Whenurhappy: Yes, indeed, though it goes back a bit. When I went out to Khormaksar (Aden) in September 1966, I did what I was told was SOP and took all the bits and pieces that would have been needed for a local tailor to make up a tropical Mess Kit jacket. On arrival, I found that Red Sea Rig was now in force there for dinner nights, having been adopted from our colleagues up in the Gulf bases. As I recall, the word was that with senior chaps starting to arrive unaccompanied for our last year there, it was found to be much more comfortable, something I don't doubt at all. So the fancy epaulettes were the only items used and the pack of brass mess kit buttons is, I'm sure, still in my holdall up in the loft. (And we didn't get beyond a Bush Jacket for formal occasions either. I had to wait to go the USA on exchange some years later before getting a No 6.)