Boots

The only calf length boot worn by NZ Army personal, up until then, was the British Army green canvas one issued to guys during the Malay confrontation. In 1967 the NZ Army began issuing a calf length boot. One thing that was done by some was to get zips for their boots.  This made it easy to sleep without your boots on and it was quick to get them on if you needed to. The early type was a laced in zip. However, there was a group of us that took our boots to the Boot Maker and got him to put zips on the inside of the boots. These boots were NZ issue and are the first sets of boots that had a zip in them that I know of. 

 During our last year in Terendak Camp, 1969, a lot of us into our second year were able to get our Australian issue boots done this way. Everyone in W Coy received at least one or two pairs of Aussie boots on resupply. I am sure there are still guys who remember this situation occurring and I wonder if anyone has photos of those boots.

My belief is that the other Allied Armies were rigid in what their forces wore, which meant they were generally in their issued uniforms. However, during our tour, it was generally accepted, as long as it was military issue. In my thoughts I am stuck with an O8 Pack. I also recall Alice Packs, so I am not sure what back pack we were issued with but there was a real mix of back packs too. You will understand now how different each person was as  far as what kit we wore, what boots we had on, what packs we carried and of course what webbing we used and how we assembled it. I thought I had better include that we all carried an entrenching tool and most had a machete or kukri. 

 Our Ration packs originally were NZ issue, but only for a short time and then we got an issue of NZ ration packs once in a while. We were mainly issued with either Australian or United States ration packs. Most of us also carried packets of Mah Mee noodles and other accessories in our rations. My favourite was Mah Mee with a can of US meat of any sort added. Water was an issue and our webbing had a real variety of a number of water-bottles we carried. I can remember once trying to count how many bottles JB carried. I know he had at least six bottles just on his web belt. I only had five bottles in total.

 I have to mention here what we had that was standard issue. Not necessarily the weapon, because there were some who altered their weapons in some way, but the ammunition which was either 7.62 or 5.56 depending on your role. All of our leaders carried M16’s as well as each grenadier in each section so their ammunition was 5.56mm. Our grenadiers also carried an M79 Grenade Launcher plus ammunition. Our Gunners had M60 machine guns and all others carried SLR’s or L1A1 Self Loading Rifles which meant they carried 7.62mm ammunition. There was no limit on the amount of ammunition you carried but the minimum was at least five 20 round magazines, some guys had 30 round magazines as well. Everyone in the rifle sections carried at least two 100 round belts for their gunner and most gunners carried at least 400 rounds as well. Some of us also carried M72 rocket launchers and some also carried Claymore Mines and many carried M18 smoke grenades. Most of us also carried two M26 grenades as well. 

Being able to wear whatever you felt comfortable in, clothing and footwear, whist on Ops was only the beginning. We also had a choice of how we configured our webbing and what pack we used, choosing from US, British, Australian and New Zealand issues. We were issued with either US, Australian or NZ rations which we supplemented with Asian and Kiwi supplements. We even were able to in some way modify our SLRs either by carvings or changing them to automatic. Finally I must say that the amount of ammunitions carried in a section was equivalent or more than what was carried by an normal Platoon.  This included at the very least twenty-five 100 round belts of ammunition for the section gunner.

..... WE  WERE  DEFFINITELY  A  DIFFERENT  LOT .....