Mess etiquette

[Excolis]

???   ???question to all out there.   i have been taught in the past that wearing your head dress and putting your head dress on the table in the mess is against the regs.   is it in the rules that you have to put your head dress in the coat room if there is one there.   this question is directed to the Jr ranks mess as well as the offocers.   all you PMC's out there help me out.

Cheers

 

[RCA]

It isn't in any regulations I've seen, but you do not put your headdress on any table within the mess nor carry around in the mess. The RSM will likely tell what to do with the beret if found on a mess table. There is usually a place to put headdress upon entering.

 

[AmmoTech90]

In the copy of the dress instructions I have (1995- Don't have the banwidth right now to download the newer ones) it states:
Personnel who avail themselves of the privileges offered by a mess or canteen shall remove head-dress on entering the premises.   Except for mess and canteen staff, those entering for the purpose of performing a duty or an inspection, or those entering for the purpose of maintaining or enforcing discipline, shall not normally remove head-dress.
Health and sanitation would play into this.  Do you really want hats that have been on a person's head all day in, working out in the sun placed on eating surfaces that may or may not be cleaned before other people sit there.  Basic hygeine.
So I would guess that the cloakroom or what not is provided as a convienient place to leave your head-dress.   It also states that the norms of formal etiquette should be followed.   This would mean removing your head-dress when entering any dining establishement from what I was taught.
I'll try to check the current Dress Instruction tonight, but if anyone else has it, it was listed under Cultural and Religious Differences, right before the Sikh dress instructions.

 

[Yard Ape]

You can stick the Beret (or wedge) into a combat shirt pocket if you are worried about theft.

8) Yard Ape

 

[chrisf]

Health and sanitation is all well and good, but I don't see that it comes into play with regards to the beret, it's more part of the tradition of removing your headdress as a sign of respect, you're eating in the queen's mess after all.

Which is also why you're permitted to wear your mess when performing your duties, it's a symbol of authority.

 

[portcullisguy]

I learned this one long before I joined the army -- you were never allowed to wear a hat at the dinner table in my house, and by extention, it is rude to place a hat on a dining table (and bad luck to place one on a bed, but that's a whole other issue).

The army, of course, enforces this as a matter of tradition, wheras in most anyplace else the most you might get is a dirty glance.  Nowadays people wear hats, caps, skullcaps, beanies, ballcaps, doorags, and other assorted headwear in almost any place, including (horrors!) courtrooms, inside private homes, in places of worship (do people go to those anymore?), and in many other inappropriate places.

 

[Excolis]

i know not to wear it in the mess, and i know not to put in on the table.  i just wanted to know if it was against the rules to put it in your pocket.  i got in shit for not leaving it in the coatroom. 

 

[RCA]

Rembembe, lets not confuse the dining hall and the Mess

 

[Merkava]

You enter the door stick it in your eppilette, and before you leave stick it on your head. Can't go wrong

 

[Excolis]

we arent allowed to put in in your eppilette anymore... ,,

 

[Merkava]

we arent allowed to put in in your eppilette anymore... ,,

When did they come out with that?

 

[Jeff Boomhouwer]

Epilettes are located on the front of your tunic . It would look kind of silly no? Just stick in a pocket, you have 11 to choose from.

 

[Spr.Earl]

???   ???question to all out there.   i have been taught in the past that wearing your head dress and putting your head dress on the table in the mess is against the regs.   is it in the rules that you have to put your head dress in the coat room if there is one there.   this question is directed to the Jr ranks mess as well as the offocers.   all you PMC's out there help me out.

Cheers

You can do what I do and that is put it in your right leg pocket or in any pocket.

 

[George Wallace]

we arent allowed to put in in your eppilette anymore... ,,

Were you ever?

Put in your pocket....Too many "Badge Collectors" out there.  Then there are the pranksters who like to turn your badge upsidedown when you leave your beret unattended. ;D

GW

 

[bossi]

(chuckle) Okay, to summarise ...
Yes, once upon a time when there were epaulettes on the shoulders of the old O.D. cbt clo, some people got away with shoving their headdress (usually a beret) into an epaulette (on the shoulder).
However, some messes don't allow that (hear, hear - bravo ... in a stuffy, old accent ... chuckle)
Today, the epaulette (singular) has moved to the chest of the CADPAT uniform, front and centre - I'd be amazed if any PMC in Canada would allow headdress to be stowed there.

In your home mess, you're normally quite safe to leave your headdress in the cloak/coat room (although there are pranksters in every mess).
The further you go from home, the more rare or exotic your headdress becomes ...
Certainly, my headdress was always safe when visiting the Scots Guards or Gordon Highlanders, but ... there were some other "more seedy" messes ... where I'd fold my balmoral up and secure it in the cargo pocket of my cbt pants.
Alternatively, the glengarry can be secured in the inner breast pocket of your DEU jacket (offset by your wallet in your opposite inner breast pocket, giving your that "enhanced" chest profile you've always longed for)
And, if somebody really wants to rip you off, they'll find a way (like the time they reached through an open window in the old 'H' huts in Borden ... and stole my uncles' Second World War cap badge from me ... the rotters ...).

Now, having said and read all of the above ... it shouldn't be such a mystery.  Good manners dictate you remove your headdress indoors, unless on duty (as an aside, when working with American forces we've discovered they ALWAYS remove their headdress indoors - so, to be polite, we followed suite so as not to appear gauche, but ... I digress ...).

There's one final reason why a person wouldn't really want to take their headdress inside the mess and leave it lying around ...
Your PMC or others might decide to teach you a lesson (the hard way) - I'll now let your imaginations run wild ...

 

[brin11]

The Airborne used to love to steal green berets from anyone and put them up on their leg wall of shame.

I had mine stolen once from my very own shop, from my very own bench where it was hanging.  Needless to say I got it back.  I was jumpin' mad!