Posted on 07/02/2002 6:30:03 AM PDT by TADSLOS
ARLINGTON, Va. — Toss those colored contacts, soldier, and forget about getting that alligator tattooed on your hand: the Army’s new uniform regulations take effect Aug. 1, and both are verboten.
The good news is that you can wear your cell phone on your uniform now — if you need it to do your job and if it’s small enough, that is, according to the new regulation released last week.
This is the first overhaul of Army Regulation 670-1 since 1992, although the policy — which covers all Army uniforms and grooming standards — has undergone several changes in the interim, such as banning certain nail polish and hair dye colors, and requiring nametapes on the Gortex field jacket.
Army officials prefer to update their publications every three to four years, according to Master Sgt. Kittie Messman, the uniform policy noncommissioned officer for the Army’s Personnel Policy branch (the G-1).
But the black beret issue in 2000 and the Sept. 11 attack on the Pentagon, which destroyed the G-1’s front office, were two factors that contributed to the delay.
Army officials are constantly trying to balance what is practical with the need to maintain a conservative and neat appearance — all while remaining sensitive to the diverse range of cultures that make up the Army’s population, she said.
In a conservative organization that stresses good order, neatness and conformity, it seems ludicrous that the Army would ever need some of the regulation’s prohibitions, such as the one that forbids male soldiers from wearing nail polish.
Not so, Messman said.
"It’s human nature to push the envelope," she said.
Grooming standards generate particular controversy, Messman said, "Because personal grooming is part of your self-identification. In military service, you give up a part of that identity, and while you agree to do that, it’s still hard."
Moreover, today’s very vocal young soldiers are a far cry from their more compliant predecessors, she said.
"We have a different Army now," Messman said. "It’s not just, ‘Drive on, yessir, yessir, three bags full, sir’ anymore. Everybody questions everything these days. They tell commanders, ‘I want to see it in writing.’ "
Meanwhile, Army officials are growing increasingly sensitive to the need to "recognize the differences in different cultures," Messman said.
Thus, a new regulation allows cornrow braids, which for many African-American women are not only an attractive way to keep hair close to the head, but also culturally significant.
In addition to keeping — relatively — current with mainstream America, "one of the hardest things is to keep up with [in the regulation] is technology," Messman said.
As an example, she cited the new policy on wearing cell phones and pagers on duty uniforms.
"When we first started looking at this, it was just pagers," Messman said. But personal cell phones became increasingly common, so Army officials took those devices into consideration, too.
To view the entire Army uniform regulation online, go to www.army.mil/usapa/epubs/pdf/
"We have a different Army now," Messman said. "It’s not just, ‘Drive on, yessir, yessir, three bags full, sir’ anymore. Everybody questions everything these days. They tell commanders, ‘I want to see it in writing.’ "
The Army of One.
And certainly we wouldn't want our soldiers to feel they can't make culturally significant statements.
Boy, that's not the way the Army was when I was there oh so many years ago.
No wonder she is the army fashion spokesgrunt.
Oh, yeah: let one of my troops try that statement out on me or one of my NCOs.
Better Army discipline, through negotiation. OK, everybody! Let's don our black berets and start reading "Who Moved My Cheese?"!!
That's why I prefer the old milita type army of revolutionary times. A man didn't have to subjugate himself in order to defend his country. All he had to do was pick up a musket and come out firing. Nobody cared what he lookld like :)
I get so sick of hearing about people joining organizations and then set in complaining about their policies. No one forced them to join. If they don't like it, they can't get their butts out. It reminds me of that whale Shannon Faulkner whining about wanting in the Citadel and when she got in she started whining about the haircut.
That attitude is going to get somebody killed, one of these fine days.
Funny you should say that: that book was for sale recently at the Ft Belvoir Clothing Sales.
If I see a man wearing nail polish, I immediately think "Gay". But in todays military, you cannot ask and he cannot tell.
Have you ever spent a single day on active duty?
I can just see some NCO with a ruler attempting to measure the uniformity between rows, dress right dressed and covered down...
Only to this generation. This is the generation where each man is his own best friend (goes for women, too, except they still get to go to the bathroom in groups).
Just look around on FR; you'll see plenty of evidence.
With that in mind, "An Army of One" is an appropriate slogan.
Uh-huh. And knowing the tenor of your wisdom, based on your previous posts, I'm sure you'd like to arm them all with those muskets.
No wonder the south lost.
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