Green? Blue? Purple??

[snapper41]

I have just completed a tour down a large hole close to Watford, where I was required to wear CS95 as normal working dress. Now, it may well be an operational HQ, but it is not in an operational theatre, so why wear it? This dressing in green seems to be ever-more prevalent these days, as we dance to the Army's tune (JOINT spelt A-R-M-Y), as it is seen as punchy, operational and supporting those in the front-line. However, it is not my normal working dress, nor is it the Navy's, and I don't work harder or more dilgently just because I am wearing it. Given that CAS has recently had a push on RAF ethos and spirit (seen the glossy mags in the crewroom??), isn't it about time we advertised ourselves wherever and whenever we can by wearing our own uniform?

[gijoe]

:rolleyes:

[The Helpful Stacker]

At North Hampshire's premiere noise producer a few sections in RMS (thats Supply Sqn to you Binbrook model q'd folk) have changed back to CS95 after a disastrous return to wearing blues.

Blues are all well and good if you spend your time photocopying, drinking tea or brown-nosing in Handbrake House but since the issue trousers changed to the easily stained variety using blue uniform in an environment that may contain dirt is a definite no-no.

And before anyone bleats about 'coveralls', if your job involves you having to deliver all over the unit rather than just staying in one or two hangers and the officers and SWO seem far more concerned about personnel wearing the 'correct dress' than the relatively smooth running of a unit then coveralls will be impractical.

[mutleyfour]

I don't understand why RAF and Navy chaps would want to wear greens and don't see why they should, unless deployed. Is it just a uniformal iniform thing?

On a recent visit to the AWC I asked why the bottom floor all wear Combats and was told it was because they support Op Troops but would the said Op Troops really care?

[teeteringhead]

One used to help run the odd conflict in the recent past from the Whitehall bunker .....

.... and somehow we managed to "support operational troops" while wearing natty pin-striped suits ....

... the boys in Basra or the 'Stan would be much more impressed with the quality of the support they were getting, rather than the sartorial details of those (allegedly) supporting them .....

I agree with the Stacker's point - I wear greens (CS 95) if I might get the blues mucky and a growbag isn't appropriate (they're for flying IMHO) - but to wear them in an office - even an "operational office" (oxymoron?) - is plain barking.....

[endplay]

One part of the answer lies in the fact that, in general, it is officers who make the rules. Officers get a tax allowance for clothing as, apart from initial issue, they have to buy any replacements. This does not apply to CS95 even though it is more expensive than 2a. Ergo, they make on the deal. Unless of course I'm wrong and all the O's routinely wearing combats have done the honourable thing and declared this to the taxman? (I won't hold my breath)

Ironically the Army are looking to reintroduce a form of barrack dress as even they recognise the impracticality of CS95 as office clothing.

CAS, in the form of Peter Squires, did issue a list of RAF organisations that could routinely wear green (and got an extra issue because of it) but if there's a 4* heading your particular pile and he says it's greens then "whose daddy is the biggest" rules apply?

[Wrathmonk]

Dare I say during my time in the bunker (left early 02) it was quite the reverse - RAF wore light blue and Navy wore dark blue. Even the Army were encouraged to wear "Barrack Dress" rather than CS95 as, after all, CS95 was for wearing in the field and aren't (weren't) there shortages of such kit. Maybe they were didn't want to wear their purple trousers and M&S jumpers?!

And then it all changed when a certain ex-viff viff mate arrived as the 1* who insisted on wearing CS95 .... with his wings sewn on the shirt .... and wearing a white t-shirt underneath .... and with his flaps still on his boots (and there was an entire thread dedicated to him and his dress code not long ago ....!) - to be fair, I think the dress code depended on which cloth CJO belonged to.

Still, did him no harm. Less than 5 years later he will be a 4*!:oh:

[Pontius Navigator]

I wear the kit appropriate to the task.

Blues, I sit at a desk. CS95 I get all muddy; my PA does not allow me to sit at my desk. No 1s, I stand around all day looking sort of decorative, I cannot sit at my desk (if your my age you will know why).

If I am going to get mucky and dirty, but not muddy or wet, then I will wear a flying suit. Much the best coverall around. :)

When I wear CS95 I feel like a h**p of sh*t. I would rather not look like one too.

[Talking Radalt]

At North Hampshire's premiere noise producer........SWO seems far more concerned about personnel wearing the 'correct dress' than the relatively smooth running of a unit then coveralls will be impractical.
For what it's worth his spill chocker doesn't work either.
Makes the monthly all-points bollockings a right hilarious read. :D

[The Helpful Stacker]

For what it's worth his spill chocker doesn't work either.
Makes the monthly all-points bollockings a right hilarious read. :D

I prefer the almost comical, quasi-Catholic dogma style bollockings he gives whole rooms of people when he enters or just after the Staish leaves.

"You're all guilty of something, I just haven't found out what yet" could quite possibly be his next opening line.;)

[500days2do]

I bet those AWC guys an girls feel far 'punchier' in their green attire...makes em feel part of the effort ! The recent figures which showed that the vast majority of the RAF didnt deploy would mirror this. I suppose if we have spent millions on cabbage kit we really ought to wear it dont you think..?

Retired from the front line...

5d2d

[Faithless]

Stop whinning, its the only dress that all 3 services wear that is the same....Its your head dress that seperates us and tells who you are. Start whinning when they change that.......:ouch:

[Climebear]

I have just completed a tour down a large hole close to Watford, where I was required to wear CS95 as normal working dress.
I always understood that the wearing of CS95 or RAF No2/Army barrack dress/RN ?? (showing purple ignorance there) was a matter of individual choice. There are RAF personnel there who wear blues. I only wear greens out of laziness because I run/bike the 5 miles to/from the office and I can carry a week's CS95 in my rucsack and it still look reasonably ironed when I put it on. At least those in the large hole wear a uniform that distinguishes what service someone is in - especially with all those nice RAF badges :yuk: (I think we've got a space on the back for another one :ugh: ). Rather that the suited warriors in MOD Main Building. So why can't 'head office' wear uniform?
(Here's a tip - if you regularly read the sy assessments you'll be able to identify that it can't be for CT reasons)

[Wrathmonk]

Climebear

Totally agree - Vast majority seem to travel in "casual" and change into their MOD-suits in the office so why not change into uniform. However,

1. Judging by the expanding waist lines of some of HM Armed Forces finest and most senior you would need to set up a clothing stores more local than Uxbridge etc to continually provide larger and larger uniforms.

2. It would scare the civil servants.:E

IMHO.

PS - some (maybe all - don't think I've met them all yet!!) of the military medics who work down at St Thomas Hosp (Baird clinic) wear uniform. And it must be all of a 10min walk from Main Building. Was also surprised to see how often the "outer office" staff wear uniform.

[Pontius Navigator]

Stop whinning, its the only dress that all 3 services wear that is the same....Its your head dress that seperates us and tells who you are. Start whinning when they change that.......:ouch:

You must be f*ck*ng joking. The army has as many ways, if not more, of wearing CS95 as the light blue do for working dress.

Even CS95 comes in different flavours such as the rip-stop threads or not, Norwegians, polos, DPM shirts, sleeves up/down etc etc

[countdeblades]

Not wishing to pi$£ on anybody's chips but

I always understood that the wearing of CS95 or RAF No2/Army barrack dress/RN ?? (showing purple ignorance there) was a matter of individual choice.

I think that uniformity has a part to play!!!! If not then lets call it individuality and spend all our OA in the Surplus store......

[Confucius]

I always thought RAF blues were for Weddings, Funerals and Orderly Officer :confused:

Ah well, I guess the last person to turn the lights out will be an admin clerk.

[Climebear]

countdeblades - Just to clarify ; my comments refer solely to the policy in the great purple bat cave near Watford.

[spectre150]

My old and cynical view is 'does it matter'. I think it is more important that within a unit we all wear the same. I also work in a hole in the ground. As it happens CS95 is de rigeur. Everyone wears it. everyone happy, no problem. In the same hole in the ground is a different unit who wear blues - all of them wear it so they look uniform. In neither case is the quilaity of the work affected by the uniform worn.

I am a cheap bar steward and like that CS95 is issue so I do not have to buy No 2s. However, if a new Boss came in and decreed that we would return to blues, return we would. I think all this talk about supporting staff in operational theatres, feeling and looking 'punchy', looking like the Army and therefore more joint, is tripe to be frank. It is hardly an erosion of standards or ethos IMO.

