£6000 for Cavalry Kit, £2000 for Combat Troops

From The Herald

IAN BRUCE, Defence Correspondent
March 21 2007

The Ministry of Defence spends almost three times as much to equip members of the Household Cavalry for ceremonial duties in London as it does to kit out soldiers for the front line in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Figures obtained by The Herald show that the cost of dress uniforms, breastplate, helmet, thigh boots, swords, and ornate buckles and badges for cavalrymen who remain in London, largely as a tourist attraction, amounts to more than £6000 a trooper for up to three years.
The bill for desert camouflage combat clothing and accoutrements for soldiers sent to fight insurgents in Basra and Helmand is about £2200, while those deployed to more temperate areas such as the Balkans are issued with £760 worth of uniforms.

The five Foot Guards regiments, who also draw ceremonial guard and parade duties as part of the Queen's Household Division, have about £1000 spent on their red tunics, dark blue trousers and controversial bearskin headgear.
The MoD also pays for the upkeep of more than 400 horses for the Household Cavalry mounted regiment, the unit which provides mounted escorts for royal occasions such as Trooping the Colour.
While troops in action in both Iraq and Afghanistan have suffered shortages of everything from desert uniforms and boots to reliable ammunition in the past four years, soldiers wearing uniforms not seen on any battlefield since Waterloo in 1815 are armed with swords worth up to £1000.
Prince Harry is already a cornet (a second lieutenant) in the Blues and Royals and Prince William will follow him into the regiment after passing out from Sandhurst later this year.
Harry's dress uniform cost £2500, even though his first posting is as an armoured troop leader in Iraq.