Marine Infantry Gear - Iraq War (2004) 1st Bn, 4th Marines 

WE NEED YOUR HELP! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-LpgotZCMbsU.html Publications: U.S. Marines in Battle : An-Najaf August 2004 irp.fas.org/doddir/usmc/an-najaf.pdf Battle for the City of the Dead: In the Shadow of the Golden Dome, Najaf, August 2004 by Dick Camp (Author) amzn.to/3uU8Fwt Lists of books on small unit tactics: www.amazon.com/shop/brent0331 **This website sells a lot quality reproductions of vintage camouflage patterns**: onlinemilitaria.net/shopaff.asp?affid=1608

Huh, and here I thought your last name was 0331?

2004 Iraq was a vibe for sure. Thanks for sharing this. Weather you realize it or not this will prove to be of great historical value and is something to be treasured.

*Teenage Dirtbag firefight flashbacks kick in* but in all seriousness thank you for your service, hard work, and dedication to bringing us videos likes this. It’s crazy how most of us were children back during the early 2000’s. Watching many of our close relatives ship out to Iraq/Afghanistan. I had family KIA in Ramadi and Fallujah. You’re a walking history book man.

the early stages of the iraq war was peak coolness. something about that mix of modern stuff and cold war stuff thats just beautiful... then UCP came in and ruined everything

The photos of the gunship layin waste was awesome thanks man. Nothing beats seeing these old photos. Thanks man

My brother went to Iraq. He was 0311 basic infantry. Thanks for sharing

That was a trip down memory lane brother. Thank you for taking the time to put this together -Alpha company 1/4

Maaaaan this takes me back, I was right at the end of the transitional period for the Army going from BDU to ACU ('05 to '08- OIF V), got a whole mess of that stuff still haha. By the way-- Spec-Ops Brand gear is still in business!!! Thanks for the epic overview vid brother!!!

EPIC work SGT. MAJOR! OOH-freakin'-RAH! Your dedicated service and extended history lessons will not go unnoticed! The Beirut barracks bombing (my 9/11) turned me to service - our boot camp Marine Corps Drill Instructor was infantry there. I landed in the mid -80's Marine Air Wing (MCAS El Toro) but left years before Saddam invaded Kuwait. I did have service friends that were involved in the Gulf War. Your war pics are extraordinary - you were young and like too many - spent your youth in war. Glad you made it back - Semper Fi!

What an amazing presentation. All of your long form gear and history videos have been excellent, but this one was probably my favorite. Hard to beat the details coming from someone who lived it- and kept so many of the original pieces! All of the reference photos were fantastic, and it was really neat getting to see the guys from interviews with warfighters all together and with their gear. I can definitely see how you probably ended up on a few gear rabbitholes trying to find all the necessary pieces, but you did an excellent job bringing it all together. This gear is a part of history, and thank you so much for sharing it, just as you've facilitated the sharing of the individual stories of the men who carried that gear.

This is a really great production. Ive watched a couple times, and i plan to watch several more in the future. Premium top shelf stuff Mr 0331.

Awesome video, I love to learn how Early GWAT Guys like you ran their gear. Semper Fi

Wow, well done. It must have taken a lot of time to produce and edit this video. Very much appreciated!

Another great video that everyone can learn a lot from Brent. On a side note if SHTF ever in USA or NTX, I want to learn and will fight with him. He is a wealth of knowledge and experience. Thank Brent for keeping us, Americans safe and, being a BADASS MARINE.

The cemetery fight is something I think about regularly. Recognized the pics at 4:15 from the raid on the college. 81's! Thanks for posting this video. Love your channel. Whatever it takes!

Outstanding, Brent! We use to learn a lot more with all those explanations about the gear marines carried during that mission. Just like a documentary, piece by piece. Greetings from Brazil! 🇧🇷🇺🇸

Thank you for the video. I am learning alot from your content.

Outstanding presentation, Sergeant Major!

Thank you!! I do living history/re-enactment and i'm in the middle of collecting stuff for USMC 1991-2003, all that is very informative and helps in searching stuff!

