The kilt was made for combat. Before the ceremonial Scottish garment was seen as merely a “skirt for men,” the Tartan fabric wrap was standard military dress among Scottish (and some Irish) regiments as far back as the 16th century, a thick, reliable swath of knitted cloth engineered to defend weary troops against the elements. Even “Mad Jack” Churchill, the British army officer infamous for fighting through World War II with a longbow, bagpipes, and Scottish broadsword, donned his dress kilt during the early days of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in 1948.