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Better tell the flock Paul and BAR....... FFD = First Field Dressing. A sort of big heavy duty bandage/dressing for, well....., everything! Also known to the poms as a Shell Dressing
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03-07-2017 05:26 PM
# ADS
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Contributing Member
Originally Posted by
CINDERS
My B/inlaw went on an asian holiday care of our Govt
Cinders, do Australian Vietnam Veterans generally speak much about their Vietnam experiences or even openly admit to being a Vietnam Veteran, nowadays? I believe that Australian service personnel were withdrawn around 1972, about a year or so before the end of the war. In the Northern hemisphere it still doesn't seem to be well known that Australia made a valuable contrition in America's efforts in Vietnam.
---------- Post added at 11:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:47 PM ----------
Also known to the poms as a Shell Dressing
I know what they're talking about now.
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Contributing Member
No Merv only told me snippets but in typical style he said they were stonked one night he and his mate took immediate cover under a parked truck as it was the closest thing near by. After the rounds had stopped falling they got out from under the truck to turn a nice shade of grey he said as they discovered their cover had been a truck loaded with 'munitions. He said they would not have known about it had the truck stopped a round, reckons they had a few beers after that. I do not pry into what he may have seen or done another from him once they were going down a road and went past an APC that had taken a direct hit to the front glacis from a re-coiless rifle it was full of troops the back doors had been blown off and it was rather a messy sight in his words. I just asked about weapons and these are the only stories he has told me, he went back a few years ago he had to go back he reckons and surprised the guy at the Cu Chi tunnels range by his showing how to use an AK47 said you do not forget things funnily enough.
I never ever ask a veteran about the stuff they have done if they tell me straight off the bat fair call but I find it disrespectful to pry into a thing that I have no right to do, the only thing I am sad about is not getting to know my father enough to learn of his years o/s in N.G and surrounds as he remained a solitary aloof figure in our household until the day he died.
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Legacy Member
I think people are starting to show pride in thier service in vietnam here. You see the odd bumper sticker with a picture of a service ribbon and vietnam or the older "vietnam veteren and proud of it" sticker.
Through work i see inside a lot of peoples houses and you see a heaps of pictures of people in uniform. Mostly male relatives from ww1 and 2 (+ 2 or 3 WAAF, womens land army etc) but you also see children currently serving and the people themselves from thier own service.
Overall it seems military service is seen as a positive thing here.
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Advisory Panel
Originally Posted by
CINDERS
small starter belt to keep their heads down whilst some one else peels the full belt off you
The one thing I forgot too, there was a small side drum available for 50 rds that clipped on. Just enough to give initial cover fire while the rest took cover. I smashed mine flat doing ops of some kind, this guy threw his away I should think. One less thing to fiddle with...you can't move around with a great long belt hanging off you...anyway. 220 rds is huge...
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The side drums weren't the best things ever invented as I'm sure BAR will agree. The best thing, and something that the designers could have capitalised on was to put the belt into a '44 water bottle pouch and clip that to the gun via the 44 pattern belt clip thing that seemed almost made to clip to the gun. Soft and flexible and never a jamb so far as I recall. But no! Someone invented the box!
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Advisory Panel
The side drums weren't the best things ever invented as I'm sure BAR will agree.
They were neat but could be a pain. Their best feature was probably on the range when you shot single man operator and the belt had something to run across.
Originally Posted by
Peter Laidler
put the belt into a '44 water bottle pouch and clip that to the gun via the 44 pattern belt clip
We didn't have those, I heard it worked though. I just kept my belts at about 100 rds...
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Legacy Member
During my time our C6 GPMG never had a side bag or box in the dismounted role, so they were carried as BAR mentioned.
The C9 LMG had a hard plastic clip on box that held 200 rounds of 4BIT as factory shipped in black boxes. Green boxes were for blank and were shorter fore to aft to prevent accidental recycling with a ball loading. Good idea there actually, very good.
The plastic boxes would rattle even when full, so in 2004 some of us were issue soft cloth bag/boxes that held 200 rounds.
The worked well enough if you laid the belts in right and didn't squish the bag up too much.
I grandfathered my set down in 2006 to our section gunner when he took the gun and I became a C7/M203 grenadier. I lost track of them after he was killed and the war carried on.
Around the same time we had these little 50 bags, like a little ammo purse that started arriving, no idea about where those came from, likely pilfered from the US guys. They were less reliable than the 200 round bags and generally only carried for show in safe areas like KAF airbase.
We always had to travel armed, even at KAF which meant personal rifle/MG and at least 1 magazine. Lucky guys and WOGS got pistols to take to meals and showers.
Hauling a 200 round belt box as a gunner to supper was a nuisense and these little 50 rnd purses were a god send.
Outside the wire though, most guys had the smooth feeding 200 rnd hard box on there. No time for stoppages when the gun needed to run...
Last edited by Sentryduty; 03-10-2017 at 10:19 AM.
- Darren
1 PL West Nova Scotia Regiment 2000-2003
1 BN Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry 2003-2013
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Advisory Panel
Originally Posted by
Sentryduty
The plastic boxes would rattle even when full
That was the complaint with Thompson drums too, and they quit using them. That and the clumsiness and damage prone. The C9 drums were fine when used once. In the early days we'd be reusing them and that was worse... E never had any for the C6 though. I did see various countries that had boxes or belt drums.
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Contributing Member
Originally Posted by
CINDERS
I never ever ask a veteran about the stuff they have done if they tell me straight off the bat fair call but I find it disrespectful to pry into a thing that I have no right to do, the only thing I am sad about is not getting to know my father enough to learn of his years o/s in N.G and surrounds as he remained a solitary aloof figure in our household until the day he died.
I have never and would never pry into or ask a Veteran about their service but I have had interesting conversations occasionally with Veterans and I leave it to them to decide what they are happy to talk about.
In my father's case, he had no military service but experienced war at first hand, courteous of the Luftwaffe. At the end of the war he was left with serious hearing damage caused by being dive bombed and what "experts" today would probably call Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. One of the symptoms was recurring nightmares which lasted well into the 1970s. The only help which he received from the medical profession was to "look after" his wrecked ears which the hearing couldn't be repaired. There was absolutely nothing offered or suggested for his mental injuries, by the medical profession. In my father's case the one thing which I believed helped him recover from the P.T.S.D. was talking about his experiences to his family in detail; my father was happy to talk about what happened to him and I was happy to listen.
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