I recently picked myself up an MTP barrack shirt. It’s very nice.
I’ve seen people wear it both with creases ironed in the sleeves à la CS95 and ironed flat. Which one is correct? ACP1358 hasn’t really been much help - my interpretation of it is that it’s considered part of PCS ensemble because of where it’s mentioned and should be valeted as such, but it’s very ambiguous and a second opinion would be great. Many thanks
The reason it isn’t specified is because it isn’t part of the RAFAC uniform. However, because greens in RAFAC are officially private purchase items, its existence is tolerated.
Honestly, I’d just make sure it’s neat, tidy and pressed. You’ll already be technically breaking the dress code by wearing it anyhow, but no-one will care so long as it’s clear you’ve looked after it.
Here’s the relevant section of ACP 1358. This extract is taken from the latest edition. The barracks shirt is not authorised for wear by the RAF, but it is tolerated for RAFAC.
If these items aren’t issued in the RAFAC, do you still have to stick RAFAC identifiers on?
I know of a couple of reservist/CFAV double-hatters who understandably CBA with doubling-up on barrack shirts, so they just swap-out rank slides as required and leave their normal badges sewn in place.
Velcro doesn’t always seem to work so well on barrack shirts.
I think the difference is that stable belts and forage caps are already officially authorised for wear, whereas the barracks shirt is just permitted instead.
WRT the army’s wearing of Gucci kit, I get it (although it probably helps that my regular service was in the army). It’s more prevalent in the combat arms, because they want kit that’s going to keep them going in the worst of environments. If my Corps was ever seen in combat, it meant something had gone majorly wrong further forwards, and we tended pretty much to only ever have officially issued kit plus maybe a Snuggie.