US Army Boonie?
I have this boonie hat that might be an army example. I would appreciate any comments on if this is from the military or the civilian market?
This was one of the things I kept when my uncle passed away a couple of years ago. The reason I think it was from the army is because of my great uncle’s career. He often brought gifts for my dad and his siblings during leaves as a career officer. The two gifts we still have is rock pulled from a gold vein in Greenland and a Phillipino wood carving. My dad said boonies were given to all the boys on one of uncle Kenny’s returns. My great uncle went to Korea as an enlisted man and years later an officer in Vietnam. At some point he was transferred out of Vietnam as a Major(?) to an assignment at the Pentagon. He was unable to travel to China with Nixon in ‘72 due to illness, but traveled around Europe and Southeast Asia. He was working some assignment there as a Colonel until the day he died at Walter Reed.
I do not know if this is one of those boonies or if those specific ones have long since been thrown away. It would have been during Vietnam, maybe into the early 1970s. It also could not be one of these, that is the basis of this post.
Thank you, Ben
No stiffeners in this hat. It has no structural integrity so it lays flat like a crusher.
Pulled the head off my mannequin to present the hat without it falling into a lump. There is no chin strap or elastic band. However it does have two ventilation grommets on each side of the hat.
The inside has a zipper pocket that follows the crown of the wearer’s skull. Ignore the safety pin.
The only marking is the ink stamp “SAMPLE” on the underside of the brim. There are no manufacturers tags or stickers anywhere on the hat. The lack of these aspects makes me shy away from it being a contract or civilian example.
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