thedrifter
09-30-03, 06:11 AM
09-25-2003
Not the Time for ‘Designer Battle Dress’
By Paul Connors
What is it with senior Air Force leaders and uniforms? Shortly after the end of Gulf War I, then Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Merrill A. McPeak announced the testing of a new service dress blue uniform that sparked widespread criticism within the service.
Now it is happening all over again.
Critics of the McPeak uniform said the new design created a less-military appearance, noting it replaced the traditional epaulets and traditional rank insignia with the naval style of a sleeve braid for showing the rank on the jacket cuffs. To many of us, the final version had senior officers looking like a cross between Coast Guard officers and American Airlines pilots – unflattering and not very military.
Ultimately, less “trendy” heads prevailed; the officer’s uniform reacquired epaulets with traditional metal rank insignia and the ugly, dull metallic cuff braid went away. In the last year, the Air Force brass has also realized having nameplates, just like the other services helps folks know to whom they are speaking. Most helpful when one party doesn’t know the other.
Now, little more than 10 years later, some high-ranking officer with too much time on his hands has determined that the Air Force needs to be “different” from its sister services. Air Force people, this under-employed general has concluded, need a distinctive battle dress uniform.
The proposed design is at one and the same time, a throwback and a modification of the Vietnam-era “tiger stripe” fatigues worn by certain units of the South Vietnamese Army (ARVN) and U.S. Special Forces advisors, LRP teams and U.S. Navy SEALs. The proposed new uniform is supposed to replace the current woodland pattern BDU uniform that was – until the Marine Corps modified their BDUs – the standard for all of America’s forces.
While the new camouflage pattern will be familiar to thousands of Vietnam-era veterans, the colors employed in the material will not. Relying heavily on blue and gray, with a smattering of green, the pattern, while distinctive, offers little in the way of functional improvement: That is, it does little to provide effective concealment for Air Force personnel when taking into consideration their working conditions and environments.
Think of where Air Force members work. Many people are stationed at fixed bases in temperate climates. Enlisted maintainers are employed on flight lines and in intermediate repair facilities, where a jungle-type pattern will do more to enhance their visibility than conceal it. Other Air Force specialists, such as pararescuemen, combat controllers, tactical air control parties and combat weather specialists serve alongside their Army brethren in field conditions. The new camouflage pattern will definitely serve to remind everyone that the Air Force is not the Army. It will also be a glaring reminder that while the two service members serve side by side under equally onerous conditions, the Air Force feels that its folks need to be and look “different.”
The question remains, “Why?”
It’s true that the Air Force is the youngest service and in a lot of ways feels the need to trumpet its special place in military life. Under this rationale, our under-employed general must have said, “Hey, the Marines changed their BDUs so they wouldn’t look like the Army, so why can’t we?”
That is a truly inspired decision. Let’s go out and completely undo the supply system so that Air Force members will look different enough from everyone else that they’ll be the envy – and the butt of ridicule – of the Army, Navy, Marines and Coast Guard. And while we’re at it, let’s squander millions of tax dollars that otherwise could buy new aircraft and weapons for the war.
What does the Air Force have to say about its “designer battle dress”? According to Air Force Times on Aug. 18, 2003:
* Senior service leaders do want Air Force personnel to look and be different than their fellow service members in the other branches.
* The new uniform will not require starching and can be worn right out of the washer and still look sharp.
* The new uniform will be more comfortable and that wearers will only have to buy one color T-shirt, a black one with a button-front Henley collar. (“No more round neck T-shirts for you, Airman!”)
In its desire for originality, the Air Force also decided to adopt what its couturiers call the Seabee type-utility cap (never mind that it’s really a USMC utility cover without the Eagle, Globe and Anchor device the Corps has been stenciling on its uniforms since World War II. The Marines had the cap first, the Seabees only borrowed it. Now the Air Force is stealing it).
Even at this initial design-review phase, Air Force personnel from all components have sounded off to DefenseWatch with a serious criticism of the new uniform: That their survivability will seriously degrade if they have to go into hostile territory wearing what one Airman called, the “Keystone Kops uniform.” Most who have written say they prefer the quiet anonymity of the current woodland BDU pattern and fear the new uniform will “brand” them and make them easier targets for armed adversaries to spot.
Most maintenance troops who have written say they find the extra pockets and loose fit of the current BDU conducive to their unique working conditions.
The new pattern BDU is now in the test stage. Approximately 350 airmen and officers around the Air Force have been asked to evaluate the new design for fit, functionality, ease of care and sturdiness. The Air Force has even established a website for the comments from the field.
However, Air Force Times earlier this month quoted the service’s top enlisted man, Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force Gerald Murray, as saying that senior service leaders don’t want to hear negative comments about how it looks or the new colors.
That’s right: It’s a couturier coup d’etat: They want the folks in blue to salute sharply, say, “Yes sir,” and move out sharply.
It appears that the Air Force’s legacy from the ongoing global War against Terror will be that its leaders stopped thinking of Osama bin Laden and the enduring threat to put all of their energy and focus into another uniform folly.
Paul Connors is a Senior Editor of DefenseWatch. He can be reached at paulconnors@hotmail.com. © 2003 Paul Connors.
http://www.sftt.org/cgi-bin/csNews/csNews.cgi?database=DefenseWatch.db&command=viewone&op=t&id=206&rnd=413.7361128249886
Sempers,
Roger
:marine:
Not the Time for ‘Designer Battle Dress’
By Paul Connors
What is it with senior Air Force leaders and uniforms? Shortly after the end of Gulf War I, then Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Merrill A. McPeak announced the testing of a new service dress blue uniform that sparked widespread criticism within the service.
