I have 4 of these.. Two I have converted into survival vests and two I keep as original. I think these were truly intended for soldiers that the DDR never planned to ever come home. Ive talked to a few DDR FJs and it sounded like their overall mission outline was that they were never coming home w/o actually saying it out loud... Whats more is they were used by everyone with a special job. From Police, their SWAT equivalent, to KSK (DDR SEALS), to Air-assault troops and so on. There are MANY versions of this vest but all server the same basic form. The padding inside the shoulder is merely the same insulation the DDR used in their winter jackets. Ive seen the insides when I did my mods to my vests. Its also the same inside the elbows and knee pads of the FJ/special purpose uniform.. The older version had that back pouch in a bellowed form to hold MUCH more but they were still nearly useless as later versions (I know because Ive tried to use them.) I dont think those are Makarov pistol pouches. A MAK will slide right out of it. I think they are for a flare pistol. I have modified one of mine to keep a MAK inside and keep it secured from falling out. It took a lot of sewing otherwise you WILL lose a MAK if you try to keep it in there. I see lots of pictures of DDR FJs with belt holsters on their vests. That mores my suspicion they are actually flare pistol holsters or at the least useless for a MAK. The FJs never really had random items. Those poches at the rear had a purpose. One was for a DECON kit, One for a Raincoat and the other fora Face Net and Hood.. All in all these are glorified shirts but I love using mine here in Alaska. THANKS FOR THIS VIDEO! I hope I didnt sound arrogant as I nerded out.

Love these, very forward thinking piece of kit. Great video!

man, what a find I've made in your channel. This is fuckin great

I think the stitched loops are for foilage, small branches, grass, rags, etc for additional natural camo.. The big gasmask pouch is useless.. Better to carefully unstitch the pouch material and make a new pouch or add some matching camo pouches. Best part is you can modifiy your vest to the way you like it. 👍

NVA equipment= kind of outdated strange designs and not so quality-minded... but nevertheless always very interesting

Mann muss sehen, dass das der Ausrüstungsstand von vor 45 Jahren ist.

Early pattern British disruptive pattern material uniforms up into including about 1995 were horrible for losing buttons. And then they copied the Canadian slidetype buttons and it solved the problem but good Lord were they awful at first and you had to reinforce all of them nearly. That's not just a east German problem

In the field, would troops be given replacement magazines of ammunition or would it be in some type of clip to fill up the empty magazines ? Would these be in bandoliers ?