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:
- 68 Pattern Trousers
- Woolly Pully
- Short Puttees
- L4 Cleaning Kit
- 68 Pattern Smock
- 8’s Shirt
- Beret
- DMS Boots
- L4 Light Machine Gun
