Collecting Vietnam, some corrections.

Today I dropped into Comrades Army Surplus Store in Petone Wellington. This was my first visit and I was pleasantly surprised at how much gear they had. I had a chat with the same person who had been giving me some advice about Vietnam era equipment. Since it was quiet he showed me some of his personal collection which he had stored away. I was blown away with the quality of his items as they looked in mint condition. Unfortunately they were not for sale but he has my phone number just in case.

I showed him some similar items to the ones I have bought and got confirmation that they are later than advertised. The Nylon belt is a NZ Army item, the Nylon pouches are NZ issued Steyr pouches and the water bottle cover is also NZ issued and all are from the eighties.

I also did some digging around online and found that my cooker is a British designed Hexamine tablet burner. Probably from the eighties but could be even newer.

I am waiting for a set of US M-56 pouches, water bottles etc so hopefully I can have a set of ; US supplied M-56 webbing, Aussie supplied M-56 webbing and a NZ 1980's supplied set of webbing. Not what I wanted to get but it does show the development of the US webbing sets. I wonder if I should try and get an Alice set as well?

While in the shop I bought four clips for my Steyr pouches and a US style torch which was made in China! I've seen these for sale online so may get a real one for display. I have a vague memory of handling a real one which had a much more solid feel to it than the plastic imitation I bought.

I think that my uniform is more likely to be Woodland pattern judging from the date of production and the size of the patches.

I have decided that I will give the collecting a rest for awhile as I am still thinking of the best way to display them once my room is finished. (I did buy some Essex cuff titles for my brother though)