military police mid 80's

[David Ives]

as im going to shows this year with my 109 i would like to know which uniform i should wear

no2's or gd's

any help would be apreciate

 

[fv1609]

Well you have a choice, these examples are late 1980s

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/fv1620/MP01.jpg[/img]

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/fv1620/78KJ15a.jpg[/img]

 

and remember to get a hair cut! A lot uniform displays are spoilt by what has been called in military parlance 'Hair, Ridiculous'

[David Ives]

thanks for that

see you at the shows in no2's

[fv1609]

thanks for that

see you at the shows in no2's

 

 

Well don't arrest me for having long hair! BTW I don't think the man in the middle liked being photographed.

[polecat paul]

Hi to all, been some time since i have posted on here but beens i was moderator for this section i thought i had better post something

MP's uniforms in the 80's comprised of barrack room trousers and number 2 shirt they also wore a white belt not sure of the name of it they're evening duty dress comprised of the above but with combat jacket worn over the shirt boots were usually the ammo boots which were highly polished.

The number 2 dress was usually worn when escorting prisoners or attending offical engagements. :-)

[AlienFTM]

Hi to all, been some time since i have posted on here but beens i was moderator for this section i thought i had better post something

MP's uniforms in the 80's comprised of barrack room trousers and number 2 shirt they also wore a white belt not sure of the name of it they're evening duty dress comprised of the above but with combat jacket worn over the shirt boots were usually the ammo boots which were highly polished.

The number 2 dress was usually worn when escorting prisoners or attending offical engagements. :-)

 

 

Barrack DRESS trousers (After I walked out of the RMP, in late September 1975 I was the last arrival at the last RAC intake NOT to be issued with Barrack Dress trousers: for half my training I wondered why the next intake was ALL QRIH and wearing their dark green Number 2 Dress trousers all the time). We preferred our green jeans and I spent the next 14 years trying to stay out of Barrack Dress. Indeed, whenever I wore Barrack Dress and shoes, I seemed to get rubber-dicked into some task where green jeans and boots would have been more appropriate, so I went against the grain and wore green jeans, boots and combat jacket whenever I could get away with it (but smartly of course). (In the cavalry, normal dress was green overalls over green jeans.)

 

The white belt might have been the 57 (58? I always forget) pattern web belt bleached and painted with tennis shoe white, but this was exceedingly high maintenance and when olive green nylon belts were issued to the troops for wear with Barrack Dress, RMP got them in white. The green belts had green-painted metal furniture: I suspect RMP got plain metal "brass" furniture (maybe nicked from their Best web belt) so that they could be highly polished. I believe the high-maintenance web belt remained on issue for ceremonial wear.

 

I doubt they wore ammo boots for everyday wear. They weren't issued, they were self-purchase and saved for best. If there is a single reason why I discharged myself from the RMP as a statutory right after 88 days' reckonable service, it's because I got really jacked off with spending night after night "highly polishing" two pairs of boots, only for the RMP Training Centre CSM to launch them out of the window on room inspection because they were "EXPLETIVE DELETED". DMS boots will serve for you. Combat Boots (Boots, Combat, High or Boots CH) were rushed into service after the Falklands War, more cases of trench foot than combat casualties and some 13 years' development (the Mark 1s were a disaster - I have the scars to prove it) but I'll bet you a pound to a pinch of something nasty that, because CH were supposedly not bullable (even though these days they do get bulled) and DMS were more comfortable. lighter and more-easily maintained, any RMP worth his salt will have held onto his highly-polished DMS until they fell apart. I left the Army in 1989 and I still have an issued pair of DMS for those tasks where boots are appropriate. The QM would not on any account let me "lose" a pair of CH when I handed my kit in even though I had more than enough pairs of boots to hand in and still retain an unworn pair of CH. I wasn't going to pay the cost of a pair of CH for anybody.