Now it is happening all over again.
Critics of the McPeak uniform said the new design created a less-military appearance, noting it replaced the traditional epaulets and traditional rank insignia with the naval style of a sleeve braid for showing the rank on the jacket cuffs. To many of us, the final version had senior officers looking like a cross between Coast Guard officers and American Airlines pilots – unflattering and not very military.
Ultimately, less “trendy” heads prevailed; the officer’s uniform reacquired epaulets with traditional metal rank insignia and the ugly, dull metallic cuff braid went away. In the last year, the Air Force brass has also realized having nameplates, just like the other services helps folks know to whom they are speaking. Most helpful when one party doesn’t know the other.
Now, little more than 10 years later, some high-ranking officer with too much time on his hands has determined that the Air Force needs to be “different” from its sister services. Air Force people, this under-employed general has concluded, need a distinctive battle dress uniform.
The proposed design is at one and the same time, a throwback and a modification of the Vietnam-era “tiger stripe” fatigues worn by certain units of the South Vietnamese Army (ARVN) and U.S. Special Forces advisors, LRP teams and U.S. Navy SEALs. The proposed new uniform is supposed to replace the current woodland pattern BDU uniform that was – until the Marine Corps modified their BDUs – the standard for all of America’s forces.
While the new camouflage pattern will be familiar to thousands of Vietnam-era veterans, the colors employed in the material will not. Relying heavily on blue and gray, with a smattering of green, the pattern, while distinctive, offers little in the way of functional improvement: That is, it does little to provide effective concealment for Air Force personnel when taking into consideration their working conditions and environments.
Think of where Air Force members work. Many people are stationed at fixed bases in temperate climates. Enlisted maintainers are employed on flight lines and in intermediate repair facilities, where a jungle-type pattern will do more to enhance their visibility than conceal it. Other Air Force specialists, such as pararescuemen, combat controllers, tactical air control parties and combat weather specialists serve alongside their Army brethren in field conditions. The new camouflage pattern will definitely serve to remind everyone that the Air Force is not the Army. It will also be a glaring reminder that while the two service members serve side by side under equally onerous conditions, the Air Force feels that its folks need to be and look “different.”
The question remains, “Why?”
It’s true that the Air Force is the youngest service and in a lot of ways feels the need to trumpet its special place in military life. Under this rationale, our under-employed general must have said, “Hey, the Marines changed their BDUs so they wouldn’t look like the Army, so why can’t we?”
That is a truly inspired decision. Let’s go out and completely undo the supply system so that Air Force members will look different enough from everyone else that they’ll be the envy – and the butt of ridicule – of the Army, Navy, Marines and Coast Guard. And while we’re at it, let’s squander millions of tax dollars that otherwise could buy new aircraft and weapons for the war.
What does the Air Force have to say about its “designer battle dress”? According to Air Force Times on Aug. 18, 2003:
* Senior service leaders do want Air Force personnel to look and be different than their fellow service members in the other branches.
* The new uniform will not require starching and can be worn right out of the washer and still look sharp.
* The new uniform will be more comfortable and that wearers will only have to buy one color T-shirt, a black one with a button-front Henley collar. (“No more round neck T-shirts for you, Airman!”)
In its desire for originality, the Air Force also decided to adopt what its couturiers call the Seabee type-utility cap (never mind that it’s really a USMC utility cover without the Eagle, Globe and Anchor device the Corps has been stenciling on its uniforms since World War II. The Marines had the cap first, the Seabees only borrowed it. Now the Air Force is stealing it).
Even at this initial design-review phase, Air Force personnel from all components have sounded off to DefenseWatch with a serious criticism of the new uniform: That their survivability will seriously degrade if they have to go into hostile territory wearing what one Airman called, the “Keystone Kops uniform.” Most who have written say they prefer the quiet anonymity of the current woodland BDU pattern and fear the new uniform will “brand” them and make them easier targets for armed adversaries to spot.
Most maintenance troops who have written say they find the extra pockets and loose fit of the current BDU conducive to their unique working conditions.
The new pattern BDU is now in the test stage. Approximately 350 airmen and officers around the Air Force have been asked to evaluate the new design for fit, functionality, ease of care and sturdiness. The Air Force has even established a website for the comments from the field.
However, Air Force Times earlier this month quoted the service’s top enlisted man, Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force Gerald Murray, as saying that senior service leaders don’t want to hear negative comments about how it looks or the new colors.
That’s right: It’s a couturier coup d’etat: They want the folks in blue to salute sharply, say, “Yes sir,” and move out sharply.
It appears that the Air Force’s legacy from the ongoing global War against Terror will be that its leaders stopped thinking of Osama bin Laden and the enduring threat to put all of their energy and focus into another uniform folly.
Paul Connors is a Senior Editor of DefenseWatch. He can be reached at paulconnors@hotmail.com. © 2003 Paul Connors.
http://www.sftt.org/cgi-bin/csNews/csNews.cgi?database=DefenseWatch.db&command=viewone&op=t&id=206&rnd=413.7361128249886
Sempers,
Roger
:marine: