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echo3oscar1833
12-22-08, 12:23 AM
K got a question for those of us that were issued the old style Cammies before they came out with the Digitals. As you know in Boot we were issued 4 pairs of the regular style Cammies. Once I was in MCT, Schools, and then the Fleet. I always noticed alot of NCO's, SNCO's and Officers wearing Cammies that were made out of a different Material than the Boot issue ones. I always thought the ones that the NCO's, SNCO's and Officers wore were nicer. They seemed like they held a crease alot better, and looked sharper than the ones that we were issued in Boot. I was thinking about getting a few pairs of them and getting my Name Tapes from my old ones switch over. So my question is what kind of Material are these Cammies made from. I was going to get some Digital Cammies, for the heck of it, but decided against it being as I was never issued them.:marine:

Also just a quirk of mine I wish the Marines that are in today had to polish boots lol :D.

HurricaneRJ
12-22-08, 07:10 AM
Also just a quirk of mine I wish the Marines that are in today had to polish boots lol :D.
Todays generation of Marines would call that hazing. That is such an vulgar statement to make. How cruel and painful would that be.:p

HABU
12-22-08, 07:31 AM
so much has changed since i was in the corps. i can scarcely recognise things anymore. i'd be lost today. i wore the woodland cammies and we polished our boots... but then i was in from '79-'87... the A-2 rifles and mre's were just comming in. i guess that alice packs and canteen cups are history.

Maldonado 2060
12-22-08, 08:05 AM
I always thought they wore out the cammies til they were soft then they startched the hell out of them. I was one of the last platoons on Parris Island to get issued woodlands so I didnt get a chance to find out all the little secrets to starching and fitting the woodlands.As for the newer Marines I think they were a little cheated. I learned how to Iron,sew, kill and drill at bootcamp.

Big Jim
12-22-08, 08:30 AM
K got a question for those of us that were issued the old style Cammies before they came out with the Digitals. As you know in Boot we were issued 4 pairs of the regular style Cammies. Once I was in MCT, Schools, and then the Fleet. I always noticed alot of NCO's, SNCO's and Officers wearing Cammies that were made out of a different Material than the Boot issue ones. I always thought the ones that the NCO's, SNCO's and Officers wore were nicer. They seemed like they held a crease alot better, and looked sharper than the ones that we were issued in Boot. I was thinking about getting a few pairs of them and getting my Name Tapes from my old ones switch over. So my question is what kind of Material are these Cammies made from. I was going to get some Digital Cammies, for the heck of it, but decided against it being as I was never issued them.:marine:

Also just a quirk of mine I wish the Marines that are in today had to polish boots lol :D.


Do you mean the poplin ripstop ones or the thick woodland style cammies...? I know whenever we had some new article of uniform come out we had to go buy one, mark it properly in the proper place and display it properly....I don't think you really have a choice as to whether or not to get those digital cammies or not. You might wanna check with your SNCO about that....that just amazes me that today's Marines don't have to polish their boots...!!!

KawiGunny
12-22-08, 08:51 AM
As BigJim has said, you are probably talking about the poplin ripstop. There was two different versions. There was some from a long time ago (Not sure of the years) that were actually a lighter shade of green when they were washed a lot. Then we had the ones you might have seen that when washed a lot faded like the regular woodland cammies. They turned into snow cammies as we used to call them. They were actually considered unserviceable but a lot of people still wore them because noone ever told them different.

echo3oscar1833
12-22-08, 11:46 AM
Do you mean the poplin ripstop ones or the thick woodland style cammies...? I know whenever we had some new article of uniform come out we had to go buy one, mark it properly in the proper place and display it properly....I don't think you really have a choice as to whether or not to get those digital cammies or not. You might wanna check with your SNCO about that....that just amazes me that today's Marines don't have to polish their boots...!!!

Ill have to go find a SNCO somewhere there Big Jim im not in anymore. Anyone wanna be my SNCO lol:D

echo3oscar1833
12-22-08, 11:51 AM
As BigJim has said, you are probably talking about the poplin ripstop. There was two different versions. There was some from a long time ago (Not sure of the years) that were actually a lighter shade of green when they were washed a lot. Then we had the ones you might have seen that when washed a lot faded like the regular woodland cammies. They turned into snow cammies as we used to call them. They were actually considered unserviceable but a lot of people still wore them because noone ever told them different.


