San Marco and COMBUSIN camouflage

Hello guys,

Sorry I'm late to the party.

I started collecting COMSUBIN/BSM camo just a few months ago and I wondered if you guys would have more infos on one of the shirts I have.

One is obviously from the Battaglione San Marco, bearing the distinctive patch over the breast pocket, the second is an issued one too.

My wondering is about the third one, it's a light shirt, branded "FAICON" which could be civilian but I don't find any infos on that a part from them producing insulated pants for the military.

The style is inbetween military gear and a civilian pattern. Anyway I'm very curious about it, if you have any infos I'd be glad.

Have a great day.

LeCamoufleur.

Hello, Le Camoufleur!
Welcome onboard!

In my humble opinion, the last shirt (FAICON) is just a commercial shirt, no relation to the Italian Navy, Marines, COMSUBIN etc.
The fabric of the shirt is just coloured similarly to the well-known Italian camouflage.

I thought so too, still a very cool piece to wear casually.

The pants and jackets are obviously BSM but the lone jacket does not bear the green stars at the collar and has a different velcro pattern, I'm curious of where it's from.

Thanks for the help and have a great day.

LeCamoufleur

There are 3 types of what is properly called Marina Militare  ( Italian Navy ) pattern(s).
These uniforms were worn by all Italian Navy members, not just San Marco Marines and COMSUBIN.

First 2 types have embroidered green stars on collar points. 3rd type do not.  3rd type have sown on stars as worn by all services, not just Italian Navy .  

It was common to remove stars once item was deemed surplus. I have seen 1st and 2nd type blouses with embroidered stars removed .

Here are the 3 types in order...


                                                               
                                   First type    *****                                                                         


                                  Second type
                                                                                                      


                                 Third type                                                     







*****  1st types were issued with some pattern diversity, thus  a few different shades of the pattern exist . 2nd and 3rd pattern was standardized to just one.

Very nice, thank you mate.

Great pics and very cool collection if those are yours

Thanks Rip, I kinda lost track of what was going on with BSM uniforms while they were in transition. Now I'm straight on the types.

There's also a variant of the 1st type with the embroidered BSM logo as seen on the 2nd type. Otherwise no difference between the 1st types.

I've got a picture from June 2007 that shows the 3rd type with sewn on collar stars vs. the embroidered ones. Early version?

Steve

[quote="ripcord"]There are 3 types of what is properly called Marina Militare  ( Italian Navy ) pattern(s).
These uniforms were worn by all Italian Navy members, not just San Marco Marines and COMSUBIN.

First 2 types have embroidered green stars on collar points. 3rd type do not.  3rd type have sown on stars as worn by all services, not just Italian Navy .  

And one more thing.

 3rd pattern types used by San Marco Marines do not have the SM patch sown on left pocket.

The SM patch is now round and placed on right shoulder and another shield shaped patch (Italia patch or Italia with SM patch ) is placed on left shoulder, like the photo Steve posted.              

Also, notice the Fucilieri ( rifleman ) rate on the rank patch of the fuciliere at the right of photo.






                                                                             

Nice to see pictures of this super rare uniform. I'm still kicking myself for turning down a set for $250 about 20 years ago because I thought I could find one cheaper. One of my Top 5 mistakes!

Steve