I was a 2437 and the combat gear compared today was quality

@@johnallen5338 Correct.

Thanks for the information! I had a pretty hard time at first differentiating 68 pat at first because going by the pattern alone can be pretty tricky as there are a lot of different slight DPM variations and so it's not as obvious which one is from which era. What really helped me out is the smaller details such as lack of velcro and pocket placement. Interesting to hear that the darker DPM was designed for the forests of Germany. It makes sense seeing in that time most NATO powers were preparing for a Fulda Gap invasion scenario.

@@GearReview23 trying not to bore you lol but the '68 is always fully lined the '85 half lined. Early '85s are white inside but we were too visible when turned our clothing inside out to dry it when on exercise so later issue were overdyed green. The best smock for general wear in the woods in my opinion is the new MTP issue windproof smock. I dye mine olive green and wax them as I live in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. Thanks for your reply sir, keep doing your films. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

@@vonsprague7913 Fascinating!

@@vonsprague7913 I seem to recall a lot of the early '85s have very dodgy single stitched seams on the pockets. So anything heavy in them would rip the pocket off after a few months of field use. As it was more civilian style stitching. Overall, they were very cheaply made at the start.

I still got the Arcktic parka, with its ' chinese fighting suit' liner - the parkers were issued for quite a while..

Thanks for the info! I couldn't find too much info on dating DPM uniforms, so this definitely helps!

No problem; I still have 60, 68, 84 and 95 (2nd, non ripstop) pattern jackets as well as the Cold Weather (Falklands) parka and various windproof and desert variants. @@GearReview23

Do you know if I can still date it if the tag is missing?

@@GearReview23 Well the dotty cammo pattern was most likely from 1971 to 1974.. and the later 'un dotted' pattern (it was made darker because the older design glared out under Russian night vision goggles of the time) 1968 patt was first issued in 1971 replacing the green pattern uniform !! ..crazy I know ! During the Falklands we wore the lighter smocks issued to the SAS and the RM.. known as the 'windproof smock ' ..the SAS version had a smaller hood and the RM version had a wired hood !

@@JimTimber Very interesting to hear about the Russian night vision anecdote. Thanks for sharing!

I'm sure 'camopedia' online has a blurb on it. The Canadian DPM para smock was in use from 1974 until approximately 2000. It was meant more of a symbol than as a practical garment. Although my Airborne friends sometimes claimed that it made them invisible and bullet-proof. These same friends admit that they rarely, if ever, wore it in the field. It was more of a garrison garment. My Dad's time in the AB Regt encompassed years prior to its issue and after. Use was expanded after the creation of the Special Svc Force Bde in the summer of 1977. With this, all constituent units of the SSF were issued the smock as an identifying feature... even non-jumpers. For example, 1st Bn Royal Canadian Regt was part of the SSF from 1977 to the bde's renaming in 1995. As such, all ranks of that unit wore the smock despite many of the soldiers being 'legs'. This caused some ill-feeling and made a mockery of the whole concept of issuing para smocks to AB troops. The origins of the smock and its DPM cam are quite interesting. In the early 70s, Tanzania adopted DPM as their army's cam and contracted a Canadian firm to make their new uniforms (in the Canadian cut). When the AB Regt was designing a new smock, the textile/garment firm told them they had bolts and bolts of this excess material for Tanzania and asked if the AB Regt wanted to use it? The rest is history. While serving in Africa in 2001, I noted that some Tanzanians were still wearing that uniform.

@@lib556 yea, dad was a 2RCR sniper. It's definitely not a DPM derivative. When I go visit, I'll make a video for you so we can get to the bottom of this hahaha

@@lib556 you're Canadian?

@@davidoftheforest The Canadian para smock is definitely a DPM derivative with slightly different colour tones. If your Dad had ever been posted to 1 RCR or the AB Regt or Bde staff at the SSF, he'd have been issued with a para smock. I re-read your post and the fact that it is dominated by greens is making me wonder. Is it possible that your Dad incorporated the garrison dress jacket into his sniper kit? The garrison dress was an attempt to replace our 'work dress' with something cooler-looking. Some old folks were obsessed with the need for an interim dress between combats and dress uniform. This dress involved a smock-style jacket that was camo but didn't resemble any current known pattern. It was very green and very polyester. Not suitable for any field wok at all. Use Google images to search 'Canadian garrison dress 1980s/90s' and see if this is what you are thinking of.

@@davidoftheforest Yep.