The General Kit Information page describes articles which were issued to the Airborne candidate during their "Boot Camp" period. The items described here are to be considered basic issue items, and are the things which were issued to a new recruit in the initial training phase. Obviously, if a new paratrooper recruit was a transferee from another unit, say an infantryman with a year or two of service who volunteered for the Airborne units, he would already have these items and therefore would not need them issued upon arrival. But, a new recruit coming to the unit directly from his point of enlistment or draft, would need all of these items issued as his basic allotment during his initial training.

Below, we will start off with the basic essential items. These are the items which were issued to every enlistee in the US Army of WWII. Some of the items here depicted were issued to the new recruit, others would have been procured from the local PX. In any case, most of these items would have been in hte possession of every soldier.

Toiletry / Shave Kit