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Anyone wear mil surplus clothing? M65 field jackets, etc?

Yeah, the polypro underwear is nice, and CHEAP! I bought some for the wife to stick in her car "get home" bag in the event she finds herself stranded someplace in the winter wearing nothing but typical southern womens winter wear (i.e. looks good, not much for dealing with actual winter weather). The problem with a lot of military stuff is that while it works, it is bulky. Surplus is cheap, but wow, new stuff at clothing sales, like the gortex jacket and the PT running suit, yowza!

Don't even get me started on the ACU digital pattern. Even when they were going around testing it we all thought it was a doofy color scheme. At least it's high visibility has reduced on-post accidents at road crossings :p They make us wear a reflective belt with the PT gear (which has BUILT-IN reflective tape) but not with the ACUs as they don't need visibility enhancement!
They are coming out with a new PT uniform, and a new duty uniform pattern.
 
Yeah, I saw the new PT uniform yesterday. So we took a reasonably high visibility grey uniform with some reflective areas (still need a reflective belt though) and replaced it with a BLACK zero visibility uniform with ? reflective yellow areas, but STILL require a seperate belt? And during a RIF and budget sequestration?

I just don't know what is going on anymore..... I still think we are just a year or so away from having to wear a spinning yellow headlight when doing PT.
 

Luc

"To Wiki or Not To Wiki, That's The Question".
Staff member
A few years back I bought a reproduction of a M-65 field jacket on Ebay.co.uk

I can remove the inside if I need to.

It's a great jacket, I got a black one, it's great for mild temperatures and perfect for very cold temperatures (-45C/-49F) with the lining inside. However, in between, it's not warm enough or too hot so I have a trench coat that I wear for a month twice a year (spring/fall).
 
i own a 1950s army jacket. i was looking for jackets on ebay and i came across it so i was like why not and i put a bid on it. i won it in a ebay auction for twelve bucks (i was the only one who put a bid up lol). fits me perfect too which is a plus considering i have never found a jacket or coat that fit me perfect before.
 
I still wear my US Army BDU gortex parka; with a liner it is quite warm. The M65 did a pretty good job of providing protection during winter field artillery exercises in Germany on the Czech border in the late 1980's.
 
I still wear my US Army BDU gortex parka; with a liner it is quite warm. The M65 did a pretty good job of providing protection during winter field artillery exercises in Germany on the Czech border in the late 1980's.

My battalion chaplain recalled his early days in the artillery before becoming a chaplain. His unit was 8 in., and was conducting exercises near the boarder with East Germany about that time. They were firing a 12.7mm sub-munition training round from the guns.

One night they cranked the guns around on a "forbidden" deflection on fired a volley of those 12.7mm rounds over into some East German farmland. Thus, they claimed to have "fired on the enemy".
 
This thread inspired me to track down one and I'm glad.

It's comfortable and fits me very well. While hardly the height of fashion it's very handy to wear about town.
 
Dad wears surplus CADPAT while hunting. Works really good. CADPAT is a darker version of MARPAT Digital Woodland. CADPAT is Canadian Pattern and MARPAT is Marine Pattern. The Canadians helped us develop it and now the Army wears a version. So does the Air Force. Airman Battle Uniform. Last but not least Navy Working Uniform Type 1.
 
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