"The 8 Most Useless Pieces of Gear Ever Issued" Topic

Quality of gear aside, when the U.S. military is equipping its troops, it tries to ensure they have everything they need to defeat the enemy and – if funding permits – not be entirely miserable in the meantime. Given the Pentagon's track record with winning battles, one would have to concede they're doing a pretty good job. Operationally, however, the troops figure out very quickly what's going to work and what they need to improvise…

Military: link

I recognize a lot of that list.

I still have my M-65 field jacket. it has liner in it and I liked mine. Comfy and warm.

The person that wrote this never stuck his head out of a drivers hatch for 8 + hours in December-January in Germany during a road march, or he would learn to appreciate those goggles and that cold weather mask. I still have mine.

The field jacket was excellent. Kept you warm and made a good pillow. I still have mine.

I'm still using my leather gloves that were army issued 40 years ago.

I still have a set of LBE…

Ah the joys of TA-50….

I agree about the beret. Clinton's Sec of Army wanted soldiers to look "special"….

The list strikes me as rather silly.

I still have my OD field jacket and liner. I liked it. I also wore the gloves and liners for years after I got out. It doesn't matter what kind of gloves you wore back then; if you needed fine motor skills you had to take them off.

Click bait article.

Wolfhag

Same here: the field jacket with liner is quite warm.

Dumbest article ever.
Never used a mosquito net

or the mask. Had balaclavas in Alaska.

The beret is not field gear.

Never had occasion to use the goggles, but I can see their utility.

No one cares about the navy and their MOPP gear

The gloves and liners were great together or separate as needed, trigger finger gloves were great in the cold

The field jacket and liner was really all you would need for most climes. We didn't use anything more for Alaska than that.

No grunts buckle the LBE belt so no worries about crawling.

POGs should never write articles like this…..

when worn over a thermal undershirt, woolly-pully and camo blouse, the field jacket was pretty decent in South Korea in January

The gloves were ok. They weren't very effective if they got really wet – but nothing really is in that case

Goggles were ok, ours were just old and in bad condition after a hundred sandstorms scratched the lenses to hell and the clear plastic had yellowed due to all the extreme heat and cold they were subjected to

Have to see but think I have my field jacket, more useful items have my steel helmet and gas mask.

While I agree that the Army's black beret was a bad idea, the idea came from the Army Chief of Staff, GEN Shinseki, not the Secretary, and it was during the Bush presidency, not Clinton's.

+1 Rakkasan

A beret is a travesty.

(Unless it's green.)

In defense of berets, they are warm and squishable, so easily stowed anywhere when not worn. Good to have when it is cold, though a balaclava would be better.

I have a surplus field jacket too, and like its warmth.

My memory is the same as Rakkasan's.

I was never in the military, but I have had two field jackets, one black and one tan, and a tan liner, for many years. They get out in cold weather pretty often, in town or in the mountains. I'm not sure they're actually M-65s, and am too lazy to go look. They might have been made for the civilian market.

Off topic, but I read the D Day assault vests were despised, because the pockets filled with water and sand and got very heavy. Possibly caused a few drownings.