I didn’t serve, and ultimately this is my biggest regret.
However, this does drive my curiosity for the above question even further.
So what say you? What piece of equipment was just a total piece of shit? Or what piece of equipment do you think is/was overrated?
Time period doesn’t matter.
I think this could unit specific, ie mounted may have shitty trucks.
For me though i hated thoes gumby suits gunners had to wear. Command thought they were the shit, but you couldnt move for shit, they saw the army using them then thought we needed them. We put the arms on and soon as we left the wire they made their way to the back. I loved being in wps co but damn they did some dumb shit.
Other shitty gear
Slings
Eye pro
Usless green m9 holster
Lbvs
War belts
All kinds of shit to get lost or stolen
Its hard to find faults in gear that I know my predecessors would have loved.
For example. I hate 7 ton trucks. But I know they’re a shitload better than the 5 tons.
I also have humvees. I’m 6’5" and riding in one is like being in a bumper car, but I know they’re better than old ass Jeeps. Plus, they have AC now. Can’t beat that.
But the one thing I can say that is uneqivocally shitty - and that even soldiers in World War I would have junked are ESS Glasses. Whoever the fuck decided those were good eyewear needs to be slapped in the dick eleventy billion times.
TP
“L” flashlight
The nut and throat protectors on the Interceptor vests.
C-Rats. They were heavy and not very tasty. Hot sauce was the order of the day.
The M60 was the only firearm in 1980’s US Army inventory that I did NOT want anything to do with.
I always got the Ham & Lima Beans… or so it seemed.
A close second to my bitch above would have been belts of 7.62. Go to the range and everyone was assigned upwards of 6,000 rounds for the day. At the time, it sucked as we just wanted to get back to the barracks and drink. Not shoot 3,000, then wait around for dark to shoot another 3,000.
Now… I’d give anything for that much ammo and my 240 back.
My ballistic helmet, I love you MICH. I can still feel the headaches!
The PASGT Spaceballs helmet with PVS-7’s attached. It was like strapping a brick to what was already an unnecessarily oversized helmet and it would slide down your forehead until the helmet basically turned into a set of opaque eye pro.
Also, QuietPro. Why would anybody slide something that far into their ear canal in a combat environment?
The Gentex SPH-4, God what a heavy uncomfortable bitch compared to modern noise-cancelling flying headwear!
I actually thought the SPH-4 was more comfortable than the HGU-56 (flight helmet), but you had to have a TPL (thermoplastic liner) in it, and not the standard web suspension.
With apologies to John Wayne, I thought the old steel pot helmet sucked. Not for cooking or shaving or even digging a hole, mind you, but as a helmet in the era of a one-size-fits-all Army, it left a lot to be desired. I was a SP4 (E4/SPC today) before I got a PASGT.
AC
The “new” rucksack with the plastic frame that replaced the ALICE pack. I can never get that thing to ride comfortably during a footmarch. It’s always digging in somewhere or off balance.
Oh and CPOF. Never wanted to smash a computer more.
You must remember the “good old days” of surgical tubing bungee setups and Velcro’d lead counter weights for AN-PVS 5’s. Good old days, my ass!
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One generation removed from John Wayne’s monster walkie-talkie.
Only had to experience these at my first duty assignment
always felt I was fighting the Stay-Puff Marshmallow man when I wore them
Every single piece of ta-50. I also absolutely hated humping the 240 and 249.
I enlisted in '93, so I got to first suffer though the PRC-77 for common skills training in basic. I just loved humping that bitch on our road march. Then, I had to relive the fun when we made the SINCGARS transition.