New RAF Uniforms
In AAFCE and AFCENT in the early 80s, our bunker kit comprised a standard RAF blue shirt and DPM trousers. An American colleague remarked one exercise, "John, do you realise just how high on the hill you have to stand for that camouflage to be effective?"
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Detached to Gib, muppet movers smashed my bottle of duty free that soaked through all my uniforms, for weeks I was getting looks from everyone as I literally reeked of booze.
I still think a wide blue grey webbing belt would be better than a stable belt, that abomination wants to be buried in time with putties and swagger sticks
I still think a wide blue grey webbing belt would be better than a stable belt, that abomination wants to be buried in time with putties and swagger sticks
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Just in case anybody cares, Kiwi boot polish was always manufactured in Australia (for reasons unknown!), and never in New Zealand, although this product was also exported to, and used in NZ! One of the World's (very) minor mysteries.

FB
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would turn up as you say, in a mix and match.
Their "combat kit" (their words) was as follows:
DPM trousers, DMS boots and puttees(!)
Blue shirts, ties and (blue) woolly pullies
DPM jackets
SD hats.
I had enough trouble keeping a straight face, Lord knows what the RN and Army thought of it.......
"the most embarrassing image being a rather dishevelled looking crowd of RAF personnel being decanted off the Bus at the ranges, Platoons of 1 KOSB and 1 BW were already there. The looks of the perfect uniformed ranks of a Platoon of the KOSB"
perhaps you're in danger of confusing appearance with performance? The Guards are beautifully turned out but they're not necessarily the best soldiers in the British Army.................
perhaps you're in danger of confusing appearance with performance? The Guards are beautifully turned out but they're not necessarily the best soldiers in the British Army.................
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When I was working in HQ BFFI (after the war) - '86-'87 I guess - we had a visit from the RAF Staff College from Bracknell.
Their "combat kit" (their words) was as follows:
DPM trousers, DMS boots and puttees(!)
Blue shirts, ties and (blue) woolly pullies
DPM jackets
SD hats.
I had enough trouble keeping a straight face, Lord knows what the RN and Army thought of it.......
Their "combat kit" (their words) was as follows:
DPM trousers, DMS boots and puttees(!)
Blue shirts, ties and (blue) woolly pullies
DPM jackets
SD hats.
I had enough trouble keeping a straight face, Lord knows what the RN and Army thought of it.......
I was in CAOC Stanley from '85-86. DPM was not on general issue at the time and I had to drive down to Innsworth to receive all of my deployment kit, including DPM, which had to be handed back to stores on return from the FI.
"the most embarrassing image being a rather dishevelled looking crowd of RAF personnel being decanted off the Bus at the ranges, Platoons of 1 KOSB and 1 BW were already there. The looks of the perfect uniformed ranks of a Platoon of the KOSB"
perhaps you're in danger of confusing appearance with performance? The Guards are beautifully turned out but they're not necessarily the best soldiers in the British Army.................
perhaps you're in danger of confusing appearance with performance? The Guards are beautifully turned out but they're not necessarily the best soldiers in the British Army.................
FB
Last edited by Finningley Boy; 6th Jan 2023 at 18:30.
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"the most embarrassing image being a rather dishevelled looking crowd of RAF personnel being decanted off the Bus at the ranges, Platoons of 1 KOSB and 1 BW were already there. The looks of the perfect uniformed ranks of a Platoon of the KOSB"
perhaps you're in danger of confusing appearance with performance? The Guards are beautifully turned out but they're not necessarily the best soldiers in the British Army.................
perhaps you're in danger of confusing appearance with performance? The Guards are beautifully turned out but they're not necessarily the best soldiers in the British Army.................
The following users liked this post:
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The worst thing in Germany was carrying 200 rounds in the front pouches plus a musket without anything on the rear to counter balance it all, standing for hours outside a HAS you would soon adopt the shape of a hunchback as the weight started to effect you.
I had a really nice leather shoulder holster, that was issued for a brief deployment, that stores refused to take back on the grounds it had been used. I tried asking what was the point of issuing stuff that was not meant to be used and all I got was got a blank look.
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