Mk-VII Question

[Cooler King]

I was looking around on the bag section when I noticed that both the Noel Howard and What Price Glory bags had what appeared to be a round rubber thingy (best name I could come up with), possibly to attach the pipe for the breathing apparatus. Here's a pic:



I'm not sure what to call it, I was wondering if anyone could tell me what it's called and where I can find one.

Thanks,
Aaron

[Henri Defense]

If you're talking about the thing on the side, that's not rubber, it's metal...


Henri

[Indiana Texas-girl]

Back during the war, soldiers would wear the bac with the strap around the back of their necks with the bag part hanging against their chest. The string then wrapped around the soldiers back would be wound (wrapped) around the metal piece on the side to hold it in place against the chest.

[Marcus Brody]

Even better question, what exactly are those drain holes at the bottom for? What exactly do you need to drain from a bag used for holding a gas mask?

Regarding wearing the gas mask bags, you can actually see how soldiers wore their bags in several war movies. In Saving Private Ryan, the soldiers actually dump their rubberized gas mask bags once they get on the beach.

[Bogie1943]

Inside the bag was the filter for the gas mask, the drain holes are not really drains, they are air intake holes. The end of the filter would be at the button of the bag, the holes would alloy the poinsoned air to go into the filter where it would be cleansed for the soldier to breath.

[Indiana Joe]

...and all this time I had assumed the holes were there in case the bag had gotten waterlogged. Learn something new everyday. That's what I love about The Club.