My son, and one of Service of Supply’s employees, ran a 🎃 fun run today wearing full Vietnam era combat gear. The 5k is raising money for great community organizations, but Ian is asking for sponsors to help raise money for the VFW Foundation. Help him through his GoFund Me.
I don’t know why this seems like a milestone, but I think it is. If you were at a yard sale and you got to browse 333 items, wouldn’t that be cool? 333 items in an antique store isn’t too bad, although we’ve been in some VAST antique malls, haven’t we? So Service of Supply, your on-line vintage antique store has now 333 products for you to check out. That will take some time, so I suggest you come back each week for a “walk through” of our wares. We’re not done yet. I’m hoping to get to 1,000 items by New Year. I just made that goal up. But should be fun. I have the stuff. Just cleaned out a storage unit of military and cool vintage items, so we’ve got to get it loaded to the website. Doing the math on this big goal, I’ll have to load just over 10 items a day. Get ready to check ’em out.
We’ve made over 1,200 masks at the time of this post. It’s crazy to see the demand for these keep steady. We’re not out of the woods yet, this dumb virus is persistent for sure. We humans have the power to stop it. Unfortunately it takes a lot of knowledge and a team effort. Wear the darn masks people. It’s not going to kill you to wear a mask- but it’s going to kill our economy, our whole way of life- if we don’t. And that’s the argument I can make if you aren’t already thinking of your fellow humans who can die from COVID-19. I wear a mask in public because I don’t want to be the one who inadvertently passes it along. I’ve been VERY safe over these last few months. I wear a mask, I touch nothing (except with Lysol wipes which I stocked up on pre-covid) and I avoid crowds. Other than run Service of Supply, I’m a high school history teacher, and we’ve been out of classes since March 13. When working in my shop, I use hand sanitizer like crazy. I wouldn’t say I’m paranoid. Not at all. I’m just going to be the last person on the earth who gets this virus. The masks have been pretty fun to make, I can successfully binge watch Netflix while sewing at the same time. I’ve been making reproductions since 2001, so it’s safe to say I sew more than a dozen pajama-making grandmothers. 1,200 masks, but that’s nothing. To date I’ve made 1,548 first aid pouches, 1,307 bandoleers, 1,130 gas brassards, 604 handkerchiefs, 536 neckties, and 479 PE bags. That’s a bit of sewing. Worn out two sewing machines along the way too. So I’m going to keep cranking out COVID masks, you all keep wearing them. Do it for a fellow citizen if not for yourself. And wear one with a little style. I’m keeping the price WAY low so you can be sure to wear one. Please, let us work together to make the coronavirus extinct.
Well, so far we’ve all avoided COVID-19 here at Service of Supply. Bryan is a classroom history teacher by day, and all the other guys are pretty much self-employed, so you can feel safe ordering from us. We are seeing some delays with products thanks to this mess however. The stock of tubes we use for the rifle grenades come out of San Francisco, California- the company is shut down right now. Even the rubber is getting spotty to find and get shipped. We are also coming to the end of any available handles for the smoke grenades. We already have made our own resin fuses- but those handles are very expensive and difficult to make. Really hoping we find some surplus tops for these. So… sorry about the delay on all these popular products. If you want to get the word as soon as we get more made, email bryan@serviceofsupply and we’ll make sure we save your email and shoot you a message. Then you can get in on the first batch we make.
Very interesting website with some great photography and incredible information about vintage and modern weapons.
I just ordered some US Army reproduction jump boots from Work Boots USA. They were $152.99 with free shipping and for my state no sales tax. Free shipping is worth $20 all by itself. I’m wearing them right now and I love them. They were shipped quickly, and they feel great right out of the box. They come with leather laces or the brown and tan traditional boot laces.
https://www.workbootsusa.com/come10hilemi.html?gclid=Cj0KCQiAkfriBRD1ARIsAASKsQLv-EAl9etEqLFe-Lv82wL9wUOvp6BpQFfLuhiNuFKVZC0411RBSpoaAvQYEALw_wcB
I had the privilege of working with 24 awesome high school students who wore the uniforms of American service men and women from the last 100 years. I’ve collected uniforms for a very long time, and this is the best, by far, way to display them! Walking in the parade for the 100th commemoration of the end of WWI was incredible. Yakima turned out in great numbers to honor our veterans. It was an awesome day!
Dear Service of Supply Customers,
Be sure to check the available options for shipping. We offer both UPS ground, and Priority Mail, and for the lighter items, USPS first class. With the Postal Service First Class Parcel you still get timely delivery and tracking for your package. In many recent orders we’ve noticed that UPS is the selected shipping service, yet the price for first class or Priority Mail is much less. I’m not against shipping UPS, they have an excellent record and tracking for packages. However we just want to remind customers that in the shipping menu, you might find a less expensive option. All of our shipping prices are exact rates, we don’t charge extra for shipping. Every month, Service of Supply breaks even on what we charge, and what is collected. Unfortunately, for most of our East Coast customers, the rates are higher because we’re in Washington State! Thanks again for coming to Service of Supply Militaria and WWII Reproductions.
Service of Supply is not just a business. It’s a personal collection, a way to honor our nation’s military veterans, and a vehicle for getting students involved in our patriotic history. Bryan Dibble collects uniforms of all eras and puts them to use for Veterans Day, demonstrations, living history displays, and much more. Students from our city eagerly volunteer to represent the military men and women of the past. Our group is called SERVE – Students Engaged in Re-creating Veteran’s Experiences. SERVE teaches students about the period of time they are representing. We meet veterans at the VFW and learn more about what they experienced in the service. Students who are wearing uniforms also are called upon to teach others, especially younger kids, what that uniform represents and who the people were called up to serve at that time in American history. Since the late 1990s, hundreds of students have worn the uniforms and “walked a step in their shoes.”
This video shows some reenactment footage, and some great tanks and M10 tank destroyers. You can fast forward to the end to see the rifle grenades in action!
KATS FM posted a cool little video last year for Veterans Day. We do this every year, and it’s fun to see the students wearing the uniforms and interacting with the vets at the FVW in Yakima, WA. Thanks to KATS for being there and sharing what these great kids do for our vets!
This is a YouTube link for a great video using fuse it powder to repair holes in wool suit jackets. We have a number of uniforms on the site that need this, but for the price, we’re not going to do the work. I’ve done it with a few of my jackets, and it works. You can buy the Bo Nash Bonding Powder on Amazon and other places.
Did you go to an event recently? Provide some feedback for the event organizers and other reenactors.
Give your take on who is making the best reproductions when it comes to authenticity, quality, and price.