When I was a young lad growing up, one of the portraits hanging on the wall downstairs was of my father wearing his service dress khaki as a lieutenant commander. Perhaps for that reason I grew up thinking highly of the uniform, and there was even a time when I thought it might be good to bring it back.
The Chairman in Service Dress Khaki
That was all before I actually had to wear a uniform to work of course.
Upon reflection, I realized that we wore whites in the summer time, blues in the fall, and khakis in warm weather. There’s never been a time when I was wearing khakis where I though to myself, “Well, if only I had my collar buttoned, wore a tie and sported a blouse, I’d really be comfortable.”
I just don’t get it.
Good news? I don’t have to. That’s someone else’s burden.
Let’s bring back Aviation Working Greens and Brown Shoes (or half Wellingtons).
See the article in a recent Hook magazine.
Guy I know was/is in charge of writing the proposal to bring back AWG’s (although they’ve never really gone away, they just have to be special ordered, which means no one buys them). Last we heard, it hit the VCNO’s desk in June. Ruling expected any day now.
Brown shoes will never die. Ever.
CDR Salamander hit on the ONLY time wearing SDK would be a good idea, as illustrated in this picture: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/195/493241891_ec7717c690_b.jpg
Task Force Uniform, repeat after me: fewer UNIFORMS, more FUNCTIONALITY.
Hell… All I want is to be able to wear my poopy-suit (spoken Navy coveralls) off the pier. I figure if the pilots can wear flight suits anywhere they want, I should at least be able to wear the coveralls to my car.
You gotta look sharp!!
I LOVE this uniform.
Looks rather soldier-like, which must be good.
Cheers
SDK was just fine for me in ’71. ‘Course, I was closer to WWII and could identify with those heroes. Bought the aviation greens, too–just out of aviation pride–but never saw anyone else with them.
You don’t think the open collar whites look a little inappropriate next to those other professionals?
Regardless, the Navy has the sharpest uniforms–clean, impressive, with minimal doo-dads. (Army look is that of a 3rd-world 2bit general–always has been.)
A recently-retired USMC Sgt. Major pointed me to the cover of Navy Times this last week and said, “What do they look like? Marines, of course!”
I think he resented it, because he went on to say that they never should’ve stopped wearing bell bottoms.
I went to the hyperlinks of the various uniforms that Lex nominated as smart looking uniforms and who ever would have thought that “earmuffs” were authorized wear with both khaki and summer whites? That must be something they wear in Norfolk and thank God I was never stationed there.
I always thought the open collar whites were just about the sharpest thing around. Not at all practical, but sharp.
TFU should be taken out an shot. If the CNO needs a task force to figure out what uniforms to wear, he’s not much of a CNO. Having uniforms designed by committee doesn’t help much either.
Army look is that of a 3rd-world 2bit general–always has been.
That’s why we called ‘em “Christmas Trees”; big, green and covered with ornaments.
The flip side of the coin, and I think another thing driving the change is the current “service khaki” worn year round is a short-sleeved, open collar uniform. That’s great if you’re in San Diego or Pearl, but it’s not so good in Newport, Everett or even DC in the winter. What you end up with is tons of officers wearing their jackets indoors all day long, which my grandmother would remind me is impolite. “Take your jacket off and stay a while”, she’d say.
Looks OK. Like an old movie starring Tyrone Power.
You know even with them he’s still a bespectacled Shoe! (that’s right Salamander) Not that ther’es anything wrong with that. I wonder if he would have the ‘nads to wear that awful blue-green leisure suit of a BDU uniform up to the podium? LOL. Still like aviation greens meself. Anybody want to buy a set?
Uniforms come and go- the product of unusefull minds inflated with a sense of making an imprint on the institution for posterity…Feel good stuff.
b2
Ties! Ugh. (deep shudder here) If I never have to wear a tie again it’ll be too soon. I told my youngest that if he lets his momma put a tie on me for my own funeral I’ll haunt him for the rest of his days. It does look sharp on the admiral but I’m one that’d rather be deep behind the scene and never seen than to stand up in front of a hostile audience and explain in simple terms to the uninformed why things are the way they are. I’ll take my Hawaii style shirts, jeans, and isolated computer room over ties and jackets any day. Well, back to SQL’in………..
Lex,
So your not sad to miss out on the service dress khakis? Us junior enlisted get the new all year working uniform which looks just like Marine Corps Charlie’s except with pants that are Navy Blue instead of Olive Drab Green.
Do you remember when everyone from the enlisted to the officers were sporting the blazer, tie, and combination cover?
b2- I just ordered my AWG’s. It seems that the Nex has to special order them and makes them in batches when they have enough orders. Skipper said that if all of us have them at our winging, that will be the uniform.
