About Troopers

A Beginning

Troopers began trading on September 1st, 1996 as an army surplus outlet. At this time, there was plenty of good quality military surplus clothing, footwear, sleeping bags and tentage to be had. Classics such as the German Para Boot, US Fishtail Parka, 58 Pattern down filled sleeping bag with waterproof base, and combat trousers in DPM, Flecktarn and Swiss Alpenflage to name a few, were abundant and great value for money.

We set up a small workshop with some basic equipment and gradually built on our experience and ability to repair or modify items of clothing and equipment as and when it was required.

Colchester Garrison

During those first few years, Colchester Garrison was occupied by the 1st Battalion Royal Scotts, and RGBW (The Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment). We didn't get any significant trade from military personnel during this time. However, three years to the day from our beginning, there were some significant developments within the garrison that would have a profound effect on the future path of the business.

16 Air Assault Brigade

16 Air Assault Brigade was formed on September 1st 1999 from two pre-existing formations, 5 Airborne Brigade and 24 Airmobile Brigade. Based in Colchester, Essex, the Brigade Headquarters is formed from both Army and RAF personnel enabling it to integrate Air and Land operations.

The formation of this new brigade saw the arrival to Colchester of 2 Para, 3 Para and 7 Para RHA along with various supporting units, many of which are parachute trained. The garrison became more active and we began to get requests to modify and repair uniform and kit in general.

More Military Trade, More Sewing Machinery

As the service side of the business began to grow we expanded the workshop premises and aquired more equipment to better manage the increasing demand.

PLCE Webbing was the current issue and it certainly wasn't the most comfortable belt order for the wearer. Various types of padded inner belts were commonly used to alleviate the discomfort, most notably the 'dog bone' type. However these were generally ill fitting and a poor solution overall. Several customers requested that we stitch the PLCE pouches directly to the hip pad, resulting in a more stable setup.

Stitched Webbing Sets

It was while carrying out this type of work that we realised we could manufacture a hip pad with built in waist belt and 'D' rings for attaching a harness, then stitch various combinations of pouches directly to it. This idea proved to be a great success and forms the basis of how we have produced our stitched webbing sets ever since.

Fast forward to the present day and stitched webbing sets from various manufacturers are the preferred choice over the previous PLCE type and the later Virtus load carriage systems. All of these were designed to work with a standard six point harness such as the issued PLCE yoke.

Some customers however, had a preference for alternatives such as the United States TLBV (Tactical Load Bearing Vest), the main component of the IIFS (Individual Integrated Fighting System), due to the increased comfort and load carrying capacity it provided. We were often asked to adapt these to work with our webbing sets which we did by reconfiguring the lower belt attachment points.

The Patrol Yoke

Listening to and speaking with customers has always been the starting point for new product design and so it was with the Patrol Yoke, which shared characteristics with the TLBV system described above, but was made to work with our webbing sets out of the box.

The first version of the Patrol Yoke was produced some time before the adoption of the PALS (Pouch Attachment Ladder System) and MOLLE (MOdular Lightweight Load-carrying Equipment) in the UK. It featured zipped chest pockets and various pouches for smaller items (magazines, grenades, compass, first aid kits etc). The PALS system was well suited to the design of the Patrol Yoke and incorporating it was a seamless process, resulting in the versatile system that is still in use over twenty years since it's conception.