Clothing and Equipment

Aye,,Thats right Jim ..You were a Sgt at 7 Signal Regt. if memory serves me right.

Talking of too early..My first ever guard was as i/c reliefs. Brand new lance jack ,haddn`t a clue..Got carried all night by the Guard Commander,another ex brat.Brian Maltby, one of yours i believe

Hi Gordon,

Yes, I was sgt in 7 Sigs, firsly with QM Dept, Capt Fred Pavey & RQMS Kennedy. Then as SSgt of Sierra Troop, 1 Sqn with 2Lt Bill Backhouse & Sgt Mo Crabtree.
I knew Brian Maltby as we were on permanent qtr guard duties, thanks to RSM Jack Gerrard. I see Brian at the Harrogate reunions. He lves in Harrogate and was a Major (TOT) at the Army Apprentice College before it closed down.

Jimsigs1

We REME chaps, well VM's anyway, got a variation of boots DMS, called boots POL. they had a green sole and were supposedly resistand to being eaten by petrol and oil which made the soles soft and left black marks everywere. the only problem was they were very very slippy.

steve jones wrote:

We REME chaps, well VM's anyway, got a variation of boots DMS, called boots POL. they had a green sole and were supposedly resistand to being eaten by petrol and oil which made the soles soft and left black marks everywere. the only problem was they were very very slippy.

Was that the same type that the guys in the Cookhouse used. I seem to remember them being black and resistant to most things produced in the kitchen so defiently resistant to most petrols and lubes......

Ouch !!!That was nasty TD

TDivers wrote:

steve jones wrote:

We REME chaps, well VM's anyway, got a variation of boots DMS, called boots POL. they had a green sole and were supposedly resistand to being eaten by petrol and oil which made the soles soft and left black marks everywere. the only problem was they were very very slippy.

Was that the same type that the guys in the Cookhouse used. I seem to remember them being black and resistant to most things produced in the kitchen so defiently resistant to most petrols and lubes......

the boots that were issued to use sloppies were steel toe capped and yes resistant to most things dropped on them especially tins of compo

At JTR Rhyl in the seventies we were issued with 37 pattern webbing, cross straps, pouches, bayonete frog, small pack, the lot !!. all the brass fittings had to be brasso'ed till they gleemed. The smallpack contained your messtins,KFS, spare socks,'housewife', washing and shaveing kit, towel, wow ! I must have forgotten something !!!. When I was posted to Germany, guess what ? I was issued with 37 Pattern webbing blah blah blah and so on !!

Upon my arrival at AAS Chepstow in 63, the groups before us still had the WW1 service dress, button up collar and stiff Service dress cap, you know the rough khakii stuff. Fair dinkum.

We got the newer uiniform, was it called No.1 dress or No.2 dress ? the good material long tunic, navy blue cap with red piping and shirt with detachable collar plus tie.

Everyday wear was shirt, trousers, gaiters, beret or overalls if you were of that trade.

Gordon. wrote:

Ouch !!!That was nasty TD

Hope no one took offence....

LOL....

Way back when, we had a couple of COs who showed a bit of sense, when it came to sensible dress for the guard.

The first one had us dressed in a white, hooded suit, a brown heavy wool pullover and wearing Boots CWW in the Winter of '59/60.

Another one, shortly after, decreed that the guard should wear 3rd BD and plimsolls.

(There were a couple of Korean War veteran officer types around then).

Needless to say, it wasn't long before we were all back in Best BD and Best boots.

HALT !, WER DA ?

What I hated in the mid sixties, on guard, with an RA Unit, was sleeping between stags in the guard room dressed in 'Best No2's boots etc. How stupid! OK, the belt and jacket came off, don't remember taking boots off, as 'Stand to the guard' was often called. Putting boots on when half a sleep was not recommended!


Even worse was the parading during one's own dinner break for practise guard mounting.

Strange how dreams re-occur, even after 40 years! I often have dreams where I have forgotten to turn up for practise guard mountings. Of course, all in slow motion................

PS. Apart from the guard duty. It was one, if not best unit |I ever served with (32 Heavy Regiment RA Workshop REME).

alan8376 wrote:

What I hated in the mid sixties, on guard, with an RA Unit, was sleeping between stags in the guard room dressed in 'Best No2's boots etc. How stupid!

