Basic clothing and equipment list for Op. dragoon

On Person

Clothing :
Helmet complete with camouflage net
Jump suit or combat suit (camouflage)
Jump boots or combat boots
Socks, light wool
Underwear, cotton
Brassard
Identification tags

Equipment:
Individual arm and container
Prescribed ammunition for above
Canteen, complete
Belt, pistol or rifle
Suspenders
Trench Knife
First Aid packet and pouch
Compass
3 grenades (1 WP, 2 Frag)in canteen cover
Notebook and pencil
Entrenching tool
Matches
Gas mask training
Parachute, T-5 complete
Musette bag containing:
Necessary toilet articles
Towel
Insect repellant.
Raincoat, light
1 cover, protective
1 K-ration(3 units)
1 D-ration
1 roll tape 1"
1 spoon
2 pairs socks
1 pair extra laces
1 pairunderwear
1 Undershirt, wool
1 handkerchief
Halizone & Atabrine tablets
Toilet tissue.
The following items will be packed in barrack bags:
2 pair cotton drawers
2 cotton undershirts
*1 camouflaged suit
1 fatigue uniform (HBT or combat)
1 cap, garrison, OD
2 handkerchiefs
3 pair socks, wool
*2 blankets
1 towel, bath
1 pair jump boots
1 pair gloves
1 shelter half W/Poles aid pins
1 bar, insect, field
1 can, meat, w/knife and fork

*NOTE: (1) One of the above blankets will be turned over to S-4 at dis-
persion fields to be brought in by air on D plus 1 day.

Cheers for the info shorty... give us something to work with. need to get hold the FATF but its like rocking horse shit to come by. I dont give a list of none reg gear their may of jumped with.. seen a number of pictures with guy with P38??

Darren

On page 164 of FATF there is a photo of a Sgt Carl Kiefer of 1st Platoon, A Company. He is carrying a P38 holster and there are photos of other troopers carrying German holsters (some for the Browning HP I think?) Being a Sgt in the RCT he would have fought in Italy so he would have had plenty of chances to acquire kit like this along with the other troopers lucky enough to make it through to the Dragoon jump.

As for non-regulation gear, the 517th do appear to have more freedom than regiments in the 101st and 82nd, judging by the amount of photos with troopers carrying side arms.

One peice of kit Im after is an M9! Who know's, if I can find one, it'd look good on displays next year!!

Yeah most be the same group of pictures i have seen, but like you said still a fair number of german side arms compared to other units. The amount of guys wearing german belt post jump seem to stand out also. I did have a quick look on ryton arms to see how much a P38 would set me back, but i thinks something for the future

What you've got to remember is that for most units, rest periods would have normally seen non-regulation kit confiscated, but the key thing about the 517th (and the 509th) for that matter is that they were dragged quite literally directly from the combat Zone in italy to the embarkation Airfields for Dragoon (although they were camped there for a prolonged period of time) and preparations for the invasion were made priority over re-issue of kit and re-writting of TOE's etc. If you take a look at the 551st gear you'll notice that any non-regulation gear was simply rigger modified kit, modified out of necessity simply through lack of supplies. Also a lot of the gear made for their training in Panama was retained, but there is NO German stuff simply because they were yet to face them in Combat.

Virtually all of the 517ths non-regulation stuff was gone by the time they reached Belgium. Either because it was confiscated or, realising they might be better as Souvenirs, were hidden and not used in Combat. I think a lot of the guys realized that what they were given was as regulation gear was (at the time) simply Army Surplus, a lot of which they would be forced to give back, but the German stuff were Souviners they could take back to the States, so looked after them a little more.

Bez

did the 517th use small rigger pouches?

heya mark, enjoying the hoildays... lucky students. lol

i havent seen any pictures of them using rigger pouchs, but bez and shorty have the de trez bible which may have more of a yes or no.

I so want that book!

HAHAHAHAHA, hell yeah.. join the queue mate.. he should reprint it and make a killing.

That's the thing if he did re-print he would make a bomb! There are that much A/B interest out there that even if you didn't want to re-enact it just the 'cool' differences in kit etc makes it a worthwhile book!
Sam

indeed... i have emailed him about a year back about it and he was sure he didnt want to.. wish he bloody would as i dont wont to pay £150 for it if i can help it, would prefer to send that kind of money on some other kit

Darren

Dam right mate!