US "Operation Desert Storm" display.

[James C]

next up a pasgt fragmentation vest ,again sourced locally here in wales ,lucky really as the postage would have been horrific ,it replaced the late vietnam era m1969 ,its quite a heavy piece at roughly 4.0kg's it was a marked improvement over the nam vest in terms of comfort and in its camouflage,it was issued form 1975 onwards ,it was issued only in woodland pattern ,this one is dated an early 1983 ,i also added the 6 colour vest cover ,this is dated 1984

[James C]

now onto the final bone of contention , for my display im using the latter desert tan , made by wellco , a maker general norman schwartzkopf selected ,the earlier mk3 jungle version was used in desert storm as they were the only hot weather boot available at the time from what i can gather some units did recieve the tan version while others like the marine corps didnt recieve them if they did it was near to the end of there posting

[James C]

oops forgot to add the decontamination kit ,again unfortunately empty ,

[Fred Green]

Hello,

Black regular padded collar boots or Jungle boots were seen and used more than these IMO. The vest and cover look great. I believe your decon kit, with the blue instruction label, is a training example.

Fred

[James C]

well here's the display ,ive added a few extra items ,a whistle ,an angled flashlight ,but dont believe this to be us in origin ,its close enough though ,an m18 smoke grenade ,again not a us one but british ,ive painted it up just for the display ,the choc chip alice pack cover should arrive from the states soon ,also ive put a spare shirt in the pack too ,as most of you know my war room is pretty cramped so to get round this my mannequins are in the seated position ,by the way i made the display from off cuts of timber ,so no thats not me displaying the kit

[Gunny Hartmann]

Very convincing mate!....

[rbminis]

I think this is one of the first times I would like to hit the "Like" button a couple of times!
Fantastic James, well done!
I like the pose and everything about it.
Ralph.

[James C]

many thanks paul and ralph thats nice to hear ,you gw model is just superb ,the attention to detail is amazing you must have a good eye and steady hand to paint that camo

[ruddersrangers44]

James your sheer passion and dedication is way beyond anything I could do I salute you sir on your ongoing collection of what are now very desirable items,this era is not really my field however as this time frame represents my fav film "Black Hawk Down" I have to say im really impressed with all thing,considering your model is only from wood the end result looks great,well done mate.......

[Opex]

Fantastic to see it all come together so well James, really ,really impressed as ever , you are an inspiration


Do wish to hijack your thread in anyway, but here is the insert for the first aid pouch, this one is dated 2001 but was exactly the same in 1991.