TerraN_EmpirE
Tyrant King
As are the soldiers... seems there is still a radio shack somewhere in the world.
Infantry Combat Equipment (non-firearm): Vests, Body Armor, NVGs, etc.
- Thread starter by78
- Start date
by78
General
Another look at that combat uniform with desert digital camo... Not sure what to make of this. Notice the guy's left ankle, it says USMC in small print along with USMC's logo. As far as I know, this is from an actual PLA solder's Weibo account, and his other photos are legit. And the QBZ-95 looks real in the photo, not an Airsoft.
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Equation
Lieutenant General
Another look at that combat uniform with desert digital camo... Not sure what to make of this. Notice the guy's left ankle, it says USMC in small print along with USMC's logo. As far as I know, this is from an actual PLA solder's Weibo account, and his other photos are legit. And the QBZ-95 looks real in the photo, not an Airsoft.
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Nice! He can borrow one of my Tac glasses. It actually is pretty good sunglasses for me when I drive around in the hot Texas sun.
TerraN_EmpirE
Tyrant King
It's USMC issue FROG. Fire Resistant Organizational Gear. Some where in his unit they must have bought it off the internet. That's The only thing I can figure. The Chinese wouldn't brand there stuff like that.Another look at that combat uniform with desert digital camo... Not sure what to make of this. Notice the guy's left ankle, it says USMC in small print along with USMC's logo. As far as I know, this is from an actual PLA solder's Weibo account, and his other photos are legit. And the QBZ-95 looks real in the photo, not an Airsoft.
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Since this guy is said to be PLA I can only figure they bought it possibly to evaluate Fire resistant uniforms? The shirt looks to be the same.
TerraN_EmpirE
Tyrant King
Correction it's Flame Resistant Organizational Gear.
So what is F.R.O.G. what makes me think it is FROG and why would a PLA unit have an interest?
First in the late 19th early 20th century a change happened in Uniformed armies. Uniformed standing armies on the whole are a relivtivly new thing only a few hundred years old. And those with standard uniforms were still fairly rare until the late 19th century.
However for most of that time the field uniform and garrison uniforms were the same. Soldiers did battle in the same they did parade.
It was around the turn of the century that that started slowly to change. When it really changed though was after World war 1 when armies like the French in there blues suddenly took high losses.
Make shift camouflage was also introduced and armored helmets made a come back.
By the second world war you had uniforms for fighting and uniforms for parade and ceremony. This evolved farther when you started seeing uniforms for tropical wear and others for temperate climate.
Some started to trail camouflage patterns.
Korea added to this with the need of cold weather uniforms which some armies didn't issue.
during Korea though a new compound a long chain synthetic material came around Kevlar.
By Vietnam early forms of this material were added in the form of a new vest meant to stop fragmentation. Camouflage more and more proved invaluable and military rank features changed from highly visible to low profile. In the 1970s the USMC almost universally adopted Tigerstripe uniforms in parallel the first generation Desert Battle Dress Uniform emerged Tiger stripe remained until the early 1980s with the rise of the BDUs. DBDUs predates the woodlands version but remained part of the family.
But issues of the material in 1983 lead to a third variation the Hot weather BDU from cotton.
And then again a newer version from a Nylon/Cotton in 1996.
By 1990 the DBDU though had been tested and it's 6 color "Chocolate chip" pattern was found to be expensive and had issues in the IR and hot. A 3 color was coming on in line but wouldn't be ready in numbers before the end of the Gulf war.
Between the end of the Gulf war and late 1990s though a change no one saw had happened first was thw rise of more advanced body armor. In 1993 US forces in operation Gothic Serpent deployed the "Ranger Body armor" system. These evolved with better plates into Interceptor.
By the late 1990s something unexpected and unrealized was also happening.
Athletic compression garments with moisture wicking properties emerged on the market. Soldiers and Marines had been buying these for wear in training under there uniforms as they were more comfortable under the high heat of Arizona and Southern California. In 2001 the Marines designed a new uniform set the Army and other services would similarly shed BDU as the prevalence of body armor became more the norm and the BDU pickers became useless.
Especially under body armor.
In 2002 The U.S. Army was looking into the new sports fabrics as well as other changes in the uniform But in 04 problems started with them. These garments made for sports melted when exposed to fire. Compounding they type of burn and raising issues of infection.
With in invasion of Iraq the rise in body armor wear and increased fire risk from IED attacks on vehicles even conventional uniforms similarly suffered burn risks from there uniforms. These issues rose in prevalence by 05 both the Marines and Army had to act.
The DOD moved to expand the Fire resistant uniform program traditionally centered around Aviation to service wide. They also began adopting new garments optimized for armored wear but with FR features. These went to the Marines by 05-06 with Frog.
Frog includes a combat shirt, Combat pants, gloves, Baklava mask and a improved flight suit for aviators.
Now why do I think this is FROG? Frog was issued to the USMC in there desert pattern which includes the Eagle Globe and Anchor logo with USMC lettering in the pattern much like on the Marines MCCUU but the MCCUU only has cargo pockets on the hip. The FROG has them on the calf.
And our boy has a cargo pocket on in his calf.
However the more I look at his shirt.. I might have been wrong. Marines FROG shirts didn't do large swaths of Velcro but the camo pattern is right.
My guess is a commercial version. Or they tailored it.
