Just bought 4 USGI canteen cups

[GARANDNUT]

I still use a large Alice pack with frame. Guess I'm too dumb to notice it sucks. At the Pathfinder Basic survival course, I was the only one with a surplus pack. I plan to start my Continental Divide Trail hike with it, too. With the border locked down, it's never been safer to start the bottom portion of the trail. I usually wear a Desert Tiger Stripe boonie hat when hunting or working out in the yard. I'd love to find a Rhodie one. There are some sites selling Rhodie repro stuff, but dang they are expensive.

Sanders:
I wonder if the stuff I bought was seconds and therefore defective. All of it was new including the ALICE pack and was super cheap to buy. I am assuming most of it was late 70s and early 80s production. I hated the pack for three reasons: weight distribution was way out from the body unlike modern civi packs; the shoulder straps would come unsnapped, and the water proof liner did not work well at all. That said you can pack a ton of stuff in it. The buttons were barley sown on the woodlands and fell off. I never served so I have no idea if issue gear was better quality but judging from my son's stuff I doubt it.

My Rhodie boonie is new manufacture from Fireforce Ventures. I have no idea how close to the original it is but it is very well made. The brim is narrow compared to the US boonie, which is the best hat ever made for outdoor stuff.

4thIDvet:
My old man grew up in the 1940s and was a teenager in the 1950s so his story is like yours. He said that all of his friend's parents, but his, were WWII vets and they would wear there parent's military garb like over coats, boots, fatigues, ect. They played with deactivated rifles. Those days are gone, kids would now be arrested if they ran around with deactivated M1 carbines like my father's friends did. You could still get away with that stuff in the 70s and 80s. It is no wonder so many kids now are so fat, lazy and act like girls.

[Sanders]

Oh, the commercial packs are much better than the Alice, at least some of them are. There is a way to attach the straps so they stay on until you hit the quick release. They were designed that way so you could drop your pack if you need to ditch it in a hurry, like in a firefight. Also, without the frame, the pack can be pretty uncomfortable for the long haul. The frame at least distributes the weight on your hips and your shoulders. If we weren't planning on any long walks, we just took the frame off, but then the pack was just a bag with straps. For serious hiking, you can do much better than surplus gear, I do admit that. It's just that the weight and such don't bother me, so I figured there was no reason to "upgrade", unless it is to send my pack to Tactical Tailor for some of their modifications. As for waterproof liners, none of them work. We'd line the pack with a waterproof bag to keep our stuff dry.

I am familiar with the Fireforce website, but never ordered anything from them.

[4thIDvet]

Yeah that Alice Pack really was like our home on the go. Needing extra ammo food water implements of destruction one had to make choices of what got tossed as you could really only carry so much weight.

[Johnny]

When I was a 16 year old kid (1986) I could not afford the GUCCI hunting and camping gear so I went to the local army navy store and bought two plastic canteens with the aluminum cups and fake fur lined canteen pouches. Along, with it I bought a set of woodland camos, boonie hat, fanny pack, y-straps and ALICE Pack--all new surplus so no patches. I wore all that shit when I would hunt or camp with my friends. My heroes as a kid were all WWII fighter pilots. For me it was both a need for cheap camo and my love of all things military. The liner of the fanny pack disintegrated and the boonie hat is badly faded. The ALICE pack sucks so bad I no longer use it unless I use it to pack gear for the back of my truck where it stays. But I pulled it out so my son could use my ALICE pack to prep for Marine boot camp. I told him that if he can carry that shitty pack full of gear on rucks he will be ready for basic. He climbed Mt LeConte twice with it filled with weights and on his poolee hikes. He agreed the pack was shit but his issue pack is not much better. I saw his load out for field week and the amount of crap he has to carry is unreal with helmet , rifle, mags and body armor all amounts to 90lbs of crap so apparently the current pack is not much better.

My fried used to wear his dad's jungle boots from Nam when we would camp. My high school hunting buddy also used surplus gear and even carried an Enfield as his deer rifle. We all did it, no one cared its what a bunch of poor pimple faced kids could afford. We had no idea that there was something wrong with it and there really wasn't back then. I can still wear the woodlands but I do not want to be accused of stolen valor; something no one accused you of back in the day but I am old and no longer play dress up. I still use the canteens as there is nothing better. I retired the boonie when an asshole asked me while I was fishing when I served. I told him I bought it at an Army Navy store when I was 16 he rolled his eyes--fuck him I guess but I do not want to make scandal. I replaced it with a Rhodesian boonie just to piss people off and most have no idea what it is. It is not as well made as the US one but I love that boonie and nothing made for civilians is as good.

Most surplus gear is really well-made. Right now, I rigged an old pistol belt and pouches for use as tool belt as I'm in the middle of building a chicken coop. For camping, I recently purchased a surplus Army sleeping bag. I think they call it the "military sleep system". It's pretty nice and even comes with a water proof bivy sack. I used to have one in the Army and really liked it.

As for your concerns about "stolen valor", I wouldn't let it even enter your mind. Just because someone is wearing a surplus hat, pants, shirt or carrying military equipment in no way indicates they've served. The stuff is readily available to everyone, not just military. The only hard and fast rule that I remember is that you can't wear any shirt that has the "US Army" (or other service name) on it. Other than that, you're free to wear whatever you like. The next time some busybody comments on your choice of boonie hat, you can school them.

