In Vietnam war when ARMY or Marines when out on Patrol

Not sure, but I would be interested to know. I am certain it would depend on their job, and weapon carried.

Well, in the movies I have never seen soldier wear more than one mag pouch holding two clipazines.

this guy says 1500
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HdZ6WLrEnA&feature=relmfu

On short patrols, guys in my unit carried about 20+ rifle magazines if they had M-16 rifles. If they lugged a heavier sniper rifle, they carried about 12 magazines. Anybody who had a .45 caliber pistol generally only had 2 magazines on them: 2 in a pouch and 1 in the pistol.

If contact were almost guaranteed, you carried as many as you could lug on you, in ammo cans and in bandoleers. We'd carry them in ammo cans and then put them on the perimeter when we got back to our base perimeter so as not to have to unload them. If we were in our perimeter when we got hit, we'd used our ammo cans of magazines first and then use what we had on our person as a last resort. So the number of magazines and ways to use magazines were explained to new guys coming into the platoon when they got there.

I go with Webster's for the definition...

2clip
noun
Definition of CLIP
1
: any of various devices that grip, clasp, or hook
2
: a device to hold cartridges for charging the magazines of some rifles; also : a magazine from which ammunition is fed into the chamber of a firearm

There was no set amount of ammo to be carried, some troops went with the minimum they could to cut back on weight, other would fill not only pouches but would also carry one or 2 bandoleers of boxed ammo or charged magazines in an empty gas mask bag.

Also handguns were not general issue to enlisted grunts, many didn't carry one.

never enough. eastbank.

I would say it would be the squad-patrol leaders call.

What about that poor SOB that carried an M-60?

OP: Thanks, I found your question to be interesting...

... and Rifleman 173's answer to very informative.

On short patrols, guys in my unit carried about 20+ rifle magazines if they had M-16 rifles. If they lugged a heavier sniper rifle, they carried about 12 magazines. Anybody who had a .45 caliber pistol generally only had 2 magazines on them: 2 in a pouch and 1 in the pistol.

If contact were almost guaranteed, you carried as many as you could lug on you, in ammo cans and in bandoleers. We'd carry them in ammo cans and then put them on the perimeter when we got back to our base perimeter so as not to have to unload them. If we were in our perimeter when we got hit, we'd used our ammo cans of magazines first and then use what we had on our person as a last resort. So the number of magazines and ways to use magazines were explained to new guys coming into the platoon when they got there.

Click to expand...

I was one of the lucky ones who did not have to go to Vietnam.

Rifleman 173, thank you for your service!

I was a medic with 3/187 101st 68-69. Carried a 45 with 4 mags.

Got an M 1 carbine from the ARVN and caried 10 mags for a while. Could always pick up a 16 unfortunately. Had a couple mags and some extra grenades (frag and smoke) in a gas mask bag.

Humping weight will wear you out in jungle heat.

Between the medic bag,and ruck filled with extra canteens (Dumb butts get dehydrated quickly) c -rats, (The canned peaches was my best medicine socks (People take care of your feet!) and all the other stuff, 60 lbs was not unusual.
Depending on the mission. Maybe a extra radio battery, or a mortar round, or a belt for the 60, a claymore for NDP (night defensive position)

Sorry. Not much help, everybodies war was different, generally my guys carried at least one, most carried 2 bandoleers.

Off topic - but I must say, my guys watched out for me, as much as I watched out for them.
R I P to all we left behind, Doc will never forget you.

Clips are used to load magazines. Magazines hold ammunition and are used to provide ammo to the firearm.
Symantics aside, It depends, as others have said, on what weapon they were carrying. Are you referring to the M-16? And guys, correct me if I'm wrong, but 30 round mags weren't used in Vietnam, correct? Or were they scarce?

I had varied duties because as a 97B /04b4L80 I served as courier while going between s2s. I allways had my issued Ithaca 1911a1 and at least 2 extra mags on me. When I was assigned to evaluate and inventory the freshly taken Hamburger Hill in the Ashau I managed to bring 20 M-14 mags with the 14 issued me but rarely taken anywhere. I was coptered in with only a few hundred yards to climb up over the 105 battery that was put in on the eastern saddle of that bloody hill, the western face where I was overlooking faced Injun country
. I went on a few LRRP missions in I corp and carried the 1911a1 with 4 mags extra and explosives devices along with the electronic stuff in my pack. Frankly I intended to "do " myself if captured on one of those jaunts!

>>What about that poor SOB that carried an M-60?<<

I did for a while, but luckily not over in the rice paddies.

