A rather dry but informative video about the history and development of the old ALICE gear system used by the US military.
Older and wiser heads than I, who actually used this stuff, will have their own opinions, no doubt, and thats as it should be. ALICE gear is another bit of legacy gear that is fairly common in survivalist circles. The stuff was so ubiquitous and abundant that I doubt there’s anyone who doesnt have an ALICE pack, mag pouch, our other component sitting in their gear. It may not be ‘Tier 1’ stuff these days, but for the price it’s not a bad choice for certain usages. I find the ALICE packs, with an upgrade to the shoulder straps, to be a fairly competent piece of kit for an emergency bag. Since the market abhors a vacuum, there are several companies that make bags to go on the ALICE pack frame. My emergency gear in the truck is in a Spec-Ops Brand bag on an ALICE frame and I like it alot. Theyre stupid expensive these days but I think I got mine on closeout a few years back for around $75 each. I love Spec-Ops Brand gear but they seem to be perpetually on the brink of going out of business. They used to have all sortsa cool, well-thought out, and well-made gear. Now it seems they just have a few items and not much else. A shame, I really like their products.
Back in the day, ALICE gear was pretty much what every survivalist started with. Nowadays its more MOLLE/PAL webbing and gear. Good stuff, no doubt, but sometimes I like the nostalgia of the old green ALICE gear.
Because of the huge amount of ALICE gear out there, there is a thriving industry in upgrades and accessories for the ALICE system…adapters to let you use MOLLE pouches and vice versa. Replacement packs for the ALICE frames. Things like that. I personally think much of the ALICE gear is inferior to what we have now with the MOLLE stuff, but I really do like the upgraded bags, like the Spec-Ops, on the ALICE frame. The newer plastic MOLLE pack frames are alright, I suppose, and I do have some, but for ruggedness and versatility I really like the ALICE frames…especially when combined with the cargo shelf for carrying things like fuel/water cans and cases of ammo.
Anyway, an interesting bit of history about some legacy gear that many of us still have in our stockpiles.
Dating myself, I guess, but I got out in ‘62, and we didn’t have Alice gear back then Everything was heavy. Too old to worry it now.
I was able to facilitate a swap of a lot of the old canvas M1950? web gear to the US Forest Service…They preferred the canvas gear to the nylon (makes sense, I guess).
Cool. ALICE surplus was sold back in the 80’s – 90’s when I was first getting interested in the prepping life. I have quite a few items purchased at what today would be ludicrous prices. When I was a kid, the old WWII canvas pack and grommeted belt with matching frog covered canteen was my weekend uniform. Real items, not the made-to-spec stuff you see for sale now.
I’m 62 years old now – what piece of ALICE – MOLLE gear goes with that ? :^)
as the world transitions from desert vehicle borne counter insurgency, alice seems to be making a come back. i served from 81 til 2010 and used them all. i always cursed alice but i always returned to her after trying the new hotness. admittedly molle is better for vehicles, but in the woods its always alice. apparently tptb are getting ready to fight ww2/vietnam again.
tptb better start working on their Opsec. Maybe an alky news host is not best choice for SecDef
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/03/trump-administration-accidentally-texted-me-its-war-plans/682151/
Maybe you should not believe everything you read. It is certainly a mistake but where is the classified material Goldberg was trumpeting? And how did we get here from a discussion of LBE?
hire clowns get a circus
Like everything, there were certain pieces of ALICE gear I cursed- that stupid “fasten” on the kidney belt never held- it was normal SOP that once your Gear was adjusted all the loops and slides got taped with 100 mph tape or electrical tape. A good soldier – perhaps just smart – kept 2 set of LBE. One for field use and one for inspection. Only once did I have a crusty CSM ask us where our “real shit” was. Anyone who has been around a CSM knows you don’t even try to BS them. Up into the ceiling tiles we went and pulled down our stuff. He looked and said matter of factly – don’t you think if that is the stuff you use in the field that it deserves to be clean and maintained? Guess he had a point.
I served in desert shield/storm. We still were issued wool items. My nephew who served in Iraq post- 9-11 had all the new MOLLE stuff he came home to tell me “what crap they had!” Really!?!?!? My to favorite MOLLE pieces are the assault packs and the bandoliers that carry 6 30 round magazines. I still have several sets of ALICE LBE around- we like what we are used to. My son who just got back from Basic and AIT was asking me about certain gear and was like I have been out of the army for 32 years!!! He called me OLD ARMY. I had to laugh, when I was in we joked around about the brown boot army – now these kids today joke around about the black boot army. These kids today don’t even know the time, effort and tricks of polishing a set of combat boots. Thank you Mop and glow!!! (If you know you know)
The first troops that deployed to Afghanistan had the latest and greatest new packs with plastic or internal frames….
And many of them wanted to have Alice packs with frames. Under real use, the plastic frames of the time would break, leaving the pack pretty much useless – the LC-1 frame could be splinted with sticks and 100 mph tape
I have a couple of those packs…the later generation ones seemed to have addressed the breakage issues. Mine has bounced around and off of vehicles, been dropped to the ground a buncha times, and that sort of thing…no problems yet. The frames were available for, I believe, around six bucks each several years ago and a person could stock up on them if needed. Of course, not needing spares at all would the preferred condition, but……..
Yeah sometimes new doesn’t equal better
I’ve ben issued both LC-1 and modern component (Molle vest, etc) gear. I kind of prefer the LC-1 stuff, since I’m rather tall and carry most of it in my torso.
Especially when in the front of a vehicle. Also, I can set it up as I prefer then in the winter add an extension (Kovack clip) so I don’t have to re-adjust everything.
The MOLLE connection system is far superior to the clips, though. As long as you have a cheater of some sort to get the straps through the grid.
And if you are using a medium (small) ALICE pack, get a frame. There have been multiple cases of soldiers getting permanent nerve damage in the shoulder from an overloaded medium ALICE pack.
For comfort, I have third party lumbar, hip, and shoulder pads and straps.
TacticalTailor.com does mods to the bags which are handy.
Thanks to all of the above ‘real grunts’ who took the time to explain how to make their gear better in the field. I was never in any of the services, so my time with this gear was peacetime camping and such.
Anyone know where to get a set of LC-2 (or 1, I guess) LBE? I always wanted to get a set or two, partially for nostalgia from when it was issued to me and partly for who knows what uses… but I never got around to it and now I can’t find decent sets…
I feel like Alice is one of those things that people grow fonder of with nostalgia or like people who think rain ponchos are a good idea, have never actually used them in the field (they only keep you dry for 5 minutes under heavy rain until they soak through, they funnel all the water down into your boots and you will sweat to death under them in the meantime…they do make a passable shelter when strung up right).
Alice packs weren’t bad and when they were super cheap as surplus they were an acceptable choice. However, the new gear is better in every way and now itself can still be found cheap on eBay as GWOT guys sell off much of it.