help with vocabulary

[Bjorn Victor]

Hello,

I need a little help with vocabulary.
Since I'm Belgian, I'm not so familiar with some of the (military?) abbreviations/terms I have seen here.

- a bergen: is that a type/brand of rucksack?
- a billy can: a metal can to hang over a fire?
- PLCE
- MOLLE attachments
- ALICE pack
- PALS webbing
- MOD knife
- What's the difference between a hootchie and a basha?
- What is (so special about) soldier '58 gear?
- Anyone use Multicam gear/clothes? Is is better than DPM or woodland?

Thanks,

Bjorn

 

[Goose]

I'll answer the ones I can;

Bergen, Another name for a rucsac(military)

Billy(can), yep a can for cooking boiling in that hangs over a fire

PLCE, Personal Load Carrying Equipment, New name for webbing.

MOLLE attachments, not sure

ALICE pack, an american issue bergen, I think the Americans use the term ALICE as we use PLCE

PALS webbing, I don't know

MOD knife, MOD is ministry of defence and it is a type of knife that I had never heard of in the military! Sure someone will post a picture

Hootchie is an Australian basha, pretty much the same thing, the aussie hootchie is bigger than the british basha, but the word is interchangable

Soldier 58? think you mean soldier 95, newish issue british army uniform, 58 pattern equipment refers to webbing and equipment issued before PLCE, not usually uniform though

Multicam is just another DPM as far as I can tell, others will have an opinion
Hope I have helped, some of the terms are used differently by different people, I got told off by a para once for calling a rucsac a bergen as it wasn't the one they were issued, but the term is generic usually.

 

[spamel]

Yup, what he said!

 

[wingstoo]

Hi Folks,

Quick bit of research came up with this...

MOdular Lightweight Load-carrying Equipment




And from what I can see...PALs is a way of attaching kit to MOLLE webbing?

Hope this helps

LS

 

[Ogri the trog]

- What is (so special about) soldier '58 gear?

Bjorn

I might be way off the mark here Bjorn,
But to my mind, Equipment from '58 era was/is considerably more robust than more modern issue stuff - especially the clothing.
Pre 95 uniforms were robust and repairable (proper buttons and sprung poppers) - its just that its has now been around so long that it is showing its age.
Soldier95 gear was the start of the budget uniforms, (you can tell by the addition of velcro - which wears out) and since then, I believe, combat uniforms are made to be completely replaced every few days as the owners spend a few days out on operations then come back to be resupplied with everything including a new set of clothing.

Its a crass generalisation I know but there are very few items of modern "Ex military" gear that I would consider buying.

Ogri the trog

 

[Bjorn Victor]

Thank you all for the input! I appreciate it.
The explanantions help a lot to read some of the kit posts here in BCUK!

Bjorn

 

[British Red]

Bjorn,

Pretty much everything stated above is right mate. One little think to add is that (generally) now, 58 pattern kit is mostly gone expet for a couple of useful items.

58 pattern webbing is the old canvas modular webbing and (most importantly), loads uf us still use 58 pattern water bottles and mugs. Most are much newer but the 58 pattern bottle is the curved one designed to fit round your hip. Its black plastic and theres a large mug that it sits in. If you ever hear about "Crusader cups" etc. - they too stack with 58 pattern water bottles (the 58 refers to 1958 design in the same way that 95 refers to 1995 etc.)

Red