I remember as a wee kid playing “war” with friends.  We’d spend our summers running around the open space area near the river and stage mock battles.  A few of the kids even had some old “army surplus” gear which of course made them the “experts”.  I eventually got an old ratty web belt with canteen (and cover) and an ammo pouch.  None of us at the time really knew (or understood) what that gear represented.

Fast forward a few years and my own time downrange and I saw that gear (and those times) from a different perspective.  I’d always wondered what interesting (and non-mainstream) gear some of those guys had that were doing work in the jungles of Southeast Asia.

American Rifleman, a couple of weeks ago, put out a short but interesting article on what some of the MACV-SOG guys used.  They had access to mini-grendades from Holland.  Some of them used World War II era weapons.  They even had access to an M60 outfitted with a “backpack-able” 500 round drum (at a whopping 90 pounds).  A number of weapons were developed at the Naval Weapons Center in China Lake.

Anyway, I found the article to showcase some pretty interesting things, and thought some of you might appreciate it. Feel free to comment about any other oddities (or rarities) from that era–I’m always interested to learn more.