Posted on 09/08/2008 12:09:05 PM PDT by cll
WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Aug. 25, 2008) -- Out with the old, in with the blue. The Army has made it official; the green service uniform, which has defined the service since the mid-1950s, is on the outs.
In place of the green uniform will be a variation of the blue uniform, something many Soldiers already own. Official word on the new "Army Service Uniform," or ASU, was released Aug. 20 in a message to all Army activities. The message defines the wear policy and the "bridging" strategy for transition to the new uniform.
"It's a culmination of transformation efforts that started in 2004," said Sgt. Maj. of the Army Kenneth O. Preston of the new ASU. "We had three 'Class A' style uniforms, all the same style jacket, with just a different color -- the policies on how we wore accoutrements on them were different. We asked the question -- if we wear one only, which would it be? And the blue uniform was the most popular of the three."
The new ASU coat, similar to the existing blue coat, will be made of a wrinkle-resistant material and will have a more "athletic" cut.
Other changes to the uniform include authorization of a combat service identification badge to recognize combat service, overseas service bars authorized on the jacket sleeve for both enlisted Soldiers and officers, the wear of distinctive unit insignia on the shoulder loops of the blue coat for enlisted Soldiers, authorizing paratroopers to wear the black jump boots with the blue ASU, and the decision to transition to a new short sleeve and long sleeve white shirt with shoulder loops.
It is also permissible for enlisted Soldiers to wear both overseas service bars and service stripes on the new blue ASU coat. Officers and Soldiers in the grade of corporal and above will additionally wear a gold braid on their slacks to indicate leadership roles.
"That is kind of a right of passage as you transition from being a (junior) enlisted soldier to a noncommissioned officer," Preston said of the gold braid.
New items for the ASU will be available in military clothing sales after July 2009.
Soldiers will be expected to possess the entire uniform by July 2014. The two key components of the uniform, the coat and slacks, are expected to cost around $140, with modifications bringing the total cost to $200. Enlisted Soldiers will receive an increase in their annual uniform allowance to help offset the cost of the uniform.
Cool....;^)
“I believe the Infantry was white.”
Light blue. Trust me on that one. I wrote a book on the Civil War USCT which featured colored plates of soldiers in all three branches. Boy did I have to document everything. (It was for Osprey, Ltd.)
During Civil War and well into the Indian Wars, even rank insignia was colored to match the service branch. Cavalry had red stripes and rockers, infantry light blue, and artillery red.
The WWI jacket was sharper more military looking.
They should have reissued the Civil War cap an American original instead of those French looking berets.
Artillery IIRC didn’t have the red stripe on the dress blues.
At least I’ve never seen the red stripe on the blues the officers wore on occasion in the artillery units I was in. (HHB 1/17FA, HHB DIVARTY 1AD, HHB 1/101FA, and HHB 1/102FA)
As far as officers, for field and company grade officers they have bands on the jacket sleeves, the band on the service cap, and on the shoulder straps that are colored in the first-named color of the officer’s basic branch.
Those berets are awful...they look like the poor soldier has an unfortuate dermatological growth on his face.
I dig garrison caps.
Regards,
PS: No skirts for the ladies?
101st!!!
Death from above
thethirdruffin, you useless groundpouding redleg, answer the question.
;-)
“Cavalry should go back to the 1800’s blue uniforms with authorized Stetsons.”
That would be nice.
I’m not sure about older uniforms having the red pant stripes or not though.
Actually, you're both right. The color of infantry facings and trouser stripes was either white or light blue, depending on the time frame. During one period, the facings on the uniform jacket, and color of the rank chevrons was light blue, while the trouser stripes were white. Since the trousers were already light blue, white provided a better look.
The stupidity of the Army Uniform Board strikes again!
It’s an Air Force uniform!
“101st...Death from Above” (?)
101st...Choking Chickens!
(just teasing...)
OK, I’m really having a problem with this new uniform. I live in VA - near Manassas, and frankly some good ole boys around here might freak out if they see a bunch of troops in this new Army uniform - It’ll remind them of the Yankee War of Aggression...
LOL! I mufti I’m still wearing my Goober Pea Stetson though.
You know, I have no idea.
I avoided wearing anything but a BDU with great sucess after I was eligible for the stripe, and think I got away with the same pair of plain slacks for 12 years.
I was never an officer, just a E-8 (not that any officer below a major screwed with me).
Yeah.
I can count on one hand the number of times I had to wear my class A’s.
I was in the Active Army from 83-85, and again from 87-89 (Medically(honorably) discharged in 0889 as a Sgt/E5). Since I served in combat arms (Field Artillery), I did not have many opportunities to wear my class A, Army Green uniform. When I did, I wore the uniform according to regs and with pride. Frankly, I always considered the Greens a sharp looking uniform. Apparently, today’s generation of soldiers overwhelmingly hate the greens. In my opinion, the soldiers of today who can’t stand the greens are going to like the Army Service Uniform even less. Perhaps not. Who knows? In my opinion, The blues should remain in service for ceremonial and social occasions only for soldiers who are required to possess the uniform. The new Army Service Uniform looks like something the bloody Air Force came up with! As for the puke green shirt that phat head made mention of, I wore that shirt with the green Class A uniform coat, and also as part of the class B uniform. Personally, I didn’t think it was that bad looking. In retrospect, the Army could have modified the old khaki dress shirt so that shoulder boards could be worn by NCOS and Officers, instead of introducing the Green Shirt with shoulder board loops. That would have been neat. OH, PhatHead, the Army stopped wearing the blue uniform in the field shortly after the Spanish American War. As I recall, some units down in Cuba actually wore wool blue uniforms in a tropical climate! Anyway, the ASU had better be as durable as the old Dress Greens. Frankly, the current blue uniform is a high maintenance uniform and is not as durable as the greens. It was not meant to be shoved into a duffel bag like the greens. By the way, I did not own a set of blues because I was a “Cannon Cocker”. Sorry for rambling folks. Hope the Army isn’t making a big mistake.
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