Even worse was the parading during one's own dinner break for practise guard mounting.

Strange how dreams re-occur, even after 40 years! I often have dreams where I have forgotten to turn up for practise guard mountings. Of course, all in slow motion................

Blimey, that all sounds a bit extreme !

I, and I'm sure Sheldrake, would be interested in knowing which "RA unit" that was !

Quote :

alan8376 wrote:
What I hated in the mid sixties, on guard, with an RA Unit, was sleeping between stags in the guard room dressed in 'Best No2's boots etc. How stupid!

Even worse was the parading during one's own dinner break for practise guard mounting.

Strange how dreams re-occur, even after 40 years! I often have dreams where I have forgotten to turn up for practise guard mountings. Of course, all in slow motion................


Blimey, that all sounds a bit extreme !

Nice to know i`m not the only nutter out here..My dream is that i have lost most of my kit.and there is a kit layout coming up.Quite scary it is.

Gordon. wrote:

Quote :

alan8376 wrote:
What I hated in the mid sixties, on guard, with an RA Unit, was sleeping between stags in the guard room dressed in 'Best No2's boots etc. How stupid!

Even worse was the parading during one's own dinner break for practise guard mounting.

Strange how dreams re-occur, even after 40 years! I often have dreams where I have forgotten to turn up for practise guard mountings. Of course, all in slow motion................


Blimey, that all sounds a bit extreme !

Nice to know I`m not the only nutter out here..My dream is that I have lost most of my kit.and there is a kit layout coming up.Quite scarey it is.

Gordon, I have a couple of other similar dreams which do the rounds each year. And yes, they are so scary!

Maybe it is the beer and crisps each night??? Must cut down on the crisps!!!

I found thet cutting out the cheese and onion ones helped Alan.And you could increase your beer intake.The more often you have to get up during the night ,the less time you have to dream

Only last week I dreamt that I was back in uniform again, though I can't for the life of me remember the content. But isn't it odd, when you have such a dream, in it you are still a young man?
Which reminds me of Trotsky's saying: Old age is the most unexpected of all things that happen to a man.
Very true.

Back to uniforms. etc..........

Not seen much on Battledress, the much hated issue which was too cold in winter, too warm in summer and only smart if it was tailored too tight to bend down.

In the 1950's, in Quebec Bks Osnabruck, it was all you got, but unless you were office based or on regimental duty it was denims. Even on winter schemes it was denims, sometimes with 2nd BD trousers underneath, sometimes with pyjamas and often tight, woollen longjohns. If you were lucky, and probably with three stripes up, you might get a tank suit that worked. i.e the zips from toes to shoulder on the padded, one piece, faded yellow bits of outer wear might still function. We had pullovers, thin V-neck kit without the shoulder patches which came later, and to top the lot a sleeveless leather jerkin. The greatcoat stayed in camp, buttons gleaming, hung above a bed until needed for a winter guard mounting. To keep the drizzle out there was the groundsheet. Not a useful, hole in the middle poncho, but one that draped around your top half and was held together with buttons. Unless it was sensibly wrapped around the three blankets in your bedding roll that is.

Our denims in 16 LAA Regt RA were the one piece tankies' variety. In summer, shirt sleeve order, the Hairy Mary woollen shirt was left off and denim sleeves were rolled up. When. on schemes, it became necessary to take a shovel and wander away down- wind of your mates, the object of the exercise could only be completed after you had stripped nearly naked and crouched over your pit with denims bundled between knees to ensure droppings fell in the hole and not in the denim top. NCOs had no issued badges of rank for wearing in denims. Such items were either cobbled together from bits of material scrounged from the 1098 stores, or were something handed down by a homeward bound mate. The REME lads were more organised. They has a tin basher who made their elegant brassards but, then, it was something else to polish. And in the 1950's polishing was a frequent activity, as was tarting up the stripes on BD jackets & greatcoats with white ink.

