Khaki uniform

“ The young lieutenant gazed doubtfully at his dirty and ragged khaki uniform and the shoes which had been patched until there was hardly any of the original leather left. "But we ought to have new outfits before we go." ”

“ I must say khaki drill uniform is not a good hiding colour. In the sunlight it showed up too light. I believe a parti-coloured uniform, say of green, khaki and gray would be much better. Therefore the Scout who wears a khaki hat, green shirt, khaki shorts and gray stockings is really wearing the best uniform for colour-protection in stalking.
The more scouting we can introduce the better. ”

“ The uniform is simple, durable and allows freedom of action. It is of khaki because this has been found to be the best wearing fabric and color. It is not easily torn and does not readily soil. Wearing it gives the girls a sense of belonging to a larger group, such as it is hard to get in any other way. ”

“ Though he wore the same uniform, the same badges, as the two men in front of him, he looked as if he had been cast in a different mold, and not even the democratic, all-leveling khaki could conceal the fact. He was small, neatly made enough, and his kit proclaimed the Bond Street military tailor at the top of its voice. The difference expressed itself most clearly, perhaps, in the small waxed mustache, in the red, clumsy-looking hand that caressed it, and in his whole attitude of forced ease. ”

“ It is true that a sensible field-dress of khaki was devised and worn during the South African War, and is now the service dress of the army; but the full dress for officers and the ‘walking-out’ uniform for men is still cut and fitted on the old excruciating lines. I think it took three weeks to fit a young friend of mine, joining a battalion of Guards a few years ago, before the adjutant of that corps d’élite passed the tunic as satisfactory. Every crease and wrinkle had to be obliterated, at such cost to freedom of limbs and lungs as may be imagined. ”

“ The Italian troops have a number of distinctive uniforms for different corps and services, but the universal full dress coat is of a dark blue shade, the color of the trousers varying with the corps, and the different colors are used as cuffs and facings to distinguish different branches. Their field uniform is almost universally of a gray shade, though the influence of the prevailing background upon the color of uniform is seen in the white uniforms worn by the troops that must fight in the snow covered mountains of the northern frontier, and the use of khaki is becoming more common. ”

“ The 6th Dragoon Guards and the 13th Hussars are the models for the cavalry, and line, rifle, highland and fusilier uniforms are all represented, the dark rifle uniform predominating. In South Africa, as in Australia, khaki has become almost universal. ”

“ The summer service flying uniform for officers of the Navy detailed for aviation duty and for officers of the Naval Reserve Flying Corps consists of a khaki coat of the same style as the white service coat, with which the shoulder marks indicating rank are worn, khaki breeches, woolen wrap puttees of drab color, tan shoes, and a khaki cap of the same style as the white cap. ”

“ All enlisted men are provided with short overcoats of gray cloth.
Uniforms of the Japanese Army
Previous to the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-5 the officers and enlisted men of the Japanese Army wore uniforms of dark blue or red cloth with facings of distinctive colors for the various arms, but this proved so conspicuous on the battlefields of that war that a service uniform of khaki-colored cloth for winter and khaki cotton drill for summer was adopted. The officers, however, retained for their dress uniforms the old dress uniforms of dark blue and red cloth with heavy decorations of gold lace. ”

“ I believe that, following this hint from Nature, our troops would become infinitely less conspicuous if their coats were of the ordinary shade of khaki or drab, their breeches somewhat lighter in tone, and their putties or leggings lighter still. At present, when men are dressed in one uniform tint of khaki, the lower limbs, being in shadow, appear very much darker, and consequently add to the conspicuousness of the soldier. ”

“ In the United States service the summer uniform of cotton is officially designated khaki; the winter uniform of wool, olive drab.
Kha"ki, n. Any kind of khaki cloth; hence, a uniform of khaki or, rarely, a soldier clad in khaki. In the United States and British armies khaki or cloth of a very similar color is almost exclusively used for service in the field.
Khond (?) , n. A Dravidian of a group of tribes of Orissa, India, a section of whom were formerly noted for their cruel human sacrifices to the earth goddess, murder of female infants, and marriage by capture. ”

