My thanks go to Andrew Dearlove who very kindly gave me this CS95 combat shirt a few months back:
I will not go into details of the shirt itself, as we have covered the CS95 pattern a number of times before. Of interest to us tonight is the insignia on the sleeves of the shirt. On the right sleeve is a tactical recognition flash with the letters MPGS:
This stands for the Military Provost Guard Service, who are responsible for maintaining physical security at British Armed Forces locations throughout Great Britain. It is one of three constituent units of the Adjutant General’s Corps Provost Branch and the aim of the MPGS is to rationalise guarding arrangements at sites where service personnel normally live and work. The MPGS replaces previously civilian-held duties with armed soldiers.
The MPGS’s duties include:
• Controlling entry and exit access to a site
• Managing control room operations and ensuring all visitors are dealt with efficiently
• Patrolling site perimeters and taking necessary action to preserve perimeter security
• Security incident management, such as suspicious packages, bomb threats, protests, etc.
• Military Working Dog services at some sites.
To join the MPGS, applicants must have served for at least three years in any arm or service, including the Royal Naval Reserve, Royal Marines Reserve, Territorial Army, and Royal Auxiliary Air Force. They must have completed that service within six years of application to the MPGS, unless they have relevant service in the Police or HM Prison Service since leaving the armed forces.
To join, they have to re-enlist into the Regular British Army on a Military Local Service Engagement (MLSE). The MLSE is a form of engagement which is ideally suited to use by the MPGS. The MLSE is renewable on a three-yearly basis providing the soldier continues to meet the requirements and standards of the service, as well as there being a continued need for MPGS soldiers at that particular unit.
There are 26 police constabularies that currently have a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Military Provost Guard Service in respect of the legal authority for carrying firearms on UK roads.
On the opposite sleeve is a TRF with a white swan on a black background:
This is the flash for the 30th Signals Regiment which is based at Bramcote. The Army’s website back in 2017 described the unit as:
Based in Bramcote, Warwickshire, provides out of area strategic communications to Land and Joint Task Force operations. The Regiment consists of four field Sqns, 244, 250, 256 and 258 Sig Sqns which are in turn supported by a fifth Support Sqn. Members of the Regiment regularly deploy to different theatres throughout the world, in support of both Operations and Exercises. Currently members of the Regiment are serving in Afghanistan, The Persian Gulf, West Africa, Falkland Islands, USA, Canada, Kenya and Cyprus supporting numerous Operations and Exercises. Leading elements of the Regiment are kept at a high state of readiness so that they can deploy at short notice to anywhere in the world. Deployed services include the provision of Strategic Headquarters, satellite and HF communications as well as deployed computer networks and tactical radio. 30 Signal Regiment has been involved in the majority of operations conducted by UK Forces since it was reformed in 1951. The Commanding Officer of 30th Signal Regiment is also the Commander of the Queen’s Gurkha Signals.
The combination of these two TRFs suggests the original owner worked at Bramcote on base security and was thus entitled to wear both the TRF of his parent unit the MPGS and the TRF of the unit he was assigned to, the 30th Signals Regiment.
The water bottle and its carrier were not originally included in the set, and had to be retrospectively added. This component is not shown above, but we have covered it 
The yoke itself was a major advance for this set of webbing as it was padded and far more comfortable than previous webbing sets and the 58 pattern set was to see service right through until the mid-1990s, with the Falklands campaign being its shining hour. By the fist Gulf War it was partially replaced by PLCE, but was still used by many troops who had not yet received the new PLCE web set.
The first set of fitting instructions gives the following, comprehensive, overview of the set:
Or with the tan side showing:
In order to accommodate this reversible nature, the waist is secured with a pair of buttons, one facing outwards and one inwards, regardless of which way round the trousers are:
A full length zip runs up each leg to allow them to be easily taken our off, even with boots on:
Note also that the cuff is elasticated to help retain air inside the trousers and give the wearer another layer of insulation. A label is sewn into the garment with details of sizing, NSN number etc.:
These trousers are normally issued with a compression or ‘stuff’ sack, much like a sleeping bag which allows the air in them to be squeezed out and their size reduced right down for storage in a rucksack when not needed, sadly my example is missing this, but they are a fairly cheap and common thing to come across so I am sure one will turn up soon enough (I have already gotten lucky and found one for the jacket for £1!).
This is a nylon haversack that sits at the rear of the webbing set and is designed to carry the same contents as the 58 pattern kidney pouches and poncho roll:- NBC kit, field rations, spare socks, wash kit etc. Whilst the pouch is larger than the kidney pouches of the earlier set, without the poncho roll the capacity remains small and this was one of the major shortcomings of the set.
This in turn was covered with the top flap. On the underside of this top flap are the maker’s details:
At the rear are a pair of plastic D-loops that allow the yoke to be attached to the pouch:
Beneath these is a white panel used to write the soldier’s name and number on when in service:
The 72/75 pattern set does not have a separate belt, so the rear pouch attaches to the side pouches directly so straps and plastic frictions buckles are sewn to each side of the pouch:
Two variations of haversack apparently exist; a plain one and a type like this one that has a long pocket across the base:
Some sources say this was for a machete, whilst others say it was for a pick axe head, which is what I have fitted it with:
A loop with a friction buckle is also fitted to the top of the flap of the pouch:
This seems to have been used to allow extra items to be strapped onto the webbing.
These sets are scarce as they were a trials item half a century ago, but all the pieces are still available from one supplier (albeit not cheaply) so I am pleased to have finally finished the set and have a full set up as a soldier on exercise whilst trialling the new web set in the early 1970s:
Having worn the set, I can see why it was never adopted. It is flimsy and complicated and the carrying capacity is limited, as is the sets adaptability. On the plus side the butyl nylon is much easier to decontaminate than cotton webbing, but it would be another ten to fifteen years before a far superior design was adopted by British Army when the PLCE set became the standard load bearing set for the next thirty years or more.
This jacket is a simple single breasted garment, secured up the front by large green plastic buttons, hidden behind a fly:
The hiding of the buttons was presumably to protect them from snagging whilst the soldier was working. A pair of epaulettes was also provided, each fastened by a green plastic button (buttons missing on this example):
A pair of patch pockets are sewn to the skirts of the jacket, each cut with the flap on an angle:
Inside the jacket a draw string at the waist allows some adjustment so that it is not completely shapeless:
A third, interior, pocket is also provided:
This is where the manufacturer’s label is sewn:
From this we can see that this jacket dates to 1963 and is a size 5. Richard Emms Ltd seems to have been a clothing company in existence until 1991. I have found the following description of the factory in the period this jacket was manufactured:
The bandolier has five individual pockets, each secured with a brass wire hook, passed through a hole in the cotton and folded over to secure it:
Each pocket would carry two five round chargers, giving a total of fifty rounds per bandolier. The webbing strap is 1 1/8″ wide herringbone twilled webbing:
The reinforcing strap is clearly visible across the bottom:
The bandolier has a number of stamps, this one dates the bandolier to 1967 and shows it is a MK 3/1:
A stamp on the rear shows it was filled by Radway Green on 20th June 1967:
There is also a random circular stamp which is poorly stamped so impossible to read:
These bandoliers remained in service throughout the SLR era, the rounds being used to refill magazines during quiet periods. Here troops in the Falklands War can be seen with the disposable bandoliers slung over their chests:
This account from the Falklands by Vince Bramley describes using these bandoliers: