Originally Posted by
Ninthace
I thought all sensible folk had 2 SD hats. one for best and one for everyday. When my first one started to get to the point where it had lost its lustre I bought a new one which only ever came out on high days and holidays until the working hat got utterly disreputable. Then a new one was acquired and the the parade hat became the working hat. Since I wasn't a member of the Two Wing Master Race, and did a few tours on training units, I had to maintain a certain standard but even so, I did not get through that many, even in 25 years.
It used to be my best hat. When I had two, I wore the previous old one to the Airmens’ Mess one Christmas, when some of us volunteered to serve them a Christmas Dinner, dressed in our No 1 uniforms. My SD hat was stolen. At least it wasn’t left full of urine under the Christmas tree, like some other officers’ hats, by thoughtful, grateful airmen. Annoyingly, we had to purchase our own uniforms, airmen were issued with theirs for free. Last time I volunteered to do that.