I stumbled upon this tonight on Vintage Operator’s Gear FB page and thought some of you would find it as cool as I did. In fact, their whole page is filled with awesomeness!
(note the para-cord pull tabs on some of the 20 rounders base plates)
Vietnam era LRRP load out:
XM117, BAR belt holding eighteen 20rd mags, M18 Claymore, V40 mini grenades, M67 Frags, smoke grenades, small ruck, 1 & 2 quart canteens, rations, pen flares and launcher, secure comms, C-4 w/ Det. cord and blasting caps, strobe light, signaling mirror, knife, 1911 Pistol, compass, watch, whistle, and extras.
Everything you need to bad things to bad people and come back home.
I had heard before that the BAR belt was a much sought after and highly coveted piece of kit with SOF personnel in Southeast Asia as they would hold 20rd M16 mags without any modification to the pouches.
I think these pictures may have been out of a book by James Donahue, an SF medic who wrote a couple books about some of his hairier missions. Blackjack-34, which I’ve read, is the one that these pictures are from. I have yet to read Blackjack-33, it’s on my Amazon wish list. If I remember 34’s storyline, he wished he would have had even more 20 rounders in his kit…they were in a pretty big shitstorm.
I believe you are correct. I have seen the pic with the BAR belt on the Soldier in tiger stripes before. Funny thing, your post reminded me of a quote from one of our very own SME’s Docsherm who also happens to be a former 18 Delta; “I have never heard anyone say after a firefight that I wish that I had not taken so much ammo.”
My best guess is they put a 30 rounder in to start and had a bunch of 20 round mags because they fit in the pouch better. Probably a case of being able to carry the same amount of ammo or more in 20 rounders than 30 rounders in the pouches available at the time.
It’s also my understanding that 30’s were very difficult to come by at the time and highly sought after. My assumption would be that they kept it in the gun as a break contact mag.
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Considering the load necessary to do extended operations and the nature of today’s battlefield and equipment, I’ve been wondering under what circumstances if any people decide not to use armor.
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Over on the Professional Soldiers board, most of the guys stated they chose to go SF because they didn’t have to wear a hot and heavy steel pot helmet. Instead they could wear boonies and patrol caps.
The recon team featured in Lone Survivor did not wear armor I ass-u-me this was an accurate portrayal of the real life team.
I was thinking that the curved 30 rd. mags of those days may not have been as reliable as the straight 20 rd. mags. This is why I was surprised to see the 30 rd. mag in the picture.
