A few months ago a friend, Martin Brayley, posted some intriguing snapshots of his basic naval training in 1976. These showed him and his fellow recruits wearing a interesting mixture of blue working dress uniform and DPM combat uniform whilst training on the L4 light machine gun:

I really enjoy this combination of different sets of uniform and it seemed an obvious choice for a simple recreation.

This recruit is cleaning the L4 after a practice session on the range, using an ammunition box of 7.62mm ammunition as a seat. He wears the mid blue ‘8’s’ shirt, with a dark blue woolly pully. Over this he wears a 68 pattern smock and trousers, with DMS boots and short puttees. The dark blue beret has the standard RN cap badge of a brass fouled anchor in a ring:

1. 68 Pattern Trousers
2. Woolly Pully
3. Short Puttees
4. L4 Cleaning Kit
5. 68 Pattern Smock
6. 8’s Shirt
7. Beret
8. DMS Boots
9. L4 Light Machine Gun