Beret's

[RoyalGreenJacket]

Personally I wear the green beret with pride. Our lads wear it to and from parades and frequently it is all most of the people in Ireland see of the DF outside ceremonials and cash escorts, as the PDF do not usually wear uniform until entering barracks.

i'm glad we are a long way away from hiding ourselves away like that nowadays in the UK and most places Overseas.

[hedgehog]

When i was at oxegen in 2009 there was a gang of PDF lads (about 6 of them) who were camped by us.

For the entire time they were there they wore full uniform (minus headdress) and were drunk off their heads, i never once saw them out of uniform.

I knew they were PDF because they used their issue bergans to carry all their kit. They were also using their issue daysacks and wetgear when walking around the festival.

At one stage i saw 3 of them wrestling in the mud with some randomers in the middle of the crowd.

So it's not just RDF....

NO PDF lad would risk losing his issue back pack at something like Oxegen

do you know how much these cost;

if they were PDF they would have kept the packs on their backs at the concerts to stop passerbys

stroking them from an abandoned campsite.


I really dont think these were PDF do you mate?

[Hello Alaska]

NO PDF lad would risk losing his issue back pack at something like Oxegen

do you know how much these cost;

if they were PDF they would have kept the packs on their backs at the concerts to stop passerbys

stroking them from an abandoned campsite.


I really dont think these were PDF do you mate?

I wouldn't be suprised.

Uniform, wetgear, various items of issued kit being used at festivals by members of the PDF isn't a one off thing.

I reckon all lads who do that should be made wear an "Oxegen" tab.

[hedgehog]

I wouldn't be suprised.

Uniform, wetgear, various items of issued kit being used at festivals by members of the PDF isn't a one off thing.

I reckon all lads who do that should be made wear an "Oxegen" tab.

I would be suprised

I have done Security at a few of these festivals with lads from around the DF

and I never came across it on the scale as told by the Spacegitti lad,

of course you see a wet jacket of a pair of Magnums or even in the old days

izzi jackets (bleached jeans and white roms)

but I genuinely dont think 4-6 lads would bring a pack worth 320 euros and a day sack worth

190 euros to a fesitval full of piss heads and leave it in an insecured tent.

If they do then they deserve a smacking.


You are a sensible lad HA would you?

[spaceghetti]

I'm not making this up hedge.

Only about two of the lads wore rank markings and they were 3 stars. Maybe they had just finished recruit/3star camp and just didn't know any better or something?

I doubt any of them were NCO's.

They weren't all carrying bergans when i saw them. I saw two of them carrying the bergans on the way into the festival and the other's were carrying daysacks when they came in.

And then every time i saw them walking around during the day two of the fella's in the gang always had daysacks with them.

Could they have been civvies/RDF using PDF kit.

I've never seen RDF getting issued with that kit. And it's a possibility that a few civvies here and there could get their hands on PDF kit off of ebay or something but i don't see how a gang of about 6 lads could all get their hands on it unless they were actually PDF.

[luchi]

I've never seen RDF getting issued with that kit.

True but if you go out on an ex you will see RDF with it or with look alike kit.

[trellheim]

you will see RDF with it or with look alike kit

in fairness I haven't seen many RDF wearing IPLCS as since the PLCE situation eased it's not that much of a problem. There are a few vests very like it though.

[Mr. Tezza]

theres always RDF lads out there ( mostly NCOs, never seen ptes with PDF issue kit) with connections and end up getting any newly distributed kit... don't ask how, i dunnno, but i have seen it on many occasion

[morpheus]

im sure you could also say:
there're always RDF lads out there ( mostly NCOs, never seen ptes with PDF issue kit) with NO connections and DON'T end up getting any newly distributed kit,

they buy it themselves,
like the Berghaus Crusader Bergan
or Army Pro Gore
or Lowe Alpine OG Daysack or....
a lot of this kit is incredibly similar to issued kit, if not actually issued at some stage, but we pay hard earned cash to purchase it and as its NOT issued kit we can do what we like with it, although why I would want to drag a stinking glen filled bergan to the canaries with me I don't know.

Then there are those of us who borrow kit from cadre staff etc for courses or ex's.

If I found out about ANYONE in my unit who wore issued kit or carried soft ordnance to a concert/campsite/ ANYWHERE outside of FTT, or traveling directly to or from barracks they would have to have a size ten magnum surgically removed from their tailpipe when they next met me.

I don't know how this happened, but it is NOT tolerated at ANY level in RDF units (or should not be and would be confident of 90% adherence to this). Recruits are taught from DAY ONE the importance of wearing the uniform under the correct circumstances and in the correct manner and what behavior is expected and accepted whilst wearing it plus the consequences if they fail in any of this.

this is all going off topic quite quickly.... leave our berets alone, give us more recruits.

[Mr. Tezza]

im sure you could also say:
there're always RDF lads out there ( mostly NCOs, never seen ptes with PDF issue kit) with NO connections and DON'T end up getting any newly distributed kit,

they buy it themselves,
like the Berghaus Crusader Bergan
or Army Pro Gore
or Lowe Alpine OG Daysack or....
a lot of this kit is incredibly similar to issued kit, if not actually issued at some stage, but we pay hard earned cash to purchase it and as its NOT issued kit we can do what we like with it, although why I would want to drag a stinking glen filled bergan to the canaries with me I don't know.

