[ssbn642blue]

Quote:       Originally Posted by SightNSqueeze

Yeah, we had the early version with the elastic at the small of the back and on the sides. Being a torpedoman, I also had a pair of black steel-toe molders' boots with the elastic side panels to go with them. I wish I still had them.

Yep. Same as I. Missile Tech.

[Taurus Fan]

Quote:       Originally Posted by PAPA G

when i was in the US ARMY 1967-1970, fatigues were not to be worn in town, or any where else for that matter. it was either the class A's or civilian clothes. when i got back from Vietnam inprocessing made sure we had dress uniforms before anyone went home. i see returning GI's from sand land wearing BDU's, boots etc. at the airports and such. wonder why the change.

Your experience at Oakland Army Replacement Depot was better than mine. When I came back from Viet Nam they gave me nothing. 6 Months later when I went to Thailand they asked if I had a class A uniform, I said no I handed them in here when I went to Viet nam, the sergeant made me BUY my dress greens back just to be a jerk I think. That was the moment my attitude went in the toilet and never recovered.

[big boomer]

When I was in AIT(advanced individual training) I was going to go to pick up my wife from the bus station ON BASE and my DI made me iron my khaki uniform and polish my brass even though it was spotless took an extra hour just to leave the area and this was all on base.

[Big Dog]

During my first hitch, I was in the USAF - 1976 to 1980. When I left Chanute AFB in July of '76, we were days away from the deadline in losing our khakis. I wore them while driving home for leave before reporting to my next duty station. I liked that uniform - it looked sharp! After that, we wore our OD 'pickle suits' while working on base or the "Bus Driver" uniform of light blue shirt and dark blue pants. Of course we had the dark blue Dress Blues. It was verboten to wear the green fatigues into town.
So, in late 1980, I reup, but into the USN. I liked the blue dungarees - I always did like jeans...... But we could NOT wear them in town, and even if we wore them in our car coming in to work, we could get busted (I lived off-base' the last year I was in). Only chiefs and officers had the khakis. We had the blue (actually black) wool "Cracker Jack" uniform for winter, and the white polyesther Cracker Jacks for summer (I utterly hated them!) and the summer white shirt/pants, black winter shirt/pants, and intermediate white shirt/black pants uniform - whew! So many variations, we had to read the POD (Plan Of The Day) to see what we were supposed to wear.
Once in training, I dressed for tech school in the dark, and got caught at school having accidentally put on the Lee jeans instead of the Seafarer dungarees - DOH! Had to go back to barracks and dress again.

So now it seems to have changed a lot! I guess the new NWU's are to look more like the other services - but the US Navy had always stuck to tradition - so I view this with sadness. My old Senior Chief used to say - "The United States Navy, 200 years of tradition unmarred by progress!"
He'd roll in his grave seeing how things are now.
I guess I'm just an 'old salt', stuck in the past.

[milproakron]

The first time I was in the Army was 1986. I've bounced around over the years in different services and took a 13 year break. I'm Army national guard now and I see a whole new world. I'm in Fort Jackson, SC as I write this, attending a ten week course. The discipline, expectations, entry requirements, basically everything is different from just a few years ago.

Traveling in uniform, and which uniform has changed but now it depends on what type of orders you are traveling under; PCS, TDY, ADT, etc. You can fly in ACUs if on TDY orders, I know that for sure. The others I don't know. Another issue you may come across is that 45% of our military force today is reserve and national guard. Many reserve and National guard units don't issue class A uniforms anymore. Especially now that they are switching to the blues being the official dress uniform, alot of units don't even have them to issue. (Mine for instance)

The biggest thing that has irked me thus far is the lack of discipline and no one being held accountable. Drill sergeants are too restricted on what they can do, school instructors are too limited on what they can do, and the NCOs are very poorly trained and have no leadership skills. (this is not true of everyone, don't get me wrong, but its far too common... and was unheard of in the old days.)

On the first day of this course I'm taking (we are in training along with new recruits) a private fresh out of basic told a Sergeant to "chill out" when he was told to get moving. I of course, being an old timer and old school, told the private if he didn't move his ass I was gonna come back there and choke him out. LoL yes i really did. That got him moving, but boy did it cause turmoil for the school. (you see, actually making people do what they are supposed to do is no longer Army policy) Repeats of similar incidents have occured basically on a daily basis since I arrived here 6 weeks ago. I'm incredibly disappointed in where the Army has gone with its discipline. Ashamed might be a better word.

