I believe this to be a made up piece but the existence of an ERDL M-65 jacket intrigued me enough to purchase this. The patches notwithstanding, it is evident that someone has gone to a lot of effort in producing this garment.


The jacket in its entirety ... I personally believe this to be made in Asia, probably Thailand. Front zipper is YKK and it mimics the M-65 jacket faithfully. No tag or stampings within.


Close up of right chest and SSI.


Close up of left chest and SSI.


Close up of pocket patch – Thai or Laotian? I’m leaning towards Thai because the backing looks to be a nylon material – definitely not period made. Does anyone know what unit/qualification this patch is for???


Close-up of MEDTC patch (Military Equipment Delivery Team – Cambodia)


Jacket is expertly tailored to mimic an M-65 jacket but is actually made up of material from de-stitched ERDL garments – here you can see the where the pocket has been removed.


The jacket has been reproduced right down to the back gusset. It also lined and has buttons in place for the quilted liner. The ERDL hood is in its zippered compartment at the rear of the neck.

Very interesting piece Filupe.
Obviously made from an ERDL Jungle Jacket or two.

looks like post Vietnam era ERDL rip stop material

I have been seeing a lot of this coming out of Asia lately , I dont think its real , I think it is a made up piece like the Seal jackets were seeing every week now , If this was from the 70's , I would think the guy who had it made up would have used better fabric , not already faded items , I think this is a recent put together , if i saw it on ebay I would stay away unless I got it cheap , With that said , I think its a very cool jacket , and I would not be surprised to see real period jackets made up like this , and my final caveat, Im no Expert , I just get a bad feeling about this one .

Hi Guys,

I have an issued M65 ERDL jacket, post vietnam era, Brown dominant variant. I have to find some pics to post, but mine is quite new and has no patches, they don't show up very often. I also have an Air Crew, aramid M65 jacket that i didn't even know existed.

Nice jacket Filupe, fully badged, looks beautiful

PS - The patches do look like they put together for "display"

filupe wrote:


Close up of pocket patch – Thai or Laotian? I’m leaning towards Thai because the backing looks to be a nylon material – definitely not period made. Does anyone know what unit/qualification this patch is for???

A letters is Laos language and an elephant three heads pic is the emblem of state of Laos.

filupe wrote:


Close up of right chest and SSI.

What is badge above name tape?

It's a Vietnamese Ranger device.

Fins...

I am with Panzer on this one .
Modern made including the patches.
There are wartime Mitchell pattern and Vietnamese police camouflage which as we all know is Mitchell pattern also but the fall scheme M-65 cut jackets floating around.
I have also seen an Arvn ERDL M-65 once but it was super small.
Anything is possible with VN garments in any combo but alas this one just does not have the correct look.
owen

I found pics of the jacket, i mentioned. Not exactly like filupe, but a more recent version of the ERDL, done in ripstop material.
I believe they're from late 70's, or early 80's

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These are the ones I had as a kid growing up .
There was a show called out of town hosted by a Guy called Jack Hargreves , he hated the M-65 as the chest pocket snaps rattled during hunting , funny the things you remember !!!!
owen