British Army PLCE Water Bottle Pouch - Inne/Flappy Type Compartment?

[FlashPan]

Hello all,

For many years I've had a number of the water bottle pouches to hold the 58 pattern bottle.

Something I've never been able to discover is what is the tube type inner compartment for?

Not a great pic but like this: (fabric/compartment between wrist and fingers)

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/k6rhguRZSZI/hqdefault.jpg

Can anyone please enlighten me as to its purpose if any? ...just a curiousty question

Cheers

 

[Corso]

isn't that for an esbit stove?

 

[nitrambur]

I always assumed it was for purification tablets

 

[Jared]

I've seen it referred to as a millbank bag pocket.

 

[SCOMAN]

I thought it was for the hexamine stove.

 

[FlashPan]

Yep, the hexi stove is a perfect fit but thought that was a happy coincidence?

 

[Corso]

I always assumed it was for purification tablets

I believe there was a pocket in the lid for them

 

[Tonyuk]

It was used for the old milbank bag, or anything else as per unit SOP. Puri-tabs go in the small pocket on the flap.

Tonyuk

 

[Corso]

It was used for the old milbank bag, or anything else as per unit SOP. Puri-tabs go in the small pocket on the flap.

Tonyuk

Post introduction of the crusader cook set this would be its use

 

[The Lord Poncho]

I didn't think the crusader set had been introduced? Post hexi stoves, its now a (similar to hexi) folding stove for the alcohol tablets.

 

[IfInDoubt]

The flap pouch was for the hexi stove although some unit SOPs preferred you to carry the rifle cleaning kit in there (not rolled up)

You needed to place the waterbottle in there with the flat side of the bottle against the flap it fits like a glove

The 58 patt water bottle remains the best bit of kit ever issued this is supported by the fact that it has yet to be replaced. The day we get the 2016 patt water bottle will be a sad day

 

[Insel Affen]

It was used for the old milbank bag, or anything else as per unit SOP. Puri-tabs go in the small pocket on the flap.

Tonyuk

Agreed. Back flap for Hexi stove and top flap for puritabs.

Respirator pouch for stickies and beer! (Unless you have the 'Godfrey bag).

 

[tiger stacker]

The 58 patt water bottle remains the best bit of kit ever issued this is supported by the fact that it has yet to be replaced. The day we get the 2016 patt water bottle will be a sad day

Often used for murder ball, old scores settled with the knowledge of carnage ensured.
New water bottle lid for GSR is annoyingly hard to keep secure. I switched to nalgene yet keep a 58 in my daysack for that ahem rainy day.

 

[Tonyuk]

Post introduction of the crusader cook set this would be its use

Crusader cooker is never been issued to any unit I've seen for a good while. A few years ago we got issued 2 of the steel mugs but not the cooker itself, the hexy came with a cut out for the cup but still needed to be scraped into the ground. I kept my hexy with the mess tins wrapped in a beer towel and bought a crusader cooker myself to keep in the pouch, so i just needed to carry the tablets with me.

Tonyuk

 

[Insel Affen]

I did see in a DE&S journal, that the old Hexi burner we all know and love is being replaced with a new model which has little round tablets, might be an esbit one.

One other lightweight method was to chuck the burner and just have three or four six inch nails to drive into the ground and scrape a little hole.

 

[The Lord Poncho]

One other lightweight method was to chuck the burner and just have three or four six inch nails to drive into the ground and scrape a little hole.

That's our SOP - a couple of hexi and four nails wrapped in cling film and taped up as an emergency backup to your main cooker (usually a privately purchased pocket rocket, jet boil, or similar gas powered offering - unless on ops when hexi is king).

 

[Fallschirmwomble]

The "slot" pocket is for the Millbank filter bag and the lid pocket is for sterilisation tablets - guaranteed.

<anorak> These are in the '90 (green) and '95 (DPM) Patt PLCE waterbottle pouches but not the utility pouches. And not in waterbottle/utility pouches of the earlier experimental PLCE sets ('83 and '85). I think, in the '85 set, the waterbottle and utility pouch are the one and same item issued twice. </anorak>


There are a pockets for the Millbank bag and puritabs on the inside of the earlier '44 Patt Waterbottle Pouch.

This makes me incredulous at how they'd gone so wrong when they designed the '58 set. In particular, the '58 waterbottle pouch which was actually an afterthought years after introduction - and only gotten (almost) right by 1988 when it was already redundant. Same goes for the pack side pouches that ought to have been big enough to hold a waterbottle or mess tins.


At least they got it right by the '90 set. I used to replace the Spanish fastener with a 20mm Fastex clip.

The weather/light is poor today but I'll see if I can make a demo vid soon, of the appropriate bits of kit I have here.

 

[Insel Affen]

I always thought the slot at the back of PLCE was for the Hexi burner, Millbank bags are very rarely issued. Although I did managed to snag one when I worked I the depot at Bicester!

 

[MikeLA]

I did see in a DE&S journal, that the old Hexi burner we all know and love is being replaced with a new model which has little round tablets, might be an esbit one.

One other lightweight method was to chuck the burner and just have three or four six inch nails to drive into the ground and scrape a little hole.

sad day because the new stuff and stove are crap. I much prefer Hexi still

 

[RAPPLEBY2000]

They'll have years possibly decades of stored Hexi blocks to use up first!
Squaddies will always end up chucking new kit and using what actually works, When I was in the TA we were issued Heximine. Some of the guys bought other stoves like gaz or multifuel but the majority were happy to use the issue hexi.

one of the delights of hexi is you can make a much bigger burner, on one of our HQ's in a house on STANTA (training area in Norfolk) we had 3 or four hexis in a row, you could get a pile of hexi blocks burning and make a sort of cooking range!. With a little organising you could heat four or more messtins boiling water or cooking at once for a massive brew up, all looked after by one person whilst others cleaned or prepared kit.
Yes, obviously there were fumes but Houses on training areas have lots of purpose built bomb damaged brickwork and holes to poke your rifle out of so training area buildings always had good ventilation.

I can't see that sort of group brew-up happening with the smaller Esbit stoves and fuel.


As they say, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"

As for the waterbottle flap question?
I always put steritabs in the tiny lid pocket and milbank in the sleeve

some other water bottle bits.
In 1944" water bottle pouches I agree there is a pocket to carry a millbank and a tiny pocket at the bottom to hold a bottle or packet of water tablets.
in the 1958" pouch you could only carry a water bottle plastic mug and water tablets, nothing else.
US Waterbottles are fluffy on the inside and are designed to be soaked, as the water dried it cools the water bottle! good idea!
FYI Squaddie often carried the waterbottle upside down so it was easier to get out!