Would these figures be accurate for 1977?

No, first thing is the leggings. Stopped using those by the end of WWII except for the marines.

Actually everything is wrong. The 70s were a bad time for US uniforms in my opinion..gross shiny green fatigues that look like they were bought at Kmart...but depending on the scenario you could go with BDUs depending on arm of service. Why they never fully put out woodland or tigerstripe is a mystery lol. Maybe some Tamiya or old DML figures?

My dad crewed an M109 shop van(EOD), in the late 70's. I will be attempting to replicate this. I have only seen photos of him, in fatigues(brown/khaki t-shirt and green pants). Figured it would be nice to add a couple of figures.

Ah k. Yea u may have to modify a figure or seek out resin.

BDU's were issued starting 81. Here's a site that has a list of uniforms worn from WWII thru today. This is the 60-70's page:
http://olive-drab.com/od_soldiers_clothing_1960-1970s.php

Thank you for the link. It's very informative.

I don't want to question my dad too much, as this will be his birthday present.

As for the actual fit and cut of the clothing as opposed to the obvious differences in fabrication and footwear the answer is an astounding YES!

Change the boots and paint them in the horrid green permanent press and they would indeed be 1977 soldiers. That's one of the great secrets of Cold War US model building. The actual cut of the uniforms remained similar enough from 1944 to 1984 to pass for each other in 1/35. Footwear and gear differed but in 1/35 a field jacket or shirt and pants were the same whether the brown olive khaki of 1944 or the permanent press green of 1977.

Though the back pockets need flaps.

That is what I suspected, but I'm no Cold War/Vietnam aficionado and thought I should ask the experts.

I think your thinking of the stateside fatigues.Remember the VN war went on till 73 . In VN ( I was base security in the AF at Da Nang 71 - 72 ) we wore camo Fatigues and OD jungle fatigues . Tiger stripes were available for certain branches and were permitted in ours , but you had to buy your own ! They were light weight because it was hot and humid as hell !! We also wore jungle boots , black leather with green od nylon sides .

Tamiya used to have some good figure kits from the Vietnam war but I can't remember the kit numbers. In 1/35 scale the uniforms would be very close to the 70's OD's.

I was in the Army throughout the 70s.
Stateside, we wore Army green fatigues and black high-top leather boots. Early on we had to iron and starch them. Later, we could get 'permanent press' versions.

We could occasionally get away with wearing left over jungle fatigues and boots (from Viet Nam), but only when we were deep in the boonies.

The shirts, pants and the field jackets were all the same shade of green, although it varied by the garment's age, and the PermaPress ones were a slightly darker shade of green.

If your father was Airborne he may have worn the even taller black leather boots of the paratroopers (Corcorans), but most of us only wore them with dressier uniforms (Class As or Khakies).

Only our helmet covers and poncho liners (loved them!) were camouflaged.

As has been said, the uniforms in your box-top photo would work, but the boots need to change, and the pants pockets would have had flaps.

Along with what's already been mentioned-- the helmet cover and band was a standard issue item in the 70s. Helmets were seldom seen without the cover (except for highly polished "chrome" or painted "parade" helmets worn primarily by color guards). It would be helpful to know the exact unit your father was in, as uniforms sometimes varied by unit as well. For example, when I was assigned to the 11th Armored Cavalry in 1977, we wore tankers jackets, black berets, and tanker's boots-- other ACR soldiers around the Army might be found wearing the same items. What hasn't been mentioned was the ugly baseball cap the entire Army wore in 1977-- finding model figures wearing that hat is very difficult. Tamiya made a 1/35 set wearing 1977 era uniforms that came with its M577 and M113 kits. I think the M577 set was marketed separately as the "US staff group". Academy also marketed a set of 70s era US soldiers in fatigues, which is what the utility uniform was called. The Academy figures were marketed separately with thier 4.2 inch mortar set, and could also be found in thier "Mutt" M151 kits.
VR, Russ

Any soldier could wear Corcoran Jump boots. Cost about a $100 at clothing and sales. I had two pairs of them, one for garrison duty such as parades an guard duty and another for regular duty and light field work. For heavy field work and deployment I heavy duty boots for either cold or hot weather, jungle boots for really hot weather in green or black nylon or for extreme cold I had furlined German boots with vibram soles.

The fatigues faded quickly to different colors. After a few months of washings, they weren't really green anymore, but a light green/gray color. Since they didn't stay paired, you'd usually see people wearing different colored pants and shirts.

The author said his father was EOD. EOD were never part of larger units, they were attachments with their own chain of command usually to a control detachment at the Army level. I was part of the 87th Ordnance Detachment (EOD) stationed at Presidio San Francisco, our control unit was attached to Sixth Army Headquarters,(coincidentally also at Presidio) One thing for him to remember is that the front fenders of the shop van should be painted red. That was common for EOD vehicles in the seventies (at least stateside).

