This month’s impression ties in with our ongoing series on Post War Australian kit on a Monday. It is the early 2010s and this infantryman is wearing the last iteration of DPCU or Auscam uniform and web equipment. The uniform consists of the 4th Pattern shirt and trousers, worn over a Platatac self wicking t-shirt with Terra combat boots and the final pattern of bush hat with the neck curtain. His webbing is the updated version of the 1988 pattern equipment, manufactured in China by this point. He has attached a length of nylon rope to one of the utility pouches. The rifle is the F88 Austeyr, a locally produced version of the Austrian Steyr Aug bullpup rifle. This example has not been upgraded yet- the Australian Army have since added picatinny rails and better optics to their Austeyrs.
The camouflage cream worn is in the same palette of colours as the uniform and by this date rank is worn on the rank slide on the front of the uniform. A subdued national flag is worn on the sleeve.
This month I have taken a little bit of a different approach to the kit layout and shown all the items carried within the pouches as well (not entirely complete as I am still missing items such as spare magazines for the F88 etc.). We have covered some of these items on the blog individually already and the rest will be appearing in the coming months.
Tales from the Supply Depot 
IS that F88 air soft? If not how the hell did you get it?
I am in the UK so we can own deactivated weapons. This is actually an Austrian produced Steyr Aug as they have not released any Australian made examples onto the market here.
Hey, that’s really great! I had a uniform very much like that when I served in the late 00s. It’s almost perfect! The only change I would make is to mould the top of the gigglehat a little bit – crimping the material at the top of your head so the back of the hat rides up a little bit and the front stays roughly where it is.
It was uncommon to see anyone outside of Kapooka who didn’t blouse their hats at the front; usually the moment you got back to your active unit you were instructed on how the rest of the diggers did it, and you followed suite (woe betide the fool who stands out)!
I love the impression! So cool to see, and fairly uncommon. Does the auscam stand out much in the UK wilderness?
Thanks for the comment, I am glad I have got it pretty close. The camouflage is a bit light for the UK (British DPM is a much darker green as the foliage is a different shade in the Northern hemisphere) but its not completely inappropriate. I would be very interested in getting hold of some Australian multi-cam at some stage to compare it to MTP- I suspect they are a lot closer in colour etc. than the older patterns.
Most digs would have a private purchase bush hat and/or would remove the neck flap – as well as ‘bashing’ as mentioned above. pouches for F1 frags would also be worn, attached to the front of the pouch on either side of the belt – there is a pistol holster too. most digs would wear 2 of the minimi pouches at the back like 58 patt kidney pouches too