20 magazines and maybe one bandoleer for the M-16.
For the Fal 12 magazines.
Knife and 1911 with 2 extra mags.
And the best weapon your could ever have. A Radio.
Arty, Air Armor.

And WATER. As much as you could carry

AFS

A cousin of mine was the Army '60 gunner, and when he wasn't carrying it, he was carrying an M14 with 20 mags, jungle-taped together by 2's, so 5 pairs of jungle-taped mags on both sides of his load-bearing vest, with one taped mag in the rifle, so there's 440 total.

This is a big guy, though... even in his late 60's, he is a good 6'4 in height. He said it felt like they got ambushed on every patrol they went on, and as much as he hated lugging the M60, he sure felt safer behind its firepower.

M-60 guys normally had about a 25 round "starter belt" when they moved. Once shooting began they'd take a whole belt of linked ammo and start to rock and roll in short bursts.

I always loved the way the Army portrayed things. If you read the material of the day, the Army always said that an M-60 team consisted of the gunner, an assistant gunner and an ammo bearer. In reality, in combat, you had a lone man lugging the M-60 by himself. Other guys pitched in and carried ammo for him but there was no asst. gunner and no ammo bearer.

The last platoon I was in had a captured enemy machinegun that we used like it was ours. We didn't care because it gave us 3 machineguns to bring to bear on targets. We had the one gun assigned to our platoon. We had the one gun that had been stolen from another unit. And we had the enemy gun too.

There was only one night when we brought all 3 machineguns to bear on the enemy but it amazed me. The enemy got overconfident and they thought that they had us nailed. That was until they got to the bottom level of our perimeter barbed wire. We had learned that when our South Vietnamese "allies" took off that meant we were going to get hit that night. Sure enough, the South Vietnamese had taken off and left the 7 of us Americans behind without so much as a warning. The enemy came up the slope of the hill we were on, got to the bottom strand of our barbed wire and we hit them hard. We set off claymores and then cur loose with slap flares and the 3 machineguns all at once. We ground those guys into hamburger. They couldn't get away from us fast enough. The next day the South Vietnamese came back all amazed that we were all alive because the rumor had been spread about "all the dead Americans." Funny thing was that none of us were even slightly injured at all. Oh, well.

My friends uncle was there for several years and carried a M14 most of the time. He told us he carried at least 10 magazines with him.

Ive always thought the standard load for a rifleman seemed low. Today its 210 rounds for the M16. I always had 12 mags on me and one in the gun.

With the M16 and the Thumper, as much as we could carry, depending of course where and how long we thought we would be out.

I was with Delta company,3/8th Inf,4th Inf Div 68-69.Our patrols lasted up to 4 or 5 days. I carried 20+ loaded magazines(18 rounds per mag)one in the rifle and about 200+ loose rounds.I had a bandolier about my waist which was 7 magazines as I recall. We did not have 45's in my battalion.It would have been nice for the grenadier to have one as the 79 was a single shot weapon. When the 79 was carried on patrol,approximately 60 HE rounds were carried in a claymore bag.The vest held 10 it seemed but I may be off on that.A bandolier of 6 cannister rounds was carried and usually one in the 79 and for some reason,a cannister round was in the helmet band. With the company as it moved, the laod was heavier.

the war is long gone,but the images that stay with me are of very young men with pimples carrying heavy loads,being gualed between the legs and armpits from the salt pills we were forced to take, bugs,snakes,god damn arvn along wth heat and smells that would turn a buzzard and the eturnal fear that you may be killed at any time. i carried all the ammo that i could move with and i threw it away when it was not needed.there were good times,but they are not remembered as much as the bad times. eastbank.

While the enemy only carried four mags. VC s use the three cell CHicom AK chest rig. SO that makes it 120 rds total. A few chicom grenades and what not. What a big difference. At the side is their lunch meal, white steamed rice and dry fish and of course a little bottle of Nuoc Nam (fish sauce).

I cannot fathom throwing ammunition away.That would have been a court martial offense in my company.

Like others said, it would depend on the mission and the type of unit. A friend of mine was there in the Corps and said that standard issue was six magazines, but he would carry as many as he could and always had one or two bandolier.

In Desert Storm I carried nine 30 round magazines, two mixed with tracers, Extra box of 20 tracers in my butt pack and an exrta bandolier. Also carried 4lbs of C4, blasting caps and 2 M67 frags. I was a section leader for a Dragoon platoon. My dragoon gunners carried seven 30 round magazine and the Dragoon missle. The A gunner carried seven 30 round mags and two bandolier, along with C4 blasting caps and frags. If they had extra mags, they carried them.