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I’ve made a couple of comments regarding US Army, military history, and the Vietnam War recently. I thought I would post these links to the Center of Military History’s webpages on the Vietnam war.

the main webpage for the Center of Military History is:

http://www.history.army.mil/index.html

According to a friend who works there, CMH’s webpage has been the NUMBER ONE of ALL Army webpages for total hits for over a year and is still #1 as of this month.

I’ve been selling/swapping old camping gear I’d accumulated over the past thirty years at the local flea market (I just got a nice new pair of desert boots for a baggy beat-up old Soviet uniform); as I put together a pack to sell/swap every couple of weeks I came upon a small frame pack I picked up for $5 a few years back. At the time the guy selling it told me he didn’t know how the pack attached to the frame, but because it also had camping items in the pack itself I figured it had to be a bargain (and I could see the straps were compatible with an ALICE frame).

Anyway, I decided to look this thing up on the internet a few nights ago, searching under “Asian military frame packs” and such; no luck (the pack itself had “US” on it, but it just appeared to be some kind of knock-off). I couldn’t find markings on the metal frame itself, but eventually realized there was some type of paper in the pack’s top flap; it referred to a “lightweight rucksack”. Using that as a guide for my internet search, it turned out to be a US-issue P-68 light rucksack from the Vietnam era; basically it was a predecessor to the ALICE-type pack, combined with a large fanny pack instead of the larger ALICE pack. The small, wide pack sits at the bottom of the frame; it stall has the original straps for securing cargo (or a sleeping bag) above it, the original shoulder straps (less comfortable than ALICE straps), and a waist-belt strap (also less comfortable than the ALICE waist-belt).

After seeing them for sale for $250 online, I want to see if I can get $125 on Craigslist...

According to a friend who works there, CMH’s webpage has been the NUMBER ONE of ALL Army webpages for total hits for over a year and is still #1 as of this month.

The Army Public Affairs weenies are apparently not too happy about that. Some time ago, the Army removed the direct link to CMH from its homepage and now you have to do some searching. I suppose that they are jealous that the CMH is actually putting out information that people want to read and not the half assed PR nonsense that Public Affairs peddles.