Now Forming! the Campaign Hat Corps

[Marcus]

My best guess on the "piss-cutter" is that during WWI the Marines went over in 1917 wearing campaign covers, canvas leggings and naturally, Marine Corps uniforms. As time wore on the large round brims of the covers were not very practical to carry around with them. Being that WW1 saw the first widespread useage of helmets, this made carrying the cover even more of a pain. The French had been using the "piss-cutter" style (or Overseas cap as it came to be known by the Americans) for some time after they ditched their kepi style cover.

As things dragged on and uniforms began to tatter, it was found that things like service shoes, canvas leggings would rot away in the wet trenches. This led to the use of puttees (leg wraps) and roughout boots. On the whole, the Marine Corps was a small player on a big field at the time and the logistics of having two supply chains for uniforms was impractical. This led to the widespread useage of Army uniforms. By this time many lessons were learned and the practicality of the OS, made sense and became the softcap most seen by our troops.

Of course you'll see alot of Marine after the war in bell crown type caps in mustering out uniforms. Somewhere between the wars, the "piss-cutter" was adopted officially.

 

[Prairie Shade]

That's not what it was called

Gentlemen, I am unable to say on this forum what it was called, but in the Army it was NOT called the above. But, WORSE!

 

[dhermann1]

Barracks cover

Here's a shot from the July 1945 Leatherneck showing what we used to call the "salty dip" style in the barracks cover. This dip was emblematic of Marines. When I was in the "powers that be" started thinking this was too individualistic, I guess, and started stamping it out. But the look is totally cool.

 

[dhermann1]

Another view:

 

[Nashoba]

ahhhh Okay, now I know what you're talking about. thanks for the pics those are great! I especially love that second one.

 

[dhermann1]

Slightly off topic. What the hey.
I have bound volumes of the 1944 and 1945 Leatherneck. They are so full of fascinating stuff.

 

[Nashoba]

Slightly off topic. What the hey.
I have bound volumes of the 1944 and 1945 Leatherneck. They are so full of fascinating stuff.

fftopic: Oh that so makes me jealous! my husband has a small collection but nothing earlier than 1994 lol I keep forgetting to renew his MCA membership so we havn't gotten it for a couple of years now. His MC Times though, heaven help me if I let that subscription slip.

 

[Gaige]

Nothing in particular...it's just that San Diego is better

tsk, tsk....

 

[Nashoba]

tsk, tsk....

lol. I couldn't resist. It's pathetic to admit but I spent the first three days of my honeymoon at MCRD San Diego.

 

[dhermann1]

PI vs San Diego

I went to Parris Island, Aug 1966, but my impression at the time was that SD was tougher, if only because of having to sleep through planes landing in your back yard continuously. And Camp Pendleton must have been more physically rigorous because of the mountains. But us east coast Marines ain't no sissies!
Actually, if you take a detached look at it (which was difficult to do under the circumstances) PI was a beautiful place. It's right across Beaufort Harbor from Hilton Head Island, one of the most exclusive resorts in the world. I still remember the Spanish moss dangling from the trees at Elliott's Beach. (My memory may be cloudy, it was Elliott's Beach, right?)
I'd like to post more stuff from these Leathernecks but I'm concerned about copyright issues. There are great stories, fiction and non-fiction, great instructional articles, great pin-ups(!), etc., etc. And the very last corner of the very last page of the Dec 1945 issue is a picture of my dad.
Maybe a thread for the Leatherneck.

 

[Gaige]

Ah, the good ol' "Hollywood Marines vs. East Coast Marines" debate... lol

San Diego, if I recall, has that God-forsaken "Reaper" mountain or whatever it is. I've seen vids of it... I wouldn't want to hike it.

Then again, at PI, there's something to be said for the fact that it's in the middle of a swamp. And, well, I went in at the end of May. So, come July... temps were some of the highest recorded since the 30's.

10-mile humps, sweating so profusely that your cammies are -black-, with sweat steadily streaming from the -brim- of your cover... fun times, that.