Poplin yeah thats what I was thinking about. I had heard the term before but couldn't think. So in your experience there Gunny what would you recommend, the Cotton/Nylon, or the Poplin Cammies. All the ones I have are Cotton/Nylon. Like I said Ive been out for a few years. I was just looking to get some and replace a few old beat up pairs for sentimenal value. Semper Fi Gunny:marine:

usmc0331
12-22-08, 11:54 AM
Todays generation of Marines would call that hazing. That is such an vulgar statement to make. How cruel and painful would that be.:p

lmao true

they had a summer thicknees and a winter thickness in the woodland utilities, some had a slight look of being different but it was just the material

thewookie
12-22-08, 12:10 PM
I think Big Jim answered this, but walking down memory lane.....

I had a set of the old woodlands that were almost white, big ole collars and everything. Then one day we got a new Sgt. Major, and when he saw me wearing them he basically ripped my azz into the next planet, and I never wore those again, but I still have them somewhere boxed up at my mother's house.....

And my two cents about which ones I'd get - I would get the woodlands myself, they are hotter in the summer, but they sure beat the heck out of the those thin-azz poplins in terms of wear and tear.

And to Big Jim about polishing boots - I had some nasty boots that I busted out for boards and whatnot, but if I had a choice between polishing my ole black cadillac boots, or wearing and maintaining what they have now, I'd take what they have now, any day, and twice on Tuesdays. They got them wearing boots that you and I would die for, Jim. Bout time the Corps took care of our Marines most important asset, their dogs.

Plus now they dont have to press cammies every night either - more time for libo is what I'm talking about.:beer:

I always though pressing a war uniform was stupid, and spit shining boots, but I played the game and shut my suck.

Big Jim
12-22-08, 12:19 PM
I think Big Jim answered this, but walking down memory lane.....

I had a set of the old woodlands that were almost white, big ole collars and everything. Then one day we got a new Sgt. Major, and when he saw me wearing them he basically ripped my azz into the next planet, and I never wore those again, but I still have them somewhere boxed up at my mother's house.....

And my two cents about which ones I'd get - I would get the woodlands myself, they are hotter in the summer, but they sure beat the heck out of the those thin-azz poplins in terms of wear and tear.

And to Big Jim about polishing boots - I had some nasty boots that I busted out for boards and whatnot, but if I had a choice between polishing my ole black cadillac boots, or wearing and maintaining what they have now, I'd take what they have now, any day, and twice on Tuesdays. They got them wearing boots that you and I would die for, Jim. Bout time the Corps took care of our Marines most important asset, their dogs.

Plus now they dont have to press cammies every night either - more time for libo is what I'm talking about.:beer:

I always though pressing a war uniform was stupid, and spit shining boots, but I played the game and shut my suck.


Oh I hated it too, brother...don't get me wrong....but I had the same thing you did...but I bought extra boots and hid those from inspections and the like and kept the serviceable ones shined. I thought they don't polish at all...not at all...don't they...?? I may be wrong....but if they don't polish at all it just takes away from tradition , thats what I was thinking about...I remember hving to stay up late to get ready for a CG or junk on the bunk inspection marking and cleaning everything.


Ah, memories.....some I couldn't forget even if I wanted to.....LOL...!!

thewookie
12-22-08, 12:33 PM
Oh I hated it too, brother...don't get me wrong....but I had the same thing you did...but I bought extra boots and hid those from inspections and the like and kept the serviceable ones shined. I thought they don't polish at all...not at all...don't they...?? I may be wrong....but if they don't polish at all it just takes away from tradition , thats what I was thinking about...I remember having to stay up late to get ready for a CG or junk on the bunk inspection marking and cleaning everything.


Ah, memories.....some I couldn't forget even if I wanted to.....LOL...!!

Merry Christmas, Jim, first of all, my brother.

I hear what you're saying, and I had a complete set of uniforms, from the stamped and pressed skivie draws, shirts, and socks I kept wrapped in saran wrap, all the way up to 4 sets of pressed, and IP free cammies, which all did nothing but sit and wait for those inspections. Two sets of boots I never wore. I had everything in a box, ready to hang up and stand any inspection with a little work.

But you know what, Jim, that was stupid. At the time I was genius, I guess because I never sweated any inspections, but what a waste of time and money.

My hope now, is that with our Marines fighting and winning two wars and countless un-reported conflicts around the globe, that they are finding better things to do with our Marines free time, and in particular in terms of training. Instead of having today's Marine buy, prepare, and store "pretty" clothes for some IG. Who, as you know, might come in your room, you'll get the BC, but you might not get any IG, and if the IG does come in your room - he's in and out. Peek-a-boo.

So, my rant is - I hope the Marine's of the 21st century are training and becoming better warriors in their free time. More time practicing killing skills, and less time spit shining boots and pressing cammies.

To your original point - I'm sure there are plenty of Marines i.e Drill Instructors, MSG, Marine CADRE and MCSF units and so forth, that are still honoring the USMC's fine tradition of being clean and squared away motherfockers!

