Why did the East German Military go through the effort and expense of making doilies? And why did the Italians have an issued tool to open wine bottles? Was looking at the army surplus store and found some weird stuff.

Question

In addition, I found that the Pakistani rucks were white canvas which would stick out like a sore thumb, and hot countries in North Africa still wear wool for some reason.

In: 4

Answer 1

If I remember correctly, when people left the East German Military they were given a scarf and a doily as mementos of their time in the service. The doily you found probably was stitched with something like Nationale Volksarmie

It was their version of a gold watch at retirement.