Uniforms of NATO; P-21

Washington DC: United States, Department of Defense, Office of armed Forces Information and Education. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Pamphlet. Good. The format is approximately 5 inches by 7 inches. 40 pages, including covers. Illustrations (color). Cover has some wear and soiling. Covers the Uniforms of Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Turkey, United Kingdom, and the United States. Presents images of battle dress, shoulder straps, cap badges, gold braid, collar insignia, rank insignia, Officers, Warrant Officers, noncommissioned officers, and other ranks, gold leaf, hat band, cap strap, and other features. A military uniform is a standardized dress worn by members of the armed forces and paramilitaries of various nations. Military dress and styles have gone through significant changes over the centuries, from colorful and elaborate, ornamented clothing until the 19th century, to utilitarian camouflage uniforms for field and battle purposes from World War I (1914-1918) on. Military uniforms in the form of standardized and distinctive dress, intended for identification and display, are typically a sign of organized military forces equipped by a central authority. Military uniforms differ not only according to military units but tend to also be offered in different levels of formality in accordance with Western dress codes: full dress uniform for formal wear, mess dress uniform for semi-formal wear, service dress uniform for informal wear, and combat uniform (also called "battle/field dress") which would equal casual wear. Sometimes added to the casual wear category is physical training uniforms. A distinction should be made between uniforms and ethnic dress. If a particular people or culture favored a distinctive dress style this could easily create the impression of uniformly dressed warriors. The issue is further complicated by the distinctive features (weapons, armor, fighting style and native dress) of particularly effective warrior classes often being copied. Thus the distinctive and colorful clothing of the Hungarian hussars became a model for hussar units all over Europe. The kilts and sporrans of Scottish Highland clans were distilled into regimental dress when the British Army started to recruit from these tribal groups.
Mercenary or irregular fighters could also develop their own fashions, which set them apart from civilians, but were not really uniforms. The clothing of the German Landsknechte of the 16th century is an example of distinctive military fashion. Special units such as Zouaves developed non-standard uniforms to distinguish them from troops of the line.