What is the rule for wearing services uniforms these days. I can remember during the Vietnam War that servicemen could not wear their uniform while on leave as they were being either bashed or spat on by anti Vietnam demonstraters. I am just wondering if thing have changed, as I live in a rural town and never ever see anyone in uniform.
Here's some related threads, John, which might give you some idea. All relate to the UK though. I work up the road from Victoria Barracks in Melbourne and regularly see men and women from all services in uniform. They always look great. http://ww2chat.com/forums/barracks/3266-soldier-refused-hotel-room.html http://ww2chat.com/forums/general-topics/2731-uniform-regulations-current-raf.html http://ww2chat.com/forums/barracks/2414-backing-armed-forces-day-plan.html http://ww2chat.com/forums/barracks/1911-unbelievable-such-small-minded-people-peterborough.html
Sounds like nothing much has changed after reading the thread you gave me, Andy. I can remember when I was in the CMF in the early 60's how proud I felt when I put on my army uniform. After parade, we would go to the local RSL and very rarely did you pay for your own drink. The Americans seem to respect their servicemen.
Hi All, I remember Mum telling me that Dad's only civilian clothing was a dressing gown she gave him for a wedding present! That was the early 1950s and he was just home from Korea. The airlines also wore their service ribbons on their uniforms back in those days. The culture has changed a lot since then obviously. Cheers Owen
Since some of the stories posted by Andy I believe there has been a bit of change in general society here and uniformed personnel aren't vilified mostly. That's not to say that some businesses don't still act like asses but on an average high street a uniformed serviceman or woman won't get the problems they may have had a few years ago. Infact, on Remembrance Day, I saw loads in dress uniforms - sadly most looked like drowned rats because of the terrible weather.
Aah might be able to help a little here. After the Korean war Uniforms were allowed to be worn on the street, but once the troubles began in Ireland, and the consatnt threat of attacks from terorrists uniforms in a civilian setting were once again banned. As far as I am aware it was never really lifted again afterwards, and in the current climate of nutjobs carrying things that go bang, the order probably still stands other than on ceremonial occassions or for transit. Like Kyt says the attacks and refusals to service perosnnel now are thankfully very few, everyone has now realised its not the Forces faults, its the politicians who sent them there. One other thing that very few know is that when individuals joined the forces they were advised to change their signature to something rather difficult to copy, lots of swirls and flourishes, little more than a scribble, and then practice it until it was second nature so it couldn't be easily copied. I know my father had something resembling a drunken spider rollerskating across the paper.
This is correct, I served my time mid 70's and 80's and we weren't allowed ashore in rig. Regards Hugh
As a G.I. who served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam war I did not personally have any unpleasant experiences when wearing the uniform in the United States. In actuality I was in uniform stateside for a relatively short period of time, most of my time served was overseas. When the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) invaded Cambodia in 1970 we flew support type missions for them. As we were going into Cambodia and the U.S. was not "officially" involved in the invasion we were required to wear civilian clothes during these operations. Regardless of the fact that we were flying in our regular helicopters with the U.S. insignia on them. In 1969 I had orders for Vietnam. I stayed in the U.K. for a month and then proceeded west by a series of military hops. I hitchhiked to Mildenhall and then got a hop on the "Rota Rocket" to Rota Spain and then hopped another aircraft to Torrejon Air Base just outside of Madrid. I had to stay at Torrejon over night but that was no hardship as I wished to sample the delights of Madrid. As an avid football (soccer) fan you can imagine my delight at discovering that the final of the European Cup was being played that night at the Bernabeu. Ajax (Johan Cruijff et al) against A.C. Milan. A mouth watering prospect. But I digress from the theme of this post which is the wearing of uniforms. On making enquiries as to getting into Madrid I was informed that the Spanish authorities did not permit the wearing on uniforms off base. This of course presented no problems as it was into the kit bag, out with the civvies and off into town where I was successful in purchasing a ticket to the game outside of the ground. A night to remember followed and I still have the game programme to prove it. As well as the U.S. and Vietnam I wore the uniform in the U.K., Australia, Italy, France, Belgium, Germany, Holland, Luxembourg, Hong Kong and Morocco. Other than the obvious in Vietnam I had no trouble in wearing the uniform except for a little bit of bother in Morocco where a youth tried to attack me with a stick as I took a photograph of him astride his ass. Apparently the taking of pictures was frightening for him as he believed it captured his spirit.
