An original US Marine Corps Coat, Hot Weather, Camouflage Pattern, in green dominant ERDL, on contract DLA100-79-C-2444 to Issackka Mfg. Co., Inc. 100 percent cotton ripstop, size Small. The sleeves have been cut off at the elbow, in period, and the coat is sold as a wearer modified garment.

The Marine Corps ownership is stenciled right on it. Both chest pocket flaps carry the Eagle, Globe and Anchor, and U.S.M.C. is stenciled in dark ink across the chest below them, the standard property marking a Marine applied to his own utilities. There is no unit patch, no rank and no name, which is exactly right for a Marine Corps utility coat of this era, where insignia was kept to the stenciled emblem and rank was worn on the collar of the service uniform rather than sewn onto working dress.

The pattern is ERDL, named for the Army’s Engineer Research and Development Laboratories, which drew it in 1948. It then sat unused for nearly twenty years. It went into issue only in early 1967, first to elite reconnaissance and special operations units in Vietnam, in two colorways: a green dominant version with olive and brown organic shapes over black branches and light green highlights, and a brown dominant version that swapped the light green for tan. The Marine Corps took the green dominant version as standard issue in South Vietnam by 1968. This coat is the green dominant.

What happened afterward is the part collectors overlook. When the United States pulled out of Vietnam in 1973 the Army walked away from camouflage entirely and went back to plain fatigues. The Marine Corps did not. In 1976 the Corps took over leftover Vietnam era ERDL uniforms and made them general issue, replacing the solid olive green OG-107 utilities, and then kept buying new production on fresh contracts. This 1979 coat is exactly that: not a Vietnam leftover but a purpose bought Marine Corps garment from the years when ERDL was the Corps’ working uniform and the Army had nothing like it. That run ended in 1981 when the M81 woodland battle dress uniform arrived, though ERDL kept turning up in service into the 1990s.

The cut is the tropical combat coat, and the label spells out why it looks the way it does. It is made longer than normal so that load carrying equipment does not cover the pockets, the front closure opens for ventilation and closes against insects, the sleeves were fitted with adjustable cuffs to permit rolling, and each pocket has a drain hole at the bottom to let water out. Four bellows pockets, exposed buttons, and lightweight ripstop cotton throughout, all of it drawn from hard lessons in Southeast Asia.

The cut sleeves are honest wear history rather than damage. Marines shortened their utilities constantly in hot climates and in garrison, and a modified coat with stenciled Corps markings tells you more about how the garment was actually lived in than a mint one does. Priced accordingly.

CONDITION AND DETAILS

Size Small per the label
Fits height 63 to 67 inches (5 ft 3 in to 5 ft 7 in)
Fits chest 33 to 37 inches
Measures approximately 19 inches across the chest laid flat
Contract DLA100-79-C-2444, Issackka Mfg. Co., Inc.
100 percent cotton ripstop
Sleeves cut off at the elbow with raw unfinished edges, fraying present, no hemming
Body fabric sound throughout, softened and faded from service wear and laundering
Stenciled Eagle, Globe and Anchor on both chest pocket flaps, worn but clearly legible
U.S.M.C. stencil across the chest, faded but readable
All four bellows pockets present and sound with flaps and buttons intact
Front buttons all present
Instruction and size label present, frayed at the edges, still readable
No insignia, unit markings or name to the garment
No holes, tears or repairs beyond the cut sleeves

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