“ We say now quite naturally that a man is "in khaki" when we mean that he is a soldier, because the peculiar yellow-brown colour which is known as "khaki" is now the regular colour of the uniform of the British soldier. ”

“ Uniform, made of olive drab cotton khaki cloth. Shipping weight, 33⁄4 pounds.
Enlisted Men’s Uniform, made same style as No. 6K200051⁄2, except not as good in quality.
Officers’ 16-ounce Melton Olive Drab Wool Work Suit. Shpg. wt., 5 lbs.
Always state style of collar devices or ornaments wanted on coats. Our prices on uniforms include collar ornaments and sleeve stripes only, unless otherwise stated. Caps, shoulder straps, insignia, belts, sabers, leggings and shoes are quoted separately on this and other pages.
Every garment is made to order and cut to individual measurement. ”

“ The Times has been discussing the question as to whether khaki is the best protective colour for soldiers. In this connection it is worth noting that the uniforms worn by the men of Kitchener's Army appear to render them almost completely invisible to the correspondents of German newspapers in this country, who report that there is only a mere handful of these soldiers. ”

“ Anything but the best quality is worthless. Khaki has lately come into popularity. It wears remarkably well, dries quickly, and is excellent in all but one particular: it shows every spot of dirt. A pair of khakis three days along on the trail look as though they had been out a year. The new green khaki is a little better. Buckskin is all right until you get it wet, then you have—temporarily—enough material to make three pairs and one for the boy. ”

“ He had put on a white suit, which, what with the leaky banca and the absurd boarding, was now not white. He should have put on his khaki suit—with the yellow leather puttees. Leather leggings, he reflected, made the man; they gave him a certain dash unnoticeable in baggy white trousers dripping and turned up at the bottom. And khaki, buttoned tight, produced an air of efficiency most pleasing. The red-headed lieutenant wore a tight khaki jacket and yellow leather puttees. ”

“ I bought a pair of the ordinary khaki army riding breeches, and had a tailor cover them completely—fore, aft, and sideways—with some good smoke-tanned buckskin I happened to have. It took a skin and a half. These I have worn now for three seasons, in all kinds of country, in all kinds of weather, and they are to-day as good as when I constructed them. In still hunting they are noiseless; horseback they do not chafe; in cold weather they are warm, and the hot sun they turn. ”

“ In earlier days the British soldier was generally a "redcoat," but in modern trench warfare it is so important that the enemy should not be able to pick out easily the position of groups of men in order to "shell" them, that the armies of all nations use gray or brown or other dull shades. Khaki is a word which came into English through the South African War, when the policy of clothing the soldiers in this way was first begun on a large scale. It comes from a Hindu word, khak, which means "dust." ”

“ No one who is going into the firing line has any wish to draw the enemy's fire by the glint of his buttons or his shoulder-badges, and so these are either removed or left to tarnish. Nor does khaki—at any rate the "drill" variety—improve its beauty by being washed. When one has bargained with a Kaffir lady to wash one's suit for ninepence it comes back with all the glory of its russet brown departed and a sort of limp, anæmic look about it. ”

“ The old Voortrekkers wore trousers made of untanned hide. We can do the same if khaki does not supply us with sufficient clothes. Our wives and children and our exiled men we cannot get out of khaki's hands, and that is the greatest difficulty in our way. ”

“ The Big One stood by silent, an Amazon on guard. She too was in khaki skirt, her well-shaped legs in high-laced boots, a khaki sweater tight over her great chest, ample breasted. Above it, her neck rose like a column on which her squarish but well contoured face was set, firm of flesh, ruddy under a thin veneer of bronze. ”

