Posted on 08/24/2008 4:26:16 PM PDT by Dawnsblood
After a century of green uniforms, the last one is being retired from the U.S. Army. The new "Class A" uniform, as of August 21st, 2008, will be the current blue "Dress Uniform.". By 2010, troops graduating from basic training will be issued the "dress blues" as their "Class A" uniform. The "Class B" uniform will be the dress blue trousers and a white shirt with decorations (ribbons, combat badge and so on). For both enlisted and officers, rank will be worn on epaulets. The new uniform "system" is similar to the one the U.S. Marine Corps has been wearing for decades, and that's no accident.
All this in response to decades old efforts by the troops, to drop the green "Class A" uniform (green jacket and pants, with light brown shirt and tie) and go to something, anything, more impressive.. The new Class A uniform is simply the existing dress uniform. This uniform, unlike the green Class A's, that were introduced in 1954, is based on the 19th century dress uniform. Most enlisted troops do not have the dress blue uniform, because they have to buy it themselves, and that is optional for most troops. But over the next six years, the old Class A will be phased out completely.
All this is the result of longstanding "uniform envy" soldiers have had for marines. The USMC has always sported the most impressive dress uniform, and young enlisted marines were glad to spend at least $300 to buy themselves one. The marine "Class A" uniform is also green, but a darker green, and the jacket is worn with a belt. This looks much snappier, and many soldiers have suggested something like this for a new army Class A uniform. But many career army types have been campaigning for a spiffier Class A uniform, and something in blue, preferably with a belted jacket. But instead of a new uniform design, the army simply made the current dress blues the new Class As. The dress blues have been around for a long time, and have a good reputation. That doesn't mean that a belt cannot be added down the road. The important thing right now is to dump those hideous green Class As, which have embarrassed several generations of soldiers.
The Class A uniform is not actually worn that much, with most troops wearing BDUs (Battle Dress Uniform, with the camouflage pattern) or the Class A uniform without the jacket, when at work. The BDUs come in several different shades, none of them featuring much green. So after a century, the green is gone. The army is also eliminating the all white tropical dress uniform, which was rarely used.
You’re correct. Actually, given the level of unwed motherhood I saw at Forts Lee and Eustis, perhaps all pinks might be appropriate in some cases. You’re probably old enough to remember when soldiers had to ask permission to get married, as opposed to showing up to with his bride and four children to demand housing and BAS.
Yes, I remember. And if you were female and got pregnant, you were gone. Fast forward a number of years when I was a battalion commander and we were preparing for a brand new cohort company, straight out of One Station Unit Training. The Sergeant Major says: Sir, you are not going to believe this ... there is a forty year old woman with a U-Haul and four kids out front who claims she is married to 18 year old PVT Clueless. She was.
Yep. It's got that Imperial German look.
Interesting. I know that Congressman Bob Dornan once tried to get an idea of how much the changes were costing both in terms of money (child care, pregnancy, housing) and readiness (custodial single parents, nondeployable pregnant service members) and there is absolutely no way that any branch of the service will release or probably even tracks this type of information. It all will work well until we end up in a major ground war fighting a disciplined competent enemy.
Ronin I can't swear as to who actually gave the Crackerjacks back but it came about the time of Hildigo being SECNAV. That was given back as were many other missing traditions like the Bosun's whistle. He had a philosophy I agreed with. If you wanted men to act like sailors then treat them as such. The Zumalt uniforms should have never happened to start with. So that PITA uniform change was his bright idea huh? That figures. I knew it was before 1976 because I came out of boot with it.
The dungarees were the most practical work uniform with a few exceptions. We were allowed to wear green coveralls while working in the hole at sea. Also Boat Crew was given solid dark blue coveralls which were more functional for the task and let everybody involved at Fleet Landing etc know who were were. The only ones wearing any kind of CAMO's were the Marines. Even EOD either wore green coveralls or Dungarees at sea. The other exception to uniform variants was the obvious sweat shirts for job identification reasons.
Marine Corps dress blues look AWESOME!... Chicks dig them, men are envious and you can cut them off and they still look great!!!
Most Army guys I know love the Army. Most Navy squids I know, love the Navy. Most Air Force guys I know love golf and air conditioners.... and Most jarheads know that it's not our uniform but our brothers that make us Marines.
