The Hat Jungle"Boonie hat" with insect net, the Soldiers of the Americal Division were not allowed to wear this hat until 1970 although other Divisions were. It depended on the CG (Commanding General) of the unit. Even after it was authorized for the Americal. The 198th Infantry Brigade was not allowed to wear this hat until months later. It was moral booster as there was so little else to look forward too, and moral was poor. This was a tropical type hat just for wear in SE Asia. It also came with a insect net. Soldiers would decorate this hat with old grenade pins or Indian headbands at times, to show as much individuality as possible.

This was the normal type baseball hat that was issued to soldiers at the time. Now you can see why they wanted the bonnie hat. This could be worn instead of the boonie hat.

Click on Combat Infantry Badge on Pocket

Jungle Jacket (shirt) this is a good example of a uniform worn by a member of the 198th Light Infantry Brigade. You can tell by the pocket patch. Notice the homemade patches made in Vietnam as well as the prestigious CIB (Combat Infantry Badge) which sits over the pocket. 23 MP's were not issued the CIB unless they had previously held an Infantry MOS (military occupational specialty), and had seen combat as such. This always seemed unfair to MP's who would be in the same fight as the "grunts" but those were the regulations, end of story. Also they were not authorized the Brigade patch ( exception was before they were part of the 23rd MP Company), this was sometimes ignored and could be seen on MP's pockets, after they became part of the 23rd MP Company.

How would a solder get to were he was going if it were not for his boots. The top example shows how a nice shined set looked but the bottom image shows how they usually looked. There were no hooch maids at LZ Bayonet and although MP's most members of the 3rd platoon could be mistaken for grunts. The Boots were designed for the tropics with drainage for all of the water, cloth sides and a special iron plate in the sole to help repel "budgie sticks" (enemy booby traps).

Old Style fatigue jacket (shirt) that was standard States side issue during the period and worn until 1967 in Vietnam. It turned out that these jackets were not made for the tropics and were very hot. Also note that the insignia was not camouflaged making the wearer a very good target for the emery.