Realy nice to read of your experiences of such a valued piece of kit Fellas. Thank You!
Realy nice to read of your experiences of such a valued piece of kit Fellas. Thank You!
I still have several MkV suits, the assult ones in blue and black. They weren't bad actually. Much better than the big yellow Mr Blobby suit! As for an NBC suit and poncho in the same 'Bum Roll' I still think that was a cruel and unusual torture invented to frustrate squaddies.by Watchdog
Especially when freezing cold and soaking wet. The webbing was a hateful b*****d then!
"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing he cares more about than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature with no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."
That's correct. It was always referred to in inventories, equipment tables etc as "Poncho Lightweight" and I don't ever recall it being called '58 Pattern by anyone, it was simply "Poncho" but by default it was part of your webbing therefore......
The '62 patt did occasionally appear in the stores during my service when someone "Old and bold" was de-kitted (these were unit stores ie AFG 1033 not personal clothing as in the AFG1157) but without exception they were always "conditioned" that is written off and new ones demanded from supply system as replacement for a u/s item.
On paper one might think that the toally waterproof rubberised version would be better than the nylon lightweight version. In practice, speaking as one with a great deal of field experience with the kit, it was definately not. Being rubberised it created awful condensation and the waterproofing did not last in robust use.
Used correctly the lightweight version will keep you reasonably dry until it falls to pieces.
"A thousand houswives can't be wrong" as the old advertising slogan used to say.
Regards
Mark
"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing he cares more about than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature with no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."
Couldn't help but grin and have a bit of a chortle reading this one Mark.For sure!
I still recall the very first night I put one up as a raw recruit and a rabid instructor yelled at me "WTF is that ? A F******G TeePee? The enemy could see that from the bleedin' moon! - Get it no higher than 15 inches". I didn't think that was possible but it was and I stayed dry in the pouring rain. Yep sometimes the old way and the old kit is by far the best
Regards
Mark
Mark,
Remember the one handed action needed to close 58 Patt ammo pouches whilst still holding your SLR or SMG!
A dance I will never be able to forget and could still do in my sleep!
Indeed, we were taught that the '58 Patt pouch closures were designed specifically to allow one handed operation. I would've thought a press stud or LTD would have been easier (more expensive I suppose) it was a skill one became very good at on pain of motivational PT because "You obviously need warming up!"
Nimble fingers was the order of the day!
It was a kind of dexterity that had a knock-on advantage in the dating world too
"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing he cares more about than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature with no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."
Taking this off topic even further perhaps, and whilst talking of 58 Pattern when PLCE first came on the scene there were all kinds of gripes - an improvement on 58 Pattern?
Blackcat,
Good question. I would still rather have my 58 part today than our issue stick on pouches to the Osprey, or chest rigs or the other 'trendy' solutions that are now in vouge. However the powers to beget a real sad on with me so I have to go second best! I do however know which is best and which I trust!!
R
Ahh all of this has made me locate and re assemble my '58 kit, can't find the frikken water bottle & pouch though!!
Cheers for all that Fellas.
Last edited by reneblacky; 06-26-2021 at 04:01 AM. Reason: added pic
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