SAP- Not a fan on the USMC look myself, but I think every E dog out there will appreciate the demise of the enlisted “Working Whites”.
Oh, I guess I spent too much time out west to much worry about coats and ties while wearing khakis. Although, be quite honest, I spent more time in khakis in the last three years than I had in the previous 23. Flight suits are pretty comfortable, once you launder out all of that Nomex fire retardant. And for sheer 20-minute naptitude, the navy blue coveralls couldn’t be beat. LOX boots optional.
Shoot, I remember those everybody in SDB days and the “salt ‘n peppers” too. The more things change, the more things… change.
I have mixed emotions about the SDKs.
I would prefer they deep-six the shoulder boards.
I like them, once you ditch the blouse and put on the leather flight jacket. Very sporty looking. And you can throw on the blouse for a pop-up visit of the CNO, which happened daily in our squadron.
Not
Is it me or does The Chairman look an awful lot like Bob’s boss from “The Incredibles”?
Just sayin’…
HF6,
Not only does he look like him, he talks like him too. First time I saw the movie, my first thought was “Holy crap, that Mullen!”
HF6 –
that is ridiculous. Funniest thing I’ve seen in forever!
USN “Sword and Choker” is absotively, posilutely, the coolest and manliest dress uniform of any military organization on this planet. US Marines come in a close second, their’s being a bit gaudy.
Evverbody else is away distantly behind on the coolness-of-uniform game.
Umm, “theirs.”
Dadmanly, hate to agree but the Army uniforms, at least since 1978, have been the least “cool” of all the branches. I was partial to the khaki TWs but only got to wear them a very short time. Never cared much for the Green Class A nor that “B” uniform. Blues are ok looking but not comfortable same for Dress Mess. The Army had the opportunity to make it right with going back to what I thought was an outstanding set- “Pinks and Greens” for officers and the something similar to the WWII Army Green Uniform. Nope now we gotta go with Blues. I will be retired before I see that happen. Even though the ACU camo pattern works only in two places on the earth, it is the most comfortable and functional of anything I have worn in over 30 years. Fix the velcro on the cargo pockets and go to that pattern of which the name of it escapes me and they you have a total winner.
The pattern of camo I was referring to is Multi-cam. I have seen it demonstated by some of my people and it is freaking amazing stuff.
Uniform of the day on Capitol Hill, year round, is SDB. Speaking from the experience of testifying in August, I would MUCH rather have been wearing SDK. Exhibit one: CJCS. Now you know, “the rest of the story.”
I only wore my Class A uniform to courts-martial, on the plane to Germany and as a notification officer. Didn’t wear it enough to matter.
I really liked the Dress Blues…some may not but it ties nicely to the Army’s heritage.
The jungle fatigues and BDUs is what I always wore. They were confortable and worked well in field and garrison. Never could understand all of the Navy’s issues about the varierty of uniforms…almost as bad as the Marines!
As for SDK: well, if it was good enough for Rockwell Torrey….
When I retired, I gave my AWG to the CPO club in Norfolk. I have no idea if they are still there. It was a great “staff” uniform.
Oh, yeah, the Army Dress blues are kinda kewl, too. The Donovan explained why the trousers are paler than the blouse, a while back. I think that the blue uniform not being worn much during the Twentieth Century had a lot to do with the Army having so many Southerners in it, and they still having bad feelings about wearing that, having heard war stories from their Grand-daddies.
Harry Truman was not admitted to his Grandma’s house when he showed up wearing his blue National Guard uniform.
(That’s the same woman who slept on the floor, rather than on a bed on which Lincoln had slept,when her son, just then President, invited her to the White House.)
Sojers may forgive and forget, but teh wimminz hold a grudge _forever_
“As for SDK: well, if it was good enough for Rockwell Torrey….”
True that.
Regret having missed out on SDK – always liked that uniform (and those of us raised around it in the 60′s didn’t attribute it to Soviet Admirals). Dropped just before I came in as an Ensign.
On the flip side, I definitely got more than my money’s worth in the AWG – it was perfect for mid-fall to early spring in Norfolk, especially the whistling sh1te-houses they gave us as hangars over on Breezy Point. If I wasn’t in a flight suit, I was in AWG, including when I was on the CNAL staff. Picked up a brand new set as an O-3 for $25 at the NAS Oceana thrift shop (jacket – already striped for a LT, 2 x pair trouser, two soft and one framed cover). Best $25 bucks I ever spent…
- SJS
Wow. I had no idea the female uniform included a tiara! (followed the links to the details)