In pictures of operations in Iraq, I’ve seen, from time to time, white jerry cans. These seem to be of the plastic, water-holding type, and I guess that they’ve been painted white in order to reflect heat and keep the water inside cooler.
Does anyone know if this is correct, and if the jerrycans are made of white plastic, sprayed white, or just brush-painted with whatever white paint is to hand? (I’m in the process of building an OIF M1A2, and I think a white jerry can or two amoung the stowagge would look neat, if appropriate.)
US plastic 5 gallon cans come in several colors. I’ve never seen a white one, and the standard color has been tan for the last 15 years. We don’t paint them so maybe white ones destined for northern climates were sent into theater due to operational shortages.
The original water cans were black. The tan ones came into being after it was discovered that black cans heat up in the sun and make your drinking water taste nasty. On the plus side, it heated up your water for washing.
Since the cans were made out of plastic, it was easy for the manufacturer to change the color of the cans.
MAJ Rob is correct with all of the above. Additionally, there are still plenty of black cans out there in the system and it is still pretty common to see black, or even dark green cans on vehicles and in use. We got a whole shipment of green ones in Kuwait while we were building up for the invasion of Iraq.