Oh, and mosquitoes the size of pterodactyls...

I sort of miss it.

 

[Nashoba]

WAY fftopic:
DH: That was my husbands' view on it too. My cousin is a PI Marine and so he and my husband would always get into the good natured debate. He always said that being that close to the airport was torture for some of the guys. PI is nice. We went out there when my cousin graduated. I was there in January though and for a California girl, Parris Island in January sucked. I wasn't prepared for the cold and I practically froze. It was 17 out that day. I would love to see more of those Leathernecks. What a treasure trove! Any pics of Guidons in there? Since that's what I actually do I always like to see the old ones, they've actually changed quite a bit over the years

Gaige: I believe it would be the term would be the San Diego Marines vs the 'Fantasy Island' Marines lol The reaper is at Pendleton, my husband took me to see it on our honeymoon (I know it's sad, I'm a completely brainwashed moto-wife), yeah it pretty much looks like it sucks.

 

[dhermann1]

I was at PI at the ideal time. I got there Aug 31, 1966, left 8 weeks later,. It did get pretty chilly at Camp LeJeune in Nov tho. Had guard duty one night when it hit 26, and we were NOT properly dressed. Spent the night shouting
"Halt! Who goes there!"
(muffled voice)"Peter Rabbit!"
"Peter Rabbit! Advance and be recognized!"

 

[Nashoba]

I was at PI at the ideal time. I got there Aug 31, 1966, left 8 weeks later,. It did get pretty chilly at Camp LeJeune in Nov tho. Had guard duty one night when it hit 26, and we were NOT properly dressed. Spent the night shouting
"Halt! Who goes there!"
(muffled voice)"Peter Rabbit!"
"Peter Rabbit! Advance and be recognized!"

LOL. I can't say I was terribly impressed by Lejeune. I spent most of Jan / Feb there to be with my husband before he deployed. I left thankful that we didn't live there and missing SoCal all the more. Although it was unseasonably warm when I was there. I didn't even have a coat on most of the time. Wore short sleeves half the time too. In January no less

 

[dhermann1]

I'm thinking this discussion (USMC in general, but not relating to campaign hats) needs to find a new home. Maybe we need a forum for Military Life in general. But that's not inherently "vintage".

 

[Nashoba]

I'm thinking this discussion (USMC in general, but not relating to campaign hats) needs to find a new home. Maybe we need a forum for Military Life in general. But that's not inherently "vintage".

Or we can just get back on topic

 

[Nashoba]

So at what point did the Marine Corps stop issuing the Campaign cover and move it strictly to the drill field?

 

[DELTA0321]

The "Hat"

"Hats" as Drill Instructors were/are informally known among themselves received their official uniform cover in true Marine Corps fashion: by order & all at the same moment.
"On Saturday, July 21, 1956, at 7:30 a.m. all 603 drill instructors of the recruit training command obtained their new hats." The original article is here (http://www.mcrdpi.usmc.mil/training/units/rtr/dischool/campcvr.htm ). On 2 Oct. 1996 female DI's began to wear the same cover.

When I was at PI (1989-1990) DIs were issued 2 covers. One was worn daily & one reserved for inspection, graduation & the like. Sun & sweat soon faded the daily-wear hat to a prized "salty" look, although the brims are always kept perfectly flat unlike the old-Corps pictures of the same covers on field duty. I still have mine, although they did not well survive storage for 6 yrs & have had moths at the edges of the brims.

Marine PMIs (Primary Marksmanship Instructors) and members of the Marine Corps Shooting Team also wear the "DI Hat". Officers on the drill field wear their normal covers. Officers with the Rifle Team wear the "DI Hat" with an officer's gold cord.

One interesting note is that, at least in 89-90, DI's were strictly forbidden to wear their "hats" off-base. We all had to keep the normal service cap in our cars for the commute home.

v/r
Steve

 

[deanglen]

Found on the internet. Circa 1913. Love it.

dean

 

[Duck]

Great photo, Dean!!! He has the look