It will be a miracle if I leave this post without permanently injuring a private, or worse an NCO. You see its simple.. if you allow them to be poor privates and poor specialists... they will be poor NCOs. So you shouldn't expect anything different.

Want an argument for not giving prisoners rights? Here it is... give new privates a bunch of rights, actually give them classes on their rights and the limitations of instructors... then you get what I see today.

I guess they call this place "Relaxin Jackson" for a reason.

[TinCan Assasin]

I am personally a fan of wearing a Garrison Uniform "A's of B's" in Garrison and field uniforms, guess where, in the field. But that's just me, and the Army didn't consult me.

I guess the only place I can put my ribbons is in the box in the drawer.

TCA

[Yogi]

Personaly, I think if you earned it, wear it.

[milproakron]

The Army ACUs suck. They are a completely inappropriate uniform for combat or even training. They are not as durable and the idiot who came up with the idea of velcro on a battle uniform should be court martialed for being an idiot. I'm sure he had alot of brass on his collar and sat in a big chair in the pentagon. Its coming out now that the Army knew the ACUs weren't up to the task, but they went with them anyway.

There was nothing wrong with the old BDUs. If they wanted to change the camo pattern, that could have easily been done without changing the entire uniform.

The zipper front I like. Thats it. The velcro wears out and your pockets don't stay closed, the material is weak and tears easily, and "all weather" isn't really. They wanted velcro everything so you could "sterilize" your uniform in the event of capture, etc. Hey, guess what, that is easily remedied by NOT WEARING ALL THAT UNNECESSARY CRAP ON YOUR BATTLE UNIFORM! Unit patch, combat patch, qualification badges, etc... all totally unnecessary and only serve the purpose of bragging rights anyway. You'll notice the Marines don't worry about all of that. Keep it simple. Velcro name-tape is all that would be needed.

Ok, thus endeth the rant. LoL

[SwedeSteve]

Though I started out in starched cotton fatigues and loved them, I also like the ACU's and am glad soldiers may wear them in their day to day doings here in town. So I can stop and thank them !!

[DogRomeo]

Quote:       Originally Posted by milproakron

The Army ACUs suck. They are a completely inappropriate uniform for combat or even training. They are not as durable and the idiot who came up with the idea of velcro on a battle uniform should be court martialed for being an idiot. I'm sure he had alot of brass on his collar and sat in a big chair in the pentagon. Its coming out now that the Army knew the ACUs weren't up to the task, but they went with them anyway. There was nothing wrong with the old BDUs. If they wanted to change the camo pattern, that could have easily been done without changing the entire uniform. The zipper front I like. Thats it. The velcro wears out and your pockets don't stay closed, the material is weak and tears easily, and "all weather" isn't really. They wanted velcro everything so you could "sterilize" your uniform in the event of capture, etc. Hey, guess what, that is easily remedied by NOT WEARING ALL THAT UNNECESSARY CRAP ON YOUR BATTLE UNIFORM! Unit patch, combat patch, qualification badges, etc... all totally unnecessary and only serve the purpose of bragging rights anyway. You'll notice the Marines don't worry about all of that. Keep it simple. Velcro name-tape is all that would be needed. Ok, thus endeth the rant. LoL

+1 for the majority of said rant. The only thing that's good about the ACUs is when you're not really doing anything, then they're great! This is why I agree that they were instituted by a higher up who....well, basically does just that: nothing. When I'm walking around or whatever, the ACU is a fine uniform. However, the C stands for Combat & I agree, the BDU as well as the DCU was superior in quality & camo. the ACU has no place in Iraq & NEVER blends into ANYTHING here! As far as the velcro goes, the pants I'm currently wearing happen to have a missing patch on a cargo pocket due to wear & tear, coincidentally. We've all heard about the Multicam that's supposedly taking over in the future & I've seen it on foreign troops. Looks more like what camo should look like to me. The ACUs are soooooo pretty though The best thing about them is when I get the complimentary 1st class upgrade while flying in uniform, which happens from time to time & is TRULY a great feeling!!!!!!! Oh I almost forgot, not having to shine boots is freaking awesome especially on days like today where the ground has turned into 4" of mud due to heavy rain. I have more important things to worry about then some random troop with rank walking bye me & saying "Hey troop! Those boots are a disgrace!" or some such malarkey (which hasn't actually happened to me but I've heard the tales from older guys).