formal meetings with Robert's Rules of Order. In one "unit" I was in we met at a member's residence once a month and events were scheduled as opportunity arose. In another group there was an agreement with a stable and a small comdemed house on the property was used as a headquarters and a small stockade built. That group met one weekend a month at the stable HQ and riding was always part of the training.

 

I'm sure you'll sort all this out as you go along. I hope you know the wisdom of KISS.

 

I like your idea of promotion to the junior ranks based on participation. I think it was policy to promote everyone in country to E-4 but they jhad already gone through basic and AIT before arriving in country so you can't play this strictly by "the way it was." I think it best to not have too many chiefs but adhere to a balanced rank structure.

 

Most of my participation in "reenacting" was units prior to the turn of the 19th Century when there wasn't as much of a rank structure. It was private, corporal, sergeant, 1st sergeant and sergeant major. So promotion based on participation would not have worked.

 

The members of the mounted standard guard we had in the 1-18th Cavalry wore their actual rank in the unit. I commented to the 1st sergeant that a 1st sgt would not be in a standard guard. He gave me a pained expression and said he worked hard for 1st sergeant. So he wore 1st sergeant stripes as commander of the standard guard. I uniformed myself but always acted as advisor, trainer and coordinator rather than participate as a member of the standard guard.

 

Let it be known in some way what your doing and potential members will find you. One way to do this is simply get into uniform and walk around events like gun shows. Of course as unit strength builds and you start training word will get around and people will inquire.

 

If you have heard of "stitch nazi's" you know that there are people that are real sticklers for authentic detail in replica uniforms. I caution that you don't get too wrapped up in authenticity that you miss the woods because of the trees. Some details that would make no notice to others can distract you from noticing things like cell phones, digital watches, ear rings and etc. that can distract from the impression.

 

I am curious if you have thought about allowing the marking of helmet covers with personal "messages." I would think this would add alot of character and authenticity, but could get out of hand. I'm not sure how a peace symbol would work today, although alot of people would not know what it meant.

 

Hair may become the stickiest wicket. Although troop in 'Nam had a tendency to push the limits of haircut regulations you will likely find some one that wants to join but doesn't want to give up their "golden locks." As a practical measure long hair in country was an incovenience and command generally kept a certain amount of control. For example no passes to anyone that didn't meet local standards. Of course the closer a unit was to Saigon the closer local standards were to ARs.

 

Recommended references:

U.S. Army Uniforms of the Viet Nam War, Shelby Stanton.

 

Hot Weather Clothing and Equipment, TM 10-276 (in reprint)

 

Care and use of individual Clothing and Equipment, FM 21-15 (in reprint)

 

All-Purpose Lightweight Individual Carrying Equipment (ALICE), NATICK (in reprint)

 

Proposed Maintenance Manual, All-Purpose Lightweight Individual Carrying Equipment (ALICE)., Natick, Ma: U.S. Army Natick Development Laboratory, August 1976.

 

Soldier's Handbook., FM 21-100.

 

Viet Nam Order of Battle, Shelby Stanton. (Mainly useful for unit locations and operations)

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Thanks. We plan on sticking strictly to SOG SOA CCN, CCC, and CCS so no helmets would be worn, at least not much if at all. I figure if I can get a good base of people starting out we can get together and hold a vote on what we all want to do with it. I know I would like to be as real and period as possible without getting too picky.

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DOGFACE1944
None of the "groups" I was in would have described themselves as a club and operated in a quasi-military manner. There was certainly no formal meetings with Robert's Rules of Order. In one "unit" I was in we met at a member's residence once a month and events were scheduled as opportunity arose. In another group there was an agreement with a stable and a small comdemed house on the property was used as a headquarters and a small stockade built. That group met one weekend a month at the stable HQ and riding was always part of the training.

 

I'm sure you'll sort all this out as you go along. I hope you know the wisdom of KISS.

 

I like your idea of promotion to the junior ranks based on participation. I think it was policy to promote everyone in country to E-4 but they jhad already gone through basic and AIT before arriving in country so you can't play this strictly by "the way it was." I think it best to not have too many chiefs but adhere to a balanced rank structure.

 

Most of my participation in "reenacting" was units prior to the turn of the 19th Century when there wasn't as much of a rank structure. It was private, corporal, sergeant, 1st sergeant and sergeant major. So promotion based on participation would not have worked.

