i was watching a programme at the weekend Sky Sports in Afghanistan screened before Christmas. It struck me how similar the collation forces uniforms are there today. As an untrained eye I find it difficult to distinguish between British, US, Canadian and other forces at the moment. The main distinguishing feature is that each countries force wears their county flag on their shoulder distinguishing where there are from.
Is this the case! or are they just similar? There is some difference between helmets and obviously between weapons. I ask this question because I was wondering is it possible to depict some of the modern figures on sale today as other nationalities in Afghanistan with some minor amendments.

Cookie

Cookie, although it may seem the camouflage patterns are similar (especially in Afghanistan where US and British forces now use almost identical colors and pattern developed by Crye Technology) the design and cut of the uniforms are different. So, I would say no... you can not use US figures to depict British soldiers without performing a major conversion.

Mario

I Second Mario’s point of view at this. Not only the camu pattern differs, the cut of the uniform is very different.

The uniform and the kit used by the Danish Army are of a national design. Naturally we did not made the stuff out of our own ingenuity but looked at other nations stuff as well. In the end however it IS unique to the Danish army.

But there is another point to this. First you have to remember that we are working in scale of a 35th of reality. How much is actually going to be seen? Secondly, in a war zone you use whatever equipment YOU find is best. I have seen many Danish soldiers with British equipment vests. When I made a 120mm Danish Afghan infantry figure an Englishman told me that many British soldiers preferred the Danish fragmentation vest to the British. From Danish ex-servicemen I have been told of this personalization of your kit and equipment.

In regards to US soldiers, just about anything (may possibly go) depending on the type of unit you are depicting. Some units may allow soldiers to mix and match their equipment to their preference (as long as they have all the required stuff); others standardize their equipment so that one soldier can easily find a flash bang grenade or more importantly a first aid kit on a wounded comrade.

In my opinion, while colors differ (the Aussies appear to have a shade of violet on their desert uniforms) the most easily distinguishable difference between nations is their helmet. You cannot use US helmets on British soldiers--to different and easily seen.

I take your point guys that soldiers purchase other equipment which they find comfortable or useful. When it comes to SF any unfiorm goes as they seemed to pick equipment which they feel suits them even down to weapons. used

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