So after reading, watching and listening to everything I could on Airsoft I booked to go back to NTAC with my two boys. Now what I failed to mention was that my boys had such a good time rolling around in the forest and diving behind cover in the CQB village that they wrecked 2 pairs of perfectly good jeans with grass stains that just wouldn't shift so after deciding I was going to commit to this hobby I decided to buy myself and the boys some clothing ...... yes before even picking up a gun ..... I know, I know.
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| Theres a subtle difference between looking the part and looking the prat |
One of the draws for me was the sheer volume of kit and loadout you can buy and so as part of my research I'd been looking into the types of clothing and the array of camo available. I'd certainly settled on the MTP (Multi Terrain Pattern) camo for myself as I just really liked the look of it along with the tan/coyote kit and so I set about the task of looking for somewhere to buy this stuff.
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| MTP Camo |
Now this was really the point I think I realised that theres not actually an awful lot of places local to me where you can just wander in to a shop an pick up this stuff. Airsoft whilst always gaining in popularity is still a relatively niche hobby. I found a few places online that were based Manchester (where I work Mon-Fri) so I though I can just pop in and try this stuff on. That however didn't appear to be the case. Both companies I emailed got back to me and said they were online only so couldn't try stuff on. One said I could order through their website and collect however the other wouldn't even let me do that. Plan 1 failed!
As I was looking for MTP clothing which is what the British Army use I thought I'd try and find some local Army Surplus shops. I remember being a kid in the Scouts and buying loads of gear from them so that shouldn't be so hard. Well it appeared that even they weren't so popular as they once were. I did find a couple but as it was surplus gear it wasn't obvious what they did and didn't have in stock.
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| The Army Shop - Washington |
It was actually completely by chance that after liking a few Facebook Airsoft pages I saw a link to a page which was suggested as similar. This took me to The Army Shop - https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Army-Shop/143007509063778?fref=ts which was an Army Surplus store based in a shopping centre in Washington (the Inshops at the Galleries if you're familiar with the area). Looking at their Facebook page it appeared they had a decent amount of surplus clothing and as it's not too far from my home I thought I'd have a drive there with my boys on the Saturday morning.
So we found the place no problem. Parking was a nightmare but it was Saturday lunchtime at a shopping centre and low and behold they had loads of MTP stuff from trousers, UBACS (under body armour combat shirt for those new to this stuff), shirts, jackets and hats. They even had stuff in kids sizes too so I managed to try some stuff on to get the right sizes for both me and the boys as I'd read that the British Army stuff was a little less generous than shopping at Next and we walked away from the shop with a pair of trousers and a shirt each all for a very reasonable £90. Certainly cheaper than replacing 3 pairs of jeans anyway.
For those a little further south in Teeside they also have a sister shop called Buckshees Military Surplus - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Buckshees-Military-Surplus/143787915643009 so feel free to check them out too.
I went home and tried my stuff on, looked in the mirror and already imagined myself as an extra in The Hurt Locker. That was when my dream was shattered by the sound of my wife's laughter and her telling me I looked like a big Action Man. Ah well ........ for a second I was a action hero not an action man.
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