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I hope you can help me out. Years ago I bought a British Army Style Aluminum mess kit at Surplus store. It came with a two snap pouch. On the larger pan, it has the markings FMI over M\54 which during my research I discovered that it was Swedish Markings. I subsequently saw one for sale on E-bay. During all my research, I cannot find any history about these mess kits and the Swedish Armed forces. Do you have any knowledge about them?
i can also add that the frame can be used as platform for carrying ammo. We converted the wooden box for 7.62mm ammo to contain belts for maschinegun, thus turing it into a one man weapon
The strap on the back that you didnt know what is was for, - we used it for securing an axe with the axehead secure under thetop lid and the shaft through the "handle" as you called it.
I was issued this piece of kit in the Royal Guards in April 2008. Quite good stuff! I recall that as a recruit in those late spring and early summer months, I had a hard time seeing the point in such a large pack, as I never used any cold weather or rain clothing. I suppose the guys who started in December had a different experience though!
For a long time in the 70's & 80's Danish kit was like hen's teeth - they destroyed all surplus/returned kit to prevent it being used by eastern bloc infiltrators.
I like the design of the Bergen. it's a bit like the Alice packs the US army used to carry. I have 2 of the medium size and one large size. they are old but still work very well. thank you for showing the Danish one. very nice. Dwayne
After the Falklands tactics and training changed, and a new uniform was needed to reflect those changes. Troops were already wearing jungles and windproofs in Sennybridge training areas because they dried faster. The 68 pattern was expensive, so finding something cheaper was also sought. A colourway was dropped as the MOD found out they didn't own the rights to the print method or possibly even the actual design when they changed manufacturer. Sizing changed to metric. Ten years off rubbish design and manufacture followed until "95 came out. All sorts of cloth and material tried, including rip stop, and the DPM got darker and darker with fewer colour ways and more simple patterns. No "dots" nor edge highlights. Some was dreadful. Where as the early DPM was often thought too light coloured, the later patterns were too dark turning almost black when wet. For the UK and Europe the 1970's DPM works very well in the woods and fields. Later DPM never worked as well, and a radical change to MTP was welcomed.
Why don’t the wives understand how great all these jackets are. Not to mention valuable and extremely well made and awesome. I guess they naturally have that flaw not being able to see quality
I think DPM is the most attractive camouflage ever created- I wore the US woodland camo when I served, but the DPM is a much more softer natural looking camo the blends well in the correct environment. They even have it in desert shades as well. great video.
I never served. I was an army Cadet late 80 into early 90 and remembered the variation. I thought it was just because we got old worn hand me downs in various states of wear ie washed, ironed, faded, it was really obvious at twilight with some kit almost glowing in the dull light.
I really preferred the 68 pattern which was a better quality jacket but the trousers took forever to dry. The 84 pattern was poorly designed and manufactured and required a lot of modifications to even make it useful. That said the windproofs were great especially private purchase ones which there were several companies making in the 80s . I personally much prefer DPM over MTP .
Was issued 2 smocks and 2 pairs of combat trousers 1982.Non of them matched ,some were lighter shades or much greener.The style was to wear the jackets short and tight by fastening the bottom drawstring and tucking the skirt inside,prefered wear with it, was a pair of narrowed lightweight trousers ,the camo ones were very heavy to wear and slow to dry out,the lightweights dried much quicker.Finally a pair of german para boots were highly prized as opposed to the leaky dpm boots and archaic puttees,if you could get them. Hoods were never issued and even if issued would never have been allowed to wear them as they inhibit visibility.
Thanks. I did see a unit photo one. There was about 30-ish lads in the picture and there DPM jackets varied. I think there was about seven different variations in the DPM colouring.
I remember the 85 issue, and it was terrible, was only fit for guard duty, in the field we all preferred a sas windproof and tropical trousers instead, at least they didnt stay wet, the quality and fit was not as good as the pervious issue, just like the previous issue there were a lot of variations in the pattern, some were smaller and crisper, like the smock I was issued in basic, the pattern was noticeably smaller and darker than anyone else's, so much so the brown was almost purple, back in '85 it must have been towards the end of the previous issue as some blokes got the previos kit, and one bloke with huge feet ended up with DMS boots and puttees instead of the O-11 boots, his boots didnt fall apart like mine.. but thats another story, it wasnt uncommon to see some DPM had the black part of the pattern shifted, this appeared to be variation by the different manufacturers, it came without any lining for the smock but the trousers were still lined during my time, but in truth blokes used to cut the lining out of the older smocks anyway as they dried quicker and were easier iron without it, the seams were awful and the trousers used to always split under the crotch, the only thing good about it was it was easy to iron and the internal front pockets were easy to dump mags down, but the front chest pockets seemed to be deliberately designed for things to fall out of them if you bent over to pick something up... but saying that smokers used to take advantage of the FFD pouch on the back of the right arm.
Thanks, very informative and well done video. I am a collector of british militaria of the cold war era, and found your explanation while browsing around. Very detailed and useful. Thanks again.
very good camo pattern, familiar to the US woodland BDU pattern. I have a few items that have DPM and they also come in the lighter tan desert variation.
Some times wonder if they have a common origin but haven't seen anything to say so. But then the US woodland did come out many years after DPM, so perhaps M81 takes some inspiration from DPM? I did do a little video on the desert DPM studio.ru-vid.comwwTCii4R1nQ/edit
I think I must have been half asleep last night. Woke up this morning and realised M81 was just a modification to ERDL which came out in 1948, predating DPM. Still wonder if they all derive or were influenced by German Leibermuster.
I have both M65 and M95 jackets. I wore the M65 when I was on active duty in the U.S. Armed Forces 1972-94. With the liner it kept me warm during the winters in Idaho and western Germany. However, the M65 would soak up the rain, reducing it's insulating properties. Not so with my surplus Czech M95. It repels rain much better. It's also much warmer (with the faux fur liner) than the M65 in temperatures below zero F.
Hey man, I served in vz.97 and it's good gear. Those strange loops on the shoulders are used to drag a wounded soldier from the battlefield. The winter liner is very warm, we called it "fake fur". In the night patrol at -20 it was useful. The liner was used in vz.85 and taken over in vz.97. I am also a collector of military surplus and I have several winter liners for vz.97, so if you write me the size of your jacket, I can send you one. Nice video, keep it up. Take care!
That's interesting. I would have thought they would have been better quality. On saying that, I notice British army MTP stuff seems to fade quickly and that's more modern.
Good vid. I think the solid white worked the best in all placements. The german worked well in the pines. The civy pattern was too dark and stood out the most.
