I hated those tacky, clingy things! Wearing the Popeye suit was like wearing a garbage bag. They kept your body heat and moisture in while remaining impervious to cooling breezes. I had to stand a watch in shaft alley once while wearing them, just in case a visiting dignitary (then-Vice President George H.W. Bush) decided to drop in to #4 shaft alley for an inspection -- as if that brownshoe flyboy would have ever gone below the waterline! Talk about sweaty — I lokked like I had been dunked in saliva after my watch. Ruined the uniform, too.
And of course the US Navy is the only service in which the wearer's underwear (the skivvy shirt) is a visible part of the dress uniform. Reaaaal classy. They say it's "tradition". My ass. If tradition is so important, they should just go all the way and have squids dress like jolly Jack Tars, complete with knee pants, Donald Duck caps, and ribbons in their hair.
(Sigh.) Oh well. Maybe the Space Force will get it right.
B-chan
Former MM3, USS ENTERPRISE (CVN-65)