“ The khaki drill lasts much longer, and has the advantage of being washable: besides, it keeps the dust out much better than the serge, or rather shoddy, and it possesses the further advantage of being all of one colour: it was a common sight to see men in serge with coats and sleeves, or pockets, of quite different shades, while, as for trousers, they were all the colours of the rainbow. ”

“ Some of these hills are green, but the greater part are a yellow or dark red, against which at two hundred yards a man in khaki is indistinguishable from the rocks around him. Indeed, the khaki is the English soldier’s sole protection. ”

“ Except in extremely cold weather, do not wear leather garments, nor fur. Even a fur cap is intolerable when one becomes warm in walking.
The color of clothing is not unimportant. Whether as naturalist or sportsman one desires to be inconspicuously clad, or as a mere wayfarer on dusty roads he wishes to conceal, so far as may be, the stains of travel, he will choose khaki color, or the olive drab made familiar nowadays in the uniforms of the navy aviators. Gray flannel trousers, a white sweater, a bright-colored necktie, for wear in the evenings, are good as part of the equipment. ”

“ Now that is not at all the impression of the khaki mentality I have reluctantly accepted as correct. For the most part the man in khaki is up against a round of tedious immediate duties that forbid consecutive thought; he is usually rather crowded and not very comfortable. ”

“ As long as we were in touch with civilization he kept that khaki suit in a condition of spotlessness, but when we got out in the wilds, away from the girls, it soon became stiff with blood-stains and dirt. ”

“ You will find a thin pair of ordinary khaki trousers very comfortable as a change for wear about camp. In passing I would call your attention to “shorts.” Shorts are loose, bobbed off khaki breeches, like knee drawers. With them are worn puttees or leather leggings, and low boots. The knees are bare. They are much affected by young Englishmen. I observed them carefully at every opportunity, and my private opinion is that man has rarely managed to invent as idiotically unfitted a contraption for the purpose in hand. In a country teeming with poisonous insects, ticks, fever-bearing mosquitoes ”

“ Well, the men wore khaki riding-trousers and flannel shirts, broad-brimmed felt hats, army socks drawn up over the cuff of the breeches, and pack-shoes. A pack-shoe is one in which the leather of the upper part makes the sole also, without a seam. ”

“ The trousers will be subject to great wear and should be chosen for service rather than for looks or warmth, which latter will be taken care of by the wool undersuit. Khaki is light and cool but it notoriously displays dirt. Moleskin or whipcord withstands the hardest usage and is windproof and warm. It is the choice of the Hudson’s Bay men whose discrimination in matters regarding outfit is to be respected. The fit of the trousers is a most important thing if one is to walk in comfort. ”

“ In milder weather, cotton shirts, such as the khaki-colored ones worn in the army and procurable at army supply stores, are good. On a summer walking tour it is well to provide one’s self with one cotton shirt and one of flannel. The collarband should be large; collar and cuffs should be of one piece with the shirt.
In the matter of trousers, one man will prefer long ones; another, short.
Knickerbockers, for summer wear, should be of khaki (or of one of the various close-woven cotton fabrics which pass under that name; a material called “cold stream duck” is good) , or of jean ”

“ It is not easy to tell the combatant, unless he be caught red-handed. They all wear khaki, the only difference being that a civilian wears pearl buttons, the soldiers the metal military button with the Imperial Crown stamped on it. ”

“ How wonderfully had the atmosphere been cleared, and all because of the magnificent opportunity that had come along whereby the wearers of the much-abused khaki were given a chance to show what they were good for! ”

“ By rows of fours the soldier boys turned, then in the growing darkness they swung off, rifles on their shoulders, stepping alertly, and with the rhythm that long training had given [74] them. On every face shone the quiet determination to do well. Every man was imbued with the resolve to give good account of himself. The Khaki Boys were out to "do and dare" for the honor of Uncle Sam and his Allies. ”

“ But the days of khaki are over—thank God for the cause, but aesthetically it's a pity. We have returned to the drab and shoddy days of dress before the war, and men look more shoddy and more drab than ever. ”