From the beginning of the twentieth century, United States military
individual load-carrying equipments were fabricated mainly of cotton
duck and cotton webbing. Throughout the First and Second World Wars, as
well as the Korean War, cotton-based load-carrying equipments served the
infantryman with little change in their design and construction. In 1954
a new load-carrying system was developed to meet the needs of the
infantryman on the perceived battlefields of the Cold War. At the onset
of the Vietnam War it was clear that this new cotton-based webbing
system was not acceptable for use in the humid environment of the
jungles of Southeast Asia. The answer to the problems plaguing cotton
load-carrying equipments came in the form of nylon. Nylon equipment was
found to be more durable, lighter and dried quicker than the
standardized cotton equipment. As the Vietnam War ground down nylon web
equipment was proving to be the answer to other load-carrying problems
that had arisen during the course of the war. In 1973 an all-nylon
load-carrying equipment system was standardized replacing all
cotton-based load-carrying equipments in service at the time. Since 1973
all load-carrying equipments have been fabricated utilizing nylon and,
in effect, closed the history book on cotton-based equipments. In this
book, C A Monroe and Craig Pickrall describe and illustrate the personal
equipment of the US Army soldier throughout the period, and show how it
has developed to meet changing operational needs.
