We seem to have had quite a number of medical items on the blog recently, and tonight is no exception, with an MTP Medical Trauma Pouch: 
You might recall we looked at an earlier iteration of this pouch a few weeks back here. This pouch is clearly serving the same purpose, but is a more up to date design that has taken into account some of the shortcomings of the earlier design. One of the problems of the earlier design was that if it was opened whilst still attached to the belt, one of the smaller front pockets was upside down and potentially items could fall out when it was opened. To counter this problem, on the MTP version when opened out only the top half folds down, which then reveals the second smaller pocket with a top flap opening across the pocket so everything remains vertical for access: 
Two small side pockets have been added to the pouch to separate out items that are needed for easy access. Judging by the shape I would think these were used to hold the morphine syringes: 
As well as a change in colour from olive green to MTP (there is a DPM version in between that I don’t have yet), the fixings on the rear have changed to allow this pouch to be fully compatible with PLCE web gear: 
Beneath the top flap are two plastic ‘T’ bars for attaching to the belt: 
And on the top are the same fasteners you see on PLCE pouches allowing the yoke of the PLCE set to be attached: 
Note also the medical cross symbol on a printed label on the top flap. The top flap itself has a clear plastic liner that creates another small pocket to allow small items such as alcohol wipes to be easily stowed here: 
The lid is secured with a black plastic ‘Fastex’ buckle on the front: 
Interestingly nearly all of these pouches I have seen have an incorrect label sewn to the rear. Although this is an MTP pouch, the labels frequently describe them as DPM: 
This suggests that the manufacturer’s forgot to update the label printing when they updated the camouflage! The contents of this pouch would be similar to the example we looked at earlier. This is a suggested packing list from the contents card:
1 x Pouch, Medical, 3-compartment
1 x Suction Easy
1 x Resuscitation aid face shield
1 x Adult Triage Label Pack Individual 5 Triage labels 5 Dead
1 x Chest Seal Asherman single use
2 x Morphine auto injector 1 x Pencil, Skin marking
2 x Emergency Bandage Trauma
1 x Tourniquet System Self applied CATS
1 x Scissors bandage universal Tufcut
2 x Bandage triangular calico
4 x Gloves medical examination/procedure size medium
1 x Hemcon Bandage
As can be seen there are a number of plastic Fastex clips on the front of the cover. The clip right in the front and centre is used to hold the entrenching tool itself into the cover securely:
This clip is mounted on an ‘v’ of webbing which allows a waterbottle to be substituted, the cap fitting neatly in the notch of the webbing ‘v’. Two other Fastex clips are fitted inside the cover:
These are used to secure the cover to the belt of the PLCE set, simply clipping around the belt itself:
Typically the entrenching tool was worn centrally mounted at the very rear of a set of PLCE as it was the most seldom used piece of equipment so could be tucked away in the most inaccessible part of the set.
A single loop is provided to pass a piece of para-cord through to help tie down the components of the webbing set so they don’t bounce around when the wearer runs.
The haversack is made from a plain green Cordua nylon, with a large box lid, secured with Velcro and a press stud:
The underside of this lid has two elasticated straps for stowing the user’s NBC gloves. This example has just a single marking under the lid, with the words ‘MADE IN UK’ printed here:
The inside of the haversack has a front pocket for carrying nerve agent pens, nerve tablets etc. Two other pockets are fitted in the base of the bag to hold spare canisters:
Here we see the rear of the haversack. As well as a belt loop at the top, we can see another smaller loop to allow a steadying strap to be passed around the waist to hold the haversack steady so it doesn’t flap around when slung over the shoulder if the wearer needs to run:
Next to this is a green patch for the owner to put his personal details (although in this case the original user has ignored this and just written his name across the back in black marker!
The ‘T-tabs’ used to attach it to the PLCE belt are made of metal, rather than the plastic which can be seen on the DPM version.
The SA80 was issued with a cast metal bayonet that had a plastic scabbard. This scabbard had a female Fastex clip at the top and this fastened to the male half on the bayonet frog to prevent the scabbard coming loose:
The back of the frog is where the most obvious differences between the two patterns lie:
These early frogs have two nylon tape loops to pass a belt through and a pair of brass c-hooks to secure the frog into position:
These allow a high and low belt position to be chosen by the wearer. Manufacturer’s details, NSN number and other information is printed directly onto the fabric:
From this we can see the frog was made in 1990.
The yoke used in the PLCE set draws heavily on earlier designs of British webbing for many of its features. The yoke has six points of contact with the belt/pouches. While two straps at the front attach either side of the waist belt’s buckle, four straps are fitted to the rear:
Two of these attach to loops in the belt, whilst the two outermost straps pass forward under the arm pits to attach at the front to the main ammunition pouches, distributing the weight more evenly.
This had first been trialled on combat vests in the 1970s, the PLCE yoke is entirely lined with this mesh on the underside:
Mesh is strong, light and allows air to flow through it. Note also the dark green nylon patch for a place the user’s name and number could be written:
Other features brought forward from the old sets was the ability to easily change the length of the straps by pulling on them. Here they are adjusted with friction ladder lock style buckles on the ends of the yoke:
Finally the back of the yoke has a series of loops allowing auxiliary equipment to be attached if required:
The PLCE yoke was a sophisticated piece of equipment and clearly thought had been given to feedback from previous sets. As ever though in the hands of the user things did not always go to plan. They needed careful adjustment to get a comfortable fit and soldiers sometimes substituted commercial pattern yokes or 58 pattern examples. It was also not unheard of for the secondary supporting straps to be removed from the yoke so more ammunition pouches could be added to the belt, defeating the whole point of effective weight distribution. Arrse gives the new recruit some advice on setting up a yoke:
The utility pouch is designed as a general purpose pouch that can be used for carrying extra ammunition, or a soldiers personal kit. Maximum flexibility was emphasised in the design, as seen on the rear:
Here two sets of fabric loops and two brass c hooks give the user a choice of a high or low slung pouch:
The top of the pouch has two metal D-rings that allow it to be fitted in place of the ammunition pouches on either side of the belt buckle- the rings being used to attach the yoke to:
This was a major upgrade from the old 58 pattern set and gave far more flexibility. The black plastic female Fastex fastener allows the pouch to be attached to the rucksack should you so desire.
As can be seen this is no longer always very clear, but you can make out the NSN number and the /|\ marking fairly easily.
The olive green colour indicates that this is an early production pouch, however as there are no visible markings on the pouch I cannot precisely date it. The pouch is secured on the front with the quick release ‘Spanish’ fastener:
Like the ammunition pouches, this is supplemented with a Velcro fastener, covered with a noise reduction tab:
The inside of the pouch has an internal divider:
Normally this is tucked away to allow the full size of the pouch to be used for a water bottle, however by using the divider a set of mess tins and a hexamine burner can be carried in the pouch without rattling. The back of the pouch has a confusing array of flaps, loops and hooks:
At the top we have a large flap secured with Velcro and lift the dot fasteners alongside a brass ‘C’ hook. The flap is used for attaching the pouch to a belt, whilst the brass hook prevents it from sliding along the length of the belt:
This was less than effective, with full pouches coming loose under their own weight (the same problem the Canadian had with their 64 pattern canteen carriers which also relied on Velcro!), to counter this the attachments were replaced with plastic T-bar hooks on later models.
As can be seen, next to this is a small loop used for passing a piece of cord through to tie the pouch to others on the belt set. As usual a drainage hole is also included on the base:
As with other pieces of olive green PLCE this pouch was only in production for a relatively small period of time, however they remain common and easily available but with the growing interest in the First Gulf War they will become increasingly collectible as time goes on.