British Arctic Windproof Combat Smock & Trousers

A look at the Falklands era DPM arctic widproof uniform.
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[@flatmoon6359]

Had one of those jackets in early 80's,great improvement over issue combat jacket, used with Norgie, and woolly pulley or was used with liner from Bundeswehr parka.Loose fitting allowed for this.Button thread was replaced with nylon fishing line.The bellow pockets was also very good idea.Never used in Arctic,but German winter's are pretty arctic.Pity it wasn't general issue.

[@gold8857]

Freddie Mercury explaining the windproof smock... I think I've definitely seen it all

[@andrewjohnston4127]

I managed to get the trousers and smock many years ago from duboras in Aldershot, they lasted years as I only wore them on exercise. I did end up getting another smock that I wore every day. Really good bit of kit for its time. The only thing I added to both smocks was a set of wool cuffs.

[@neilmaston5116]

Wore these on numerous Winter deployments to Norway, excellent bit of kit , very windproof and dried quickly too, we rarely wore the trousers prefering the denim trousers. Although the trousers were carried in the began in case needed. Still have mine from 1982 , makes a good fishing jacket .

[@hughsmith9401]

Never thought I would've enjoyed watching this best bit of kit I used in the 80s scot div

[@muskett4108]

You have an example from 1983/4 when the contract changed on the fabric and one overlay print was removed from the original multi print design ("the dots"). Some smocks were made with two prints when using up the last bolts of cloth. There are a few original cloth smocks with the Nato Metric Sizing that also changed at the same time. Shortly after that there was a complete design change in DPM as the original cloth producers lost the contract, but still held the copyright on their DPM design. Frankly, uniform wise it went all down hill from there on until 95 uniform came through. Typical Military Acquisition disaster to save a few bob.

[@badgertheskinnycow]

Almost every word of that is utter tosh. For example DPM was an MOD design and they hold all and any design rights. You're welcome.

[@muskett4108]

Not in 1982 they didn't. That is when the MOD found out they didn't have the rights on the 5 way colour print, which is why one overlay print was dropped. They may well have had "DPM" but not how the original pattern was printed. The issue only kicked off when the MOD tried to source out cheaper manufacturers. What followed was ten years of some crap designs. Successive over drawings so that copyright was not infringed. The first Desert DPM was a three way colour print, but had to be changed to a two way because a shed load had been sold to the Iraqis. If you know better supply a source. My reference is my unit was forever doing trials. I remember one trial where we were chastised for doing a CFT in one hour 45 which messed their trial as the kit was designed to withstand a two hour CFT! Daft stuff was going on. @@badgertheskinnycow

[@davidbrennan660]

They were one of the best era smocks, great features and they dried quickly..... things common to issue combat smocks.

[@johnmiller8412]

I like S95 smock, great price and quality.

[@chaffcutter58.]

Managed to swap a slouch hat for the jacket, served me well for 30 years hunting, excellent video , keep up the good work.

[@Jrichards30]

SASS made ventile ones and the left arm pocket was for the first field dressing

[@flatmoon6359]

Best video for ages, really appreciated.

[@razmot5547]

Great pieces of kit.

[@stephenhowes7542]

Still got mine , alas the trousers are long gone

[@thomashastings5694]

Thank for the information

[@maltaconvoy]

Quality content, very educational.

[@johnnydiamondsmusic1673]

Still got my smock from my TA days. Excellent.

[@larpingtonboogecke]

thanks for this video. I'm looking forward to winter to wear my new arctic windproof smock.

[@njmaxton4530]

Fabulous piece of kit. Ultimate Gucci. Old Gaberdine ones were best. Dried really quickly but cuffs wore through very quickly too. Later models were not made from Gaberdine. Rear rank slide was pointless, got removed.

[@pedroq.verdun5816]

Excelente explicacion!

[@flatmoon6359]

There were Ventile ones, very rare,only "They" got them.Saw one, didn't look particularly different.Ventile is originally from surgical wear,that is subject to heavy sterilisation with very strong chemicals,so pretty tough cloth.

[@pinemarten1234]

Flat moon thanks for clearing that up that some garments were made from ventile fabric. Since the regular gabardine fabric is thin cotton, how long would a smock last you with wear and tear before being threadbare?

[@steveforster9764]

Still got mine somewhere

[@eliasblum753]

You mention gloves at about 4:50 - What type of gloves would have been issued / worn at that time? Is it too early for Northern Ireland gloves? What gloves did folks in the Falklands have access to?

[@RiflemanMoore]

Northern ireland gloves are common in the Falklands, Royal Marines are also sometimes seen wearing woolen wristlets which were designed to bridge the gap between cuff and glove but were often worn without gloves as they were less restrictive.

[@eliasblum753]

@@RiflemanMoore Thanks for your reply. I find your videos very interesting.

[@guerrillashadowman]

I purchased one of these smocks due to people raving about them, however having used it as a civi on hiking trips etc, I fail to see what all the fuss is about. I find more modern military smocks offer better insulation, wind proofing etc in my opinion at least. I assume at the time these items were state of the art technology, and ever since has become pretty standard tech and been improved upon. Still a nice piece of military history.

[@flatmoon6359]

Used old ones in terrible weather,much worse than I put MK1 smock through now.Can't tell difference really,but it is a long time ago.Zip pocket great addition.

[@badgertheskinnycow]

I agree - today there are far better fabrics and also smock designs. I had windproof gear in my service time and I found the trousers most useful. The smock was a bit of a liability as it didn't really offer much weather protection on it's own (it was not designed to) and they didn't survive contact with barbed wire! I wouldn't really call them 'state of the art technology' - they just offered some slightly better features over other smocks and were comfortable in certain weather conditions. I preferred a Para Smock (which I also had) over the windproof smocks personally.

[@farizdbro9903]

Greetings, have you ever come across an Arctic windproof smock which has no label with the size, NATO stock number and contract code?

[@pinemarten1234]

Interesting item. Were the smocks ever made from ventile cotton cloth? If it is a lightweight smock did it dry very quick when wet and how long would one of these smocks last with regular wear and tear on exercises and regular service before being threadbare?

[@haroldvonschwartzenstien3581]

I’ve still got mine (later issue admittedly) from probably 20 years ago and it’s still going strong. Hasn’t faded that much either. It did a few Norway trips, Iraq and Afghanistan before we switched to MTP.

[@johnsteele2986]

I never could understand why they put a rank tab on the back, seems a bit pointless!

[@johnmiller8412]

S95 smock talk please.

[@solb101]

Is this channel merely a geeky description of combat clothing or does it aim to show how useful or not this gear is in the field?

[@indieWellie]

it's more of a for collectors and re enactors. and also for people looking for references for making art and film.

[@solb101]

@@indieWellie oh cool. It’s useful, I suppose, if your looking to buy the right kit.

[@doncarlton4858]

I have a dpm jacket similar to this. "DPM WINDPROOF SMOCK, 8405-99-132-3955" from "B.C.B International Ltd. Cardiff UK". The camo pattern has dots of color at the borders of the color fields. It has a smaller hood with no wire stiffener, it has two sewn-in tracks for pull strings at the base of the neck of the hood, but none were ever installed. It has no rank tabs front or rear. It also has dark green knit cuffs, poachers pockets and four bellowed pockets. One sleeve pouch is inverted (dressing pouch?) And the other has a pen slot. Any idea what I have here? I picked it up a a US military surplus store about 30 years ago.