Hello Brent, thank you for this detailed and interesting video. I appreciate the work and effort you put into your videos! Greetings from Germany, Torsten

This is so cool. One of my favorite periods of Marine gear. I can also tell you from experience that a lot of it is the same nowadays. Polypro, fleece, belts, boots, even the gortex is the same (just now in MARPAT camo). Thanks so much for your hard work on this!

Great stuff, Brent! It was the fastest 2hr vid I ever watched👍👍👍

Very cool video and awesome pieces of history. Keep up the great content!

Great video! Thanks for your service and sharing the info on the gear you guys carried.

That editing and storytelling on the intro was amazing. Along with your action sequences in other videos, I would totally watch a brent0331 war movie. Thank you!

Very cool video . Extremely informative . Great job. I throughly enjoyed it.

Thanks Brent you brought back a lot of memories about the transition of infantry gear both the Marine and Army Infantry. Of course I was in the Army as an Infantryman and as a Paratrooper. In combat you will learn what you will carry as a basic load for combat. During pre-deployment training we as a platoon would watch Blackhawk Down many times and into theatre specific training in Kuwait for a month before going to Iraq back in 2006. Very funny was many of our company NCOs had no clue to include my CO and 1SG to include my PSG. My PSG had only been to Desert Storm and didn't get shot at, his infantry battalion in the 1st Cavalry division rolled into Iraq and the war was over and got his CIB Combat Infantrymans Badge. I was in the Panama Invasion with my Airborne Infantry battalion, for a week it was more like a live fire exercise with real life targets shooting back at us. It was more like a "Wack a Mole" looking for someone who shot at us and shooting and maneuvering on the PDF as the moles. Iraq changed very much as new soldiers and post Cold War NCOs and Officers with not very relevant combat experience as myself had to lead young soldiers into combat. From my perspective Panama was a live fire exercise for future conflicts to create more tactics and improve infantry equipment for combat. By 2006 the equipment has improved but the Army Combat Uniform pattern sucked. It was hot and you stood out like a "Turd in a Punchbowl". The equipment and NVGs like the PVS-14 was an improvement over the PVS-7 and the PEQ-2 was better than the PEQ-4. Yes thank you for bringing back memories in my life that I cherish because I lived through it and lost none of my soldiers leading them. I am also haunted by bad decisions made by my senior leaders which were very incompetent but I was lucky to have good soldiers I have trained during pre-deployment and taught them skills to survive from my own personal experience to get out of bad situations and live. Thanks for the trip down memory lane, I have always known that the Marines were much more strict with uniforms and equipment than the Army. 👍👍💪💪

This was an incredible overview of the gear you guys had back then. There is something about the woodland IBA vests over desert camo that is so iconic. I did not know about the FLC for carrying kit instead of direct mounting the pouches. Thank you!

Cool collection of the gear and uniforms You were issued and had chance to keep them. The "dogtags" in the left boot are still a thing- I saw at least one marine sgt. having them tucked in the boot in 2023. in exercises. Thanks for the video.

Great video, it’s crazy how far some gear has changed, and what remains tried and true into todays gear.

Just watched the 5 1/2 minute intro again - awesome! Marines! Oorah! Thanks Brent!

Great breakdown! Thanks!

Wow this is unbelievable. I got out exactly 1 year ago today. I was with 1/4 Alpha as my original unit. RAIDERS. So legit to know you were one of the giants shoulders I was fortunate enough to stand on. Been watching you forever, incredible. Semper Fi.

Thanks for documenting this

I’m only a minute in and I can tell this is gonna be an amazing video.

What a great video.

Another great video brother. Semper Fi.

Keep up the quality content and Semper Fi

Great video! I could watch hours of combat photo slide shows.

Amazing intro! Great video!

Great presentation, solid work.

Wow , that was quite a video . Thank you for your service.

Thanks Brent. Excellent content as always. Appreciate you going through and showing us what you brought home. Thank you sir.

This is great, thanks for the video. You kept saying "it was 20 years ago" , and its crazy to think 20 friggin years ago now. Honestly doesnt seem like it was that long ago.

Good stuff ! Thanks for your service !

Excellent content. Brings back memories. Raah

This is bringing back memories! Loved the 3 point sling explanation! It's amazing what we did in "early" deployments with gear.... Now you see "Battle Belt set ups" that would have been wonderful to get some weight off our rigs

Excellent video.