Either way.
Why would they the PLA potentially have an interest? Fire is not unheard of in the military and as they progress in modernisation they means more and more mechanized forces. The fire risk increases. Especially this becomes more of an issue as the population of the PRC declines in age and health leading to less new recruits. Investing more in safety and comfort can go a long way. Of course the PLA has to build the industry of FR uniforms. But trailing off the shelf first can give them a heads up on issues. Early versions of FROG for example suffered in Afghanistan because of improper laundry care.
Also note that he seems to have added some mole Skin like material to the inside of his rifles recever receiver and along the underside of the carry handle.
So what is F.R.O.G. what makes me think it is FROG and why would a PLA unit have an interest?
First in the late 19th early 20th century a change happened in Uniformed armies. Uniformed standing armies on the whole are a relivtivly new thing only a few hundred years old. And those with standard uniforms were still fairly rare until the late 19th century.
However for most of that time the field uniform and garrison uniforms were the same. Soldiers did battle in the same they did parade.
It was around the turn of the century that that started slowly to change. When it really changed though was after World war 1 when armies like the French in there blues suddenly took high losses.
Make shift camouflage was also introduced and armored helmets made a come back.
By the second world war you had uniforms for fighting and uniforms for parade and ceremony. This evolved farther when you started seeing uniforms for tropical wear and others for temperate climate.
Some started to trail camouflage patterns.
Korea added to this with the need of cold weather uniforms which some armies didn't issue.
during Korea though a new compound a long chain synthetic material came around Kevlar.
By Vietnam early forms of this material were added in the form of a new vest meant to stop fragmentation. Camouflage more and more proved invaluable and military rank features changed from highly visible to low profile. In the 1970s the USMC almost universally adopted Tigerstripe uniforms in parallel the first generation Desert Battle Dress Uniform emerged Tiger stripe remained until the early 1980s with the rise of the BDUs. DBDUs predates the woodlands version but remained part of the family.
But issues of the material in 1983 lead to a third variation the Hot weather BDU from cotton.
And then again a newer version from a Nylon/Cotton in 1996.
By 1990 the DBDU though had been tested and it's 6 color "Chocolate chip" pattern was found to be expensive and had issues in the IR and hot. A 3 color was coming on in line but wouldn't be ready in numbers before the end of the Gulf war.
Between the end of the Gulf war and late 1990s though a change no one saw had happened first was thw rise of more advanced body armor. In 1993 US forces in operation Gothic Serpent deployed the "Ranger Body armor" system. These evolved with better plates into Interceptor.
By the late 1990s something unexpected and unrealized was also happening.
Athletic compression garments with moisture wicking properties emerged on the market. Soldiers and Marines had been buying these for wear in training under there uniforms as they were more comfortable under the high heat of Arizona and Southern California. In 2001 the Marines designed a new uniform set the Army and other services would similarly shed BDU as the prevalence of body armor became more the norm and the BDU pickers became useless.
Especially under body armor.
In 2002 The U.S. Army was looking into the new sports fabrics as well as other changes in the uniform But in 04 problems started with them. These garments made for sports melted when exposed to fire. Compounding they type of burn and raising issues of infection.
With in invasion of Iraq the rise in body armor wear and increased fire risk from IED attacks on vehicles even conventional uniforms similarly suffered burn risks from there uniforms. These issues rose in prevalence by 05 both the Marines and Army had to act.
The DOD moved to expand the Fire resistant uniform program traditionally centered around Aviation to service wide. They also began adopting new garments optimized for armored wear but with FR features. These went to the Marines by 05-06 with Frog.
Frog includes a combat shirt, Combat pants, gloves, Baklava mask and a improved flight suit for aviators.
Now why do I think this is FROG? Frog was issued to the USMC in there desert pattern which includes the Eagle Globe and Anchor logo with USMC lettering in the pattern much like on the Marines MCCUU but the MCCUU only has cargo pockets on the hip. The FROG has them on the calf.
And our boy has a cargo pocket on in his calf.
However the more I look at his shirt.. I might have been wrong. Marines FROG shirts didn't do large swaths of Velcro but the camo pattern is right.
My guess is a commercial version. Or they tailored it.
Either way.
Why would they the PLA potentially have an interest? Fire is not unheard of in the military and as they progress in modernisation they means more and more mechanized forces. The fire risk increases. Especially this becomes more of an issue as the population of the PRC declines in age and health leading to less new recruits. Investing more in safety and comfort can go a long way. Of course the PLA has to build the industry of FR uniforms. But trailing off the shelf first can give them a heads up on issues. Early versions of FROG for example suffered in Afghanistan because of improper laundry care.
Also note that he seems to have added some mole Skin like material to the inside of his rifles recever receiver and along the underside of the carry handle.
Why do I feel like I have seen PLA wear this before? Can someone verify?Another look at that combat uniform with desert digital camo... Not sure what to make of this. Notice the guy's left ankle, it says USMC in small print along with USMC's logo. As far as I know, this is from an actual PLA solder's Weibo account, and his other photos are legit. And the QBZ-95 looks real in the photo, not an Airsoft.
(1536 x 2048)
those kneepads don't look like they are removable which is something they can try. nice RC thoughNew desert camo (pixelated patterns)...
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@662
I think the picture of the infantryman above wearing USMC camos and boots is supposed to represent "Blufor".
