keep in mind the time frame your doing. MPC changed colors at least once every year and a half, and I saw it change twice in a year. Main difference was the color. C-rats went thru a couple major changes as well, but the boxes looked similar. I started out on left over Korean War garbage, and it slightly got better. One thing that is very easy to make (assuming you know the size of the box) is the Sundry box that was handed out to each platoon. This is what you were after.
I was the guy with the unlimited ration card, and bought beer and soda for the company at the PX. Came on 80 carton pallets. For those that don't know it was $2.40 for regular beer, and $2.70 for premium beers. Soda pop was $2.40, or close to that figure. I also bought hard liquor, and it was priced by the alcohol content. 80 proof was about 80 cents, and 100 roof was a dollar a quart. I would borrow a five ton truck and somebody to ride along with me. Get five pallets (three beer and two soda). Who paid for it I have no idea, as all I did was sign my name. After loading, I'd take two duffle bags inside and fill them with liquor. Then go up front and buy all the potato chip and stuff like that I could lay my hands on. Then grab at least one case of Heinz 57 sauce, some mustard and ketchup. Paid cash for that. Go out and load it in a couple land nets, but always kept the liquor with me for a couple good reasons. Was to drop off one bottle of Canadian Club to a certain Marine Gunnery Sargent who repaired our radios. Then dropped off two bottles to a Seabee and give him a third if we needed anything (plywood, engineers stakes, or some fire lanes to be cleared). Then I'd catch a flight way out west.
The signs at LZ's changed about once a year, or when somebody new moved in. The one sign I've never seen done is the mileage signs to all points you could think of. Everything from Bangkok to New York City! SF camps rarely had a sign, and if they did it was written in Vietnamese. A few were obscene, and even worse. Most battalion areas had a welcoming sign, and orders to clear your weapons. (few abided by this sign) In the rear, base ball caps were common. Every now and then you'd see them in the bigger base camps. If the base camp was remote, you wore a helmet. You bloused your boots during the leech season, or where they lived 52 weeks a year.
Have never seen anybody market bundles of sandbags, and you'd often see a pile of twenty five of them. They came in a grey color as well as violet, and green. In 68 they changed contractors, and they started showing up in a shiny green color. Most sandbags were not filled with sand, but clay. There was a reason.
gary
