The Bundesheer, the modern Austrian Army.

[oradour]

Gents.......Some very nice Bundesheer items being shown here..........Reibert, your sons beret is a stunner ! It seems facial hair is allowed..........
Prost ! Steve.

[Reibert]

Gents.......Some very nice Bundesheer items being shown here..........Reibert, your sons beret is a stunner ! It seems facial hair is allowed..........
Prost ! Steve.

Hi, Steve !

Facial hair is´nt allowed !

But, this man is reservist, (militia), nobody cares ...

Funny image, (IMO shot 20, or, 30 yrs, ago ...), thx. for showing !

R.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

The point here being that the Austrian army has a large militia component. The Austrians also recently voted to retain conscription, unlike the Germans and most other NATO countries. Austria is not in NATO, of course, but is highly engaged in foreign missions via the UNO, as well as the EU, and in NATO affiliation of Partnership for Peace.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

Much useful knowledge is at this site.

Österreichs Bundesheer

[Friedrich-Berthold]

While the images of the Miliz Soldat with the old camouflage and the helmet have their poetry, I favor this image:

[James C]

nice photograph friedrich ive often wondered in a time when every other nation was going down the road of disruptive bdu's the austrians kept to olive drab , can i ask what the current uniform cammo looks like please ,regards james

[Friedrich-Berthold]

The Austrians are inherently conservative, but they have excellent field equipment, which is the envy of the Germans, for instance. They still keep the olive drab uniform as a field uniform as near as I can tell, or for the bulk of troops. Do look at the website I included, as it contains all the uniforms.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

Here is a link to the evolution of the uniforms. The camouflage uniform is from the epoch of the foundation of the BH in the mid 50s.

Österreichs Bundesheer - Uniformen und Abzeichen - Die Uniform

[Friedrich-Berthold]

Here is the present day battle dress and the new desert uniform.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

An image of the camouflage uniform ca. 1957. It looks as if based on that of the Waffen SS of the last gasp, just as the Bw did in the 1980s.