New RRS Kilt

[SteveB]

You sir are a perfect kit in the kilt.

[Nervous Jock]

Ahem...Nervous Jock is a serving officer in a Territorial Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland, so I think he's earned his medals.

T.

Thanks Todd, and to the kind words of others, Kilted Mapleleaf is correct if you haven't earned the medals you shouldn't wear the ribbons, too many wannabe's wearing decorations they aren't entitled to, its very annoying. I hope to earn my third medal in the next year or two assuming nothing intervenes in the mean time

For those that may not be aware its normal practice that Officers in the British Army private purchase the majority of their uniform for which they receive an allowance. I received about £250 in 1986 when I was commissioned. although I comissioned into a different Regiment so had to repurchase all my rig when I moved to my current one. It is possible that you may get issued an item of clothing from a benevolent Quartermaster or RQMS so everything I'm wearing today I purchased myself less the very uncomfortable brogues, Glengarry and Capbadge.

There is also a genuine shortage of kilts at the moment as these are held in "pool" and not individual issue. With the Tattoo at the moment most of the clothing is issued to troops involved in that. This would mean that that an officer is unlikely to have been issued a Kilt for the Reception or church service I attended at the weekend. Its also a pain as I would have to sew on then remove the rosettes that I have on my kilt as only officers and seniors wear those.

Probably most important to me if I have my own gear I can at least look after it. I'm never going to be the smartest soldier but I can carry it off, there's nothing worse than getting an item out of pool that hasn't been looked after then having to spend ages bringing it up to scratch only to return it as I'm sure you can imagine. Likewise if I spill a bit of the old claret over it I only have myself to blame :-)

[Brave Andrew]

Your lookin' Grand Nervous Jock,

Thank you for taking the time to listen to the old Vet with great appreciation!

[beloitpiper]

Jock, you look fantastic! It is an incredibly smart uniform, and you pull it off well.

[The Wizard of BC]

Jock, A question that is not meant to be impertinent just out of ignorance.

Is it normal to wear the sporran that low?

If I wear it like that I find that it bounces and moves in an uncomfortable way. It also tends to bunch up the apron.

[kiltedmapleleaf]

My apologies to nervous jock, I should not have assumed that you had not earned your medals. Right now there is surge of wannabes running around in army kit claiming they are SF and were the first on the balcony or are doing undercover stuff with the bad lads. When you said that you purchased it from ebay i assumed wrongly that you were one of them.
Quick question for you, when in shirt sleeve order how come no "Argyles" shirt? Also do you think the amalgamation has turned the uniform into a joke? Are you serving with 6 or 7 and where are you based out off?

[macwilkin]

My apologies to nervous jock, I should not have assumed that you had not earned your medals. Right now there is surge of wannabes running around in army kit claiming they are SF and were the first on the balcony or are doing undercover stuff with the bad lads. When you said that you purchased it from ebay i assumed wrongly that you were one of them.
Quick question for you, when in shirt sleeve order how come no "Argyles" shirt? Also do you think the amalgamation has turned the uniform into a joke? Are you serving with 6 or 7 and where are you based out off?

Sort of like the story told about the expat Rhodesian community in South Africa, when an MC at a nightclub in Jo'burg asked "Are there any Rhodies in the audience?" A number of people clapped, whistled, etc. -- the MC then replied, "All Right -- how many of you were not Selous Scouts*?"

*The Selous Scouts were a Rhodesian SF unit.

T.

[Nervous Jock]

My apologies to nervous jock, I should not have assumed that you had not earned your medals. Right now there is surge of wannabes running around in army kit claiming they are SF and were the first on the balcony or are doing undercover stuff with the bad lads. When you said that you purchased it from ebay i assumed wrongly that you were one of them.
Quick question for you, when in shirt sleeve order how come no "Argyles" shirt? Also do you think the amalgamation has turned the uniform into a joke? Are you serving with 6 or 7 and where are you based out off?

Accepted, and you have been true to your word. I was just a little disappointed you jumped in so quickly.

If I was "Walting" about (from Walter Mitty for those that might not know) I would probably try it on with more than a long service and Queen's Jubbly medal!! Lets be honest I'd be wanting to bang up the campaign medals wouldn't I (For my overseas friends First off the Balcony refers to the Iranian Embassy seige.)

It has been one of my concerns that posting photos of myself on this forum would attract this type of comment however I've continued to do so because I believe there is a genuine interest from this forums members. in the Dress and associated issues. Its also good to get current photos rather than ones that may be a little older.

The shirt sleeve question is quickly answered, I haven't bought myself one!! Really because in my position we rarely wear this form of Dress (this was tied in with a Veterans Event) so I haven't been so keen in splashing out.

Secondly, more often we wear No 2 Dress ie with the jacket where the shirt continues to be the chocolate one, this would have meant me having to take two shirts one for daytime and the other for evening rather than just sticking my jacket and tie on (and there are a slack handfull of dress issues in my highland rig anyway ).

Anyway when have any two officers ever appeared wearing the same thing

I don't think the formation of the new Regiment has turned the uniform into a joke. A lot of toes have been stood on and problems caused by trying to maintain the "Golden Thread". The best analogy I heard was imagine you're a kid and have an "Action Man" doll. You want to dress him up but all your uniform is in one box so you pull out a shirt here and a jacket there, and thats hoew you end up with your new regiments uniform!!

A classic example is the gold shoulder boards worn in Mess Kit (No 10 dress) 5 Regiments, 4 have the same pattern, one different so the one that is different has been chosen and 4 Regiments worth of officers need to buy new kit rather than one.

Without compromising Persec my parent unit is 7 SCOTS however I'm current posted externally.

[kiltedmapleleaf]

If I was "Walting" about (from Walter Mitty for those that might not know) I would probably try it on with more than a long service and Queen's Jubbly medal!! Lets be honest I'd be wanting to bang up the campaign medals wouldn't I (For my overseas friends First off the Balcony refers to the Iranian Embassy seige.)

You would be suprised what walts will wear.


Let's be honest Sir if officers wore their uniform as a uniform they wouldn't be officers! Bring back bat men and make them look smart.

As for the golden thread, personally i don't think it flies. look at the other regiments that amalgamated and they seem to have done a better job. Now that they are going to have the same colours with different numbers for different battalions, the history will start to be eroded. Number 1 dress and number 2(cerimonial) give no clue to who is wearing it, I saw a picture of the BW with prince Charlie ast Holyrood and the uniform made me cry, the labour government should be chased.

With the current recruiting problems it wont be long before there are 4 battalions of regulars. They could do it now and make the 5th battalion the Fiji rifles!

RIP Jon Mathews. A true Scottish warrior, never to be forgotton.

[Nervous Jock]

Jock, A question that is not meant to be impertinent just out of ignorance.

Is it normal to wear the sporran that low?

If I wear it like that I find that it bounces and moves in an uncomfortable way. It also tends to bunch up the apron.

Looking at the photos it does appear a little low, part of this may be because military kilts, as you'll probably know, tend to be higher waisted. The position of my belt gives this away too.

If you have a look at the current dress regs


http://www2.army.mod.uk/infantry/reg...s/2b_dress.htm

You'll see that the leather purses are all at a similar height from the bottom, my jacket is also second hand and was made for someone not so tall but I get away with it although tbo it probably wouldn't go amiss to move up a notch on the sporran belt. I have actually lost weight a bit weigh recently and I've probably just buckled it on the old marks out of habit!!