[rarelyathome]

Haven't you got anything better to whinge about? In any event, you are free to wear blue if you want to at PJHQ - and many do. You should have noticed that CAS, when he was CJO, almost always wore blue. And for those that think that our cheap, tatty blue blue uniform is a smart alternative, are you avin a larf?

[Pontius Navigator]

Officers get a tax allowance for clothing as, apart from initial issue, they have to buy any replacements. This does not apply to CS95 even though it is more expensive than 2a. Ergo, they make on the deal.

Missed this first time through, got it in one.

Entertained today at a meeting, full of grey suits (in any shade of brown and green of course) and one CS95, oh, and one dog.

The dog was most interested in the one that looked most like a tree :)

[SirToppamHat]

Posted on this before. I don't think the tax issue is what swings it - there's not enough in it either way as you don't get an allowance which is untaxed, you just get a tax allowance at the appropriate rate according to what 'they' reckon you ought to spend on your uniforms. The most expensive bits are the 1s and 5s anyway. Personally, I would happily give up the allowance and go to a free-issue system.

As for CS95, some people prefer wearing greens others blues. I just don't understand why people who are so fond of being in greens didn't just join a different Service in the first place. I can see why some units need to wear greens to work in fields and so on, but offices, ops rooms, CAOCs etc just don't need it. I also think it makes sense for people working overnight anywhere to wear CS95, as they don't look such a bag of sh1t in the morning (especially when they manage to get a couple of hours shuteye)!

<<Rant On>>
What really gets my goat is this recent tendancy for RAF Pers to wear a different coloured beret - 16 AAB is an example where they wear para berets (without the P-Course) with RAF beret badges and army stable belts - what's that all about? Can you imagine someone from the Parachute Regiment working as a permanent liaison offr with No 1 ACC giving up their Para Beret to wear an RAF one with a Para Badge? Nor can I.
<<Rant Off>>

STH

[Pontius Navigator]

STH, I rather fancy a sandy coloured one actually, quite fetching where I work :)





PS, I have my original beret made almost 50 years ago, complete with wire badge, and brushed with a stiff wire brush. try and get me to wear anything else.

[Talking Radalt]

What really gets my goat is this recent tendancy for RAF Pers to wear a different coloured beret - 16 AAB is an example where they wear para berets (without the P-Course) with RAF beret badges and army stable belts
STH

Eh? I've heard of a couple of cases of suitably qualifed RAF folk wearing a maroon lid when working in an appropriate environment, but just any old chef or driver? Since when?!!

[claude liardet]

Everyone on 16 AA Bde wears a maroon beret regardless of service or Regt/Corps. That means that a great deal of the Army personnel there are wearing the 'wrong' colour as well, not just the handful of RAF bods. The colour of beret is not related to the entitlement to wear para wings either.

[Blacksheep]

The RAF movers over here wear CS95s for C130 cargo flights and white long sleeved shirt, club tie and slacks when they're trying to get Gurkha Colour Sergeants and CSMs upgraded to business class. It works. The military stuff gets waved through customs without a glance and the pongoes get their upgrades. Making your clothes match the job in hand is plain common sense.

[Vortex_Generator]

If RAF personnel posted to Army units are required to wear the appropriate coloured beret, then shouldn't all those pongoes on 5 Sqn be forced to give up their natty snot-tops for the more appropriate crab-grey (with Int Corps badges of course).

[Cumbrian Fell]

In a previous job in Main Building I occasionally had to wear No 1 (Home) Service Dress and received nothing by positive comments from Civilian and Service colleagues alike, who jointly enjoyed the novlety of a Crab in something other than overalls or CS 95. Comments such as 'You chaps do have ties then...' speak volumes. Quite a buzz to clip-clop down Whitehall in a nattily-tailored uniform (obvious oxymoron) and I for one would see no objection in wearing SDs as an altenative to a suit (however, I have 5 suites and only 1 set of SDs; additional trews would be needed, I suspect).
Some of you may remember (reasonably recently) the senior Rupert who wore Home Service Dress (Mounted) on a regular basis in Main Building, and especially on the Northern Line. Barking Mad, of course. Couldn't sell his Mansion block apartment because he had had the kitchen removed. 'Dine at my club, y'know!'. Priceless!