I am thinking about joining the Marine Corps after high school, I saw some really cool gear you had and i learned a lot!

What a great video. You always seem to produce excellent content, but this one I can tell was a lot more work and you were obviously passionate about it. Awesome job man! As an Air Force guy here, the equipment machine gun teams have to pack blew my mind… RESPECT! 100%. I always look forward to to seeing more videos drop from your channel, I can’t count the time I’ve went back and rewatched watched some of your stuff. Thank you for all your hard work. Aloha 🤙🏽

Amazing intro, thanks for your service and fighting America’s enemies

AWESOME VIDEO!

Awesome video, you obviously put in a lot of effort editing it.

Great video. Good stuff. God bless. From Glenn CATT. In Massachusetts.

Awesome video!!!

Amazing video brent !

Awesome video, Brent! That's a great idea. Wish I had an IOTV and an M68CCO, but you have all the little pocket stuffers as well. Maybe I'll do one for 11bs in 2009 in Baghdad.

Watched history channel about Marines and their exploit circa 2004 as a kid and here I am a Lance Coolie

Great video, good job.

Thank you for showing the gear that was used prior. Its really interesting to see, just one example: the EGA had to be ironed onto certain articles of clothing at one point, I had no idea.

Awesome. Thanks for sharing. I thought the shaver was a flip phone 😂

Great video. I was an 0311 in 3/1 at Horno just a couple of years after this. My ITB/SOI class was the first to get the ACOG/RCO sight. In the fleet there was still a few of us using ALICE rucks (with upgraded straps) vs the newer ILBE deal that many of us hated. Like you said, equipment and gear was constantly changing.

Thanks for your service! Great information! You unlocked the gold camo on that mag from kills I bet.

Thanks for the epic "Junk on the Bunk". Did you know the Corps had a Boot Repair Unit at Camp Pendleton Main Side staffed by Marines in the '60s? They were deployable but we were issued Jungle Boots and replaced when they blew out. I wish 1st MarDiv had given us a handbook in RVN. Maybe that was a lesson learned. We were taught a two-person casualty drag...grab the man by the two underarms and drag. Thanks for sharing. Great job.

Excellent content Brent……takes me back 3/7 Lima 2003 invasion, 2004 Husaybah. We fought em something fierce.

My stepdad served in OIF 2 and I used to spend hours going through his storage trunks with him and looking at his photos and listening to stories. I have a real soft spot for this period of the Marine Corps and it's one of the main reasons I joined in 2012... Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, I never deployed. Very nostalgic and informative video! Even though I knew most of this stuff as an avid OIF enthusiast and fellow gearhead, it was great to have a salt dog who was there explain. I can tell you paid close attention to equipment just from how much of your own stuff you retained. I was always that guy holding onto special mags and helmet covers and camelbaks and underwear as mementos as well haha. Semper Fi!

Ever here of a AN TVS-2 talk about big, yes the USMC used them mounted on a M2 .50 cal machine gun, i have one.... excellent video, thx. Matt

Glad you did this bro good stuff. Rah!

this helped me so much with my Iraq 2004 Airsoft Impression, also if you cant find and desert MARPAT helmet covers for your LWH in smaller sizes check out your local surplus stores

I joined the Corps 2017, I have the utmost respect for men who did the fighting in that gear. Hot, uncomfortable, and barely increasing survivability. The gear we have today is much better at increasing survivability and comfort. And even from when I joined, is changing drastically.

Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I was an 0331 with 1/5 Weapons Co. in April 2004 so we were fighting in Fallujah while you guys were down south. The discman with 7 second anti-skip was a must! A Playboy magazine fit perfect in the back pocket of the interceptor vests, don’t ask how I know. We had a few guys with Aimpoint red dots in addition to iron sights and Acogs. Hard to believe that was 20 years ago, but even we were young once. In a world gone soft stay hard! Make Peace or Die!

Love your gear videos. I've been collecting marine corps gear myself. Just got the molle ii pack. With your 20 years of service, which was your favorite pack. Semper fi

If you ever looked out at the Euphrates and saw green speedboats with .50 cals and Mk.19s, that was me and my unit, Small Craft Co. At this time, one of our platoons was based in Iskandyriah and supporting the efforts in Najaf, interdicting reinforcements and supplies the enemy liked to transport down the river. We also provided blocking support, fire support, and infil and exfil support to SOF and Marine line units.

