Vietnam uniform questions

In the USAF we had to scrounge most of the equipment we needed beyoud the basic web belt, 3 mag pouch, and first aid pouch that looped into the holes in our belts.  Anything beyond that, bayonet, survival knife, belt harness and so on, we either got from someone who was leaving, bought it on the black market, or liberated it from the base salvage yard.  We had some guys using harnesses left over from WWII or Korea.  One of the pouches I carried was from a M-1 carbine and my backup mag pouches (beyond the 3 pack), were a grey rubber canvas from the army.

I have a few pictures form the Pacific Stars and Stripes showing different types of army head gear, towels, flop hats, and such, and sometimes just a green T-shirt instead of their jungle fatigue shirt.

Well, Kevin Lyles' book, Vietnam US Uniforms, is a pretty good start.  It's all color, shows front and back of real-life people wearing the gear; and the gear is assembled prototypically.  It's not perfect; few enough reference titles ever are <sigh>

Shelby Stanton's US Army Uniforms of the Viet Nam War is also a good reference.  It's mostly b&w, but the photographs are very extensive.  The refence photos are also mostly "in country," too.  That's good for being "way it was done," as opposed to "way regs said to."  With the caveat, that, sometimes, it was the "odd duck" that was photographed--the exception rather than the rule.  But, that's a grain of salt we all have to cope with.

It can be helpful to find some of the FM & TM for the gear (and frustrating <g>).  FM 21-15 Care of Individual Clothing & Equipment can be handy. 

You can also look here:  http://www.hardscrabblefarm.com/vn/index.html

And this, for M-1956 gear:  http://www.hardscrabblefarm.com/vn/m56-gear.html

See if that doesn't muddy the water a bit<g>