Seven years of frontline experience have helped the Armed Forces learn valuable lessons about what soldiers do - and do not - need on operations.

Thanks to Defence Equipment and Support’s (DE&S) Defence Clothing and Personal Combat Equipment teams each British soldier on operations has world-class clothing and life-saving equipment in their all-important Black Bag.

The giant holdall, which is issued to all theatre-bound troops, contains a wardrobe of clothing covering everything from hi-tech underpants to combat shirts, as well as useful everyday items including a multitool and a head torch.

When soldiers deployed to Iraq in 2003 they earned the label 'Borrowers'. Envious of their international colleagues' kit and footwear, the troops would trade bits of kit to improve their lot.

Contents worth £3,000

Now, however, the boot is definitely on the other foot, such is the quality of the latest kit. Defence Clothing Team Chief of Staff Lt Col Matthew Tresidder (RE) hopes it will put an end to soldiers parting with their own cash to kit themselves for ops.

He said, “The Black Bag came into being in 2003 when it was identified that troops going to Iraq needed additional items added to their standard kit. It has continued to evolve and is now very comprehensive.

"Of course soldiers will always want to personalise their kit and might think there is something better out there, but my advice is that before you spend your very-hard-earned money, have a look at what you actually get in the bag because you have much better things to spend your cash on."

The contents of the Black Bag - follow link in right-hand panel - are worth a staggering £3,000. By comparison, new recruits receive £800 of kit when they join the Army.

Hi-tech underpants to Osprey body armour

Starting with essentials such as anti-microbial underwear and socks, the holdall’s innards contain complete sets of shorts, trousers, t-shirts and combat shirts as well as camouflage gear in the new multi-terrain pattern design.

The latest generation of Osprey body armour and combat helmet are also included, while the footwear options provide a perfect example of just how far the Army’s clothing has come.

Instead of the unpopular boots from Op Telic 1, soldiers now get to choose their preference of winter and summer boots from market-leading manufacturers Lowa and Meindl. Smaller footwear made specifically for women’s feet has been included and there are even sandals for use around camp.

'We always do our best to listen'

And although the Defence Clothing and Personal Combat Equipment Teams are the ones who source the new gear, everything that finds its way into the bag only does so after being given the go-ahead by the soldiers who will be using it in battle.

Lt Col Tresidder explained that his team deploys to theatre every four-to-six months to talk to troops at forward operating bases about what kit works, what does not and what they would like to see added.

Further feedback from post-operational reports is also taken on board by those responsible for filling the Black Bag.  “You can guarantee a soldier will give you the benefit of their wisdom and we always do our best to listen,” he said.

“It is them that have to fight with the kit and thankfully soldiers are very rarely shy in telling you what they think.

“We find that the views are almost always positive, but I don’t think that’s surprising when you consider where we have come from since 2003 – it’s phenomenal.

'A big warm hug from the Army'

“Everything in that Black Bag has been trialled and approved by the Infantry Trials and Development Unit which is staffed by personnel just back from operations. They give us their opinion on whether kit is good and fit for purpose.

“All of this comes at a cost but there isn’t a budget – if something is needed then the money is there.

“The greatest compliment I have received was from a hardened corporal who described the bag as ‘a big warm hug from the Army’.”

The constantly-refreshed kit list for the Black Bag is devised with as much attention to form as function.

Feedback from the front line

Many of the items – Lowa boots, Karrimor SF day sacks, Silva head torches and Blackhawk knee pads, for example – are designed and made by the commercial industry’s leading lights and have been included because they are the very best examples currently on offer.

Other gear, such as the Gerber multitool, is so advanced that it is not yet available commercially in this country.

It may not quite be haute couture, but the Black Bag’s contents represent the best of their type and Lt Col Tresidder hopes that will further reinforce the message that soldiers do not need to buy their own personal kit.

“I’m personally really pleased that we are giving guys top-of-the-range equipment – things like Lowa boots, you just don’t get any better than that,” he said. “The teams seek constant feedback from the front line to see what people need and what is working. That brought about the change in knee pads and the extra pouches for the body armour.

“We’re very conscious that soldiers need to look professional – they are there presenting an image to themselves, to the people they are working with and to the enemies they are up against.

“When you see a soldier on the front line in the new camouflage, the boots and the other kit they definitely do look the part.”

From being the butt of a lot of jokes on their arrival in Iraq in 2003, British soldiers can now stand tall knowing that their kit is just as good – and in most cases better – than their international counterparts.

Their skills and bravery may speak for themselves, but personnel can be assured that they now have the wardrobe to match.

Read the full story in this August's edition of Soldier Magazine, as Stephen Tyler talks to the scientists behind the latest kit, members of the Defence Clothing teams and the soldiers who benefit from the Black Bag.