Mannequin of the Month - Australian Infantryman, Australia, Early 1980s

A look at the kit of an Australian infantryman on exercise in Australia in the early 1980s.
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[@midnightteapot5633]

I wore this uniform and kit in the Reserves back in the early 80,s . I kept the giggle hat when I had to return the rest of the gear. It is incredible to consider that our parade uniform was still Battledress in the early 1980,s as well.

[@Reaper4367]

when i joined the Army in early '86, this was our issue, and our Platoons (15-Bravo-Male. 32 Delta-Female), were the last Platoons to march out in Battle Dress.

[@rethguals]

Was reserves well after your time. Honestly, I have no problems at all with battle dress as parade uniform. The old-style greens were (and in my opinion, still are) a great look, and as much as I liked going on parade with my medals on and the pipe band going and such, I always hated having all the various orders of uniform: - The short sleeve ceremonial shirt and trousers was our go to for parades - There was a long-sleeve ceremonial shirt, but the exact requirements to wear it were so exact I didn't need it for years. It sat in my closest for 10 years before I needed it, by which point I got too fat for it. It was promptly thrown in a bin by my Q-store, and a fresh one issued. I wore it once in the next five years, and I got to chuck it in a dumpster the day I discharged - They gave me a woolen jumper thing for winter parades. Due to parade doctrine technicalities, I never wore the fucking thing - There was a long sleeve service dress jacket for certain parades. Never wore it once, I don't know why it existed - yet another closet stuffer - A new service dress jacket and ceremonial pants were issued in 2016 (they were a little bit browner than the previous ones... gee, thanks Army). I wore the new jacket once for a big parade, the rest of my career it sat collecting dust in the cupboard while we were ordered to wear the old short sleeve shirt with the new pants - Later, we got issued Multicam uniforms in two varieties - one for barracks, one for field. Of course, design and production of the field shirts was fucked up (leading to concerns about sun burn and skin cancer), so for a while we were forced to mix the two uniforms like weirdos

[@RS-rj5sh]

They were still issuing battledress to the ARES in the early 1990's.... although they were never actually worn.

[@davidharvey8179]

​@@Reaper4367incorrect, I marched out late 1987 in Battledress.

[@davidleonard1813]

Missing a few things. 1. Bayonet frog between left pouch and bottle And maybe. By mid 80s these were issued in use too 2. J&Johnson shell dressing 3. Compass pouch

[@1337flite]

Tanks Rifleman Moore - I wore this in the cadets in the 80s and the regular army in the 90s. I spent my life in the army disposal in high school. The Australian combat jacket of the 80s onward, was Australian manufactured and called a "Coat, man's field", not an M65, although it was patterned after the M65. In the Aussie army the hat is called a bush hat, not a "jungle ha"t. Very rarely you might hear giggle hat. The hat during that period was worn "bashed" the crown was tucked in around on the inside of the brim, the hat sat on your head, with just the "cam loops" veritcal above the brim. In garrision they were soemtimes ironed - even starched - flat fromt eh side so they were sort of like an upturned boat sitting on head and sometimes worn low over the eyes with the back up high, so you couldn't see the digger's eyes and the digger could only see the ground a meter or two in front of him. Fashion. 🙂 Also missing cam scarf/sweat rag which was usually plain green. The Viet Nam era sweat rag was quite thick, maybe 3mm thich and ery absorbent. Later it was just a raltively thin mesh. Re the webbing it was not unusual up until the 80s for US M1956 kit to be issued, but by the time I got to kapooka in 1989 pretty much all all the kit was Aussie manufacutred, usually by Cantas. And from early 90s or so some of the kit had plastic "hardware", like the fireld pack large and the bum pack had 25mm fastex buckles instead of the brass 3 bar buskles to fasten the lid/flap. The "toggle rope" has no toggle and was called a "rope, fibre assembly". My favourite bit of (unofficial) nomencleture of the era was the "smock, psycholoogial" - a nylon "waterproof" smock in the green and black spotch cam that some Aussie kit had. The PU coated ones were waterproof, the earlier ones witha rubber coating on the inside were less waterproof.