Hey ! I'm getting depressed thinking about this ! I'll come back to 1950's kit again later. Time for a quick swill now and get off down the road to meet up with a mate. He was
Pay Corps, not a roughneck. Never left UK and was home every weekend. I'll bore him & maybe I'll remember some more

Back to uniforms........ and a diversion, a bit remembered after a chat with the mate.....
In training we were at Oswesty for two weeks whilst the wheat was sorted from the chaff. We learnt how to march a bit and how to clean eating irons in the three steaming vats sited by the exit to the cookhouse. We could blanco a belt and polish a cap badge, but this is about boots, stiff ammuntion boots in dimpled black leather with 16 studs in each sole.

We had two pairs. One pair we wore daily, the other pair was scraped free of wrinkles & bulled. Tommy R. had a brother in the camp, a regular well versed in kit prep. Tom's best boots were taken away each evening and returned for display on his kit layout. They became a thing of beauty, unscorned like those of the rest. At the end of the first week the order to change best boots for working boots had Tom almost in tears. "No sweat!" said brother Fred. "That's standard procedure. Don't do it...... Those best boots are too good to kick about the drill square. I'll take your second best, give them a quick once over and they pass muster at first parade. Trust me! I'm an old sweat!".

Tom was persuaded. Now in the second week of expert attention, his displayed boots became objects of veneration. Passing drill NCO's made excuses to visit to Tom's kit layout, his bed had become a shrine to bullshit, word spread through the camp, even up to top management in the Officers' Mess. Sums of money were bet on Tom receiving a special mention at passing out parade scheduled for the end of the second week.

And he did. Whilst the troop were donning best BD before the parade, Tom left putting on his boots until last, it would never do to get them scratched at this stage. But he had a problem. Size 8 feet wouldn't fit in size 6 boots, he was still without footwear when he heard his drill bombardier's irritated order " Roberts! Get outside! Get fell in with the rest NOW!" Giving quick thought to the problem, Tom considered it better to be outside in grey army
socks rather than be similarly clad in the billet. Whilst the troop were sizing, Tom was pulling on scuffed second best boots. He was hidden in the centre of the middle rank.

Bets were off. Some claimed he did get special mention, for the CO saw fit to reward him with a special visit to the cookhouse where a pile of greasy pans and implements were arrayed before him. As the colonel said, anyone so interested in shining and polishing should be delighted with such employment, rather than be seeking entertainment in Oswestry where his mates would be enjoying their first night out. Others denied this was fair, quoting that bulled boots were specifically mentioned as part of the wager. After heated discussion both parties agreed to call a draw.

Nice to know i`m not the only nutter out here..My dream is that i have lost most of my kit.and there is a kit layout coming up.Quite scary it is.[/quote]

SPOOKY !

I have also dreamt, a number of times, that all but a few items of my kit have gone missing.

It's been left in my locker and I've been away for a long time, only to return to find that all I have left is something daft, like a groundsheet and one mess tin.

I think most of my dreams tend to put me in an Army background.

Don't eat crisps though.

Re. cartav and uniform.

Luckily, by the late 50s, we were issued with combat kit and, (I think selectively), the wonderful Parka, Middle, which was discussed not long ago. We, on the O P parties, were deemed to be exposed to the cold more than others so mercifully we got one.

Never had the aforementioned "one piece" denims, not until the coveralls came in anyway.

Boots, ammunition, we had to smooth with the back of a hot spoon before bulling. In Boys our working boots had to be bulled too. Kneeling Gun Drill would reduce them to scratched ruin in seconds. We only had 13 studs in our boots.

Did you not have a 3rd BD cartav ? We certainly had three suits of BD in '58.

Thinking about it, I've worn three uniforms, SD (Boys) BD and of course, No 2 Dress.

? I do know how to bull boots...but what is the best method to get the best result(got some leather to do)

"john boy" wrote:

? I do know how to bull boots...but what is the best method to get the best result(got some leather to do)

Get a brush and a tin of clear varnish, mate !

brum wrote:

"john boy" wrote:

? I do know how to bull boots...but what is the best method to get the best result(got some leather to do)

Get a brush and a tin of clear varnish, mate !

HA,HA,very funny brum I want to do some boots not CLOGS

Quote :

16 studs in each sole.

???????

I only had13.. Rows of 4,4,3 and 2...Where did you put the extra three?