Opinion: Pride in our uniform

[unhappycamper]

Pride in our uniform

I must say that when it comes to uniforms, the Army seems incapable of hitting the target.

The Marines seem perfectly capable of designing and fielding uniforms that are practical, tactical and look good. The Army, on the other hand, uses a mixture of gray colors that are not optimized in any environment but work “well” in the three basic combat environments: woodland, desert and urban.

Who are we fooling here? Before there was a real test of the quality and durability of these uniforms — one roll in Georgia clay during basic training would have told them a lot — we had already made the decision to change everything over to Army Combat Uniform. Don’t even get me started on the “tactical” Velcro.

Now, the dress blues and the Class A uniform have been merged to create an ugly offspring which will become our next dress uniform? This uniform looks like it belongs to the Air Force and even worse, the Class Bs make us looks like airport security. TSA, anyone?

Now more than ever, the Army has a chance to really make a statement with this uniform. We are not the Air Force and we need to get away from blue uniforms — end of story. Khaki dress uniforms are the answer. Resurrect branch insignias on belt buckles and stop pinning more stuff on the uniforms (the new “combat medallion,” for example, that sits near the waist band of the new dress jacket like a pager). Sewing insignia onto a uniform always looked better anyway.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/community/opinion/army_opinion_uniform_100608/$2e