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Berets worn with the CF dress uniform?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Veteran`s son
  • Start date Start date
What is the design/style of the bush cap worn by CF members please?
 
There is a huge difference between a balmoral and a tam o‘shanter, actually.

Balmorals are made of fine quality wool, usually grey or tan in colour, small in construction and with the excess material pulled to the wearer‘s right, like a beret.

Tam O‘Shanters are made of rough wool, khaki in colour, generally larger than a balmoral though today this is much less true than in World War Two, with the excess pulled to the front of the head rather than the right side. (In WW II, they pulled the excess to the right like a balmoral or beret - but the hats were MUCH bigger then; the SDG Highlanders called them "cow flops" due to their size).


WW II Lorne Scots Other Ranks - wearing the tam o‘shanter:

lorhats.jpg


WW II Essex Scottish Officers - wearing the balmoral

essex.jpg


British Black Watch - the modern Tam O‘Shanter, worn with the material pulled straight forward.

cqmsmuir.jpg


wilsonqm.jpg
 
A picture is worth a thousand words, right?

There are a number of different styles for each of these headdresses (i.e. midnight blue, navy blue, khaki, faun, some without checquered pattern, different coloured checquered pattern ... it‘s complicated).

However, the forage cap is the "peaked cap" similar to the one worn by police officers when they‘re wearing a shirt and tie.

The wedge cap favoured by the Air Force is somewhat similar in design to something once called an "overseas" hat (often seen tucked under the epaulette in WWII movies), and the glengarry is marginally similar except that the glen has tails that hang down in back.

The balmoral and tam‘o‘shanter (TOS) are roughly the same thing (to outsiders), and there‘s also the Kilmarnock bonnet - a confusing mixture of tails and no tail, checquers and not!

So, with no further ado, here are a few pix:

First, a balmoral (okay - it‘s a little crooked, but heck ... the model is just so darned cute).

Then, one version of the glengarry.

I don‘t have a forage cap, therefore no pix!

balmoral_boy.jpg


Capt_Bossi.jpg
 
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