A thought exercise I wanted to write at least a couple of sentences about beyond a story post; how would the military personnel of the Vietnam conflict feel about the gear we have now i.e. the end of Afghanistan?
I’m far from an expert on US kit of the Vietnam war, what I see perhaps the most amongst modern recreations is MACV-SOG operators wearing (primarily) a set of ALICE along with one of the infamous ‘Chicom’ Type XX chest rigs, only a smattering of camouflage patterns and lots of AR carbines. The pictures above that I found online maybe represent the highest tech, as it were, that would’ve been seen prior to the US withdrawal in 1973.
I think that many years of people obsessing over equipment to a previously unimaginable degree and worshipping bearded operators during the mid 10s caused a classic swing in the opposite direction around the time of the Kabul withdrawal. There’s now perhaps too much of an idolisation of specialist forces from SOE/OSS, through Vietnam and up to the mid 90s. Along with maybe an idea that those men ‘really got stuff done’ with just a rifle, compass, some low-tech uniforms and a whole lot of fitness and grit. There’s most likely an element of truth to that, but if you were in the Jungles of SE Asia in 1967, what would you bring with you if you had a time machine that travelled to 2024?
Starting with the fun stuff, the night fighting capabilities available now definitely dwarf what was available at the time. I reckon it gets darker than dark under those canopies, even on a night with some moon light shining. Modern goggles and thermals along with various IR devices and even quality visible lights with current electronics would’ve truly changed the game.
The US and South Vietnam enjoyed far more air power than the North to put it mildly, so smaller and more reliable radios to communicate with transport helicopters and CAS assets (and everyone else of course) would have been very welcome I’m sure.
Physics means you can only do so much with a 556 out of a 10-11″ barrel, thought some juice has been squeezed in that area over the years and even more so with regard silencers. Maybe .300 would’ve been a hit? Optics of course are a different best entirely now, but have the ergonomics of a short AR really changed massively? Not quite as sure on that one. It’s another areas where the limitations of what is existential are just unavoidable and sometimes no amount of modern consumerism can overcome that.
Load carriage wise, I’m not sure the gentlemen of the time would have wanted much velcro at all on their kit. They’d have appreciated waterproofed cordura over canvas and perhaps ITW plastic hardware over wood, metal and the less resilient plastic of the time. But in terms of designs of pouches for mags and other kit how much would they adopt from the modern age?
For uniforms it’s hard to not imagine there being a big appreciation for a synthetic, fast drying camouflage set of apparel which would keep out bugs; assuming the fabric didn’t rustle of course. Though again maybe velcro wouldn’t feature widely and they’d still opt for lots of buttons (minimal zips I’d wager).
There are 101 other elements to maybe mention, such as boots, sleep systems, medical kit, blades, explosives etc and some would be brought back in time, but some maybe not so much in all regards. As I say, it’s a thought exercise for me and I think it’s a good one for anybody regardless of your level of equipment knowledge. Newer isn’t always better; it mostly is but not always and context must always be born in mind.
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