When our soldiers fought in the Second World War, they looked like this in the field:
When they were traveling in CONUS, they looked like this:
Now, they look like this:
The wearing of cammies for travel seems to be an Army and Air Force affectation. The Navy apparently does not put up with that shit. Neither do the Marines, which, while as much as it pains me to admit it, are the most squared-away when it comes to uniforms.
The soldiers and airmen traveling in cammies look like shit. Enough said.
7 comments:
Much agreed Comrade!
Agreed. When I was a member of Uncle Sam's Misguided Children, you weren't even supposed to wear cammies offbase. In your car, to and from offbase home, but no stops allowed. I hated the policy but at least I never looked like that traveling in public.
I never realized there were rules about this. Are you implying that the Army and Air Force are requiring their personnel to wear camouflage while traveling, or just allowing them to?
Page 32, http://www.marines.mil/Portals/59/Publications/MCO%20P1020.34G%20W%20CH%201-5.pdf
3. THE MCCUU IS A FIELD UNIFORM AND IS NOT APPROPRIATE FOR
WEAR IN A CIVILIAN ENVIRONMENT. WEAR OF THE MCCUU IS
AUTHORIZED WHILE COMMUTING TO AND FROM WORK VIA
PRIVATELY OWNED VEHICLE. HOWEVER, EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY,
AND AS A SIGNIFICANT CHANGE TO THE REF, EN ROUTE STOPS
WHILE OFF-BASE ARE NOT AUTHORIZED EXCEPT FOR BONAFIDE
EMERGENCIES, SUCH AS MEDICAL EMERGENCIES, VEHICLE
BREAKDOWN, OR VEHICLE ACCIDENTS.
4. MARINES MAY ONLY WEAR THE MCCUU AT OFF-BASE
ESTABLISHMENTS WHEN USING DRIVE-THRU SERVICES SUCH AS
ATMS, FAST FOOD RESTAURANTS, OR DRY CLEANERS WHEN THEY
WILL NOT EXIT THE VEHICLE.
I don't know, but I didn't see a Dogface or a Zoomie who wasn't in cammies.
The Army used to travel in Class A's. But not since shortly after 9/11. I still remember coming back from Germany in 1991 in Class A's from Frankfort to Philly aboard a beat up old Hawaiin Airlines DC-8 wedged between some fat smelly dependents.
For a lot of Army guys, traveling to and from overseas on mid-tour leave, Class A uniform isn't really an option. But yes, guys traveling on orders CONUS to CONUS in service uniform would probably be a good idea. And with the wars winding down, we may see that come to pass again soon.
Sorry for a late post. In short, The army stance on uniforms comes from a meeting in the early 80's at Fort Polk LA with Jack Murtha and his constituents serving there. In a Town meeting type of event, the enlisted men had complained about having to wear such outdated uniforms as class "A's" and petitioned Murtha and other congressmen present , Nay Challenged, to do something about it. Murtha, a marine vet was against such an idea, but was shouted down as to which uniform reflected a higher standard of moral. We are combat soldiers and should dress the part, not have to dress like something out of the history books, was the gist of the opinion carried that day. Soon after that meeting we stopped wearing the class a for award ceremonies per Commanders discretion. It was found to have a positive effect on moral. That meeting had an impact because it bearing on uniform, MRE's,and weapons were impacted for years to come, also with a positive result. About the only failure I could report was they wouldn't consider putting smokes back into field rations. Citing that tobacco was bad for the health of combat troops. The Class A uniform is an anachronism that time has come and went. I never wore the class a after basic training, it just stayed in the wall locker in a plastic cover.
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