Big Jim
12-22-08, 12:39 PM
Merry Christmas, Jim, first of all, my brother.

I hear what you're saying, and I had a complete set of uniforms, from the stamped and pressed skivie draws, shirts, and socks I kept wrapped in saran wrap, all the way up to 4 sets of pressed, and IP free cammies, which all did nothing but sit and wait for those inspections. Two sets of boots I never wore. I had everything in a box, ready to hang up and stand any inspection with a little work.

But you know what, Jim, that was stupid.

My hope now, is that with our Marines fighting and winning two wars and countless un-reported conflicts around the globe, that they are finding better things to do with our Marines free time, and in particular in terms of training. Instead of having today's Marine buy, prepare, and store "pretty" clothes for some IG. Who, as you know, might come in your room, you'll get the BC, but you might not get any IG, and if the IG does come in your room - he's in and out. Peek-a-boo.

So, my rant is - I hope the Marine's of the 21st century are training and becoming better warriors in their free time. More time practicing killing skills, and less time spit shining boots and pressing cammies.

But, to cut to the chase and too, your original point - I'm sure there are plenty of Marines i.e Drill Instructors, MSG, Marine CADRE and MCSF units and so forth, that are still honoring the USMC's fine tradition of being clean and squared away motherfockers!


HAHAHA...that was funny....Merry Christmas to you and yours brother....and may you have a Happy New Year...!! I hear you and understand you...and agree with you....and yes there are those units who are all about the Parade and not a single wrinkle or Irish pennant and you can see yourself in those shoes. Yep, I do agree with you bro....those inspections were really frikkin quick now that I think about it. LOL.....

KawiGunny
12-22-08, 01:16 PM
Poplin yeah thats what I was thinking about. I had heard the term before but couldn't think. So in your experience there Gunny what would you recommend, the Cotton/Nylon, or the Poplin Cammies. All the ones I have are Cotton/Nylon. Like I said Ive been out for a few years. I was just looking to get some and replace a few old beat up pairs for sentimenal value. Semper Fi Gunny:marine:

Can't beat the old cotton/nylon style for longevity. However, when the poplins came out, I bought some of those and wore them in the summer. They didn't hold up as long, especially in the bush, but they were a lot cooler. I always kept 3 or 4 pair of each readily available.

echo3oscar1833
12-22-08, 01:27 PM
Can't beat the old cotton/nylon style for longevity. However, when the poplins came out, I bought some of those and wore them in the summer. They didn't hold up as long, especially in the bush, but they were a lot cooler. I always kept 3 or 4 pair of each readily available.

Thx Gunny appreciate it, yeah I'm down to only one good pair of Cotton/Nylon ones. All the others were so beat to hell, I just now finished cutting the nametapes off of them. Im going to use them for the new ones. Found a few good sites that sell both styles. Figured I would use my old nametapes so I don't have to buy new ones. Now the next thing is figuring out some place here in the good ol civilian world that will actually know how to sew them on lol. After looking at my old jungle boots to I think I need a new pair of those the heal is a little worn. I always heard that if you can't stick a #2 pencil in the tread, the sole was unservicable. Does anyone know if that is true. I have the same pair of boots from Boot Camp, but they still got a shine after sitting in the closet for a few years lol.:marine:

mgkusmc
12-22-08, 01:46 PM
echo

What size do you wear? I might be able to get you some fairly cheap, if you wear the right sized top then I've got nice set of 3 tops very nicely pressed with EGA on the pockets already...bottoms might need some TLC to them lol.

echo3oscar1833
12-22-08, 01:58 PM
echo

What size do you wear? I might be able to get you some fairly cheap, if you wear the right sized top then I've got nice set of 3 tops very nicely pressed with EGA on the pockets already...bottoms might need some TLC to them lol.

Well if there Small Longs I would be interested. I was one of those skinny Marines. But the good thing about wearing that particular size as my Gunny put it one day. When your skinny, and your Cammies are pressed, and boots are shined you look like one heck of a Polished Marine. Im sure as many of you have seen before there are some Marines when they wore there Cammies or other Uniforms, no matter how hard they tried to look neat, they just couldn't do it based off of height and wieght. I knew a guy that was super short and stacked cause he lifted wieghts alot. He was a good Marine, but damn he sure looked like a bag of a$$ in his Uniforms lol.:marine:

mgkusmc
12-22-08, 02:11 PM
they are medium short

SGT7477
12-22-08, 02:56 PM
As BigJim has said, you are probably talking about the poplin ripstop. There was two different versions. There was some from a long time ago (Not sure of the years) that were actually a lighter shade of green when they were washed a lot. Then we had the ones you might have seen that when washed a lot faded like the regular woodland cammies. They turned into snow cammies as we used to call them. They were actually considered unserviceable but a lot of people still wore them because noone ever told them different.

