In case you were wondering how good you’ve got it compared to the Soldiers of World War Two and Korea, check out this excerpt of “The Big Picture” discussing individual load carrying equipment.
“The Big Picture” was a television series produced by the US Army during the 1950s and early 60s to educate the public on its capabilities. In total there were 828 episodes.
Completely off topic but I just watched an amazing Army movie about as good as hollyweird can do without it being too Army plus it wasn’t a hooah propaganda piece. Gardens of Stone made in 1987. It’s on prime, and it’s $12 in iTunes Store worth buying! I can’t believe I went my whole career never hearing about it anywhere. Lots of great emotions from inside humor to brotherhood to remembrance. I know this post doesn’t belong here but I think this should be spread all over social media for the military community especially the Infantry! Take care!
The book’s good too.
Thanks for the head’s up, I’ll check it out on Prime.
Just read the synopsis, and it makes me think about my father’s service in 67-68, my service 01-06, and my infant son’s future.
I’m proud to be a Veteran, but I was always more worried about my COC (top to bottom) than the enemy.
The enemy is just doing his job and that’s assumed.
The COC’s ego/incompetence/greed getting people injured, crippled or dead is never in the commercials.
I saw Gardens of Stone for the first time in the very late 1990s. Excellent movie and I recommend it to everyone.
For real? I only made it through the first 20 minutes of slow character development and thought it was going to be a super slow and mundane movie. Guess I’ll have to try the rest of it.
Back on topic, they should really show the old haversacks from WWI & WWII. Those things were a PITA to set up and didn’t really allow you to pull anything out without completely unpacking it.
As a former WW2 Paratrooper reenactor. That M-1936 rubberized musette bag sucked.
Seeing tent shelter halves in the video makes you realize how long that equipment was in inventory. Marine Recruits were still using shelter halves to set up the ghetto in the early 2000’s and drill instructors loved how they could be rolled so neatly and set up by the numbers!
The shelter half has been on issue since the time of the Civil War. One of the National Guard armories I was around back when I was recruiting had a bunch of them that still had the old button-style connectors, which went out prior to WWII. The supply sergeant was going through that particular bin, and found some with date stamps from before WWI. I think they wound up sending some off to the state military museum, and gave the rest to re-enactors.
Friend of mine claimed he was the only guy issued a button-up shelter half in basic, which left him as the only guy without a tent partner, and no shelter. I’m not sure I believe him, knowing Drill Sergeants the way I do, but that was his story…