I've heard of recycling but this is extreme!!!!!

[moaning minnie]

well guys seeing is believing,original nam pic taken 10/09/67 of troops leaving everything behind after finishing there tour,flak jackets, M1'lids,and mitchell covers,talk about recycling to the max,was the US strapped for cash,or were these intended for use with the south vietnamese army?breaks my heart to see all that iconic gear just dumped like that, i want a time machine please,regards dave.

[NCA]

Great picture.

Thing is..to them it was just 'stuff'.Probably glad to see the back of it!I feel the same way looking at pictures of dunkirk in 1940.

[Stinkpotpete]

From all that I've read by 'Nam vets, it was re-issued to the next round of replacements. I read about one guy who got his M-16 with a bullet hole in the butt stock, then his helmet had a bullet hole in it as well. He thought this might have been a bad omen, but he made it home ok.

[Wagriff]

Horrendous amounts of equipment were simply tossed when the US finally left SE Asia for good. You used to see them landing choppers on the ship decks and immediately shoving them overboard as soon as the crews were out- over and over again,day and night. Tons on Tons of stuff are beneath the waters or burned in gigantic pits and piles before they left.

[Stinkpotpete]

Leaving stuff behind was a problem for a long time in vietnam, when a unit left an area, they'd have to leave people behind to police up all the equipment the GIs left, grenades, ammo stuff like that. They did push alot of the helicoptors off the ships, mainly because there was no room, they had taken on so many refugees and evacuees, there was no room for the equipment. That's what was happening in most of the film footage taken after the fall of saigon, not to say they didn't just throw alot of stuff away just because it was written off. I'd have hated to been the guy who signed for it all though.

[noelh]

i'm sure a vet will confirm it, yes all lost of stuff was reissued, including helmets. I would imagine most of the covers were burned and new ones issued. That's why I think genuine Mitchell covers that actually spent time in Nam must be extremely rare.
The helicopters pushed off the carriers were ARVN and that was only in 1975 during the fall of South. I don't think any American choppers were dumped. One thing I do remember from photos I saw at the time was all kinds of unforms and equipment dumped by the roadside by the ARVN troops who changed into civilian clothes. Tanks, M113 APCs, helmets, boots, everything. Even at the time I was thinking I'd love to get my hands on some of that. They left a lot of aircraft intact as well. The Vietnamese used the Hueys for a long time afterward. I remember hearing that evocative rotor slapping sound over Saigon when I was there. This was 2005. There were plenty of M51 Jeeps to be seen as well.