I read somewhere that the enlisted sailor coming out of NTC has something like five uniforms issued, with multiple duplicate items that are part of their own uniform set.
They get the A uniform, B uniform, some other kind of B uniform, the dungarees, cracker jacks, and the new utilities.
I could be wrong about the types, but I’d read it was not so long ago that new sailors just had two sea bags of uniforms, and a suit bag. Maybe it’s changed now.
I’m trying to remember the basics in my sea bag {only one was issued} Three pairs of Dungarees {you had two styles either light blue jeans type or dark blue work pants}, three work shirts, Chief type dress blues, P-Coat, dern itchy wool sweater, dress shoes, Boondockers, belt, and a work and dress uniform cover. The blues were nearly impossible to stow on ship as they didn’t fit the lockers. You couldn’t wear them around LOX operations either. I remember a warning coming out about that on some ship someone stowed their blues in there and they went up like a torch while he was wearing them. It wasn’t scuttlebutt it was an offical warning.
Some of the other changes they made were pretty questionable, but I would have been more than happy to switch out the dungarees for BDU-type uniforms. Dungarees were hot, smelled weird, and were hard to maintain. If you brushed up against any recently painted surface (which I seemed to always find every single one of onboard ship), then they were ruined. With the new working uniforms, you don’t look like you just escaped from the pen, and if you happen to get a little paint on them, it just blends right in.