Long term-who knows, that will require time to know.

I have replaced the plastic buckle with a US GI black open face metal (bronze?) buckle and tip for the old black 1.25 inch or roughly 33mm wide belt. These are pretty widely available, mine cost me $3 US for the set, and can be easily installed by the user.

These will possibly require TSA attention at metal detectors, but they also seldom if ever break-the tip is non-essential, but without it the belt looks unfinished.

8 carefully folded US bills in the compartment are invisible to the casual observer. The shade of brown is pretty nondescript, which I think is a good thing.

(Revisions 19FEB14)

It has held up fine so far.

Launders easily. Does dry slowly, so allow a couple of days for that. I've tossed it in the sink with shampoo or dish washing liquid, let it soak for a day, and it worked fine.

Wish I'd left the original plastic buckle in place. The USGI '80s buckle looks pretty crusty now.

It has done its job well.