Quote:
Originally Posted by bobcat
PALS/MOLLE was first fielded in the mid ninety's in special forces units. by 2003 even the reserves and national guard had it(along side the old alice gear) that said i've been issued everything from M1956 webbing to MOLLE as late as 2005
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The first place I actually saw MOLLE in use was at Ft Bragg in 1990. A unit from 10th Mountain came down for some joint training (Bragg has some great training areas, especially MOUT sites, hiding in the backwoods); one of the squad leaders of the platoon our platoon was paired with was led by a roommate of mine from Korea, Stephen Blodgett. He told me the MOLLE gear they were working with was part of a field test and only his battalion had it, but there seemed to be universal approval of it from the troops. It wasn't until well after Desert Storm that we at the 82nd saw any MOLLE -- it is a good setup, and very customizable (within the limits imposed upon you by your chain of command).
Just as a BTW, when I first got to Bragg, one of the first places I went after getting to my unit was ALC (Airborne Leader's Course). One day, the entire class had the opportunity to ask the ADC(M) one question each. I asked him why the 82nd didn't have SINGCARS --I had just come from Korea (after going through jump school and AIT to change from 11C to 11B), and the ADC(M) told us that the timetable for SINCGARS did not include issue to the 82nd at that time. That shocked me; I was under the illusion at the time that the 82nd was the first "conventional" unit to get anything. He quickly disabused me of that notion, then further told me, after telling him that 8th Army in Korea was nearly complete in its SINGCARS conversion when I left (Jan 90), and it was even seeing limited issue to ROK SF, Rangers, and Marines, that this was a shock for him!