after equipment shortages were resolved, male soldiers dressed in a similar fashion to regular army units. camouflage jackets were worn and headgear was a distinctive dark green beret with a gold coloured "maid of erin" style harp, surmounted by st edward's crown (in later years this was dulled down by blackening, a common practice for units of the british army when wearing cap badges on operational duties). the badge was a direct copy of the royal ulster rifles cap badge with the latin motto removed from its base. female "greenfinch" soldiers wore combat jackets and rifle green skirts with the udr beret and cap badge. for ceremonial occasions men wore a rifle green version of british army (). female "best dress" was a rifle green jacket and skirt. the beret was retained as headgear for men and women in best dress. on the formation of operations platoons, narrow coloured slides were adopted and worn on the shoulder straps in battalion colours. these indicated to the trained eye that the wearers were full-time soldiers. they were dispensed with as the operations platoons expanded into full-time rifle companies and were replaced by battalion-specific epaulette slides. rank badges were as for infantry ncos and officers and worn in the same fashion.