..... and for those that think I don't respect the other services, you're wrong. There is nothing like that rumble and crunching of an Abrams right before it lets loose with a round or two to make some doors on the bottom floor of a building, thank you Army... or the zip and bwaaaaahmmmmmmpphhhh and feel your chest feel like it was hit by a sack of flour as your ears ring and the Air Force or Navy Air put a little 500 lb lump of death in a house that's been busting your b@lls for an hour or so.
With the current combined operations we all are on the same team...
My dad saw a Marine in dress blues when he was 11 years old and told grandma, "that's what I'm gonna be when I grow up." 6 years later she signed his papers so he could join up right out of highschool.... When I showed up in my dress blues, you'd of thought the man was in heaven.
There's something to be said about tradition. I think the Army should do what it wants, but there is NO WAY that the Army wants to imitate the Marines. I think the writer just wants to stir up trouble.
dang it you stole my picture..hahhahaahaha...
LOL.....As long as someone POSTED it !
She is a cutie ain’t she !!......LOL !
Now that is dressing down a subordinate ! You can almost see her gig line ......;o)
I am out of here DV... thanks for the pic !
Stay safe !
Agreed the Army once wore blue, but the Army is similar to a woman who can’t make up her mind about what she wants to wear.
We never stopped wearing blue.
We just kept it in the dress uniform.
But, you’re right that we have a problem with career officers (Shineski, et al) who keep changing things to keep their careers alive. “Publish or perish”, as they say.
Most soldiers want to return and STAY with those uniforms that defined the Army in the WWII era.
I agree that the WWII uniforms were the best the Army ever used, but right after the war - as one commentator described it - the Army adopted a cheap imitation of the Wehrmacht’s uniforms.
We had so many of the WWII uniforms that appeared on the civilian/surplus market, The Army decided they had to change or they’d look like every ragbag on the street.
A mistake, I agree.
Here we go again—the USMC/Army blue uniform—who was first? discussion comes back again and again....
Dick G
~~~~~
THE UNITED STATES MARINES CORPS 1798-1804
By Gregory J.W. Urwin
Campaigns Magazine, January-February 1984
http://www.legionville.com/m1798-18.htm
Contrary to a popular misconception, United States Marines cannot trace their lineage unbroken back to the year 1775 and the beginning of the American Revolution. The last Continental Marines were discharged in September 1783, and their place was not filled for nearly another 15 years. The U.S. Marine Corps was called in to being in 1798, when the North American republic was embroiled in an undeclared war with France.
With the successful close of the War of Independence, the American government disbanded its regular army and navy. This frugal move was interpreted as a sign of weakness by the young republic’s many enemies. Great Britain, France, Spain and the Barbary pirates took their turns bullying the new nation. They either barred American ships from their ports or openly preyed on Yankee merchantmen as they plied the high seas. As an added insult, British and Spanish agents urged Indian tribes on American’s frontier to oppose her westward expansion.
War-weary, beset by debts and a struggling economy, and unable to free themselves of their anti-military prejudices, the American people were slow to grapple effectively with these threats. In 1792, the Washington administration established the Legion of the United States, a small but efficient regular army that eventually subdued the Indian of the Northwest Territory. In their dealings with more powerful adversaries, the Americans preferred pacific methods. Annual cash tributes to the Barbary States purchased a limited immunity against pirate attacks on Yankee shipping. Patient negotiations won some tension-deflating concessions from Britain and Spain. But when American diplomats approached the government of revolutionary France, they were informed that they would have to furnish bribes before talks could ever begin!
When news of the infamous “XYZ Affair” crossed the Atlantic, the American people lost their patience and demanded military retaliation to expunge this blot on the nation’s honor. “Millions for defense but not one cent for tribute!” became the watchword of the day. Between April and July 1798, Congress created a Navy Department and authorized the construction or purchase of six frigates and at least twenty-four smaller warships. These vessels were manned by crews organized in the fashion of Britain’s Royal Navy, and each had a marine guard. In theory, a ship was supposed to have one marine for every gun mounted on her decks. In the age of fighting sail, marines were an indispensable part of a ship’s company. Marines functioned as a man-of-war’s policemen and sharpshooters. Their muskets and bayonets kept enemy boarders at bay, and they were a captain’s primary reliance for maintaining order below decks.
