When shopping on ebay for camo and BDU's "battle dress uniforms" its important to make sure you inspect what your getting if your looking for the real deal. Theres alot of people out there now days who make good camo but it isnt the "official" thing. The marine corps issued camo as well as field gear with the marpat design will have small (usually green) eagle globe and anchor designs scattered throughout the material marking it as authentic as well as a USMC logo sewn into the back near the collar. From my understanding the marine corps holds the patent / rights to the exact configuration of digital camo they use and are pretty strict on reproduction, especially of the nametapes those are the hardest to find. I know for the most part you have to have them ordered and made they dont sell them out on the floor even at the military PX's. Also on left chest pocket there is a large sewn eagle globe and anchor usually, both boonie and 8 point covers also have sewn eagle globe and anchor on the front.

EXAMPLES:

         

#1 Example of a boonie / 8 point garrison cover tag: (sewn inside the top portion of the cover)

          

(COVER, FIELD, MARPAT tm, DESERT     (SIZE)

(12 DIGIT CODE / 4 DIGIT CODE)

(SERIAL NUMBER)

(50% COTTON    50%NYLON TWILL)

(SEKKRI INDUSTRIES INC.)

#2 (example of blouse tag:)

                           

( EAGLE, GLOBE AND ANCHOR EMBLEM ON THE TAG)

(SIZE)

(SAYS MADE ESPECIALLY FOR " " AMERICAN POWER SOURCE INC."

 

Alot of guides say that gear posted is stolen or possibly stolen, however this isnt necessarily true. In standard of the marine corps when a piece of gear because worn and doesnt look the best its considered unserviceable and most marines will buy new gear and simply get rid of the old stuff to save room. Or they move and leave odds and ends beheind as most military people do that live in barracks. Another example is when you wear this stuff for awhile it fades, you dont want a faded top and dark bottoms so you just buy both new and get rid of the old stuff. You can tell the greens especially if they are new or not but the amount of color they have or if they are faded out. (As for the buying thr stuff from a military ox just for resell... cmon the stuff sells for 60 or more dollars a piece (blouse and bottoms are sold seperately) you dont even get close to that in a resell. However most bases have second hand shops, its a decent place to find stuff for those of you who are enlisted trying to beat the harsh prices.

NOTE: Navy Corpsman issue MARPAT items arent necessarily the same, Corpsman issued 8 point covers do not have the eagle globe and anchor sewn on the front of the cover like marine covers do, This is the only difference between the two uniforms though in style.

CORPSMAN COVERS:

 

 So not all gear is stolen, larger items such as rucks, kelvars and backpacks that bear the emblems and tags however are and usually have a NSN (a type of serial) number on a tag somewhere within the bag. On new marine corps issue its a white tag usually sewn in the outer layers on bags. These items will be covered in a soon to come guide on other field issue gear.

Just looking for the small designs and the sewn in patch will help alot in finding the real deal and sorting through the immitations!

 

NOTE: undershirts / t shirts are never issued in MARPAT, they are always standard olive drab green unless marked as a unit t shirt then they can be a type of military green / forest green with unit logo's.