This channel is dope

1/4 was the most shit hot infantry unit on the planet, at that moment in time. The best!

Thank you for your service Mr.brent !!! This movie is the bible for Iraq War reenactors around the world. It was the most valuable two hours of my life. No USMC, No KOREA. God bless you!!!!

Great intro 👍🏼

It's hard to believe it's been 20 years already , my buddy just got back from his USMC reunion! He was over in the First Battle of Fallujah, and was listed MIA ... he'd gotten to go do some cool work , those two weeks with TF626. He told me, "Dave thanks to you I got to go with them "Army Guys" and do what they do, they even treated me like I was one of them, and being with them saved my life in combat!" Definitely Divine Intervention ✨️ My buddy went into a USAF recruiting office wearing his original green polartech and there was a Marine recruiting officer there, who tried taking his green polartech from him... Asking him where'd you get that? My buddy said it was issued to me... This guy thought my buddy was just some young kid there to enlist in the Airforce, and didn't believe he'd actually earned his green polartech... my buddy brought back a brown USMC polartech for me, and gave it to me as a special gift of appreciation, said he would of gotten me a green one, but only a few Marines got those. I've still got my brown one , and its still a treasured item I cherish 20 years later!❤

That’s some good memories there. Semper Fi brother

Thank you for your service and sacrifices for our nation brother👊🇺🇸🦅

2 hours of USMC goodness

Thanks Brent!

36:40 I was at MCRD Parris Island in RSP (Recon Sniper Platoon ifykyk). Didn't make it all the way through boot camp and got sent home for an injury. But while I was in RSP, a guy who was heading home gifted me a mirror just like the one you showed, man. He had been gifted it from another recruit on his way home, who had been gifted it from another recruit, and so on. Who knows who originally blught it and who knows if it's still there today? Brought back memories from being a shit stain on the island that I had forgot about. Thanks for that reminder and keep up the awesome videos, Brent.

Blast from the past I had the interceptor with Alice deuce gear. I was trailer plt and had two saw pouches with mags in them. I had an Alice 203 vest god I’m old. Good stuff bro.

Fuck yea Brent, this is awesome, I appreciate all you do

“High speed” and “you were the shiznit”. Proof you lived the era.

What a trip down memory lane. I was with Fox Co. 2nd Battalion 24th Marines, a reserve unit out of Chicago. We were in country from September '04 until March of '05 in Muhmudiyah, Lutifiyah and Yusifiya RIPing 2/2 - the same place that the battalion from the 101st Airborne committed all those atrocities not long after we were RIPed by the Army. We were also in Camp Horno for our workup training from June to September of '04. We all got new gear issued to us during the first week or two of our workups. All our old A2s were replaced with A4s except the 203s. All us riflemen got ACOGs. Even I had one as a SAW gunner. All our 7Bs were replaced with 14s. All of our deuce gear was still tri-color woodlands but we all were required to have MARPAT uniforms, even those of us that joined prior to those being standard issue. All the old Kevlar helments were swapped for the new light weight ones. Guys were getting high speed soles put onto their boots in various patterns like a sawtooth pattern. Some, not all, still went with a jungle style desert boot. I remember getting the APE armor kits half way through our deployment, getting knee pads issued, and sewing IR tags on our sleeve pockets and helmet covers. We all went out to Oceanside to get all that Blackhawk and Spec-Ops stuff. Some of it worked great, others were garbage. We had laminated cards for calling in CASEVACs, CAS, and calls for fire in our left sleeve pocket. We had a turniquette and a bandage in our right sleeve pocket in addition to our IFAKs. In our butt packs we had additional rations, a survival kit (homemade with waterproof matches or a magnesium stick, lint, fishing hooks, 550 cord, signal mirror and some other stuff). IFAKS went on our left side. NVGs on our right. I rocked the nomex flight gloves too because you could get the hot weather ones and the cold weather ones. I hated those glove inserts. They were always too big, got stretched out, and they always got wet and stayed wet. I remember having to have 2 camel baks, one zipped tied to the other, when we first got in country but that eased off once the weather cooled. It rained on us for 3 weeks straight in November and the temperature was in the high 30s and low 40s. On one patrol we stopped to talk to an elder for maybe a half hour and I was so cold I could barely stand up because my knees locked in place. I had to be helped up and walked very gingerly and slowly until the blood started flowing again and my knees warmed up and loosened up. After the rain all that water stayed around till late January so there were huge mud puddles everywhere. You'd step into one and sink up to you knees and you could barely get out. One cool thing was the changing of technology. A few guys had the Gen 1 iPod though they had problems when they didn't buy the AA battery back up system and they couldn't charge them. Some of the more tech savvy guys brought their laptops with them but they became paperweights when they couldn't charge them. My company was away from the main FOB for the majority of the deployment so we didn't have access to diesel generators until the last couple months. The one or two we did have were strictly for our comm gear and the CO's laptop. Almost everyone had a digital camera that could also record video and used AA batteries so there was no shortage of pictures and video. Almost everyone spent a fortune on the UnderArmor shirts and Oakley sunglasses and goggles - on top of the fortunes they spent at the Blackhawk and Spec-Ops stores. And yes - 2-3 months into our deployment we were told we couldn't wear the UnderArmor shirts, and shirts of similar sweat wicking material, because the high heat from IEDs were melting the fabric onto victims skin making injuries worse or causing injuries where there shouldn't have been. The only way to get it off was to take a surgical grade cheese grater and go to town until you've hit fresh flesh.

