New Life for Old ALICE Packs.....

[4thIDvet]

O.K.. You here will see how too pack an Alice Pack.
Always put most of the weight on the bottom.
- Helps build strong shoulders and makes your back hurt so bad, you wish your Grandmother went instead of you.
- Shows everyone in the Company you are the dumbest of all the new FNGs.
- Carry a radio and play it real loud with music. No extra ammo. Too damn heavy.
- No extra water of-course. Their has too be a convenience store somewhere.
- Carry a big knife. Even though you dont know how too knife fight.
- Demand clean clothes at least once a week. Send your old clothes too the Marines.
- Soon. Oh it does not take long. After the pain in your back feels like Chuck Norris gave you an ass whuppin. Oh yes. Then you learn how too put the weight up higher.
We will explain that in part two.

[mtdew]

Amen. On the subject of the jump fiasco a friend of mine that I was serving with, his brother suffered an injury on that jump. Somehow got his leg rammed up into his torso several inches. They were able to fix him up, and today u wouldnt know he was even hurt at all. We were thinking of transfering to an airborne unit till that happened. On the subject of alice packs I'm gonna try your mod. I went to the "off limits" pawn shop outside of Ft. Polk and bought a large alice and frame and some stuff to replace some issue items that some dirtbag stole. Gave the pack to a sniper buddy of mine when I left.

[bellson]

I just want to say, I am glad that I'm not the only guy that thought that the old LC-1 / LC-2 gear was good and useful.

After I left the Military around 1988, I did a lot of backpacking...Pacific Crest Trail, Zion, Appalachian Trail, etc. I did all of it with a Medium Alice and a lot of hand-stitched mods. The biggest reason was that at the time, I could not afford anything better than that. I got a lot of teasing over my gear at the beginning of each trip. Stupid FNG's....

I saw a lot of high-dollar gear fail in a catastrophic fashion. Thank God for Duct Tape....

My gear never failed. I broke a strap. No big deal. Two Tie-wraps later, all is good and working.

I spent some bucks on two tacticool packs for the trucks. Lots of zippers, lots of Molle straps and stuff....Zippers are already splitting, and I have not carried these even 25 yards.,......This is the reason for re-visiting the Alice Pack Concept. It is hard to fuck this system up.....

Thanks to all for reading this thread. Keep posting with your thoughts and experiences. I like to learn new things....

[4thIDvet]

We beat them, dropped them from high places. Loaded them with implements of destruction. Sat on them. They took a licking and kept on ticking.
Dont know what they made the frame out of. But they never bent.
These were probably some of the first ones?? As this was 1968.
Snaps, Velcro was yet too come.
After you smartened up and learned how too pack it. You could walk for miles and not even know it was there.
It became your home on your back.
One guy in our company married his.
Are they using Velcro on the new ones?
I am getting reports from the youngguns they dont like the Velcro. True, false?
Velcro opening makes noise. Noise could get yah hurt at the wrong time.
If they are still making them too the quality of the old packs. I recommend them highly.
Do you young guys still have the metal frame with yours?

[4thIDvet]

Originally Posted by mtdew

Amen. On the subject of the jump fiasco a friend of mine that I was serving with, his brother suffered an injury on that jump. Somehow got his leg rammed up into his torso several inches. They were able to fix him up, and today u wouldnt know he was even hurt at all. We were thinking of transfering to an airborne unit till that happened. On the subject of alice packs I'm gonna try your mod. I went to the "off limits" pawn shop outside of Ft. Polk and bought a large alice and frame and some stuff to replace some issue items that some dirtbag stole. Gave the pack to a sniper buddy of mine when I left.

I loved that place. After basic at Ft. Dix N.J.. One week too say good bye too Mom, then get on a DC-3 I think it was?
About 30 of us. Military pilot says, as we approach the border of Louisiana.
"Hey you A holes want too have some fun?"
"Yeah sure. Trips been a little boring."
This friggen crazy mother frigger puts the plane in a dive. Starts scraping the belly of the plane on swamp cabbage.
"Here. Lets get a closer look."
WTF over. AHhhhhaHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. 30 of us screaming like little girls. Holy mother of God. Were gonna die. My buddy, too this day, swears the guy had a bottle of whiskey in his hand.
The idot must have just got home from two tours with Air America.
Beautiful place Ft. Polk.
If I was in the Military and they told me I was too be stationed there.
I would jump out of a plane with no parachute.

[twa2471]

Bellson, did you ever run it to a forest ranger in N.H. on the AT with a huge wolf hybrid, if you did, that was me. I also did Pacific Crest with King, my hybrid, in 86. I saw allot of the alice packs back in the day on the AT. Even when I was there in 2005 I saw a few, and we still used them for hauling heavy loads when doing trail construction. They still worked great. The newer plastic frame ones were even better, better straps and a bit of flex. Good rigs, for sure. I'll tell ya though I've got a Lowe Alpine internal frame that's got thousands of miles on it and is hard to beat, and looks as good as when I bought it 20 years ago. OH come-on Ft Polk, a place of wonder!! Wonder how to hell I got myself into this!!! Been there done that. Good hog + bird hunting around there though, that was at least one saving grace, we had a few good pig roasts there. And I'll have to say that once you got away from Polk I meet some really great people in that area.

[bellson]

Originally Posted by twa2471

Bellson, did you ever run it to a forest ranger in N.H. on the AT with a huge wolf hybrid, if you did, that was me. I also did Pacific Crest with King, my hybrid, in 86. I saw allot of the alice packs back in the day on the AT. Even when I was there in 2005 I saw a few, and we still used them for hauling heavy loads when doing trail construction. They still worked great. The newer plastic frame ones were even better, better straps and a bit of flex. Good rigs, for sure. I'll tell ya though I've got a Lowe Alpine internal frame that's got thousands of miles on it and is hard to beat, and looks as good as when I bought it 20 years ago. OH come-on Ft Polk, a place of wonder!! Wonder how to hell I got myself into this!!! Been there done that. Good hog + bird hunting around there though, that was at least one saving grace, we had a few good pig roasts there. And I'll have to say that once you got away from Polk I meet some really great people in that area.

While I don't want to lie, I think I may have met you....Your hybrid,,,,May 105-100 lbs? Blackish back and top of head, graying down the sides to near white on the belly? Grey eyes? I was in the lower Cascades in 86 with two other guys....I remember the Wolf...You were with three others. One younger and two about your age. We were eating lunch, I was eating Herring and crackers....the Wolf liked the Herring....A very well mannered puppy to be sure.

Anyway, I seem to remember that the Wolf's daddy was a Forest Ranger...maybe I'm just making that up in my mind... And yes, I was carrying an Alice at the time....Hell, I looked like a reject from a surplus store....Swedish Wool Pants and blouse, German wool sweater and socks, Norwegian boots. swiss poncho. Ah, the good memories...

I sure hope that some of this rings a bell. It would be something to tell my kids about...

Howdy just the same....