Marines

USMC in Vietnam Early War.

Orion 1/72nd scale plastic figures, 44 figures in 14 poses.

You get a command group and three troop groups.

Like the Army troops these are excellent, flash free, and highly detailed.

The two major differences between these and the Orion US Army figures is that these have body armo and M14 rifles rather than M16 rifles.

The body armor for Marines was a command interest item and so everyone in combat had to wear body armor, despite the heat and humidity of Southeast Asia.
 

Contact on Patrol

Vietnam, US Army, 1967.

First Platoon is down a few men, but they still conduct patrols.

They are 4 clicks out from Firbase Pattie.

They have just taken a few rounds and first and second squads are moving forward to suppress that fire.

Machine gun provides a base of fire as the other troops move along the right flank.

One solider tosses a grenade into a suspects NVA position.

The LT radios in the contact report to company.
 

Vietnam War US Army

These are great troops.  1/72nd scale soft plastic US Army troops for Vietnam.  Unlike the Esci / Italeri figures which are rather thin, and even sort of comic book looking these guys look like they are in the war.

You get a infantry group and a command group.  43 figures is a perfect size for a Vietnam era plastoon.

First figure has an M14 rifle and a Stetson hat.  A bit Hollywood but a great pose.  Probably do a head swap on a few of these and give them a regular M1 helmet.

Advancing at the ready with an M16 rifle.  Look at all the gear he is packing!

M16 at the hip, fire while advancing, walking fire.  Note the extra canteens.

Radioman with smoke grenades.  I am popping smoke.  I identify yellow smoke.  Roger, yellow smoke.

You discharge a smoke grenade and the helicopter pilot tells you what color smoke he sees.  You confirm he has picked the right color so that if the enemy has also thrown smoke your pilot will still know where to land.

I love the gear on these guys, clearly they did not just dismount from a helicopter unless they are planning to walk back to base.  Note the quality of the casting and depth of detail.  Great figures.
 

US Army Infantry Vietnam

Orion has been doing a range of Vietnam War soldiers.  This is the most recent one I have obtained.  It is US Army Infantry, middle war.  This would place them at about 1965 to about 1970.  The M16 entered service in 1964 and made it to Vietnam in 1965.  In a couple years the M16 had replaced the M14 series as the standard service rifle for the US Army.

The first few shipments of the M16 rifles were shipped without cleaning rods, someone seemed to think it was self-cleaning and did not need a cleaning rod.  As a result, the rifles would jam and it could be difficult to remove an expended casing.  The ammunition that was issued was different from that used in testing and was more prone to creating carbon build up, resulting in jammed rifles.  Once this was sorted out the weapons served well for the next 50 years, but it started with a poor reputation.  I used them many times in the Army, never in combat, I served mostly in peacetime, and found it accurate and reliable.

US Army Infantry walked most short to intermediate distances and carried lots of gear with them.

These figures have very little flash, and are well animated.  They have a nice selection of weapons for the average squad.  You get three of each pose shown on this sprue and one each of the command sprue, not shown in this posting.
 

Vietnam Troops

These figures are well done and flash free.

I think the choice of the flame thrower is a bit much for what is essentially two squads.

But it could be used by any of the four American or South Vietnamese sets.

I like these figures.

Shown here with a Tim Mee figure.

With a 60mm ring hand figure.  These figures fit okay with the larger figures.
 

Vietnam US Army

Mars Vietnam War US Army Infantry in 54mm size.  Soldier with M60 machine gun.

M16 rifle.  There were several problems with the initial fielding of the M16 but none were due to the basic design.  After a time the problems were resolved and the rifle serves to this day with US and over 100 other countries.

The US had very good radio communication and could nearly always contact artillery or close air support.

Flame thrower, useful for fighting bunkers.

Charging with the M14.

All good poses.
 

Vietnam US Army Infantry

Vietnam War US Army Infantry  This man has an M16 and a LAW.

Mars 54mm troops.

Each pose you get in the set.

M14 was used by US troops for most of the war even after the M16 was fielded.

This guy looks like a real person.  He is certainly enjoying that American cigarette.
 

Mars Infantry

These make good troops on the battlefield.

No real flash, figures stand up well.

I intend to take the 8 pointed cap guy and give him to my Marines.

And three of the Marines will come to the Special Forces group.

Extra ammo for the machine gun was always important but wearing it could cause it to get dirty and foul the weapons.  Hit the deck, when you are in a muddy rice paddy will not help this ammunition feed well.

This guy just looks sneaky.
 

Mars Green Berets

Good troops, nice variety of weapons.  This one looks like a common outfit for US Army troops in Vietnam, could be Green Berets could be standard Infantry.

Special Forces with night vision scope on his rifle and a noise suppressor.

This guy also has a radio and looks very similar to a figure in the Esci US Army Vietnam War figures.

This figure is wearing the US Marine Corps 8 pointed hat.

This would only be used by Marines rather than by US Army Special Forces.  So this figure belongs in the USMC set, just as three of the figures from that set belong in the Special Forces set.  Two excellent sets and my plan is to swap out these figures to their own "proper" sets.