Quality Sporrans for less money

[Janner52]

WONDERFUL photos! Are the walls of your house festooned with some of the best of these? I can almost hear the drummers cheering in "Black Bear" which I find just absolutely thrilling. (It looks as though ALL the drummers are in darker tartan kilts; curious that they wear different COLOR ( OK, "coloured") doublets in full dress, but are not differentiated above the waist for their hot weather uniforms.

The khaki shirts are a summer version No 2 dress, where a khaki tunic would otherwise be worn or barrack dress where a pullover (sweater) is worn. There is no ceremonial summer dress for wear in the uk. There is a tradition in the Royal Regiment of Scotland that officers and warrant officers wear blue shirts in summer dress.
Apparently this tradition was inherited from the Royal Highland Fusiliers. It has now filtered down to include all members of the pipes and drums.

[OC Richard]

On the British army all uniforms must be returned to the quartermaster on discharge. A beret, or appropriate regimental headdress is worn with civilian clothes for military occasions.

Thanks for the information!

I don't know the US military practice, beyond having a friend who used to be a musician in the US Marine Corps.

There are two elite Marine Corps bands that I know of, the President's Own and the Commandant's Own.

Both wear the old traditional "reversed colours" of military musicians, for them meaning red tunics.

My friend played in the Commandant's Own. He told me that when they were going to do a Full Dress performance, wearing the ornate red tunics, these arrived at the performance site on hangers in storage bags and were issued to the musicians when they were dressing for the performance.

After the performance they were handed back in, put back in storage, and taken away.

I'm guessing something like that happens in the British army with the extremely expensive Guards tunics and bearskins.

[Janner52]

No Richard the British solders are responsible for storage and cleaning of their own ceremonial uniforms. Not sure exactly how that works for regiments like the Household Cavary where they have large amounts of uniform. They may have some kind of storage central space.

[OC Richard]

No Richard the British solders are responsible for storage and cleaning of their own ceremonial uniforms. Not sure exactly how that works for regiments like the Household Cavary where they have large amounts of uniform. They may have some kind of storage central space.

Maybe the Marine Corps fears the band going out to a pub after the performance...

About the Marine Corps Dress Blues tunic, I thought a former Marine told me that it was a private purchase item. However AI tells me that enlisted Marines are issued Dress Blues from the get-go. (Officers do purchase their kit.)

Ditto the US Army Dress Blues.

[OC Richard]

The khaki shirts are a summer version No 2 dress, where a khaki tunic would otherwise be worn or barrack dress where a pullover (sweater) is worn. There is no ceremonial summer dress for wear in the uk.

I reckon only for certain overseas postings like Hong Kong, where that photo of the Black Watch in No3 Dress was taken.

Ditto the US Army.

A university mate became an Army officer.

You request your preferred posting but the Army sends you wherever they want. In his class he was the only one to request Germany due to his fiancée and her family living in Europe. Everybody else requested Hawai'i.

Everyone was sent to Germany except for my friend who, with typical army logic, was sent to Hawai'i.

My friend made the most of it however. Being a smart dresser he took advantage of the fact that Hawai'i was an authorised posting for officers to wear Dress Whites, which he purchased.

There is a tradition in the Royal Regiment of Scotland that officers and warrant officers wear blue shirts in summer dress.
Apparently this tradition was inherited from the Royal Highland Fusiliers. It has now filtered down to include all members of the pipes and drums.

Thanks for that background!

I had seen the blue shirt/stone shirt thing with RRS pipers but didn't know why.

[OC Richard]

Here's The Commandant's Own

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGlCjacOu-E

and the even more ornate uniforms of The President's Own (there's even a bearskin)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqkR...&start_radio=1