Technically the Coat, Field M-65, the “Field Jacket” as it was commonly known, was an upgrade to an iconic piece of American military outerwear tracing its roots to the beginning of World War II. Propper produced these over the years as a US military contractor and this new production model is the same as the one you were issued in basic training. It also comes complete with the liner which had to be turned back in at the end of your tour.
Features:
50% nylon / 50% cotton sateen
Built from military specification
DWR (durable water repellent) finish repels stains and liquids
Button-in removable liner provides insulation
Packable hood stows in collar
Shoulder epaulets
Four-pocket front with snap closure
Zippered front with storm flap
Adjustable drawstring waist and hem
Bi-swing shoulders for enhanced movement
Hook and loop adjustable cuffs
Offered in OD, Black and Woodland, sizes Small – 4XLarge in Regular and Long lengths. What’s more, the price will astound you.
www.propper.com/mens/outerwear/propperr-m65-field-coat
Tags: Propper
Have an Alpha Industries Made in USA one in XS which I wear on colder winters. Brilliant piece of kit. Hipster uni chicks love them too.
Now waiting for multicam… They make nice garrison jackets. They are too bulky to pack well and don’t do a great job in the rain, but they serve REALLY well in that whole “it’s cold outside, but warm inside, and I go back and forth between the two places” thing that the current military multi-layer systems just aren’t good at dealing with. A company called Mil-Tec is selling MC ones on Amazon for $86. I’m sure they’re imported. There are also some multi-cam versions floating around eBay from the UK with NATO tags with NSN’s printed on them. No idea if that was an actual thing or a cute printing job, but they looked attractive for garrison wear.
Honestly, while the jackets are nice, the best part of the whole thing is the liner (Smoking Jacket) and the fact that the old rain gear could button the liner into them. That made for a very versatile system. While all the components of ECWCS and PCU are better, I still miss being able to button the liner into the rain gear.
Yep. Never much liked the jacket itself vs modern alternatives but I’ll be damned if that smoking jacket wasn’t my best friend on cold nights. I like it more than all the silk weight undies and layered stuff issued now because A) you’re not ‘allowed’ to wear most of it anyways (what grunt ever wore his fleece?) and B) you can actually take the smoking jacket on and off- good luck getting your thermal undies off with your dignity intact.
+1. Never understood the enthusiasm for that jacket precisely because all it reminded me of was waiting around for Morning Formation. And Motor Stables. And Area Beautification. The “Necessary Drudgery Jacket.” Otherwise, not a great inclement weather garment. I also remember the PITA waterproofing treatments and the rain slickers you had to keep handy anyway. But mostly I remember putting the M65 and the slicker deep in the duffel (save for the FJ Liner–THAT remains a brilliant piece of kit) when ECWCS came out.
Best damned jacket I have owned. If you have one that you’ve worn in… during the warmer months, go over it a few times with “camp dry” every year for a few years, that puppy BECOMES water resistant. (never waterproof)
Just don’t put campdry on your boots unless you want to be rucking in a pool of your own sweat and blood because the moisture can’t escape. Best/worst mistake I made as an E-2 lol
I loved my field jacket. Its too bad that after I hung it in the closet, it shrank 🙂
Darn. Mine shrank, too. :\
Haha, totally took me a sec to get that one.
It’s funny, you can see my Military and bodily progression just by looking at my field jackets-the SSI’s (and colors) tell my Military story, and the sizes, from “Small Regular”, “Medium Regular “,”Large Regular”,and now that I am no longer on AD, “XL Regular” or “XL Short”,lol
What I WANT, but is damn near impossible to find (in good condition) is the M-1951 Hood, made for the M-1951 Field JACKET as WELL AS the “Fishtail Parka”. The ‘later’ one with white,fake fur is WAY too big to wear on the M-65,and doesn’t look right once on.
They Make it in black?
would love to see one done up in the Delta “Iran Rescue pocket configuration”.
Love to see one in a softshell material for under $250. Never got much use out of the jacket, but the liner( cuffed ones with extra buttons under bdu top )saw a lot of use and the M65 pants wth NB3 parka were awesome when it got really cold.
N3b*
Nike made some very very expensive fashion styled oned with their own high tech materials a while back.
I still remember finding a pair of M65 pants in Woodland Camo in my size at a surplus store. I rock those and a Wooly Pully on the rare occasion when it hits freezing here.
Karrimor SF did a ‘highlander’ soft shell in a 3/4 jacket. Bloody expensive and had a hood little red riding would have been proud of.
If you can spare a grand, arc’teryx makes a gore-tex m65, and and insulated variant as well.
Damn that’s steep, kinda hipsterish too.http://veilance.arcteryx.com/product.aspx?language=EN&gender=mens&model=Field-Jacket
I just want a gray one……
Because I wanna get muh Terminator on
Wasn’t his just an old OD one that had been faded?
Faded/dyed/lit to gray with chains and studs attached.
US made or imported?
That looks awesome. Great work, hope its US made.
As if it’s not bad enough we have to wear crappy, vanity patterned camouflage, but they took the field jacket away from us too. I spent many a cold interior Alaska nights snuggled by my faithful field jacket. I’d give my left lugnut to have one authorized again!
Whats old is new again. No doubt some tacti-cool hipsters out there would go out and buy it. I on the other hand still have the one issued to me hanging in my closet. When I wear it I look like a homeless vet. When a tacti-cool hipster wears it, they think its old school operator.
Sold mine after OSUT, never had want or desire for it again.
The liner, that’s another story, as a Propper dealer I will carry the liner. I know it will sell… I was not happy when Tru-Spec / Atlanco discontinued the liner, if Propper picks up that torch I will run all day with it.
I also know the woodland revival is absolute hyperbole, no one wanted it then, no one (no matter how much you see on the internet) buys it now. Just ask the retailers who bought into the nylon revival a while back… then ran all the items on clearance 6 months later when they never sold.
Ask TT, or me, or any other dealer how long it took to get rid of that pattern when the Army switched to the inferior UCP.
Fool me once… try to fool me twice… try for a third time I start to question your judgement. My suggestion to Propper, don’t invest to deep on this one. OD and Black may do well, even Multicam, but Woodland is bust.
Oh that plastic zipper…:-(
Anyway…move on…
Not sure why I’d want one. Still have my basic training one. It may actually be unworn just like my 3 color desert one is….because they both sorta suck. They did nothing great. ECWS GoreTex was all we ever wore. Other wise it was layers under the BDU top or commercial outerwear. It was so uncool at the time I would rather have been cold.
I wore one of these back in high school, my dad had it lying around in a seabag and he just let me have it one winter because I was 16 years old and outgrew all my other jackets. I wore it probably three times a week from fall through early spring and it was fine for what it was, a hand me down.
I have a plethora of jackets that I have bought for myself over the years and I still have a certain fondness for that specific M65. They are crap jackets, but they have a coziness about them that PCU and ECWCS layers, even my Arcteryx jackets can’t seem to match