Anyone else collect militaria? (including watches)

Yep, that's the one.

I was a signals intell analyst who got attached to the 3rd armored cav. There was an MP group and a field artillery group who were also attached to 3rd AC. Because we were extra bodies (the artillery guys had no guns), we were all assigned to the MPs who had built a temporary prison compound in the desert. With three groups we could do 8 hour shifts around the clock.

Because we were expecting to be the initial collection point for processing EPWs, we had cases of MREs stored. Our guys slept in a tent with walls of MRE cases stacked from the ground to the top of the wall. Naturally, we picked through the cases to find our favorites. The funny thing is, I have no recollection of having a favorite meal.

I'm on vacation now so don't have access to my stuff. When I get home I'll see if I can find them and take some photos.

I still have a little pennant from the St Paddy's day parade. The police officers came to march in a parade in DC but the parade got snowed out. They had brought a bunch of gear to trade with the local cops. So when the parade got canceled, they had this extra stuff, which is how I ended up with a full Dublin police officers uniform and my girlfriend, now wife, dancing with the Dublin police commissioner. I wasn't a cop, but my wife wanted to go to the local church where all the police officers were attending mass. Afterwards there was a big party in the basement and we ended up hanging out with a couple guys for the weekend.

So it brings back memories but maybe not what was expected.

Home again. Mexico City is fantastic for anyone thinking of going.

Dug this stuff up. A few more things not pictured.

Dirt and rocks



The DC pennant from the snowed out parade


Our bern with some of the Iraqi EPWs


A sketch I made of a lizard our Kuwaiti Arabic interpretor dug out of the ground



At the airport about to get on for plane home with the flight crew.

Nice collection, similar to mine that I posted earlier from my time in SEA. 🇺🇸

Picked it up new in an outlet mall in Virginia south of DC. I should probably change the battery. 🤦

I wish I had my Dad's Seiko from the Vietnam/American war.

Thanks for reminding me about the watch.

I went out and bought a battery, then cleaned up the watch a bit. The old battery had started corroding but didn’t get into the module. After replacing the battery and closing it up, I was able to set the digital time. The calendar reset defaulted to 1985. That was a little surreal. But it advanced to 2025. Hard to believe so many years have passed.

I can't get the analog hands to match the digital time. I called Casio support and we tried a few things but the manual is not online so they are going into the warehouse to try to find me one.

It's kind of fun to go back in time before everything was online. I need to find a replacement strap now, which is my next search.

Again, thanks for the prompting.



Edit: I figured it out! Analog hands match. Damn, Casio made a tough watch.

No, he had a couple but they were more time only standard watches.

I did get his stereo system, which I gave to one of my daughters. Every GI brought a stereo home after a Vietnam tour (the ones who came home.)

I was randomly pushing buttons but I think this is correct.

It has three buttons/pushers, 2 on the left and on near 4 o'clock. I only needed the 2 on the left.

First thing was set the digital time. Using the mode button (lower button near 8 o'clock), push it repeatedly until the time is flashing. Then cycle through the seconds, minutes etc until each is set. I won't go into detail because it's straight forward.

The analog hands do advance with the digital time, e.g. as a digital minute advances the analog minute hand advances. Some internet guys said their analog didn't advance, which is a bigger problem. That wasn't mine.

So I had the digital time set and working analog hands. Lucky I guess. Using the mode button at 8 o'clock, I pushed it until the time was flashing. Then I pushed and held the top button near 10 o'clock until the minute hand started turning. You can push the button three times to advance once minute, which was as exact as I could match it up to the digital. So hold the 10 o'clock button down until the time gets close to the correct time and then let off and push it and let off until the minute hand about lines up.

At least that's what I think I did. Now that it's set I'm afraid to mess with it to double check. The Casio customer service guy was having me use the button at 4 o'clock, which is apparently how some later watches work.

As far as having been through a war, the closest to danger the watch came to was flying burning shit. We took turns burning the crapper, which was a 50 gallon drum cut in half. We'd pour jet fuel (can't remember what, I think it was JP something) into the pile in the drum and light it up. As it burned we'd stir it with a long stick. I was over zealous when I first did it and splashed myself with flaming crap that landed on my forearm. No permanent harm except to my ego. A good story for the kids.

The prisoners had it worse. We treated them well but they had it rough before they were captured. Lots of stories but one stood out. We helped a guy who had a spine injury. We took him from his buddies who had carried him off the Chinook. One of the Iraqi guys said to us, "American soldier, good men." One of the finest compliments I've ever received. Still, a dumb war, like most. Important to remember that when telling stories.

A couple of years back I decided to pick up period correct US issue M1916 holster for my circa 1915 M1911. While I was at that I went ahead and found a web belt, canteen, mag pouch, and bolo knife (all WWI issue) to accompany it.

A few US Navy Clocks from WW1

1918 military cockpit clock.

Here some I added a while back to the collection.

A quartermaster spyglass was used on the bridge by the quartermaster for sight navigation close to land. From WW2.

The British Navy version of the quartermaster spy scope.