Then there are those of us who borrow kit from cadre staff etc for courses or ex's.

If I found out about ANYONE in my unit who wore issued kit or carried soft ordnance to a concert/campsite/ ANYWHERE outside of FTT, or traveling directly to or from barracks they would have to have a size ten magnum surgically removed from their tailpipe when they next met me.

I don't know how this happened, but it is NOT tolerated at ANY level in RDF units (or should not be and would be confident of 90% adherence to this). Recruits are taught from DAY ONE the importance of wearing the uniform under the correct circumstances and in the correct manner and what behavior is expected and accepted whilst wearing it plus the consequences if they fail in any of this.

this is all going off topic quite quickly.... leave our berets alone, give us more recruits.

I'd probably be one of those people, i had to borrow kit off my cadre and an ex-PDF lad for my POTs cse, I've also bought a number of stuff either protac dpm stuff or OG stuff that is near enuf the same as issue stuff, recently seeing as i never got Haix boots for my POTs cse (dunno if they were on issue for the cse, prob not seeing as we didn't spend 72 hrs constant on the ground) even though pretty much everyone else on the cse had them, i bought a pair of Army Pro boots.

I wudn't dream of wearing issue kit outside working hrs and say the same to others, its not acceptable but we've all heard the stories of people doing it...

[spaceghetti]

Just to be clear, i know the difference between the issue IP-DPM kit and look alike kit (Protac, etc) and this was definitely issue IP-DPM kit that they were using.

They way i see it is that if it was a civvie or a member of the RDF then to have gotten it they most likely bought it themselves.

And if they spent that much money on a backpack out of their own pocket then to me it seems they'd actually be less likely to bring it to a festival then a PDF fella who got it for free.

Just because you yourselves wouldn't do a thing like that doesn't mean that nobody else would do it.

Remember that the PDF is an organization made up of thousands of people and just like every other organization in the world there are always a few numpties somewhere.

[koppiteal]

I work Security at Oxygen and the Amount of DF kit on Display is Shocking. I asked one girl where she got her Rain Gear and she told me the Army Gave it to her. Someone else i asked said it was her brothers kit she was wearing complete with rank markings and name tag.And it had the overseas Flag

[BANDIT]

Most regulars want to get into civvies when off duty ASAP.
If the PDF gear expensive as it is, is being misued then regular kit inspection need to take place , to stop the leakage and people have to pay.. do they still have kit inspections in the the army? I know in my recruit training i dreaded them but even as an nco we had them once or twice a year and we were the most operational unit in the army at that time.

As regards guys in uniform acting stupid, where are the PAs ..

[Truck Driver]

Personally I wear the green beret with pride. Our lads wear it to and from parades and frequently it is all most of the people in Ireland see of the DF outside ceremonials and cash escorts, as the PDF do not usually wear uniform until entering barracks.

That is a fair comment, Trellheim

I wouldn't be suprised.

Uniform, wetgear, various items of issued kit being used at festivals by members of the PDF isn't a one off thing.

I reckon all lads who do that should be made wear an "Oxegen" tab.

I'm not making this up hedge.

Only about two of the lads wore rank markings and they were 3 stars. Maybe they had just finished recruit/3star camp and just didn't know any better or something?.......

I don't buy that comment (highlighted)

PDF recruits are grown out of it from start to finish in their training, so I don't buy that
they didn't know any better

RDF recruits (the well trained ones) know better and have pride in the uniform they wear

I remember fado fado, while on FTT in Lahinch, we were up the town in a hostelry one evening
after we were freed up for the day

An FC MP Corporal from 3 Fd MP Coy was on the piss in SD No 1 there

Our lads were giving him daggers looks, eventually one of them went up and tore him a
new one....

[apod]

Been away for a few days lads.Nice to see i sparked a bit of lively debate

Just to clarify.(Again!) I am not anti RDF.In fact i am quite the opposite.But i do believe that some RDF units have a problem with enforcing the rules with regards dress and deportment.Hence the lads making muppets of themselves after Paddies day parades and wearing the uniform into fancy dress competitions on Halloween in nightclubs.
Personally i would prefer to see the RDF wear a black beret with a green patch and standardise the RDF with the PDF.
Buts thats in an ideal world where 17 year old students with a few months in uniform dont behave like idiots in the uniform that better men than i gave their lives to ensure we had the privelage to wear.
All large organisations have muppets.PDF included.And we deal with ours.Dont worry.The may get away with it for awhile but they always get caught eventually.
The problem is that what i have said about the RDF drinking in uniform or misusing it is (as H.A said) a generalisation which tars everyone with the same brush.But doing what i have described is also a generalisation to the civvies as the cant tell the difference between a redarse RDF recruit or an experienced PDF soldier or even an RDF officer.
They just see a uniform.Which they paid for.Thus we all get labelled.
Thats what i cant stand.