[@indoman8887]

I joined in the late 60’s and it was AB boots at Kapooka and Ingleburn during infantry corp training, with GP’s being issued when you were posted to your battalion. I remember at Kapooka, the pants I was issued had a strap at waist level that was threaded through a large silver buckle to keep them up. During my tour of the “funny country”, I wore what was issued, but I was only back in Australia for short period of time before I was posted to Singapore/Malaysia for a couple of years. Here we really went to work on our webbing, with many people modifying it to their own specs. Some of us cut up webbing belts and had the sections sewn to the side of our Austpacks, which gave you the ability to carry two water bottles on the pack, although later models of this pack had these belt sections sewn to them during manufacture. In my case, I got rid of the shoulder straps (many did) and carried two water bottles on the belt plus an old Khaki Bren gun pouch on the back to carry bits and pieces. There was some weird and wonderful pieces of gear carried around the “J”, with the only rule being that it was not to fall apart while in use. Because the Brits were also there, some of their gear was even utilized. Back in Australia, I didn’t take the field jacket into the bush because it was too bulky, I would just use the khaki issue jumper of the time and the nylon camouflage rain jacket we were issued (it was bloody useless as a rain coat) over the top and folded back to waist level and it was just as effective as the jacket. When I see the gear they are issued with these days, I just shake my head in wonder, but good for them.

[@andrewcombe8907]

The bum pack carried 1 x 24 ration pack, a hexamine stove, rain coat (smock, tropical), rifle cleaning kit, maybe a ground sheet that had been used to fit inflatable tubes as a bed set, a first aid kit and odds and sods like note pad, pen, sun cream or a pair of gloves and beanie in winter.

[@davidharvey8179]

You tried to get two 'cups canteen' so you shaved/washed using one and cooked with the other.

[@gpaulkarcha3830]

Great videos Rifleman Moore. I really enjoy them Keep them coming. Cheers

[@MichaelDobran-is7pr]

As an Air Force Cadet.(AIR T C) in the 80s , we wore a variety of attire to make us look " Gung- Ho" When we went on camps. This included a variety of styles from. Various nations. Most of this gear was purchased from Aussie Disposals. As kids , it was important to look cool This led to some interesting combinations. From Mick.D.

[@MicMc539]

The Australian Army at this time was a sad and unhappy institution. We'd been flogged in Vietnam, protested against at Home, were littered with broken veterans and had a tiny Defence budget. About as popular with the Country as a Pork Chop in a Synagogue . DUTY FIRST.

[@stevesmith9151]

I was an Artilleryman in 4th Field Regiment 82 - 87, that looks almost exactly what I was wearing.

[@allangibson8494]

Compounded by the infection of corrupt ethics leading to war crimes in Afghanistan.

[@fatmanfaffing4116]

Compared to the kit and training the Diggers get today... totally agree. I remember not being allowed to wear our Howard Green jumpers (like the Brit ones with the shoulder and elbow patches) for two weeks because the Brigade HQ mob hadn't been issued theirs! And wehen the rplaced the old sleeping bag with thenewer one around 1980! Luxury! I had originally been issued the horse blanket and silk, which I still have.

[@kenfowler1980]

Same same ARES infantry 1980, ARA Sigs then Transport from 1982 until 1993. Boots worn until they fell off etc etc. Still got my Coat OG!

[@RS-rj5sh]

@@kenfowler1980 in the ARES in early 1990's you were issued with ONE pair of black GP Boots ...that pair of boots had to be used for everything from bush bashing in creeks and mud, and then spit shined for parade drill.....budgets were tight. The ADF of today do not know how easy they have it.

[@divarachelenvy]

loved me giggle hat... loved the Vietnam era rat packs too.