[Sanders]

If someone asks if you served, tell them you were in the Scouts. If they ask what unit, give them your troop #. If they keep pressing, let them know the unit was disbanded. If they want to press it further, tell them it was the Boy Scouts of America.

[Johnny]

If someone asks if you served, tell them you were in the Scouts. If they ask what unit, give them your troop #. If they keep pressing, let them know the unit was disbanded. If they want to press it further, tell them it was the Boy Scouts of America.

I have never encountered someone who pressed me for information about my service in an unfriendly or accusatory tone. It has always been polite. "Hey, I heard you were in the Army. What did you do?"

I have, however; encountered a few people posing as veterans who I knew weren't just by the things they were saying. One was a bar owner at a venue my band was playing. He was telling me all about his Vietnam experience. I could tell right away he was full of crap. Everything he said sounded like it came right from a Hollywood movie. He was unable to answer the most basic questions. I didn't let on that I knew. I just let him talk and went on with my business. Incidentally, we stopped playing that venue when he tried to short change us at the end of a gig. Typical.

[4thIDvet]

So I hit one of the adds for surplus U.S. military paraphernalia from Vietnam. Holy sheeeet $$ heading home I wish I loaded my duffel bag with all the junk I could carry. Nam jungle boots $250 flak jackets $200 hell anything Nam oriented like big $$$. Damn.. All my Nam bring back was tossed by my old man or my lovely sister.
Numbered Zippo lighters are worth their weight in gold. After we departed Nam the locals were grabbing everything they could and scrapping the stuff. Now? My buddy 'Dustoff Fred' R.I.P. went back on a tour and told me their kicking themselves in the ass as tourists are spending a fortune on anything U.S. military related from our time their.

VIETNAM WAR ORIGINAL M65 JACKET FROM HELICOPTER PILOT. PATCHES VIET MADE.

US $295.00 Holy sheeeet.

VIETNAM WAR ORIGINAL M65 JACKET FROM HELICOPTER PILOT. PATCHES VIET MADE. | eBay

[Johnny]

So I hit one of the adds for surplus U.S. military paraphernalia from Vietnam. Holy sheeeet $$ heading home I wish I loaded my duffel bag with all the junk I could carry. Nam jungle boots $250 flak jackets $200 hell anything Nam oriented like big $$$. Damn.. All my Nam bring back was tossed by my old man or my lovely sister.
Numbered Zippo lighters are worth their weight in gold. After we departed Nam the locals were grabbing everything they could and scrapping the stuff. Now? My buddy 'Dustoff Fred' R.I.P. went back on a tour and told me their kicking themselves in the ass as tourists are spending a fortune on anything U.S. military related from our time their.

VIETNAM WAR ORIGINAL M65 JACKET FROM HELICOPTER PILOT. PATCHES VIET MADE.

US $295.00 Holy sheeeet.

VIETNAM WAR ORIGINAL M65 JACKET FROM HELICOPTER PILOT. PATCHES VIET MADE. | eBay

We didn't get to bring back much from Iraq: helmet, molle vest, pouches, etc... None of this stuff has increased much in value, so no big loss for those who unloaded it when they got home. The only thing I regretted selling was the sleeping bag system. I recently found some Army surplus deals on Ebay and was able to replace what I was missing. Very cool.

Bringing back stuff from Iraq was heavily regulated and mostly discouraged. Whenever someone sent a package home from Iraq, it was X-rayed to make sure there was nothing they shouldn't be sending home. Not surprisingly, there were some soldiers who tried and got caught. Several were even court martialed. The military police had posters made showing an X-ray of a TV some soldier was sending home. In the photo you could clearly see a handgun inside the TV.

The only thing I found in Iraq that was kinda cool were a handful of prehistoric stone tools. An Army colonel turned me on to his collection. His office was filled with the stuff. Just before I left country, I tossed my collection out in to the desert for some future generation to find. There was really nothing from that country I wanted. Some guys brought home little vials of sand, and that was allowed, but I just wanted to get home.

On departure day, US Customs literally had us dump all our bags and inspected everything. If there was anything they were unsure of, no matter how minor, they'd ask a supervisor. I thought they were going to take my spring-assisted pocket knife.

[4thIDvet]

My neighbor and good friend R.I,P. Kevin gave me some small labeled bottles of sand. A Nam chopper pilot then retired from Blackwater after God knows how many years. He flew in for the capture of Saddam Hussain he with Blackwater and the 4th Inf. did perimeter security. He gave me his hat he wore at Saddam's capture I still have it in my room.
It has a small Velcro sticker on the top he said its so guys looking down knew you were a good guy and didn't shoot you in the head. 😁 A few Nam tours then overseas with Blackwater all those adventures he is home for a few months takes a heart attack and dies the poor guy. I had Kevin talk to Merc for work but they just were not hiring.

[Johnny]

Sorry to hear about your buddy Kevin. A while back, an old Army buddy and I re-connected after maybe a 15-20 year hiatus. We're planning on some backpacking/canoeing/camping adventures. Much to my surprise, he's completely geeked about it. He cautioned me though.... "I'm not as strong as I used to be. Not sure if I can keep up with you." My response: "I've also become old, fat and weak. You'll have no problem keeping up."