COMMANDO uniforms & beret

I just got these in this afternoon. The story I received with these 2 uniforms & beret is that they belonged to a Colonel with the 4th Royal Australian Regiment(4 RAR)Commandos. the summer service uniform has the Colonels rank slides, Infantry Corps lanyard, Command Parachutist wings, "rising sun" badge, crossed rifles snipers badge, ribbons depicting service in Vietnam & a combat action badge. The DPCU set just has the Colonel rank slides. the summer shirt has no tags as you can see & the trousers are dated 2004. The DPCU set's tags are extremely faded as you can tell by the pics...but I can make out that they are both dated 1994.

Steven

Nice set. The beret is actually Intelligence Corps so it looks like he changed corps from Infantry to Intelligence - an oft trodden route. Ribbons indicate Vietnam service with the Vietnam Campaign ribbon, the AASM (Aust. Active Service Medal) and Long Service Medal(officer) 15 years with additional 5 year rosette (chances are he served longer as awards were more often than not years late). This is topped by the ICB - Infantry Combat Badge which is equivalent to the US CIB. The green and black wings denote 'commando' wings although I will have to check if they are exclusive to 4 RAR as there is also the 1st Commando Regiment which is reserve but whose members are often deployed to join their full-time brethren on operations. The 4 RAR beret would be a 'Sherwood' green beret with the 'Skippy' badge of the Royal Australian Regiment. 1 CDO would also wear the same beret but with their 'Strike Swiftly' dagger and boomerang capbadge.

THANK YOU FILUPE FOR YOUR INFORMATION ON THIS SET!!!! I GREATLY APPRECIATE IT!!!

Steven

Wouldnt this gentleman also need the Vietnam service star thingy the Vits themselves awarded with the 1960 bar? I thought they always came as a pair? (I could be wrong I often am )

Yes. That is a mystery to me also. There was a program where Reserve officers could go over for a few weeks to Vietnam as observers. Perhaps he was one of these and didn't qualify for the requisite time in-country for the second award. I must admit gongs aren't my specialty - I haven't even followed up the couple I'm eligible for!

OK, thanks to Google, some more info on those ribbons – left to right:

The Vietnam Logistic and Support Medal – “Awarded for one days service in support of operations in Vietnam during the period 29 May 1964 to 27 January 1973.”

The Australian Active Service Medal 1945-75 - “Awarded for operational service in the Korean War, the Malayan Emergency, the Indonesian Confrontation, or the Vietnam War. Members must first qualify for one or more of the Korea Medal, The Naval General Service Medal 1915-62 with Clasp 'Malaya', the General Service Medal 1918-62 with Clasp 'Malaya', the General Service Medal 1962 with either Clasps 'South Vietnam', 'Borneo' or 'Malay Peninsula', the Vietnam Medal or the Vietnam Logistic and Support Medal.”

Defence Force Service Medal - “Awarded to full-time service personnel for 15 years diligent service in the Australian Defence Force. Clasps were awarded for each additional five years of permanent service.”

As an aside, the other medal that kiwipom alludes to is:

The Vietnamese Campaign Medal – “Awarded by the Government of the Republic of Vietnam to allied Service personnel who served in Vietnam for a minimum period of 180 days.”

The appearance of the Vietnam Log & Spt ribbon in the absence of the Vietnam Campaign ribbon, coupled with the fact that the originating Corps was Infantry very strongly suggests that the wearer was one of these officer-observers

More Google:

1. Who is entitled to wear the ICB?

Members of the Royal Australian Infantry Corps who, in an infantry posting as part of an infantry battalion were deployed for, at least, 90 days to an operational area and subsequently awarded the Infantry Combat Badge.


Google also led me to the Army Standing Orders for Dress (ASOD) which indicates that the 'commando' wings also includes the reservist 1st Commando Regiment