I've watched this over several times, really interesting and something you/others may want to try your hand at.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNfY0U_KeHE

Matt, for silly reasons, I have a couple of left overs sprues form the old Tamiya M113 ACAV kit. There's 2 figures left, the commander, with a tanker's helmet and a 'topless' infantry man with a loose boonie hat. The boots look OK, no leggings and the pockets are covered. You're welcome to them.

He wore a red hat and mentioned the fenders being painted red. When the xo questioned the red fenders, he produced a can of green spray paint. He was stationed, in Germany and later, Dougway.

Kevlar06: My dad is visiting and I will try to determine which unit he was in. I do know that he wore the hat and fatigues. I am unsure of the boots.

adamant: I will have to devote some time to the video you shared.

md72: I will take you up, on the figures.

Thanks to all of you for the wealth of information.

Matt,
Dugway Utah? I spent three years there. If your Dad was in the EOD unit there, it would be interesting to know-- I was there 1984-87. It had a very specialized EOD unit, due to the nature of the work there.
VR, Russ

Russ - My dad was there, until the late 70's. One of his units favorite games was to see who could get the most distance, blowing the turret off of a tank. I'm unsure of what his official capacity was. I'll see if I can't get him to set up an account, here.

I will ask my dad if he wants to become a member of the forum. He is very proud of his service and enjoys keeping in touch, with other veterans.

Matt,
Interesting you should mention your Dad wearing a "red hat". At Chemical weapon storage or testing sites in the US Army (like Dugway), the area encompassing the restricted area is usually the purview of the weapons caretakers, who wore red hats, designating them as having the authority to be in the security area for work. These personnel would have to meet stringent security requirements, and be members of the Personnel Reliability Program (PRP). These troops (or civilians) could be either Ordnance or Chemical types, and the security enclosure would be known as "the Red Hat Area". Additionally, vehicles assigned to this area might be marked appropriately, usually a fender mark with red reflective tape along the front and partial side of the fender-- although this was normally done for vehicles remaining inside the enclosure (for chemical weapons). I know EOD team members often wore Red Hats designating them from others, but this was normally done when actively dealing with UXOs or in garrison. To this day, I still have my Red Hat from Johnston Island (I spent several months there trans-loading Chemical weapons from Germany). The M109 van you are trying to build would also have a different load of equipment than the standard maintenance equipment found in standard M109s (number 1 + 2 Common or electronics maintenance sets). The EOD version would be loaded with tools and protective equipment necessary to deal with UXOs or special weapons. Just a side note, the color red is associated with munitions handlers, bomb techs, and EOD types across all the services. EOD is a subset, and not all "Red" wearers include EOD techs, and many other ordnance handlers wear red. The Navy has red shirts, the AF has Red Hats, as do the Army and USMC. An EOD tech is a specially trained individual who attended a six month joint service course (minimum) in UXO disposal, either at Aberdeen Proving Ground or at Camp Shelby Mississippi (for Army types) in the 70s era. This may give you some info with which you can ferret info out from your Dad.
VR, Russ

Russ - That is very informative. I know that he was never assigned to Aberdeen. He was trained, at Indianhead. He was in charge of a unit, in Dugway. I am unsure of his status, when he was stationed in Augsburg and Italy. He still carries his security clearance and mentioned that he worked with chemical weapons(using "canary suits"). Said he had to take and adapine shot, once. As for the fenders/tape, I remember he stated that they painted them red. I can't get a response as to the set up of the shop van. Oh, he served in the Army. Although, he does talk about working, with Marines.

Matt,
Indianhead is the main EOD School. I mis-stated that when I said Aberdeen-- I believe the Navy runs Indianhead for all the services. It sounds like he specialized in Chemical weapons, based on his experience. I'd have to go back and do some research as to the EOD unit at Dugway, but I don't remember if they were assigned there directly or at Toole Army Depot when I was there in the 1980s. The Army did a lot of Chemical disposal at Dugway in the 1970s, one unique vehicle from that time was an M114 with a boom on the front that was used to move weapons from discovered locations into a massive burn pit. It was called the "Red Devil", and we had several folks at Dugway that had been involved with that operation. You might ask your Dad about other vehicles and see if he remembers that.
VR, Russ

Russ-
My dad headed home, today. I will be visiting him, in a month and can continue probing. He never mention the M114, but it took me 10 years to determine the designation of the M109.

On a lighter note, he said that EOD was the best job, ever. By 21, he was in command of his own unit and having unlimited explosives. One of their favorite past times, was to see who could eject a tank turret the furthest. His favorite explosive was det cord. I suppose this was a perk of such a dangerous duty. Oh, he did work with serrin(which would fall under "chemical").

I may have quoted him wrong, on being in artillery. It was his father that served as a battery commander, during WWII. I believe this is the reason for having operating and identi-fication manuals, from that branch.