The U.S. Navy’s first marine detachments were ad hoc affairs, created on a ship-by-ship basis. They lacked a cohesive form of organization or a central command structure. To remedy these deficiencies, Congress passed “An Act for Establishing a Marine Corps” on July 11, 1798. The
new United States Marines Corps was organized as an over-sized battalion with enough men to furnish thirty-two ship’s guards. On paper, the Corps’s strength was one major-commandant, thirty-two captains and lieutenants, forty-eight sergeants and corporals, 720 privates, thirty-two fifers, and thirty-two drummers. The Commandant’s staff consisted of an adjutant, a paymaster, a quartermaster, a sergeant major, and a drum-and fife major. President John Adams appointed William Ward Burrows, a personable lawyer and merchant from Philadelphia, as the first Commandant of the Marine Corps. In 1799, Burrow’s command was expanded by eight officers and 196 enlisted men, and the year after that, Burrows was promoted to lieutenant colonel.
Despite these marks of official favor, Burroughs and his officers had a hard time finding enough men to fill out the ranks of the Corps. Throughout the two-and-a-half years of the Quasi-War, Burrows never had more than 500 Marines under arms. In their desperation, Marine recruiters actively enlisted aliens; nearly a quarter of the Corp’s first members were Irishmen. There were few inducements to attract seafaring Americans into the Corps aside from sheer patriotism. Marine
privates were only paid $6.00 a month, while able seamen could earn $17.00 in the U.S. Navy. Sailors with special skills could make up to $50.00 a month.
The Marine Corps offered no recruiting bounties in those early years, but prospective enlistees were promised a generous annual clothing allowance of $20.00 to $25.00. On October 26, 1798, Commandant Burrows described the handsome uniform that was issued to his Marines on a
yearly basis:
Blue cloth jacket, lapelled and faced with red, edged with red and a red belt, red cuffs cut underneath with one small button; red collar, with a shoulder strap, edged with red, ending with red wings below the shoulder, one coat to each soldier. Red vest, blue woolen overalls with red seams, two to each; naval buttons to all, viz: an Eagle, with a shield on the left wing, enclosing a foul anchor. A common hat, trimmed with yellow, turned up on the left side with a leather cockade, one to each. White linen overalls, two to each. Shirts ruffled to the bosom, four to each. Shoes, with strings, or ribband, two pairs to each. Two Epaulettes for each Sergeant, one Epaulet for each Corporal. The Epaulets are yellow silk. Drummers and fifers dress: Red cloth coat, with a blue belt, edged with common yellow livery, blue cuffs, edging the same, with a blue shoulder strap edging the same, ending with blue wings, below the shoulder and edging the same. Another standard piece of Marine clothing was the watch cloak. Since sentry duty was a Marine’s most common task aboard ship. The Secretary of the Navy allotted one watch cloak for every two men in December 1798.
The first Marine uniform was based on garments designed for the Rifle Battalions of the Legion of the United States. Since the Army had abandoned the legionary structure and converted the Rifle Battalions into standard infantry units, the surplus riflemen’s clothing was issued to Burrow’s Marines- a sensible economy measure.
The Marines were not always satisfied with their uniforms. Many items were shoddily made or unsuitable for wear at sea. On May 13, 1799, a disgusted lieutenant wrote Commandant Burrows; “A number of the Marines have lost their hats overboard by accident, and I have procured others for them...The hats that I received from the Agent for them were of a bad quality. After they had been wet a few times they cracked and broke very much, so badly that some are worn out, and I have replaced them by others.” Burrows attempted to improve matters in March 1800 by authorizing a special summer uniform fro his troops. “There has been adopted a Summer Dress for the Marines,” Burrows announced, “a white linen coatee made of Russia Duck with a red cape. Lapelled with two buttons on each side bound Ferret and a small skirt about six inches long; overalls edged with red.” Burroughs recommended that his Marines receive two white coats apiece, but any man who wanted the “Summer Dress” had to pay for it out of his pocket.
The Quasi-War provided the U.S. Marines with few opportunities fro glory, but whenever they came, Burrow’s men performed well. The marine guard of the USS CONSTELLATION distinguished itself in that frigate’s victories over the L’INSURGENTE and the VENGEANCE. Other marine detachments participated in the successful amphibious operations at Puerta Plata on Santo Domingo and St. Christopher on Dutch Caracao. Following the Quasi-War, the corps was reduced in size. Lieutenant Colonel Burrows stayed on as Commandant until 1804, when he was forced to resign by growing ill health and financial difficulty.
Editors Note- Please take a minute to look at the similarity with our
uniforms and the modern dress blues of the US Marine Corps. We are
often mistaken for Marines.
http://www.legionville.com/index.htmlESTORE THE REPUBLIC
R.W. “Dick Gaines
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SEE ALSO:
http://en.wikipedia.orgwiki/Uniforms_of_the_United_States_Marine_Corps
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