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There was a South Vietnamese unit, I believe of national police that wore uniforms in the brown side pattern. It’s the same unit as the officer from the infamous .38 headshot photo taken during Tet ‘68.
Here you go www.google.com.vn/search?q=c%E1%BA%A3nh+s%C3%A1t+d%C3%A3+chi%E1%BA%BFn&client=safari&hl=en-vn&prmd=ivn&sxsrf=ALeKk01SrSgOFSDA1hE2I5EdvirpXo_HAw:1596045657714&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwipp-SzhfPqAhWYH3AKHWuKDykQ_AUoAXoECA0QAQ&biw=375&bih=553
Yeah the elite CSDC wore a pattern similar to brown Mitchell but I don't believe it was the same. They also used FN production Uzis and lots of Grease Guns and shotguns.
In the dry season, when vegetation turned yellowish-ish color, some troops would flip the cover over to this side. There was also apparently a few photos of guys in Cambodia around 1970 with the 1st Cav using it for some reason.
Because I was a Vietnam nerd who collected all this stuff before I enlisted, I traded a kid my Woodland helmet cover for ratty Mitchell Pattern cover in BCT. It nicely matched my shot out and rattling POS XM16E1 I was issued with in June 1984.
You can see Saudi's and their Nigerian allies wearing the brown side of the Mitchell pattern during the gulf war. I've heard that these were manufactured in Taiwan brown side only but who knows.
Talking about camo, could you make video about the camo patterns used in Vietnam? Also one more question: did soldiers ever use mismatched camo like germans in WWII (for example pants in one camo pattern, tunic in another, etc.)? German soldiers did do so because of shortages, so when they got supply of camo, the guys in unit just all took one piece from it be it helmet cover, camo smock, etc. (except for well supplied units and sometimes higher ranking people in the unit, those usually took more), and when they got supplied with another camo they just combined it (if you have camo pants, but you still have field gray tunic, then you'll much rather replace that tunic than those pants). I'm not sure how well the american units were supplied, but I'd assume that the same could happen to them.
Col David Hackworth in his book Steel my Soldier's Hearts, told he had ordered his battalion in the 9th Inf Div (4/39th) in '69 to flip the covers over to the Brown side as the Green side had become covered in graffiti that would depict things like F the Army (FTA), etc, as a disciplinary measure.
Read same in that book and his other book About Face . It did have a positive effect on morale, and many other things to turn that unit around. Both good reading. Have this helmet cover and elastic band, found in surplus store discard pile in alley bin.
@@terryv The Mitchell helmet cover definitely did have a predominantly brown camouflage printed on the reverse of it's normally seen green side. You're probably thinking of the ERDL helmet cover, which did only have a green camouflage print, with its reverse being the dye from the front bleeding through. The ERDL pattern was introduced late into the Vietnam War and it's use was much rarer than the Mitchell pattern. Compare these two: www.vietnamgear.com/kit.aspx?kit=374 www.vietnamgear.com/kit.aspx?kit=373
Can you do a video about soldiers in Vietnam not wearing covers on their helmet. I know a lot of south Vietnamese soldiers were not issued covers until later in the war, but I’m wondering if it was common for troops like on bases and stuff to not wear covers?
Covers were issued around 1958 I believe. Safe to say effectively all US troops in country had them and wore them. Only troops who might not wear them on a regular basis would probably be National Guard and reservists; you can see pictures of such troops at riots showing this.
I can't imagine wearing a helmet in the heat there,I cant even imagine getting off the plane and knowing you are in it for a year ..the heat rain snakes bugs VC etc,my freind went there in 66 and another in 65 .
I have my brother’s Mitchell pattern helmet cover. It has a blue cactus sewn into the right side, He was a U.S. Army combat engineer with I believe the 4th Army. 1966-1967.
