Slot Floppies Rhodesia
If I recall correctly I did post up this set from Roman Kurmaz when it originally arrived, but that was back around October 17 so I think it deserves another run out now I’ve owned it for a little while. I feel confident you folks won’t mind seeing it in your feeds again?
Most people refer to these specific sets from Roman as Rhodesian brushstroke, which is what they were marketed as and for me personally they were my first departure in to the world of getting these Crye style uniforms made up in some quite unusual camo patterns. Now, technically this is a Zimbabwean pattern and fabric, the difference in the print being that here the brown overlays the green and if you compare images side by side with original Rhodesian colourway you can see the green popping up more in said original, overlaying the dark brown.
Im looking for a new book, or two more likely, detailing events of the Rhodesian Army and the Bush War. I am interested in a possibly first hand account, or something similar based on actual experiences of those involved. (in enjoyed American Sniper, One Shot One Kill, True Sto. In one Facebook status she wrote “Stand up arm yourselves and slot floppies.” “Floppies” was a derogatory racial slur used by the Rhodesian military to refer to black insurgents. To “slot” them simply means to shoot. One of Carlisle’s friends responded with “Ian Smith did nothing wrong.”. Reproduction of a classic Rhodesian Army recruitment poster. This rare poster depicts Rhodesia Regiment Troopies taking a quick tactical pause to discuss tactics so as to 'slot floppies' in the most efficient manner possible. Measures 12 inches x 18 inches, printed as a full bleed colour on extra thick 1.5mm glossy stock. This is an FN Auto 5, likely purchased by the South Africans to the tune of 1000 guns, and then smuggled into Rhodesia. They were issued to trackers in the early days of the war, before Rhodesia tried introducing actual squad tactics and combined arms strategies.
Obviously any Rhodesian fabric is long gone now and there are a few companies out there making replica uniforms in that original pattern with originals going for big money on eBay and the like. But the specific fabric sourced by Roman (I’ve no idea where from and he hardly got any) is of the Zimbabwe print as I say. I don’t really have anything other than a supremely basic grasp of the political history of Rhodesia just from reading the wikipedia, so I’ll stick purely to the discussion of the gear and leave history to be discussed by others elsewhere.
Slot Floppies Rhodesia
I have to say for me the origins of these patterns are extremely interesting, as the basis of brushstroke started with the British military in WW2. It was produced in quite significant quantities for the infamous Denison smocks mostly associated with airborne troops and SF of the era and from what I can gather it was the first really mass produced camo uniform worn by the British military. That makes it quite possibly the first ever camouflage to be manufactured and used in combat in really significant numbers, though again I’m not a serious historical expert in that regard. I do know that the country that became Rhodesia was originally a British colony with presumably a fair few people there having come from the British Isles, which would tend to go some way towards explaining the adoption of brushstroke for their military.
With this specific set I decided to have an initial attempt at cutting away some of the features that I find to often be unnecessary on the Crye G3 uniforms. The pen holder is deleted from the shirt and the trousers have had the ankle cuffs, calf pockets and knee pad adjustment tabs all omitted from the lower leg areas. The chocolate-teapot that is the G3 split velcro on the shirts is also replaced with full loop fields in order that patches will actually stay securely attached. Finally, with Brushstroke being something of an intermediate or transitional pattern I opted for shades of coyote brown in solid coloured areas such as the shirt torso.
Slot Floppies Rhodesia Slang
Overall a set I’m definitely happy to have in the collection for a wide variety of reasons both historical and aesthetic.