Aghan made body armour cover and modified uniform

a friend just donated me those from his last deployment he did a as a pathfinder for "Nembo" paratroopers regiment


when italians deployed to afghanistan they initially had the ap98 body armour (nicknamed the turtle) http://www.esercito.difesa.it/Equipaggiamenti/armi_materiali_mezzi/materiali/individuali/nbc/Pagine/GiubbettoAntiproiettileAP98.aspx

Since it wasn't PALS capable the Afghan came to rescue and started making these kits. Note they were only made this way, in Od green with a standard set of pouches (i was told it costed about 90$).


note the inside is sized for the ap98 soft armor which is one piece jointed at right shoulder

neck area with zip for neck protector and quick ditch mechanism

spare pouches and neck protector


these were superseded in 2010 with new issued models.

he also gave me one of his old uniforms. this is a vegetato jacket (italian issue, romanian made ) modified with a lot of velcro. also his helmet cover.

The modified Jacket is very beautiful!

thanks for the compliments.
Yesterday i went to a near surplus shop with a friend, the seller had another variation (my friend ended buying it). this is way lower in quality, similar to what all of us expect to see in the lower quality afghan/taliban gear. It has no mesh (instead it has fabric), without quick ditch capability and very bad stitching and materials. I wonder if these are pakistani made.

blue fabric inside

"usa" marked with flag snaps

bad quality

Very interesting! Those buttons are usually seen on Iraqi made pieces from memory but without a tag it is hard to pin down where this one is made. There is definetly a possibility of it being Pakistani made along with Chinese or Afghan.

Nice pick ups, love the vegetate patterns very unique

aussie digger wrote:Very interesting! Those buttons are usually seen on Iraqi made pieces from memory but without a tag it is hard to pin down where this one is made. There is definetly a possibility of it being Pakistani made along with Chinese or Afghan.

I have two provenanced pieces of Afghan made gear and they have the same snaps. However, you are right that those snaps do show up on Iraqi made stuff as well.