Jungle Jacket; an Introduction

Background

During the Vietnam conflict, US soldiers needed clothing that would sustain a certain degree of comfort for soldiers operating in regions of high temperature and humidity. Tropical combat clothing was developed to as to maintain a high rate of activity for several hours before suffering from heat exhaustion.

The tropical combat uniform or “jungle fatigues/jackets” was the primary field uniform in Vietnam after 1963.

The Army conducted developmental work on hot-wet and hot-dry uniforms from 1952 to 1955 when several tropical and desert clothing
variations were evaluated. On 1 October 1962, DA (Department of the Army) requested the Quartermaster Research and Engineering Command to develop a functional hot weather uniform for Special Forces personnel in Southeast Asia. On 22 October, Maj. Gen. William “Bill” Rosson, assistant chief of staff for Special Warfare, reviewed a tropical combat uniform prototype, which he immediately accepted.
Shelby L. Stanton

The tropical combat uniform was based on M1942 parachutist jacket from World War II.

Filthy Thirteen member Clarence Ware applies war paint to Charles Plauda, June 5, 1944.

Pattern

All jungle fatigues pattern:

1st Pattern
Made from Olive Green shade 107, all-cotton poplin, with exposed buttons (6 front buttons), shoulder loops, side tabs, sleeve-gusset, and an inner gas flap at the front closure.

2nd Pattern
It all has the same configuration from 1st pattern, but 5 front buttons instead and added pocket flaps.

On 26 August 1964, the Army Materiel Command approved coat pocket flaps over pocket buttons to prevent snagging.
Shelby L. Stanton

3rd Pattern
Made from all-cotton poplin fabric with concealed buttons, sleeve-gusset and no shoulder loops, waist tabs, and gas flap. The “mother” pattern, It served as the foundation for the 4th and 5th pattern, as no major adjustments were made towards the end of the war.

Along with this third pattern, a class system was introduced to distinguish between Olive Green army shade 107 (Class 1) and the Army ERDL camouflage pattern (Class 2).

Absence of gas flap, epaulets and waist tabs

4th Pattern
Cut-based on 3rd Pattern, but new rip-stop materials are being used instead of all-cotton poplin (Usually the Nomenclature dated 68 fiscal years).

5th Pattern
The last pattern of jungle fatigue featured all the details from 4th pattern with the sleeve-gusset being eliminated from the jacket (Usually the Nomenclature dated 69 or higher fiscal years).

All jackets stated above are just a glimpse of basic patterns available, excluding the transition and experimental pieces.

Epilogue

Both OG107 and ERDL jungle fatigues continue to be authorized after the Vietnam war (state-side, Panama, Grenada campaign).

Don’t forget that there was a period of time in the early 1980’s when VN-era jungle fatigues were re-issued to units in hot weather climates (like Hawaii) because it was found that the 50/50 material in BDU’s was too hot. The re-issue of VN era jungle fatigues was a temporary stop-gap measure to hold troops over until the 100% cotton hot weather BDU (HWBDU) was issued.
Martinjmpr – USMF member.

That concludes the overview of the basic jungle jacket patterns. If you’re interested in delving deeper, I highly recommend purchasing reference books for a more comprehensive understanding. The information I’ve provided here only scratches the surface of this topic.

If you have any questions just write me a message/comment.
Thank you and have a good day!