 

I also believe that if your particular Provost Company CSM didn't have the same sadistic streak as the RMPTC CSM, you could get away with "highly polished" (= bulled: supposedly eradicated from the Army with the end of conscription, but continuing to this day because nobody argues with his Sergeant Major) toes and heels and highly BRUSHED uppers for everyday wear, but for Best, bulled uppers were also mandatory for the uppers (as indeed they were everywhere else). BTW, during my 88 days, so the story went, the RMPTC CSM received a posting order to the Berlin Garrison. As soon as the Brigade Commander heard about it, he vetoed it, threatening to resign his commission if this man were posted in. He remained RMPTC CSM. Ever the RSM wasn't at sadistic as his CSM. Think Lad's Army.

 

Thinking about daytime wear as described above. Shirt sleeve order in temperate climates was only persmissible (indeed enforced) between 1 May and 30 Sep unless extreme weather conditions forced a local variation. I'd therefore expect that during winter months, the RMP would have to wear something on top of Number 2 Dress shirt. I have to say that being in recce, we were kept well away from the RMP and I cannot for the life of me remember ever seeing one in the daytime in winter. (I must have, because one winter I was wrongly suspected of trashing a newly-refurbished barrack block and threatened with six months in Colchester until they eventually caught the barsteward.)

 

Some lateral thinking. In Cyprus, our summer evening walking-out dress (as UN troops we were in uniform at all times) was Barrack Dress shirt-sleeve order. However, our six-month tour was almost entirely during the winter months, when our walking-out Dress was full Number 2s (with UN badge on the arm), UN beret and highly polished DMS SHOES. I don't remember wearing a 15/19H regimental belt which is the only belt we'd have worn with Number 2s.

 

Note that RMP were (are?) issued with two sets of Number 2s, one working, one Best. So my guess is that in winter, the RMP WOULD wear Number 2 Dress during the day.

 

Note also that to be absolutely correct, you must wear *RMP* Number 2 Dress trousers, which differ(ed at the time) from those of the rest of the Army by having a truncheon pocket below the right-hand hip pocket allowing a truncheon strap to hand down, handy to the right hand for immediate action as required. Since (as I have explained) Barrack Dress came into issue AFTER I had left the RMP, I cannot tell you whether there was a similar RMP variant of Barrack Dress trousers with a truncheon pocket.

 

However, having said all this, I now have a picture in my head of RMP wearing a wooly pully with a scarlet RMP stable belt over the top. I'd suggest that when not on policing duty, the white belt was replaced by the stable belt either in the trouser belt loops or over the jumper. I cannot recall ever having seen a white belt over a wolly pully though, so I am guessing that on policing duty, they'd wear full Number 2s in winter.

 

For full ceremonial duties (eg VIP escort and embassy guard duty), RMP are (were) issued with blue Number 1 Dress. I was measured for mine: it came complete with LCpl stripe as I was never going to wear it outside of the tailor's shop before completing training and being promoted LCpl, but I walked out before that happened. Note that, although issued with a khaki Number 2 Dress Cap, after training RMP never wear it. The scarlet beret (first issued to the TA RMP while I was in training in early 1975) is appropriate for normal wear. If anything else is appropriate, the red Number 1 Dress cap with black band is worn. AFAIK nobody else has even been issued with a khaki Number 2 Dress cap for decades: in other regiments, the Number 1 Dress cap exclusively is worn with full Number 2 Dress. (There are occasions where Number 2 Dress is appropriate but the Number 1 Dress cap is not. RMP in Number 2 Dress in a vecihle is a prime example. At this time, beret or side cap would be appropriate. I never saw an RMP side cap, but their red berets were entirely appropriate.)

[Mark]

Blimey :?

[David Ives]

correct 2 sets no 2 dress 1 set blues 4 barrack dress and no2 shirts boots mine dms studded full bull as more comfy than high leg

belt white for public events otherwise police service belt as more comfy with 6cell maglight and cuff holder

nighttime alternate florescent/green jacket