This last week I picked up a U.S. Cold Weather Field Jacket at the Port Townsend Goodwill. I had to pay full price as it had just hit the racks, but even at that it was a steal!
The jacket appears to be brand new, never washed and unworn. It has the old stitching holes on the inside where the name strip and branch strip (US Army, etc.) had been sewn on and then removed. No stitching holes from any other patches. In the breast pocket I found two new US Army qualification pins, one for rifle (marksman) and one for grenade (expert). My guess is that the jacket was a boot camp issue jacket that never ended up being worn. If it had been issued in the field, I would imagine that some sort of unit patches, etc. would have been sewn on. This would also explain the two brand new qualification pins.
The jacket is in my EXACT size! I'm lovin' it and wearin' it :)
The jacket has an "SPO" contract code on the label, with the year code of "99". This makes the year of manufacture as 1999. "SPO" stands for "System Program Office. The SPO contract numbers have been used since 1994.
The official name for this style camouflage is M81 Woodland Pattern. As the title implies, it has been in use in the US military since 1981. In the US military of today, the US Navy Seals and Seabees are the only branches still using this pattern. It is now used primarily by civilian special police teams like SWAT and by the FBI, DEA, etc.
This "standard" US camo pattern is also used by military forces all over the world....... Mexico, Netherlands, Afghanistan National Army, Cambodia, Nigeria, Latvia, Pakistan, South Korea, to name just a few. For a more complete list, check out this Wikipedia page that lists the world's armies and what camo patterns that they wear. Many countries use several different styles for each of their branches.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_camouflage_patterns
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