Army Service Uniform tomorrow?
I saw this today as I was buying a new bus driver hat on Marlow White's website...Just when I had enough BDUs we went to the ACUs...Well it will be interesting to see what the final take is tomorrow!
19 August 2008: The Sergeant Major of the Army sent a major-release e-mail stating that the Army Service Uniform will be announced tomorrow. Major aspects of the "pre-announcement" in his e-mail are:
The current dress blue coat and the current dress blue trousers with belt loops will be the base components for the male uniform
The current dress blue coat, the current skirt, and a ASU slack will be the base components for females
The mandatory wear date for the new ASU is 4th Qtr FY14
The wear-out date for the Class A Greens was not mentioned today, but is likely the same 4th Qtr FY14
All of the accessories, accoutrements, wear of jump boots, etc, were referenced in general today.
NOTE: Any new items that will be announced tomorrow will likely take months to develop and certify. We expect many of these items to be new to the industry as the final details about the accoutrements and the wear policy have been close held. Please be patient with us as we transition.
I'll await the rebellion over this:
Quote:
"...Officers and non-commissioned officers (corporal and above) will wear the service cap with the ASU. Enlisted Soldiers (specialist and below) will wear the beret with the ASU."
I suspect there will be other annoyances...:(
Rebellion -- or is that a mutiny??? :D
Better yet, just stop screwing with them
entirely; no way to ever make everyone happy...
Going to be interesting to see what they
do about other than Black Beanies -- and boots... :D
What Minor Crap Army Leaders Worry About
Screw it
Use Patton's tanker uniform and add a light coat of oil....
Ken has seen decades more of this than I have and I am in my third. Seems like everytime a new SMA gets tapped, we have to start changing the damn uniform. It is absolutely silly, it wastes money, and is a complete distraction from what is important.
I see troops worrying as to whether their ammo pouches match their ACUs.
Anyone for chamber music on the fantail? We will have to rearrange the deck chairs....
1st Steward, RMS Titanic
Tom
Looks like a Nicaraguan Field Marshal
Totally tacky. My wife's reaction: "Oh my god, what have they done?"
I give it four, five years, max, if it ever gets to implementation. They shoulda stuck with the gray shirt, the white one will show dirt like a champ.
I can see the Troops now, running around looking for cardboard to keep all those badges from dragging the shirt material down to the belt loops. Not that big a problem on the coat but I'm unsure why the 3d ID patch is down about belt level. Blousing those trousers with that gold stripe in a pair of Corcorans is gonna be fun -- and ruin you some britches...
Sheesh.
All of you serving have long had my thanks but you got no sympathy. Now you have my sympathy... :wry:
Got no problem with the concept, I'm quibbling over details
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Cavguy
...For soldiers, one less uniform to maintain, and the Blue uniform looks much better. Everyone has an opinion, but as RTK indicated, over 90% of the soldiers indicated they would prefer the Blue to the Green uniform.
I agree with that and I never liked the Greens; I just thought the grey shirt looked better than the white one does -- and hanging all that junk on the shirts is just tacky. Just because you earned it doesn't mean you have to wear it...
I've also never been a beret fan even though I've worn 'em in green and maroon -- but then, nor am I a fan of the service cap. Like I've said, no way to make evetybody happy... ;)
Quote:
The key problem was how to reconcile the "flair" on the Class A with the more restrained look on the blue uniform. I think they struck a fair compromise.
I seem to be rare on this board, but this is a good change, IMO.
EDIT: Not sold on the placement of the combat patch. If the female pictured above is accurate, the 1st CAV patch is going to look silly and take up half the front! :O
Don't disagree with any of that; they really need to work on the patch and badge bit; those two factors foul up, to me, an otherwise good idea.
That and the short sleeve white shirt -- who wants to be mistaken for the Mess Sergeant / Dining Facility Manager??? That's what my sympathy was directed toward... :D
Whistle. We need a whistle pocket on the
Quote:
Originally Posted by
wm
Tom, I think we need to get this to the Army Uniform Board and Army Safety Center ASAP.
We can make the belt look like the old Sam Brown Belt , only black and wider in order to support the DUI, flashes, tabs, and associated "warrior" symbology. We embed some strobing LEDs as the safety device, with the battery and on/off switch in a "cartridge box" attavched at the back of the belt. Shoot, it could even have loops to attach a sabre scabbard.
Sam Browne.
Schmedlap said:
Quote:
"...The flash and pizzaz of the vivid blue and bright white detract from what civilians generally associate with competency and experience: ribbons and badges placed upon a subdued colored uniform that reflects the calm and firm bearing of an officer. This uniform is all flash, causing the abundance of ribbons and badges to just blend in with the rest of the flashiness and make the individual wearing it look like the typical Wal-Mart greeter who sports a vest full of buttons and a goofy hat."
Actually he said a lot of things I agree with totally and that all make sense but the quoted part in particular is my concern. I suspect we will draw more adverse than favorable comments; the white shirt is, I think, a particularly bad move.
As to the male uniform model, he may be a paratrooper as someone above said but from what he's wearing and displaying, I'm inclined to suspect he's not, he's just airborne. There's a difference. Don't know him so that may be unfair; if it is I apologize to him. The statement that he may just be wearing all that stuff to show where it goes may also be correct -- that, to me, is the point -- that much stuff, again channeling Schmedlap, shouldn't be worn on a duty uniform by anyone. IMO of course, YMMV..
Misuse of guvmint property...
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Cavguy
...The great thing about being on a COP was that there wasn't a CSM around to get mad about it! :D
A large number of those folks seem to worry a lot more about uniformity, haircuts, shaving (all Sqd / Veh / Platoon NCO jobs), personnel assignments (the Adj and his crowd) and other exotica than they worry about assessing and improving the training, morale, attitude, care and feeding -- and employment -- of their assigned unit. That means, if a large number do in fact have such misplaced priorities, that the system is at fault. That means the Army's not doing it right. That's misuse of CSMs.
That's a lot of experience being wasted on inconsequentials; makes no sense. That really need to be fixed if that misalignment of priorities is correct.
If a Bn / Sqn has, say eight to twelve COPS out there, the CSM oughta get to each of 'em at least once every week or two (if he appears more often than that, then the 1SGs and Co Cdrs get upset ;) ). That BTW is Bn /Sqn; Bdes are a slightly different kettle of fish but the principle and priorities for Bns still apply just longer periods and more people to care for. I'm aware of the dangers of travel in the 2004-2007 period; I'm also aware that food and ammo get or got to the COPs...
Oh -- and he ought to be doing that fairly regularly without tagging along with the Cdr most times.
It can be done; the good ones do it -- but it is frowned upon by too many including some Cdrs and thus I say it is a systemic problem of priority allocation. Mostly. Some folks aid and abet the system...
I'm surprised no one's mentioned...
the absymal headcovering that the female soldier is wearing. Why do the services insist on clinging to those ugly looking tar buckets? The barracks cover (service cap to you soldiers) fits women just fine. And when is the female dress "outfit" going to really become uniform, i.e. looking like all the other soldiers? And please spare me the "women require different tailoring," women wear almost identical uniforms as the males at the military academies without any untoward difficulties. Why not on active service?
Dropping the beret for traditional headgear like the Stetson for the cav folks and the Montana Peak for all others would certainly solve the wind, rain, sun issue; althought the drill sergeants may take issue. :D