Irish Combat Tunic

Here's something I haven't seen very often; an Irish Combat Tunic, dated 1985, rank denoting a Private. I've know of one other person who has one, who also acquired the matching trousers, and has seen one that still had the removable hood attached. Very well made, it has a plethora of pockets, particularly on the interior, and is very thick and sturdy.



Tag shot, slightly blurry.



Interior shot, showing the five VERY large pockets, and large drawcords.



And a few photos I managed to find

Never knew they used the either Carl Gustav or Port Said SMGs?

Ive recently bought an Irish jacket but is different from yours,2 pockets to the front safari style.

Yes, they used the M/45 since the 60's, apparently in the Congo, Lebanon, and The Troubles.
Would you mind posting your jacket? I've never seen any different variants, I'd like to see it.

Very interesting, never saw those jackets before. Cool find!

TennoHeikaNate wrote:Yes, they used the M/45 since the 60's, apparently in the Congo, Lebanon, and The Troubles.
Would you mind posting your jacket? I've never seen any different variants, I'd like to see it.

I can no longer post pics due to no camera but can take some with my phone and email them to you if interested in seeing it?

Thanks

Another recent pick-up, a basic short sleeve uniform shirt, dated 1994. I think they are relatively unchanged since around the 60's, no sense in fixing what's not broken I guess.  



First photo is from Cyprus, forget when, second is in the Congo, 1963.

Not the same shirt mate.the one in the overseas photos is what we used to call a "bush green" shirt. Notice in the last photo that the buttons only go half way down the chest?
The bush greens were a lightweight shirt and trousers supplied to the Irish by the UN.There was also a khaki dress shirt and trousers supplied which was worn for formal parades,homecoming etc.
The UN stopped issuing these in the mid '90's and the DF started issuing the "Franklin" uniform for overseas use in warm climates.the "Franklins" were and Irish(Possibly british) made copy of the French mid '90's combat tunic and pants.
The OG shirt in the first picture was part of what was the old national issue "working dress" which we wore up to 2000 when it was replaced by the current IP-DPM uniform.They were made from cotton and faded quite badly just from normal use.Usually worn with a wool pullover during the winter.

Ah, I hadn't noticed that before. So the one I picked up was part of the "working dress"?
Now that I think of it, I remember seeing those French type uniforms, I have some pictures of them being worn.
I initially thought they were F2's given to the Irish and modified, although I may be mixing it up with the German UN deployments.

These photos are from Lebanon if I recall:









Unrelated, I also found this one of some guys who appear to be wearing Danish M58's, or at least the jackets.



Irish stuff is quite hard to find over here and it's not easy to find sources to read about, so this is all very new to me now

Here are 2 Irish jackets, made in the same factory in the West of Ireland. The one on the left is made from a  Ventile cotton printed in Waffen SS Oakleaf pattern. The labels of both jackets are shown. It is a long story, which I will not go into, which explains how the SS pattern jacket was made. In fact, it is a complete suit with matching trousers





Close up of the first jacket.



Labels of both jackets, differing only by one year in date of manufacture.

Curious as to why there are rank markings and an ARW unit flash on that Combat jacket..That would not be authentic as back when we had the OG's the wing lads would only wear the Fianoglach tab and nothing else on their combat jacket.
When we go the DPM's they started wearing the subdued rank markings and nothing else on the smock/shirt etc.

Oh BTW if you are interested go to the Defence Forces Magazine website(An Cosantoir) and have a look at some of the older issues to see what the uniforms were like back in the day.

http://www.dfmagazine.ie/back-issues/