British Army Uniform - Uniform Numbers - No.8: Temperate Combat Dress

No.8: Temperate Combat Dress

Multi Terrain Pattern (MTP) field jacket (smock) and trousers, worn with beret, helmet or camouflaged hat. The current system is known as Combat Uniform (CU) which was introduced as part of Project Peacock and replaced the Combat Soldier 95 (CS 95) system. In recent years, the British army has begun introducing Tactical Recognition Flashes - these are distinctive insignia worn on the arm of combat gear. TRFs denote the wearer's regiment or corps (or sub division thereof in the case of the AGC). The clothing system is designed to be lightweight, yet durable enough to be used throughout rigorous activities soldiers find themselves performing. It has also been designed with the idea that layers of clothing (referred to as onion skins) are much warmer and flexible than a singular thick layer. In addition to the shirt; a t-shirt, vest, combat jacket, shirt man's field ('Norgie' or 'Norwegian'), or Gore-Tex fabric waterproof jacket is worn dependent on weather, along with various types of gloves, underwear, trousers, all-in-one suits etc.

The layering system for the Combat Uniform is:

• Vest, mans, OG
• Jacket, Combat, Lightweight, MTP (Lightweight Shirt)
• Trousers, Combat, Lightweight, MTP(Combat trousers)
• Liner, MTP, Thermal (Fleece)
• Liner, MTP, MVP (Moisture Vapour Permeable) (Gore-Tex Fabric Jacket)
• Jacket, MTP, Field (Combat Jacket)
• Trousers, Mans, MTP, MVP (Gore-Tex Fabric Trousers)
• UBACS (Under Body Armour Combat Shirt. Made of coolmax fabric.

Working headress is normally worn, which is typically a beret. The colour of the beret usually shows what type of regiment the wearer is from. The colours are as follows:

• Khaki—Foot Guards, Honourable Artillery Company, Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment, Royal Anglian Regiment, Duke of Lancaster's Regiment, Royal Welsh, Yorkshire Regiment, Royal Gibraltar Regiment, 4/73 (Sphinx) Special Observation Post Battery RA
• Light grey—Royal Scots Dragoon Guards
• Dark grey—Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps
• Brown—King's Royal Hussars, Royal Wessex Yeomanry
• Black—Royal Tank Regiment, W (Westminster Dragoons) Squadron, Royal Yeomanry
• Dark (Rifle) green—The Rifles, Royal Gurkha Rifles, Small Arms School Corps, Essex Yeomanry
• Maroon—Parachute Regiment, All ranks serving with 16 Air Assault Brigade (not restricted to Parachute qualified personnel) other than the non Parachute Regiment Infantry Battalion or Army Air Corps and attached Arms personnel.
• Beige—Special Air Service including attached troops who are not SAS-qualified
• Emerald grey - Special Reconnaissance Regiment
• Commando Green - Commando qualified personnel serving in Commando units (e.g. Royal Marines or the Special Boat Service)
• Cypress Green - Intelligence Corps
• Sky blue—Army Air Corps
• Scarlet—Royal Military Police
• Green—Adjutant General's Corps (except Royal Military Police, who wear scarlet; Military Provost Staff and Army Legal Service, who wear navy blue), Military Provost Guard Service
• Navy blue—all other Army units (except Scottish line infantry regiments and the Royal Irish Regiment).

Troops from other services, regiments or corps on attachment to units with distinctive coloured berets often wear those berets (with their own cap badge). Colonels, brigadiers and generals usually continue to wear the beret of the regiment or corps to which they used to belong with the cap badge distinctive to their rank. The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers wears a feather hackle on the beret, they are now only infantry regiment to wear the navy blue beret. Other ranks of the Royal Welsh also wear hackles.

The Royal Regiment of Scotland and Royal Irish Regiment, instead of the beret, wear the tam o'shanter and the caubeen respectively.

The beret will often be replaced with the Combat Helmet, covered in DPM material. However, in jungle conditions, the helmet is often replaced with a DPM bush hat - or equally in cold conditions, a DPM peaked hat (Cap, Extreme Cold Weather), a rolled woollen tube known as a cap comforter, or other specialised headgear. When the British Army finds itself in peacekeeping roles, regimental headress is worn (where the tactical situation allows) in preference to the helmet or DPM hat, in order to appear less hostile to local civilians.

Some Regiments and Corps wear a stable belt in No 8 dress whilst others restrict its use to Nos 13 and 14 Dress. The stable belt is a wide belt, made of a tough woven fabric. It is traditionally fastened with a set of leather straps and buckles on the wearer's left hand side (in some units to their front), but may alternatively have a metal locket arrangement, or a plate at the front bearing regimental, or formation insignia. The fabric of the belt itself is in regimental colours, either a single colour or striped along its length. The stable belt dates back to a time when soldiers in mounted, or horse drawn units wore similar belts that were often fitted with pockets to carry fob watches and loose change whilst looking after the horses. It has since become much more formalised and not restricted to cavalry units.

On exercises and operations the stable belt replaced with a plain green field belt. Synthetic Personal Load Carrying Equipment has replaced webbing. This has numerous components which can be assembled to meet the soldier's requirements and preference.

The woollen pullover (jumper, sweater or Woolly Pully) has been used for several decades and originally each soldier was issued with two. However, despite its popularity (it has also been adopted by police services, and by many foreign military forces including the US Marine Corps) in the CS95 system, one pullover has been replaced by a 'Liner, thermal', which is not intended to be worn as an outer garment.