US troops were issued language translation smart cards small enough to be carried in pocket. It typically would include translations of important keywords in languages of the region; as well visual illustrations to point out; and some cultural information that would help troops to interact with local population. Those can be useful in circumstances an attached interpreter is not available on a patrol.

There are many varieties of those. I am always in search for more.

ODA 3236 uniform and team hat

10th Special Forces “Panzer” modified DCUs.

Two examples of “Panzer mods” DCU. We came up with name due to the fact those were modified at the shop at Panzer Kaserne. Typically 10th SFG wore those. There are also exists tan velcro example which isn’t shown here. Panzer mods were most commonly seen worn in Africa (OEF-A, for advisory role) as well few instances in Afghanistan and Iraq. The black velcro one is currently in Paul Arnold‘s collection. The OD green velcro currently in my collection is named to the soldier who was severely wounded in Uzbin Valley Ambush in 2008. He was one of the 7 to receive bronze star with V device.

Navy EOD modified DCU

USASOC modified DCU

Special Forces support personnel’s DCU.

ACH worn by a support personnel with the 3rd Special Forces Group from 2011 to 2016. The helmet saw three deployments to Afghanistan.

A nearly complete set from TACP airman. The modified DCU has SSGT ranks velcro’ed. The chest rig is Afghan made. Most of gear was spray painted tan to blend in environment better.

Note: I didn’t acquire this lot directly from the veteran so history is unknown however, based on equipment and uniform, my best guess for period is 2004-05.

This DF-LCS LBE was produced by Eagle Industries for USAF Security Forces Squadrons. On this set up: 3x double ammo pouch, 1x double ammo pouch with buckle, 1x IFAK pouch, 1x MBITR pouch, and 2x canteen/utility pouch. Not shown: Safariland drop-leg holster.

This display shows an equipment as worn by Force Recon Marines during the invasion of Iraq. They conducted reconnaissances, assault, hunt for high value targets, as needed for Marine Air-Ground Task Force.

This display shows an equipment wore by Force Recon.

-Desert camouflage SARATOGA suit.

-MICH helmet with NVG mount.

-Full Spectrum Battle Equipment (FSBE): The kit specifically designed for the Force Recon. It includes Amphibious Assault Vest, leg panel, pouches for ammo, frag, flashbang, individual first aid kit, etc.

-Safariland holster for M45 MEUSOC pistol (Recon’s variant of 1911), they typically would have extended magazines for it.

-Breaching equipment: Force Recon utilized various of breaching equipment such as Halligan tool or sledgehammer. (For this display, went with sledgehammer). They used DIY breacher tool holder- made of PVC pipe, duct tape, and zip ties.

The uniform as worn by Northern Alliance’s Zarbati (strike force unit) soldiers. Not much known about the camouflage pattern itself but it’s said to be made in China, inspired by French’s “lizard camo” pattern. On this display is also locally made leather AK-47 ammo vest.

From Guilhaume Nuydt’s collection.

Created in 2005 as “Request for Forces” in agreement between USAF and U.S. Army to add the manpower the Army needed in Iraq. Initially named RFF #619, before eventually renamed to 732nd ESFS. The squadron had six detachments. Each detachment was assigned under a command of Army Military Police units. Each detachments had varying missions/roles but they include combat patrols in insurgent-heavy regions, visit Iraqi Police substations to restore their confidence, or part of Police Transition Team. The 732nd ESFS was deactivated in 2010. The squadron had multiple awards and few casualties. Read more about the squadron here: www.usafpolice.org/732-esfsdetachment-23.html

The squadron issued Gentex TBH-II helmets. Came with those were covers that was made differently from MSA ACH/MICH versions. Those airmen had distinctive set up on the helmets: Four infrared squares glued on them reinforced with OD green or tan duct tapes due the squadron’s SOP.

Below is the excerpt from a book Danger Close by Steve Call about the TACP Brian Wilchenski. The book is highly recommended for anyone who is interested in learning about USAF ROMAND, JTAC, TACP, and CCT.

(Excerpt begins) One particularly intense example of TACPs unexpectedly coming in handy occurred near the town of Khowst as Operation Anaconda was winding down. S.St. Brian Wilchenski had been a conventional TACP with the 20th ASOS before 11 September, and when they couldn’t find enough SOF TACPs to meet the needs of the SOF ramp-up for Afghani-stan, Wilchenski volunteered to go through the crash course to become an augmentee. Wilchenski was accepted, trained, and deployed to Afghanistan around mid-December 2001. He worked at TF Dagger headquarters for awhile, and finally joined a SOF team in early February. While with this team he pretty much ran the gamut of SOF duties. Most of it was quite routine, even boring, but Wilchenski was looking back on it as one of the most rewarding experiences of his career. His tour was nearly over when, as often happens, he had his closest brush with death.

