UK’s Baltic soldiers told: Buy your own snow gear

SOLDIERS being sent on exercises to freezing Estonia have been asked to pay for their own thermal undershirts.

In an email about woollen ‘base layers’, troops from the King’s Royal Hussars were told: ‘The regiment has agreed to subsidise the cost of a base layer by 50 per cent. This is a one-off offer. The base layer is initially £12.50 but only £6.25 to individuals who make the purchase. It is a bargain.’

Around 900 British personnel are permanently based in the Baltic state, where average February temperatures are -6C.