Trashed M65 Vietnam Era Jacket

Trashed M65 Vietnam Era Jacket with Scovil" zippers 

Size M-L

The jackets history, taken from Alpha Industries:

Alpha Industries, then a young and newly-rebranded company based in Tennessee, was the first to produce the iconic M-65 field jacket. The company had officially begun contracting for the Department of Defense back in 1959; by the mid ‘60s, Alpha Industries had produced N-3B and N-2B parkas for the Air Force as well as the famous classic, the MA-1.

In 1965, Alpha gave the field jacket an upgrade for the times, starting with a more advanced blend of nylon and cotton sateen called NYCO that significantly improved the jacket’s wind and water-resistance. The M-65 also switched out the button-on detachable hood for one that could be hidden away into the collar with a zipper enclosure. The button cuffs were replaced with velcro and snap closures were added for the storm flap.

One of the key features of the field jacket that was consistent across the different iterations was its boxy silhouette, which was structured to allow room for layering underneath in cold temperatures. This was particularly prioritized in the design of the M-65, which included interior buttons to attach a warm liner. Along with the jacket’s four front pockets — two at the breast and two at the hip — the field jacket’s new and modern design ensured the utmost capability in transitioning between changing weather patterns, an imperative in unpredictable environments such as Vietnam.

The jacket’s sleek combination of functionality and versatility made it a staple of the U.S. military field uniform for decades. The M-65 field jacket was so enduring, in fact, that very little changes to the design have been made throughout the course of its lifetime as a military uniform, until it was retired in 2009.

As camo for military use continued to be developed, the field jacket was issued in new patterns in addition to the traditional olive green shades. In 1981, the M-65 made an appearance in woodland camo, a camouflaging print based on a pattern created by the US Army Engineer and Research Development Lab (ERDL). The military continued to develop new shades for different environments, such as the deserts of the Middle East, and so the field jacket was distributed in desert camo in the ‘90s and in the digital Universal Camouflage Pattern (UCP) in 2005.