Original US issue Trousers, Hot Weather, Camouflage Pattern, in green dominant ERDL, on contract DLA100-78-C-0275 to Tennessee Apparel Corp. 100 percent cotton ripstop, Small Regular. Labels intact and fully legible, with the size stenciled S-R inside the waistband.

The pattern is ERDL, named for the Army’s Engineer Research and Development Laboratories, which drew it in 1948. It then sat on a shelf 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 built from 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 and the Army followed with wider distribution across Southeast Asia. This is the green dominant.

What happened next is the part most collectors skip past. When the United States pulled out of Vietnam in 1973 the Army abandoned 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-107s, and then kept buying fresh production on new contracts. This 1978 pair is exactly that. It is not a Vietnam leftover but purpose bought government stock from the years when ERDL was the Marine Corps working uniform and the Army had nothing comparable in the field. That run ended in 1981 with the arrival of the M81 woodland battle dress uniform, though ERDL kept surfacing in service into the 1990s.

The cut is the tropical combat trouser worked out the hard way in Southeast Asia, and the label reads like a field manual in four lines. Adjust the waist by the straps on the sides of the waistband. Blouse the cuffs outside the boots using the drawstring at the bottom of each leg. Hand launder and rinse the soap out thoroughly. Do not starch. Six pockets, two hip, two front and two large bellows cargo pockets with buttoned flaps, all of it in lightweight ripstop cotton chosen to dry fast and to stop a tear from running.

For a collector this is the correct trouser to pair with a Marine Corps ERDL jacket of the same period, and the two together make a complete late 1970s Marine utility uniform, the one the Corps wore through the post-Vietnam years and into the beginning of the woodland era.

CONDITION AND DETAILS

Size Small Regular per the label
Waist 27 to 31 inches, adjustable by side straps and buckles
Inseam 29 1/2 to 32 1/2 inches
NSN 8415-00-945-9218, NATO size 7383/6979
Contract DLA100-78-C-0275, Tennessee Apparel Corp.
100 percent cotton ripstop
Fabric sound throughout, softened and lightly faded from service wear and laundering
Waist adjustment straps and buckles present and functional on both sides
Both leg bottom drawstrings present with tips intact
Button fly complete, all buttons present
Both cargo pockets, both hip pockets and both front pockets present and sound with all flaps and buttons
Light fraying to the fly facing and to the interior seam allowances, consistent with wear
Size and instruction labels present and fully legible
S-R stenciled inside the waistband
No insignia, markings or name to the garment
No holes, tears or repairs noted

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