Thread by @PhoneyMajor

1/5
The Long Range Desert Group rarely wore Arab headdress while on ops.
This was a staged photo - note the G Men comic for added dramatic effect.
It was useful in a sandstorm but otherwise was worn only to titillate journalists for propaganda purposes.
So what did the LRDG wear?

2/
Many of the boys wore the cap comforter.
Lofty Carr, First Navigator Y Patrol, told me: "When there wasn’t a sandstorm, I wore a woollen stocking, perhaps 2 ft long & 8 or 9 inches wide. They were 2 ply, sealed at one end, so you could stick in your head."

Pic: Lofty, left

3/
Mike Sadler (pic 3rd), navigator with the Rhodesian patrol, told me: “We had an Arab headdress but didn’t wear it often. We wore what we felt like. In the Rhodesian patrol, some wore bush hats & the officers their battered service caps."
What Lofty & Mike did wear were Chaplis

4/
These sandals were the idea of the LRDG founder Ralph Bagnold from his pre-war exploration days. “With Chaplis the sand went in and out, unlike boots,’ said Lofty, pic in his Chaplis.
LRDG doctor Richard Lawson noted in his journal in 1942 the benefits of sandals:

5/5
“Athlete’s foot was extremely rare due to the wearing of chaplis with or without socks," said Lawson. "For a short time the SAS Regt [pic 1941] with their commando rubber-soled boots were stationed near us and the incidence of tinea [fungal infections] was high among them.”