[@andrewcombe8907]

I was in the reserves in 1986 onward and it was shit. Our NCO’s were Vietnam veterans with PTSD, alcohol addiction and wife beating problems. We were issued ration packs dated 1968 and our kit was dated and recycled plus the tactics we applied were left over from a war we lost. I would never have signed up if I knew then what I know now.

[@SteveHB59]

Yep that’s what we had back in the 80’s in the ARA & AREs

[@kenfowler1980]

This uniform was worn by all soldiers until the introduction of the AUSCAM. The pouches for SLR magazines. I still have my Jacket - Coat OG with cold weather liner!

[@RS-rj5sh]

DPCU in about 1988

[@kenfowler1980]

@@RS-rj5sh only for those on Tattoo 88 - the rest of us battled on for another year ;) I got mine at the end of ‘89 and the brown boots came latter.

[@RS-rj5sh]

@@kenfowler1980 Chokos got DPCU from about 1991. Poo Boats came in a year or two later. The "Dubbin" smelled so good....🤣

[@jamespunch8049]

The ARVN also used dark green plastic bottles, made in V.N.

[@wayneclayson4403]

I still have the button Inner that kept you warm

[@m_mitch]

Is the bush hat inside out? I can't tell, my eyes aren't that good anymore.

[@csmdutch]

Just needs the woven scarf (sweat rag) used in that period.

[@wmsollenberger8706]

I had the same glue problem on my M65 while serving in the USAF Auxiliary, takes hours to get that stuff off! Really enjoyed this presentation, always fond of commonwealth jungle gear, very rakish! (gotta find a decent copy of the bucket hat!)

[@blacksmith67]

Except for the lack of angled upper pockets, it looks a lot like the combats that we wore in Canada in the early 1980s

[@radaraacf]

The angled pockets known as pixie shirts, were barracks not field variant but they did end up out bush on the odd occasion

[@mabbrey]

great stuff

[@94Aequitas]

My father practiced helicopter assaults jumping out of the back of trucks yelling "Bang! Bang! Bang!" In this uniform.

[@MicMc539]

''Bag of Bullets!!'' if you were the Section Gunner.

[@kingaroykid]

I remember having to yell out “bang, bang” during exercises because we had no blank ammo. I remember a friend trundling up the field chanting “tank, tank, tank” just to piss off the instructors!

[@RJVEK]

Looks very old fashioned for the 80s!

[@RS-rj5sh]

It was. Was replaced by the Camo uniform in about 1988

[@franckorphanos2998]

Got three pairs of jungle pants for 50 cents each from the oppy last year . Fkn winner .

[@TennoHeikaNate_Japanon]

Another great display! I'm quite fond of these post-Vietnam/pre-1990's Aussie and NZ kits as it's quite a difficult period to find info and photos about, at least here in the US. Is that M65 a regular US contract example, or is it a Foreign Military Sales contract? I have a 1970's US-made FMS contract M65 that was sold to the IDF, the only difference other than the black ink Zahal stamps the IDF put on it is that the nomenclature tag has no contract date or number stamped on it; that line is completely blank on the tag.

[@brass3019]

If its got Velcro closures in 1980s, its probably not US made. AS replenished the US sateen coats with a local (allegedly made in Taiwan) contract of pretty poor quality, looser weave, not waterproof and hardly water repellent, in the early 1970s.

[@fatmanfaffing4116]

Ours, as far as I can recall, were Australian made, listed as Coats, Mans, Field, O.G. and identical to US M65 Field Jackets. They were made at the Commonwealth Clothing Factory, Maribynong Victoria. I was never issued the liner. We called them 'Bush Jackets'. (1977-86)

[@1337flite]

@@fatmanfaffing4116 Agree - the combat jacket was the "Coat, Man's Field" Aussie made and not M65s in the 80s and 90s - maybe they were in earlier period.