As a U.S. Army Infantryman from the early 80s we were never taught the use of force. Now as a Police officer I was first taught the use of force in the Police academy in 1989. 😌

I was a combat engineer with 1/4 in the 2003 deployment. We probably crossed paths at some point.

You guys were the shoulders on which I stood when entered the gates of Parris Island a decade later.

I was in the transition from the old Olive Drab to the Jungle Camo back in the mid 70's.

It’s living history at its finest. Also, damn I feel old now.

Brent, I was there (Army) in early Nov 2004 til September of 2005.; One of the business, I believe was tactical tailor, had a some fastex "s clips" that had a 1" side release buckle to assist in keeping the IBA closed. I had to have one. The recon wrap was great. I also experienced the premature wear on aviator gloves. I found the Blue water brand to be far more durable. I also deployed w a PASGT, due to shortages. I ended up buying an RBR helmet.

Miss you Blackhorse Bravo 1/4 boys! I hope you are all well & Semper Fi! Get sum!!

I've been in the army for 10 years, but my father was a contracted KBR medic, he was at the battle of Najaf. I don't even ask him about it, every time he says Najaf, it carrys weight. Now I know why. Much respect for the older GWOT gen, from a younger Gwot vet

I’m a retired Army 11H/11B that was in the Gulf War and OIF 1.5 (19 May 03-7 Jul 04) and we were sent to FOB St. Michael’s (I was in 2-6 INF, 1st Armor DIV.) and relieved the Marine unit there, I believe it was 2-2 Marines, but not sure, apologies for my ignorance, it was a long time ago. FOB St. Michael’s was a bitch, hammered almost daily. We had to go rescue the police departments now and then in Sadr City and we tore up a guy with an RPG trying to sneak up on us as we were downloading my Bradley from the HETT, when he got too close the gunner climbed into the turret, switched on to battery power and cut the RPG guy in half with the 240C. My buddy got hit with 3 RPG rounds that day and none detonated, they’d always forget to pull out the safety pin tab from the round nose cap. The Iraqis were always high on some sort of drug and they did STUPID things that got them easily killed. The Bn didn’t lose anyone on that operation which was great but the next deployment in 05-06 wasn’t so good.

Awesomeness

I was under the assumption that you had to return all your gear after the end of your contract? Neat they let you keep those memories from a big part of your life

I had that absolute same Spec Ops recon wrap in three color desert that I bought in the PX for OIF2. I wore it on our convoy from Kuwait to Balad and wore it over my face as we passed through the black pouring smoke from the refineries that smelled like burning tires. I still have that thing somewhere and to this day if I smell it I can still smell that burning tire smell of the refineries in it.