the stronger high leg boots and lighter MK6
ballistic nylon helmets, new webbing and
the SA80 weapon family were still some
years down the line.
Our rifleman (opposite page) represents
a soldier from the fictitious Royal Union
Rifles (a unit created by the guys at
Gunman Airsoft to represent an ‘average’
Brits unit of the time, avoiding any offence
caused by wearing unearned badges).
The 1980s soldier
The 1980s British infantryman’s basic clothing
consisted of a 1968 pattern disruptive pattern
material (DPM) suit. This hard-wearing BDU
was among the world’s first camouflaged
uniforms to be issued as standard, and
replaced the similarly-cut olive green 1960
pattern suit. While the pattern was revised
and the uniform altered over the years, the
original 68 pattern was a firm favourite with
the troops for its robustne 72