Obergefreiter Sanitätsdiensttruppe Uniform - Federal Republic of Germany

The uniform depicted here is the service dress uniform of an Obergefreiter or Private First Class in the West German Army's Sanitätsdiensttruppe of Medical Service Corps. The uniform is the gray color of the West German Army Heer with the blue color waffenfarbe piping of the Medical Corps. The collar insignia maintains the blue backing behind Heer enlisted collar bars, and the shoulder epaulettes of the uniform have the blue identifying color along the borders.

The black dress trousers worn with the Heer service dress uniform is standard of all Army branch service uniforms.

The shoulder epaulettes are piped with the blue color of the Heer Sanitätsdiensttruppe along with the metal insignia of an Obergefreiter. The Obergefreiter rank consists of two parallel bars and is the equivalent of the grade of E-3 in the United States military. Upon progression from the initial rank of Gefreiter, soldiers in the Heer then progress to become an Obergefreiter following satisfactory performance in the grade of Gefreiter.

The patch on the left shoulder of the service tunic is the patch insignia of the Heer 6 Panzergrenadierdivision or 6th Mechanized Infantry Division stationed in Neumünster in the state of Schleswig-Holstein. The unit insignia depicts a white nettle leaf against a red background with a yellow shield and two blue heraldry lions. The white nettle leaf on the red background is the family crest of the Counts of Schaumberg that was adopted as the coat of arms for Schleswig-Holstein. The blue lions on a yellow shield associate the region of Schleswig-Holstein's ties to the German emperor and a Danish fief. The coat of arms belonged to Adolf of Schaumberg and his lion coat of arms replaced the coat of arms of Denmark on the crest of Schleswig-Holstein. The white and black braiding along the border of the patch signifies the unit status of being a division.

A white border signifies the first brigade, with the 16th and 17th brigades using a red border and the 18th Brigade of the Division utilizing a yellow border.

The Sanitätsdiensttruppe initially wore a standard visor cap with blue piping along the peak of the cap designating their branch of service. As shown here with the West German national roundel insignia on the peak of the cap and the Heer military service insignia of two cross swords surrounded by a wreath of oak leaves.

The peaked cap was later replaced by a blue beret designated for wear only by Medical units. The beret is accompanied by a metal crest insignia specific to medical forces.

The Sanitätsdiensttruppe beret badge insignia consists of the staff of Aesculapius, the long standing Greek symbol of a serpent and staff associated with medicine the world over in a wreath of oak leaves and the flag of the Federal Republic of Germany.