Inventories or war 1066-2014

[Eclipse]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-one/11006139/Inventories-of-war-soldiers-kit-from-1066-to-2014.html



Thom Atkinson's series of images featuring British military equipment, from 1066 to 2014

[Brit_in_CAP]

Nice!  Some of that equipment looks very, very familiar....and I still have some of it!  In the bottom left corner is the Self Loading rifle, beloved of the UK military until around 1990 and using which I fired many thousands of rounds over many years - thankfully only in practice!  A very nice item indeed.  In the top left you can see a pair of black gloves.  Those are Urban Patrol Gloves, formerly the Northern Ireland glove, and those were the **best** gloves for normal work and duty I've ever owned and used.  Sadly, no longer obtainable.

Despite what my children will tell you, I did not qualify on the range with the 1815 musket, firing four rounds per minute....

If you look at Picture 1, the Lee Enfield rifle shown there remained as the primary small arm until the SLR in the 1960s and the Cadet Forces continued to use it for target shooting until ~1988 when they were issued a bolt action version of the SA80 (the grown up version of which is in the final picture).  I qualified on the Lee Enfield as a cadet which saved me several hours of additional range work at initial training!

This is fascinating; thanks for sharing!

[Trung Si Ma]

And what all of it weighs these days.

[Brit_in_CAP]

Indeed - I did not download your file but I did watch a program on H2 that discussed this very point.

It appears that today's warrior carries weight more than a medieval knight!  This assume, of course, that they actually take it all on any given mission.

The 1982 version shown weighed 120 pounds all up...trust me, I know that number well.....

[Trung Si Ma]

It was at an Army course in the early 70s that I first heard the phrase "...ounces equal pounds..." applied to the art of long distance backpacking.  How I wish that I had the titanium stuff that I own now back then.  Who knows, I might still be able to carry some of it around.

I was surprised at how light the fire support load outs were until I noticed that they weren't counting any of their digital equipment, spare batteries, specialized radios, LTD's, and they quoted the analog binoculars.  I wonder who else had gear not counted?

[Brit_in_CAP]

Indeed.  My son tells me that the USMC quite happily leave behind a lot of their digital equipment because of the overload it causes.

That said...I do recall the amazing feeling of superiority in 1983 when we got issued a couple of the early low-light scopes for the rifle....we used them as telescopes because, being Air Force techs on ground defense, nobody was going to issue us with the rifle attachment as well.  Might encourage us to think we really knew what we were doing...

A friend who served in the Royal Marines during the early 80s pointed out that the Commandos, who's load is the one in the penultimate picture, left an awful lot of the load on the beach once the began their march inland during the Falklands War - he was the first person to quote to me the 'ounces = pounds' phrase.

A big weight saver, oddly enough, was the change in the rations; the one shown for the 80s are packed in cans whilst the ones in the last picture are all bagged or packeted and somewhat 'boil in the bag' style.  The rectangular mess tins remained a feature for many years although the smart move was to keep the issue items for inspections and use personally purchased ones with a non-stick liner!  I never had those - airfield ground defense really didn't need them - but my friends in more combat-oriented groups swore by them!

[Brit_in_CAP]

I will add also that the 80s rations were quite delicious!  That's where I got my love of oatmeal (one packet per 24 hour box, to which you added hot water and some of the chocolate drink power...wonderful!)

They used to come with chocolate bars made specially by Cadburys, and it was fruit chocolate....can't get it anywhere anymore and the current rations (apparently) have candy bars that don't do so well in the Afghan heat.

[Simplex]

Would you mind a personal question? In which Regiments did you serve?  I had a mate who joined the Scots Guards and later went into the RAF as a dog handler then had a career with the MOD Police again as a dog handler. Also served with a soldier that had been in the Duke of Wellington Regiment, immigrated to the States and got drafted, that's how I met him. Also corresponded with a Staff Sergeant in the RMP posted to Northern Ireland many years ago.

[Brit_in_CAP]

I don't mind at all.

I was RAF through and through for 14.5 years.  Joined as a L Tech ST (flight sim fixer) and we double dutied as the airfield defense force hence my 'familiarity' with the gear.

Commissioned and went to college and ended up as a Flt Lt (Engineer Branch) specializing in telecoms and radar.

However, with a son serving in the USMC who has 3 combat deployments and a CAR, I always add that I was a Cold War Warrior - never saw active duty, served during and missed the Falklands and Persian Gulf Wars, spent a single week in NI on a staff inspection, never fired or received a shot in anger and left with zero ribbons, something of which I'm perversely proud for some reason!  Did my time, had a blast, met and married my wife of 28 years...all good.

[Simplex]

Excellent! Thank you for your service to the Crown, and please extend my sincere thanks to your son for his service to the USA.

[Brit_in_CAP]

Thanks; I should have added that this - the USA - is very much our home now and I feel very privileged to have been able to join CAP and to work with the cadets and Seniors.  It's not something I anticipated when we moved here!