How to Build a Basic Vietnam Era Loadout for Airsoft (aka "Tiger Stripe was Rarely Used")
76The concept of Namsofting (Vietnam based airsofting) has been catching on in the world of airsoft for several years now.
When compared to all the fancy modern day equipment that goes with present era loadouts, Namsoft loadouts look rather simple and primitive. In all honsety they really are; thats part of the appeal for me (and I'm sure a few other Namsoft enthusiasts). Where as there is always some new digital camoflauge, gadget or "future weapon" that helps the modern day soldier (especially Spec Ops) to be a bit more proficient, for the Vietnam era soldier there was nothing more than some O.D. BDU's, some web gear, ammo, and your weapons. Skill and presence of mind was what kept them alive.
With that said, the loadout I will talk about here today will very general. I'm not trying to get into the complexities of unit specific uniforms and gear or such, and I'm definitely not going to lay out a Special Forces tiger stripe loadout. There is plenty of information out there to be had about tiger stripes. It's not that I dont like tigerstripe (honestly it is a very cool looking camo pattern), it's just that tiger stripe did not really get used that much (most pics of SpecOp's I have seen show them wearing jeand with OD jackets), so all the tiger stripe uniforms you see at Namsoft op's just make it seem fake.
Also it should be said that gear come in 3 basic groups: 1. exspensive reproductions; these are close to if not completely accurate 2.cheap reproductions; cheaper than the previous, but will not be as historicly accurate 3.military surplus; 100% acurate, but there is no garuntee as to what quality, size, and year of issue you will be able to find.
The 1st thing to look for is your "steel pot" style M1 helmet, and the omnipresent cloth cover. The band around it is optional.
The steel pot helmet desgin was used for a good number of years and the design only changed slightly over the years. Also it was not unheard of to have older gear recycled and one might even see a buddy wearing a WW2 era steel pot helmet. This gives some historical leeway as far as the helmet goes, although theses helmets are rarley hard to find.
A good way to make the helmet look more authentic would be scriibles a few odds and ends of graffiti onto your helmet. I have seen quite a few picture of soldiers with doodles and scribbles on their helmet covers.
The most common and popular camo associated with the Vietnam war is the tiger stripe, but unfortunatley the vast majority of soldiers Ive spoken told me that most troops never wore anything but the OD fatigues.
Special forces were more likely to wear the tiger stripe patterns, but they did not always wear it either. I do no know if its true, but I have heard that alot of special forces teams didnt wear it often because it tend to seem "aggressive" to the non violent citizens.
Your best bet is to go with your basic OD's to start with. Their are plenty of repro's of various quality, and many original uniforms still exist.
Web gear was issued quite a bit in the military, in fact it wasnt until ALICE type gear came out towards the end of the Vietnam war that web gear would be replaced. ALICE would later be replaced with MOLLE gear around 1997.
A good general year of equipment is the M56. You will want to get at least one of all these (and more than 1 of some): ammo pouches, 1st aid pouch, pistol belt, canteen+pouch, and suspenders. If you find a better deal on a different year, just try tomake sure that you keep all the years similiar.
These sturdy OD rucksacks are fairly roomy, and a great thing to have not only for realism, but to carry extra essentials you may want.
The problem you will probably find that it can be rather hard to find some of these in good condition, and when you do the price tends to be pretty high.
Depending on if your trying to a dead on replica kit of a specific group or not, you may even be able to get away with a ALICE type backpack, which can be a bit easier to find.
Jungle boots are probably going to be the single easiest to find aricle of gear of all of these. There are plenty of offerings, in many sizes.
These boots are lightweight, tough, and very breathable. On that note the airy nature of them means that you will freeze if you wear these during the winter.
Another thing to remember is that most of the jungle boots that were issued had the OD canvas and not the black versions you will see a lot of on the market.
The M-16A1 was the standard rifle issued during the war. It is quite distinctive from its other M-16/M4 variants with it's triangular fore grips, full stock, and longer barrel.
You could get away with a XM177 (CAR-15) or a even Thompson (stick mag, no drum) if you were going for a very early style kit.
The 1911 has a very long history of military service, and was the only service issue side arm during the Vietnam war.
The A1 version is the Vietnam era version. It looks a little plain jane when comapared to modern 1911's, but was durable, dependable,and powerful. Those traits made it a standard issue sidearm for many US military forces from 1911 to 1985, when it was replaced by the M9 (Beretta 9mm).
