thedrifter
07-12-07, 07:48 PM
Tighter combat utility uniform policy due soon
By Kimberly Johnson - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Jul 12, 2007 19:03:50 EDT
The Corps will soon issue a stricter policy for wearing the combat utility uniform to counter what its top officer says has become a hodgepodge of local base standards.
“We’re going to try to get uniformity across the Corps,” Commandant Gen. James Conway told Marine Corps Times on Wednesday. “I want it to be more controlled than what we see right now where a lot of those things are decided on a local level and what you get is a lack of uniformity.”
The Corps has been in a transition period with uniform standards since digital cammies hit the fleet in late 2002, he said.
“We’ve done that long enough now that I think we can come out with a policy that talks to uniformity,” Conway said. “Frankly, I’m big on having Marines look the same everywhere we go.”
That’s not the case now, he said, following a tour of West Coast bases and stations earlier this week.
“If you look closely, you didn’t see that [uniformity]; there was disparity. Sleeves up, sleeves down, greens, the desert and so forth.”
While aiming for mirror-image Marines, the new policy will also offer leeway, Conway said.
“We’ll give some waiver authority to commanding generals. Maybe we’ll need to have sleeves down at Twentynine Palms because of the heat and the protection,” or at a joint command, such as U.S. Central Command, where desert cammies are worn year round, he added.
The new policy will regulate when during the year Marines would wear the woodland and desert patterns, he said.
“If that would go against CentCom policy, we could probably issue a waiver on that,” Conway said.
Ellie
By Kimberly Johnson - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Jul 12, 2007 19:03:50 EDT
The Corps will soon issue a stricter policy for wearing the combat utility uniform to counter what its top officer says has become a hodgepodge of local base standards.
“We’re going to try to get uniformity across the Corps,” Commandant Gen. James Conway told Marine Corps Times on Wednesday. “I want it to be more controlled than what we see right now where a lot of those things are decided on a local level and what you get is a lack of uniformity.”
The Corps has been in a transition period with uniform standards since digital cammies hit the fleet in late 2002, he said.
“We’ve done that long enough now that I think we can come out with a policy that talks to uniformity,” Conway said. “Frankly, I’m big on having Marines look the same everywhere we go.”
That’s not the case now, he said, following a tour of West Coast bases and stations earlier this week.
“If you look closely, you didn’t see that [uniformity]; there was disparity. Sleeves up, sleeves down, greens, the desert and so forth.”
While aiming for mirror-image Marines, the new policy will also offer leeway, Conway said.
“We’ll give some waiver authority to commanding generals. Maybe we’ll need to have sleeves down at Twentynine Palms because of the heat and the protection,” or at a joint command, such as U.S. Central Command, where desert cammies are worn year round, he added.
The new policy will regulate when during the year Marines would wear the woodland and desert patterns, he said.
“If that would go against CentCom policy, we could probably issue a waiver on that,” Conway said.
Ellie