Field Gear

-Carrying The Weight-
The basic infantryman’s gear in 1990 was based around the ALICE (all-purpose lightweight individual carrying equipment) system. This consisted of an LC-2 individual belt, LC-1 individual equipment suspenders, and a variety of things to carry on them. Each armed services branch, each division, each brigade and battalion might have different procedures and regulations for how this equipment was worn. On the individual level, there was also the ability to tailor this equipment to fit the user. Some troopers used “100 mile an hour” tape to secure straps and equipment. Some tied the gear to the belt to ensure the ALICE clips didn’t come loose and allow something to fall off. Some bought nylon butt packs with their own money to expand their ability to carry items.

Member’s of the 82nd during a training exercise in the KSA. Note the buttpacks on several soldiers. Note the soldier standing in the middle of the picture next to the radioman. While everyone else has LC-2 suspenders it seems he has the earlier Vietnam era M-1967 H-suspenders.

In general though, most soldiers were likely to have at minimum two small arms ammunition carriers, two canteens, a field first aid dressing/compass case, a bayonet, and an M258A1 personal decontamination kit. These would all be attached in one way or another to the ALICE belt and suspenders.
Below is an example ALICE set up from my collection

Viewed from the back showing (left to right) a magazine pouch, M9 bayonet, canteen over and canteen with CBN cap, buttpack, another style canteen cover with standard canteen, and another magazine pouch. These are representative of the actual items that would have been issued and not all “period correct.” The buttpack, 1 of the canteen covers, and 1 of the mag pouches are newer than the type that would have been used in the Gulf. When striving for accuracy, a good bit of advice is to avoid the “SP” and “SPM” and other recent contract numbers. Period contracts for 62-77 were marked with “DSA”, and for the period 78-93 were “DLA.” Kit from both of these older contracts was likely in rotation in the Gulf.

The M9 bayonet includes a hard plastic sheath with a wire cutter/screwdriver on the bottom, a sharpening stone on the back, and an accessory pouch on the front that official literature refers to as a pistol magazine pouch.

Underneath the canteen are a canteen cup and a stand for the cup that can be used with a heating element to warm the cup’s contents.

The canteen carrier also holds a couple other items. The small pocket on the right side is for water purification tablets.

The covers also have a neat feature. This pile lining that can be moistened with water to help keep the canteen cool as the water evaporates. In a more temperate climate this might have worked better, but I wager with hot water going into the canteen and the high temps in the desert, this wasn’t terribly effective.

Seen from the front with belt buckled.

Usually bandages were carried on the shoulder straps on the chest. They are seen both with the flap up and down. The decontamination kits are also seen in various locations. Sometimes on the belt but usually higher up. A photo from the 82nd at the time shows at least some troopers were using 100 mph tape to keep them from flopping around on the shoulder straps like the example here.

A photo from Natick Labs. Digital Commonwealth.

-Body Armor-
Protective equipment for the Gulf War soldier was the PASGT, or “Personnel Armor System for Ground Troops.” This consisted of two items, the first being a fragmentation protective vest (colloquially called a “flak jacket” in some circles) in M81 woodland camo. There were 6-color desert covers made for these vests but pictures from almost all branches of the military during the Gulf War are more likely to show soldiers wearing the plain M81 vests over their DBDU’s. Many soldiers did not get the covers and many others chose not to add another layer of fabric to what was already a stifling bit of kit. These vests had adjustable shoulder pads which allowed the ALICE suspenders to be passed underneath. Because the ALICE belt and suspender set aren’t exactly “quick adjust”, you see a lot of photos of soldiers during the ground war wearing the ALICE kit over their vest with the belts unfastened. It seems rather than try to resize the belts and adjust all the attachments on it, many soldiers opted to just sling them on. Threading them through the shoulder pads of the vest would have kept them relatively secure. Years later (roughly 1998) an extender for the ALICE belt would be issued that added about 6 inches to it’s overall length, allowing it to quickly be resized on the fly for body armor, large coats, etc. I have never seen a picture of these extenders in use during the first Gulf War, but I have heard these extenders were available earlier than 1998 as private purchase items.

Natick Labs photo showing a soldier putting on a desert cover over the standard fragmentation vest. Digital Commonwealth.

A Natick Labs photo showing the Kevlar helmet with woodland cover. Digital Commonwealth.

The other item in the set is the PASGT combat helmet. These are olive drab Kevlar layered helmets that can accommodate camo fabric covers to match the environment. The troopers of the 82nd would have had M81 woodland camo helmet covers before they were shipped out to Saudi Arabia but received a 6-color cover to match the new DBDU’s. Of note, Airborne troopers had a special harness system with an extra pad for the helmet that was used in parachute jumps. I don’t believe any were taken or worn by the 82nd in the first Gulf War as no parachute drops were made and I can find no clear pictures of them in use. The photos available all show the standard PASGT helmet straps.
Troopers of the 82nd used “glint tape”, an infrared reflective material affixed to the very top of thier helmets with 100 mil an hour tape as a way to hopefully make them visible to friendly aircraft from the air and prevent fratricide incidents in combat.

A Kevar pot showing the 6 color desert cover with the elastic “cat’s eye” helmet band.

The “cat’s eyes” on the back of the band are luminescent at night.

Top of the helmet showing the affixed glint tape.

-Entrenching Tool-
While some examples from the Gulf War can be found of soldiers wearing the E-tool on their ALICE belts, I can find none of soldier from the 82nd carrying them in this manner. This is probably because space on the belt is limited and the E-tool adds a bit of weight to what is already a somewhat bulky load. The entrenching tool carrier is usually more likely to be seen on an ALICE pack. These folding shovels were and still are the standard issued tool for digging a hole. In 1991 the covers were a rubberized plastic and only had ALICE attachment points, today they are made of camo fabric and attach via MOLLE.

My large ALICE pack with sleeping roll, E-tool and rifle cleaning kit attached via ALICE clips.

-The “ALICE Pack”-
In addition to gear used to carry a “combat loadout”, the ALICE system included a pack in several sizes. The “large” is the example most seen in use with the 82nd. This “FIELD PACK, COMBAT, NYLON, LARGE, LC-1” consists of a bag with a generous main compartment, 3 large pockets on the outside, 3 smaller “ammunition pockets” on the upper portion, and various spots for attaching gear such as rifle cleaning kits and entrenching tools. This pack is then attached to the aluminum frame which has a kidney belt and shoulder straps to make carrying the pack easier. These large packs are designed to carry 70 pounds of whatever gear a soldier might need.

The issued desert camo pack covers. Underside.

Pack cover, outside.

The pack cover shown on the ALICE pack.

NEXT: Preparing For Chemical Warfare