This was right around the third week in March at the tail end of An-aconda. We all went to sleep [on our] third or fourth night back in Khowst… About midnight all of a sudden things start exploding. We had mortar rounds and automatic weapons fire coming in from four different directions. … As I’m heading out of the building, frickin’ tracer rounds start bouncing off the wall right in front of me. … My body armor and helmet were already turned in and locked up ’cause I was going to leave in a couple of days. [Amazingly, this is standard practice-two or three days before troops redeploy home they turn in all their equipment, including protective gear, which then gets packed up and sent to the shipping terminal.] As I get up on top of the roof … I hear a snap, snap. There’s different sounds you hear when you’re in battle. A zing is, you know, it’s close, it could be a couple yards away. A snap is a near miss. You heard a round snap, what it’s doing is breaking the sound barrier over your head and it’s usually only a couple of inches away. A round snaps here and a round snaps there and I’m like, “Oh damn!” I got no helmet and no body armor on and I lay on my back, “Oh, this sucks!” I get on the radio and I just happen to say, you know, it’s like calling God, “Hey, is there anybody out there?” and all of a sudden an aircraft checks in and he says, “Yep I’m here.” And it was just a big, “Phew, yeah!” He goes, “I’m a B-1B, and I got .. “I’m like, “Oh man, let me guess, you got like twenty-seven Mk-82s and eighteen JDAMs. “Yep, that’s what I got.” I go, “Hold on, they’re way too close to us. We’re right in town and I really can’t have you dropping bombs.”….. “What do you need from me?” he asks, and I go, “Listen, I need you to do a flyby. I need you to come down as low as you possibly can. I need you to [kick in] your afterburners and pop flares,” you know, so the people attacking us would know that we’re certain to do business. “All right, l’ll be in there in thirty seconds.” He comes down and he’s just rocking the whole compound ’cause the B-1B hauls ass. …And he comes rolling in and frickin’ all of a sudden kicks in afterburners right over my head. Woooshhhhhhhh! You know, and the building shook and everybody’s screaming, “Yeah! Wooo!” Everybody’s pumped up. And as he’s pulling up his afterburners are freakin’ flashing the [compound]. He probably got down to five hundred feet, I mean, he got right down. He popped flares as he pulled off and everything got quiet-for about a minute. It didn’t last very long. “How was that?” he asked. “Fucking awesome! It was awesome That did the job!” Everything’s quiet for a couple seconds, then they started firing again. He’s like, “All right, what can I do for you now?” “Listen, since you have direct [communication] with the AWACS, I need to know when the [AC-130] can get here. I need the gunship because these guys are in close. I got guys within two hundred meters right now shooting at us.” He says, “All right, stand by. … He’ll be here in fifteen minutes.” Then he asked, “Well what do you want me to do till they get here?” “I need you to do another flyby.” He did another flyby just to keep their heads down till the gunship showed up. He did [a third] flyby and by that time, the gunship showed up. I got on the radio with the commander … and I tell him, “I’ve got a gunship showing up … I need to know where you want the fires.” We had a prison just to the north of us and we were getting the majority of our fire from the prison. He says, “I want the northwest corner of that prison taken out.” “All right, I’lI have rounds down in about a min-ute. ..” I called the gunship, “Listen, I need you to find our position. We’re halfway up the airfield on the north side, in the compound.” And he goes, “All right, I got your position. . . “”All right, I’m going to sparkle [designate the target with the laser] the [prison] 150 meters away.” He said, “Okay, I got your sparkle… “”All right, good, now I need you to go to the northwest corner and tell me what you see.” “Yeah, I got at least twenty guys in the corner, looks like they’re shooting. What do you want me to do?” I go, “Stand by,” and I get with the commander, “All right sir, I got twenty guys in the corner [of the prison] compound. I’m ready to lay fire, are you ready?” “Yep.” “All right, tell everybody to get down,” and I told [the gunship], “Fire for effect! You’re cleared to fire!” And all of a sudden they put down twenty-five rounds of 105, fifty rounds of 40-mm, and it was like fireworks! And all of a sudden the whole compound, the 101st [Airborne Division] guys, the SF guys, everybody was screaming, and I’m up on top of the roof, “Yeah! Hell, yeah!” We’re all pumped up. I mean everything was just like lighting up in the corner of that compound. We had rocks and stuff hitting the front of our compound. And then things got quiet. Pretty much the attack stops. … The commander got on the radio and said, “Ski, that was an awesome job. You probably saved a lot of lives tonight.”

Shortly after this episode Wilchenski went home.

The BDU came from the time of the story. It would’ve been his garrison uniform. Note the 20th ASOS patch and 10th Mountain Division SSI and Special Forces combat patch. At one point of Wilchenski’s career, he got transferred to 5th ASOS and attached to 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team of the 2nd Infantry Division. With that unit he would deploy to Iraq twice in 2003(?) then 2007. Eventually he returned to Afghanistan in 2012.

The Ghillie suit worn by US. Army sniper who was in 25th Infantry Division’s Long Range Surveillance Detachment. He worn this in Eastern Afghanistan, where it is more wooded and greener than the rest of Afghanistan. He supported the Special Forces operations by over watching the objective and providing sniper support, and as well covering the extraction (exfil) routes. The LRSD’s core mission is surveillance of enemy activities and provide intelligence to the HQ of 25th Infantry Division.

Details about the suit: It is handmade with the materials such as a BDU set, fishing net, camouflage net, burlap, jutes, canvas, and few cans of paint. The canvas on front of BDU was from old cut-up Army issued duffel bags. It’s thick material reinforced the front of BDU so the sniper could crawl for long duration. The BDU was sized up so it can be donned quickly. It has recycled straps from ALICE ruck sewn on for resizing. The pants have suspenders taken from cold weather pants and tied on via 550 cords The cuff of blouse have one pocket moved for ease of access to ammo or other essential items.