Recent content by Ed Rooney

Yes, the new Army A-2 is authorized for any soldier. It is sold as an individual purchase item, kind of like the tanker jacket or sweater. Unlike the USAF or USN jackets, it cannot be worn flying. It's only a class-B uniform accessory, so it will only be worn for staff/office jobs. I pity the...

Here is another Army A-2 sighting, this time on the CG of the Army Aviation Center/Ft Novosel, at a conference. The most interesting thing about this pic is that he is wearing a USAF style 2-layer nametag, which was not in AR 670-1 last time I looked. I'm all for it, but I would also like to see...

That was quick. Thanks all.

From the “well aged scotch” episode of “The Grand Tour”. It’s certainly not an issue jacket, but it has struck a note with me.

Anyone an aficionado of these? I just picked up a Wrangler cowboy cut jean jacket, and wear a Levis Sherpa quite often. Do you go double denim/Canadian Tuxedo? What is your rule for denim?

I don't care if someone walks around in a patched jacket. We aren't a 1% club, or Mandalorian. I posted here before that I saw a CWU hung up in my dentist office once, all patched up with Special Forces stuff, long tab, short tab, jump wings, SF combat patch - very much a souvenir jacket that...

5 Star has their version of the Amelia Earhart leather jacket. Slim fitting, kind of a combination of the a-1, a-2 and g-1.

In my case I was just referring to the flight suit. The CWU-45 and the Army Tanker jackets were indeed pretty warm - but not as warm as an MA-1. In TG 2 I was surprised to see Maverick and Rooster running around in the snow. I think they would have been soaking wet and hypothermic long before...

The old flight suits were paper thin. You pretty much needed to wear waffle long johns in winter. The newer ones made with a bit of gore-tex have a bit more substance to them, to your detriment in summer. I was not a big flight suit fan. It was fine for drill weekends and AFTPs, but garbage in...

The issue with these is that the regular M65 is fairly water and snow resistant, whereas nomex is basically a sponge. The only upside to this jacket is fire resistance, otherwise, aircrews had 2 better options to wear (M65 or Gore-Tex) until they started the engines.

Some did, but the OPs jacket is definitely not that type of Nomex. I had one like his, from Avirex in the 80s. Solid jacket. I wore it to a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert.

I’m probably not a buyer.

NN-N-N-N-N-Not g-g-g-g-goin out there.....it's too c-c-c-c-cold.

Well, the lightweight version is the L2, so my guess would be that the M stands for Medium weight. There is a good possibility that the A was added to differentiate it from the other 6 or 8 M-1 items in the US inventory, and maybe as a nod to the A-1 and A-2. When adding branch to...