We never had cammies just starched utilities you would walk around like a piece of cardboard,lol.:flag:

SlingerDun
12-22-08, 03:16 PM
I have these 17' inch lace-up cowboy packers, split grain leather like todays military desert boot and wanted to wear them shot-gunned at a formal event:marine: The vamps are worn smooth and tight from scratching the bresh so i polished the toes but was left with fissures and cracks once i walked around and they really didn't mirror up worth a sh*t. http://www.leatherneck.com/forums/images/icons/icon13.gif

--->Dave

Sgt Leprechaun
12-22-08, 03:17 PM
LOL. I STILL have my 'inspection stuff', still boxed and ready to roll.

As far as the cammies go, it's going to depend on 'when' you were in, I guess. I hit it right at a transistional time, between ripstop poplins/jungles, to woodlands.

I was issued a 'mix and match', of slash pocket jungle cammies, straight pocket poplin cammies, and the old 'elvis' collar woodland heavys. Never saw the 'summer weight' woodlands, or if they came out I never got them my first time in (82-89).

The regular OD's had been phased out by the time I came in, but my recruit book (November 82) still showed the OD poplin covers being used.

Of course, we also wore white t-shirts and used a 'chrome dome' in recruit training LOL.

Oh, there was no standardization of what you wore when, cammie wise. You wore what you had. As long as it was the same 'kind', that is.

And...I've still got all mine someplace. The trousers wore out faster than the blouses.

MT3533
03-23-09, 07:55 PM
Dug up an old thread, but what the hell...

We called the thin ones that were issued 'ripstops' and the heavy ones "woodlands" I still have a sun bleached set of woodlands with the tan lines where the lance chev's were and the USMC transfer on the pocket. I remember once the CG showed up to the Amtrack ramp with the digitals on sometime in 2001.

Alice packs and H harness;s issued, the instruction card in my flak was dated long before I was born. We were issued 2 pairs of boots in boot, jungles and cadilac's. I bought a pair of green jungles that I wore until the sole fell off. The black ICB's were issued to us around '99, but I only used them in the field because they looked like a bulky pair of chuck taylor sneakers, and the Gunny would have our ass if we showed up for inspection morning wearing them. There were no stitches on the covers, we had to learn how to make them look like a Marine cover.

Oh and we had to walk up hill both ways to work in snow and we liked it

Semper Fi!:usmc:

avenger08
03-24-09, 09:09 AM
so much has changed since i was in the corps. i can scarcely recognise things anymore. i'd be lost today. i wore the woodland cammies and we polished our boots... but then i was in from '79-'87... the A-2 rifles and mre's were just comming in. i guess that alice packs and canteen cups are history.

no sgt, we dont have alice packs anymore, we have this **** called ilb packs ( Individual Load Bearing) and we still have canteen cups although most marines leave them back and use their camel backs

SgtHMH
03-24-09, 12:38 PM
When I went to Boot we were issued Poplin Cammies ploy, they were differant cammie pattern, then the Corps got a heavey cotton cammie, Then the Corps gots the Woodland ripstop ploy/cotton, alot of Marines would starch the Cammies, but you could get Office Hours for this because they put a pattern in the cammies for night. Desert Cammies is heavey set like they had before. The Digitals are a heavey set type also, only for Marines as were the old Poplins type. We had to break down our black leather boots at the wash rack and then spit shine, the green socks would turn your feet green when wearing the black leather boots.

Semper Fi

FistFu68
03-24-09, 04:33 PM
:evilgrin: Had my Jungle Boots Bronzed with Dog Tag in lace they are very 'chiney use them as bookends :beer: :iwo:

JWDevilDog
03-25-09, 07:17 AM
That's affirmative, gentlemen, today's Marines do not have to shine our boots at all. They are tan and cannot be polished. Yes, they still have to be cleaned, but in garrison that's very rare. Just wiping mud or whatever off them.

Some people still press their cammies (I do when I'm rolling my sleeves sometimes, for example). One of my Ssgts still presses his, and he always looks squared the f*ck away. But, in general with the new digis, this is not necessary. They still look squared away and good, unless you throw them in a heep on the floor (I hate when Marines disrespect a uniform like that...)

avenger08
03-25-09, 08:33 AM
And...I've still got all mine someplace. The trousers wore out faster than the blouses.

Thats the way it is with the new digital cammies as well. our trousers wear out alot faster than our blouses do. all of my blouses are still in good shape except for my desert blouses they have black clp stains on the right shoulder