Uniforms Worn While Deployed to Afghanistan

[Guardian 5]

Fellow Collectors,

I met lifetime member WalterB over on the International Forum in a thread covering Afghanistan veteran bring-backs. He asked if I still had the helmet and uniforms worn while deployed. I replied in the affirmative and suggested starting a thread on the U.S. militaria forum.

In this thread I'll post photographs of the uniforms and equipment I wore while deployed to Afghanistan as a U.S. Army Major during the period November 2004 to April 2005. We were issued the desert camouflage uniform (DCU) and still wore our olive drab and or woodland pattern tactical gear ("TA-50" in Army parlance). As an individual replacement, I deployed from the CONUS Replacement Center (CRC) located in the Harmony Church section of Fort Benning, Georgia. An infantryman by trade, I was familiar with the greater Columbus area and was married on post back in 1990. At the CRC I issued with two duffle bags of additional gear and received more gear in country from the Army's Rapid Equipping Force (REF).

I'll begin with posting pictures of my DCUs and soft cap. You will see two sets of qualification badges. One set was sewn on in theater, the other by a nice little Korean lady working in a tailor shop in the CRC. The theater made jump wings are readily identifiable, as is the theater made Central Command (CENTCOM) patch. CENTCOM was invariably referred to as "sadcom" in "Ass-crack-istan." One soft cap was an after market model that I bought at "Ranger Joe's" in Columbus. The other is an Army issue cap with the woolen ear flaps cut out and my name and cat eyes sewn on the back. Are there any Army veterans out there who will admit to wearing a soft cap with ear flaps down? Also shown is a boonie cap, which I never had the occasion to wear. I had the local Afghan tailor sew a Pashto name tag on the back just I could look cool drinking beer at parties back in CONUS. On a final note, it was fashionable in-country to hang a tiny nightlight on the top button hole of your DCU. The thing did come in handy every now and then.

The theater made patches were manufactured by a brave and resourceful Filipino tailor working out of a shop at Camp Phoenix in Kabul.

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[Guardian 5]

Below we see examples of the head gear as described above. thumbnail_IMG_9981.jpg

[Guardian 5]

The reverse of the issue soft cap.

[Guardian 5]

The boonie cap.

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The tag inside the boonie cap reminding us not to starch it.

[Guardian 5]

I wore two helmets while deployed. The one I left with was a standard issue Kevlar helmet, aka "brain bucket" or "K-pot". I won the helmet in a poker game in Korea and was thus spared from drawing a new one every time I moved between duty stations. Cat eye reflective tape and my name were sewn to the camo band which was attached to the liner via gutted parachute cord (aka "550 cord"). My blood type was also stenciled on the camo band. The tan chinstrap is after market. The Modulated Integrated Communications Helmet (MICH) was issued to me in country by the REF. It was very comfortable and well padded but I could never adjust the chin strap properly without a lot of fuss.

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[Guardian 5]

The MICH helmet with and without REF issue goggles. The metal fixture was used to attached night vision devices (NVDs). The goggles were issued with a black cloth cover. The camo cover was purchased at the PX in Bagram Airbase.

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The straps were used to prevent the goggles from flying off and were referred to as "bunny ears."


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[pauke]

What do the two bars on the back of the caps mean?

[Guardian 5]

After being issued with our DCUs, we soaked them in a 50 gallon drum filled with the insecticide Permethrin. Once the garments were dried, we wrote the date on which they were treated with a laundry marker on the inside on the garment. We also sewed name tags on our pants, USMC style, so we could tell who owned what in the communal laundry station.

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[Guardian 5]

What do the two bars on the back of the caps mean?

Hi Pauke,

Good to hear from an old friend from the DDR / BDR forums. Cats eyes are reflective tape. They function to allow for station keeping on patrol in the dark. By looking at the cat eyes of the man in front of him, soldiers moving in the dark could ensure that there was not a break in contact. The cat eye configuration shown here is for headquarters company ("HHC"). Every company, A - E, had a different configuration. You can sometimes find cat eyes on Bundeswehr M43 style field caps both in moleskin and flecktarn.

All the best,
TJ

[Guardian 5]

One of the best things we received from the REF were Nomex (flame retardant) gloves. They kept the hands warm in moderate cold and allowed you to perform most functions, including weapons handling, without taking them off.

Also shown are variations of the CENTCOM patch, my dog tags with Saint Michael medal, rosary and watch. The rosary was made by a soldier's wife club. I picked it up from the Catholic chapel on Fort Benning in 1986. We wore a blue chemical stick ("chem light) on our body armor. If we had to get on base quick in the night, we would pop the chem light and keep shouting the running password, which in our case in 2004 was "Geronimo!".

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[Guardian 5]

For tactical gear, I wore a vest that I bought at the "Tactical Tailor' in Tacoma, Washington, while assigned to the 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry. Although my issue weapon was an M9 pistol, I always armed myself with a borrowed M4 or M16 when going outside of the wire. The vest could hold about ten mags, I usually went with six. I had three mags for my M9 pistol. I used an after market "pistol leash" for a lanyard and attached a clasp knife purchased at the Bagram PX to the holster. The REF issued us with a DCU pattern "camel back" water carrier. thumbnail_IMG_9995.jpg

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[Guardian 5]

I was issued body armor at Fort Benning, but not the Small Arms Protective Inserts (aka SAPI plates) that could theoretically defeat the 7.62mm round fired by the AK series. These were issued to me in-country, after I arrived via ground convoy to my post in Kabul from Bagam Air Base. As neither I or my traveling companion had SAPI plates, we flipped a coin to see who would sit next to the door of the soft-skinned civilian vehicle taking us on our 60km journey. I lost....This is an example of what then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld described as a "come as you are war." Seen below are the REF issued Belleville boots. I received these about a month before I rotated home. Better late than never.

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[Guardian 5]

Upon returning home, I was authorized to sew the patch of my wartime unit on the right sleeve of my woodland pattern battle dress as worn in the states. I could choose from two "combat patches" CENTCOM or Combined Forces Command - Afghanistan (CFC-A). The CFC-A patch was developed after I returned home. You can see the color version in my avatar. In the bottom picture you can see where the flag patch was torn off and resewn below the "combat patch." Eventually the red, white and blue flag patch was replaced by a subdued version worn on the DCU and later versions of the battle dress uniform.

WalterB and others, please feel free to ask any questions. I tried to be as detailed as possible. I hope the veterans who saw much more arduous service than I post pictures of the gear they wore while deployed.

Many thanks,
TJ

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[WalterB]

TJ, thank you very much for taking the time to photograph and share your uniform and headgear that you used in Afghanistan. Outstanding grouping, I am glad that this piece of history will be preserved. I really like the St. Michael medal and your rosary. I see you are still posting so I will wait before commenting any further. GREAT ITEMS!!!

[Guardian 5]

TJ, thank you very much for taking the time to photograph and share your uniform and headgear that you used in Iraq. Outstanding grouping, I am glad that this piece of history will be preserved. I really like the St. Michael medal and your rosary. I see you are still posting so I will wait before commenting any further. GREAT ITEMS!!!

Hi WalterB,

Please scan over the postings as I made some edits and added some pictures. I am standing by to answer any questions that may have arisen and will do my best to address them when I return from work this evening. Hopefully, by that time, we'll see items worn by other OIF/OEF veterans.

Many thanks,
TJ