The Officer's Ball swedish uniforms?

[Matej_S]

Good day,

Some time ago I was going through the picture gallery of the "Alt-Neustädter Ball", or better known as "Officers' Ball", which is hosted by the Austrian Armed Forces since 1926 and is considered one of the biggest military balls in the world today. I would appreciate if you could help me identify the uniforms and decorations of this two pictures (I presume they are swedish, but I could be mistaken):

Official Site of the Ball

Thank you for all the response in advance,

Matej

[GRA]

Hello Matej!

The uniforms worn in the pictures are Swedish and from the cavalry part of the Life Guards (the Life Guards Dragoons and the foot guards of the Svea Life Guards merged in 2000). The Neptune's fork shows that these officers has served with the amphibious forces as commandos, the fork on the lower picture looks like its points are bent inward which means that its wearer was trained as a combat diver with the amphibious commandos. It looks like the officer on the lower picture wears a medal from Kungliga Patriotiska Sällskapet - Royal Patriotic Society - on a yellow-green ribbon. I'm a little surprised that these officers aren't wearing the Military Police qualification badge, which would be a common badge for the cavalry of the Life Guards.

/Jonas

[GRA]

http://www.ballderoffiziere.at/wp-content/themes/BallderOffiziere/images/galerie/2014/vollbild/_MG_4302_bg.png

Here's a better picture from the 2014 ball. I see at least a NATO medal for Former Yugoslavia, a 2nd year Nijmegen Int 4-days Marches and there should also be a "För Internationella Insatser"-medal (blue ribbon) to go with the NATO medal. I think there may also be a commemorative medal in silver from Lapplands jägarregemente on a green ribbon with yellow stripes somewhere in the middle, but I'm not 100% sure.

/Jonas

[Matej_S]

Hello Jonas,

My first thought was also that they are part of the Swedish Life Guards, and with the help of this picture I was almost certain:

But that trident or Neptune's fork really puzzled me, which I immediately associated it with the Navy. It also never crossed my mind to look at the older pictures. Thank you again for all the clarification.

http://jacobjohansson.se/uniformer/ ( uniforms source)

Good day,

Matej

[922F]

The second image's officer appears to wear a [private organization] St. Lazarus neck badge & star plus another award at his throat.  What is the 2nd award?   Must Swedish soldiers obtain official permission to wear private organization insignia when in official uniform? 

[GRA]

Matej, it could well be a case of these officers having completed their national service in the commandos. The paratroopers and the commandos were considered the absolute elite of every year's conscript intake, followed by other ranger units. That these individuals would be attracted by a career in the Swedish armed forces is quite probable - they would often be considered as being of potential officer material even before showing up for basic training. Wearing the Golden Eagle of the paratroopers or the Neptune's trident (thanks Matej, it's commonly called the pitchfork when no commandos are within sight!) is pretty much like wearing the US Ranger tab - you don't really need to wear anything else!

922F: I think the St:Lazarus are permitted, but this man wears a lot of medals that requires a considerable amount of paperwork to be allowed to wear (some would be rejected too, if I'm not wrong). Do however keep in mind that these officers belong to a unit which are very much involved in state visits and other ceremonial events where orders and medals are being distributed to ADCs and guards of honour.

/Jonas