Wearing of army clothing in town.

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Citizen H
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Location: S.E. England

Wearing of army clothing in town.

Post by Citizen H »

Wearing of army clothing......

Just wondering if others have run into a similar situation….

Today I was cutting through the town on the way to work when I was confronted by a person who basically torn into me for wear army clothing… it wasn’t a uniform as such but as follows:

Swiss army green cap, German Army, flectarn smock,Dutch Olive green trousers and work issue boots.

I must point out that I don’t wear any insignia other than a British flag on the left arm (as I’m not German)

So words were exchanged and the guy started getting irate and started mouthing off about “Stolen Valour” Take it off, Take it off!”
I pointed out that I was on my way to work, army surplus tends to be affordable and hard wearing. Furthermore I wasn’t trying to pass myself off as a serving solider (with a full grey beard) and I wouldn’t be part of any You tube set up that him and his mate (filming with a mobile Phone) had concocted to gain some popularity via social media for outing a regular guy going about his own business.

I did lose it a tad as I parted with the reverse Winston Churchill salute and commented that as we still had a certain amount of freedom (that certain states don’t allow) I would (and will) continue to wear what I want when I want.

Anyone else experience this before?
Im just hoping for the best and preparing for the worse.

Citizen "H"
grenfell
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Joined: Thu Jul 04, 2013 7:55 pm

Re: Wearing of army clothing in town.

Post by grenfell »

Never had that sort of reaction at all to be honest. When there has been any sort of reaction it's generally been quite good humoured. For example when we had all the snow a while back I wore my DPM smock when I went down the pub and someone said " it's not working you know I can still see you" to which I replied " to quote the film " we seem to be wearing the wrong bloody cameo!"" and we all laughed .
Camo combats do seem to be common ammongst reenactors and at the last event I went to in our group we had British DPM , MTP , Italian Vegetao , American woodland and a couple of night /urban jobbies . Almost a pity I wasn't wearing my strichtarn to complete the ensemble . The daughter of one friend did want it explaining why we wore them and for me it was because they are cheap and comfortable with the added advantage they don't show black marks or dirt as bad as jeans. Coincidentally I had just painted my trailer in camo but deliberately didn't want something that looked definitely miilitary so went for a three colour sponged effect . I camoed it because it was a big ugly white box , now it's still a box but hopefully not quite as noticeable , it's a ugly green box :D
jansman
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Re: Wearing of army clothing in town.

Post by jansman »

Apparently,it is illegal for civilians to wear camo/ military clothing in Bermuda,but I digress...

I wear a shirt and tie for work,but I wear black cargo trousers and work boots.The cargo trousers are smart,warm and tough.The pockets allow me to carry my notebook,pen,phone,wallet,keys,pocket knife and a few first aid items.

OTOH,I saw a fella in town in a camo jacket,and he stood out like a sore thumb.I have no problems,but ironically his camo did not blend! Certainly this is an advert for being a ' Grey Man'.
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Yorkshire Andy
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Re: Wearing of army clothing in town.

Post by Yorkshire Andy »

Nope never had it I did once announce that I "was" British army as 2 scrotes tried to mug me as I put the army surplus bch boots to work on one of the assailant knee cap .. I kept my wallet as one was able to run away .......

I've got the deepest respect for our forces one of my good friends was killed in Iraq by a ied in a snatch Landover.. if I'd have come across some Muppet like you did I'd have probably become a YouTube sensation 3:)
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Arzosah
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Re: Wearing of army clothing in town.

Post by Arzosah »

I bought a desert camo t shirt for a Stargate SF convention once :lol: and that marked me out as a science fiction fan at Heathrow when I ran across the actors I'd just been watching on stage :mrgreen: they avoided me at all costs :mrgreen:

Day to day, I think the issue is what jansman described, the Grey Man issue - very, very few people wear it, and if you're wearing army-type issue head to foot, you stand out like a mile. As the 'slow decline' continues to happen, I think you'd get reactions where you wouldn't have got them before:
- as happened to Citizen H, someone feels entitled to have a go at you for what you're wearing.
- someone might be "thanking you for your service" - that phrase always makes my teeth twinge, its too American for me (I might well be wrong on the origin, I don't know).
- someone might want to have a go physically.
- someone might *turn* to you physically, for help.

I appreciate the good value and the hard-wearing issues, but different colours, plain colours, would be a better fit to life around you. Even if it takes a pot of dye.
Arzosah
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Re: Wearing of army clothing in town.

Post by Arzosah »

Arzosah wrote: Sat Sep 15, 2018 8:52 am I bought a desert camo t shirt for a Stargate SF convention once :lol: and that marked me out as a science fiction fan at Heathrow when I ran across the actors I'd just been watching on stage :mrgreen: they avoided me at all costs :mrgreen:

Day to day, I think the issue is what jansman described, the Grey Man issue - very, very few people wear it, and if you're wearing army-type issue head to foot, you stand out like a mile. As the 'slow decline' continues to happen, I think you'd get reactions where you wouldn't have got them before:
- as happened to Citizen H, someone feels entitled to have a go at you for what you're wearing.
- someone might be "thanking you for your service" - that phrase always makes my teeth twinge, its too American for me (I might well be wrong on the origin, I don't know).
ETA - what I wrote made my teeth twinge too! I don't mean its too American, my life is very Americanised in some ways, I mean it doesn't resonate with me, in spite of the fact that I have many past, and a few present, serving family members.
- someone might want to have a go physically.
- someone might *turn* to you physically, for help.

I appreciate the good value and the hard-wearing issues, but different colours, plain colours, would be a better fit to life around you. Even if it takes a pot of dye.
Oh drat. I pressed the quote button, not the edit button. Sorry!
pseudonym
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Re: Wearing of army clothing in town.

Post by pseudonym »

I wouldn't worry about it.

TBH I never worry about anyone in DPM of any style.

This is what Ex Forces wear on Remembrance Week:

[youtube][http://www.thebikeinsurer.co.uk/videos/ ... l//youtube]

Berets and leather/suits/camo. Whatever they feel comfortable in.

I've been invited this year so digging out my beret. I know I packed it away somewhere safe. :mrgreen:
Two is one and one is none, but three is even better.
grenfell
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Re: Wearing of army clothing in town.

Post by grenfell »

Perhaps because I only ever wear a pair of trousers on their own or a jacket on it's own might have a bearing . Head to foot would seem a little more obvious if that's not an oxymoron referring to camo.
Funnily enough I did see someone walking through town today in a camo suit and he did look out of place whereas someone else in a DPM jacket didn't . As an aside i'm not sure what the camo suit was , overall olive green with brown splashes but more of a brush stroke type of thing rather than blobs if that makes sense.
One " camo" I do sometimes wear is East German strichtarn , field grey / green with brownish rain stripes , and to be honest I think the jury is out as to whether it's camo or not. It's certainly military but not as recognisable as camo as DPM for example but one comment read about it was that it just blends into nothingness which is really what is needed.
Drcamburn
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Re: Wearing of army clothing in town.

Post by Drcamburn »

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Last edited by Drcamburn on Tue Jan 08, 2019 1:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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ukpreppergrrl
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Re: Wearing of army clothing in town.

Post by ukpreppergrrl »

Always been rather fond of the blue US Navy camo, which sadly they have now stopped.
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