Problems with greens uniform

My squadron gave me and the other Second Class Cadets greens uniform about a month ago. Everyone got stuff, but I wasn’t given a beret, the belt was too small and the smock went down below my knees!
I’ve asked almost every parade night, and the response is the same - “We’ll get you one tonight”. I know they haven’t run out as they’ve got a massive room stocked with clothes - how should I try and solve this? Thank you!

Two potential issues, first is when in the night are you asking (e.g. after final parade?)
Second, room full of clothes doesn’t mean any will fit you!

Unfortunately it’s always been the case that greens aren’t issued to squadrons so they’ve usually been acquired over many years and it’s best endeavours!

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The supply of uniform has always been tough and it sounds as though your Sqn has done the best it can at the moment.

Squadrons are not entitled to greens so in most cases you get ‘the best fit’. Speak to the Stores Officer early on a parade night and see if they can do anything for you.

As with all uniform, it is rare that a cadet gets an item that fits perfectly.

How tall are you? It makes a big difference, as we often have reserves of sizes that don’t fit young teenagers.

If five cadets walked in tomorrow all 6’9", We could kit them out easy. 5’ 5" and they’d have no hope.

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Consider yourself extremely lucky you got greens given to you at all!

Military uniforms are not designed for children, they’re designed for adults and we’re doing the best we can to adapt the sizes to provide them to cadets.

You’ve made the request, but to whom? A cadet in charge of the stockroom, or an adult?

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Firstly I will say a Smock down to your knees is normal for recruits and when I was lucky enough to get one it went down to there and it was useful to be able to cover yourself more when out in the field. As for the belt my best suggestion would honestly just be to buy a new one in a bigger size as most people have to buy full greens so having any at all are really lucky.

The Beret should be issued to you however and I would say both ask at the start and during break as that is when the stores officer (Who should be an Adult) will most likely have the most time to give it to you. Just keep reminding them as they are likely to forget and If they don’t have one in your size then just ask every week or two to see if they have had a resupply. Hope that helps.

Out of curiosity, what style of belt is it? And what is the size of the smock?

It sounds unusual for a belt to be too small but the available smock so large.

As the “lucky” member of staff who collects our orders from Clothing Stores at our parent unit, I can vouch for the general situation of shortages for some items, especially for small sizes. Dark blue shirts are quite hard to get at the moment, & for brassards, there was a quality issue, so there is no specified timescale for the replacements. Our parent unit has demanded 250 brassards - when they arrive, we will need 50 of them! :open_mouth:

Other than black shoes, we are very fortunate that we can get issued items for all other clothing - even black socks! :wink:

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