 

The members of the mounted standard guard we had in the 1-18th Cavalry wore their actual rank in the unit. I commented to the 1st sergeant that a 1st sgt would not be in a standard guard. He gave me a pained expression and said he worked hard for 1st sergeant. So he wore 1st sergeant stripes as commander of the standard guard. I uniformed myself but always acted as advisor, trainer and coordinator rather than participate as a member of the standard guard.

 

Let it be known in some way what your doing and potential members will find you. One way to do this is simply get into uniform and walk around events like gun shows. Of course as unit strength builds and you start training word will get around and people will inquire.

 

If you have heard of "stitch nazi's" you know that there are people that are real sticklers for authentic detail in replica uniforms. I caution that you don't get too wrapped up in authenticity that you miss the woods because of the trees. Some details that would make no notice to others can distract you from noticing things like cell phones, digital watches, ear rings and etc. that can distract from the impression.

 

I am curious if you have thought about allowing the marking of helmet covers with personal "messages." I would think this would add alot of character and authenticity, but could get out of hand. I'm not sure how a peace symbol would work today, although alot of people would not know what it meant.

 

Hair may become the stickiest wicket. Although troop in 'Nam had a tendency to push the limits of haircut regulations you will likely find some one that wants to join but doesn't want to give up their "golden locks." As a practical measure long hair in country was an incovenience and command generally kept a certain amount of control. For example no passes to anyone that didn't meet local standards. Of course the closer a unit was to Saigon the closer local standards were to ARs.

 

Recommended references:

U.S. Army Uniforms of the Viet Nam War, Shelby Stanton.

 

Hot Weather Clothing and Equipment, TM 10-276 (in reprint)

 

Care and use of individual Clothing and Equipment, FM 21-15 (in reprint)

 

All-Purpose Lightweight Individual Carrying Equipment (ALICE), NATICK (in reprint)

 

Proposed Maintenance Manual, All-Purpose Lightweight Individual Carrying Equipment (ALICE)., Natick, Ma: U.S. Army Natick Development Laboratory, August 1976.

 

Soldier's Handbook., FM 21-100.

 

Viet Nam Order of Battle, Shelby Stanton. (Mainly useful for unit locations and operations)

 

I was not aware that ALICE equipment was used in Vietnam. I was under the impression that it was issued in mass around 1975-76 although being tested as early as 71 or 72. Is this correct?

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I was not aware that ALICE equipment was used in Vietnam. I was under the impression that it was issued in mass around 1975-76 although being tested as early as 71 or 72. Is this correct?

 

I already have the gear thing situated. Almost all M-1956 canvas, mainly canteen covers, XM-28 gas mask, XM177E2 as the weapon, and a butt load of 20 and 30 rnd magazines. I just need an X frame tropical ruck and a couple period 2 quart canteens and covers. I have an NVA ruck, which would be correct as well, but it is so small it will not fit around my shoulders.

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DOGFACE1944
I already have the gear thing situated. Almost all M-1956 canvas, mainly canteen covers, XM-28 gas mask, XM177E2 as the weapon, and a butt load of 20 and 30 rnd magazines. I just need an X frame tropical ruck and a couple period 2 quart canteens and covers. I have an NVA ruck, which would be correct as well, but it is so small it will not fit around my shoulders.

 

 

Excellent! Your really doing the research and thats awsome! I dont take to the field unless I am totaly confident in my impression.

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Thanks, I have been building the equipment up for a few years here and there and have just had it lying around so I figure what the heck. I wont be able to start doing anything till later this year anyways probably, so that will give me time to save for the ruck and canteens.

 

ETA: Anyone know a good source for a decent priced X frame ruck? The three pocket style?

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  • 5 months later...
I was not aware that ALICE equipment was used in Vietnam. I was under the impression that it was issued in mass around 1975-76 although being tested as early as 71 or 72. Is this correct?

 

Yes you are correct about ALICE "my bad!" I was thinking of LINCLOE but even that equimpent is rarely seen in images. I just returned from four months research at the National Archives. I looked at 10s of thousands of photographs for images for my book project and soon noticed that the M1956 LCE was used all through the Viet Nam deployment. Except for a few nylon items like the 2-quart canteen cover a Viet Nam impression should feature the M1956 individual equipment.

 

I was also surprised to see troops in the field carrying protective (gas) masks. This was of course in the mid-1960s but it was obvious from the images that the ABC/CBR/NBC mask was SOP.

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  • 3 months later...
The vast majority of the soldiers were drafted so weren't particularly interested in going into the military much less Viet Nam.

 

I realize this is an older thread, but I needed to point out that most Vietnam veterans were volunteers.

 

Just a pet peeve :rolleyes:

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