blouse
and the Dress "C" (with blue trousers)
All Dress uniforms include trousers, unless you're a WM.
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Posted on 10/19/2007 2:09:06 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd
OCEANSIDE, Calif. (AP) - The Marine Corps is taking on the role of fashion police. Earlier this year, the Marine Corps commandant updated the regulations on what Marines can and cannot wear, on duty and off, in the United States. Among the fashion don'ts: No shiny metal or gems on your teeth, no designs carved in your hair, no flashy jewelry and no bare midriffs or excessive cleavage.
But it is Gen. James T. Conway's ban on the wearing of camouflage uniforms, or "cammies," off base that is getting the most attention, changing not only the appearance of the Marines but also the look of their communities.
Under the new regulation, Marines in camouflage cannot get out of their vehicles to run an errand or grab a meal on their way to or from the base. No pumping gas, running into the post office or picking up a cup of joe, either.
Although Marines were always largely prohibited from wearing uniforms off base, they were allowed to make brief stops during their commutes. Now they can stop only for a medical emergency, a traffic accident or a breakdown.
Around Oceanside, a community about 35 miles north of San Diego where Marines from neighboring Camp Pendleton are a common sight, the most noticeable effect is at fast food drive-thrus. Long lines are forming because Marines in uniform are not allowed to get out of their cars and go inside.
John Alexander, who works at GI Joe's, a military surplus store, said customers don't drop in during the middle of the day anymore, though business picks up in the late afternoon.
"There's no such thing as a quick trip anymore," he said.
Navy Senior Chief David Matthews, 39, said the scene is the same in Jacksonville, N.C., outside Camp Lejeune. Matthews said some Marines and Navy personnel have come up with creative ways to run errands during duty hours.
"They get a buddy who has civilian clothes on to go with them. They drive and wait while their buddy gets out of the car and runs the errand," he said.
Marines caught in uniform off base can get a warning; for repeat offenses, they can be restricted to their barracks and their pay can be docked.
While the military has always had strict guidelines for what service members can wear, even out of uniform, Conway said the updated regulations are about maintaining Marine "uniformity and pride in appearance."
"It wasn't that Marines were blatantly breaking the rules. It was more of a tradition, and we just needed to get it back in the box, put it in writing and say here's the policy, here's the rules," said Staff Sgt. Jesse Lora, a spokesman at Camp Pendleton.
Earlier this year, the Marines banned extra-large tattoos below the elbow or the knee, saying such body art is harmful to the Corps' spit- and-polish image.
Some businesses are getting creative to cope with the no-cammies-off- base rule, which was issued in July.
In Oceanside, the Colimas Mexican Restaurant, popular for its takeout lunch, now runs a sort of carhop service for Marines, who call in their orders and then wait in their cars for delivery out front.
Andrea Cerda, who works at Dorothy's Military Shop, a tailor shop, said it is not uncommon to see Marines changing clothes in their car, wriggling out of their pants and boots and into civilian wear.
"You see them bending around their steering wheel or moving back and forth in the driver's seat and you know what they are doing," she said.
During a quick trip recently to drop off dry cleaning in Oceanside, Lance Cpl. Nicholas Doucakis, 20, had to change clothes on base. He said the regulation didn't bother him.
"If you are a Marine, they want you to look a certain way," he said. "I guess in a way they don't want you to look like a disgrace to society."
As for other branches of the military, Army soldiers can wear combat uniforms off base, and Navy personnel can wear some uniforms off base and off ship.
Under the updated Marine regulations, women are prohibited from baring their midriffs, wearing any lingerie-type clothing on the outside or wearing low-slung pants or blouses that show excessive cleavage.
"On the topic of wearing lingerie as outerwear, is the commandant kidding?" said TV style guru Tim Gunn of Bravo's "Project Runway." "Has this really been an issue? Surely, the Marines aren't accepting Britney into their ranks."
blouse
and the Dress "C" (with blue trousers)
All Dress uniforms include trousers, unless you're a WM.
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"stupid crap" like this is designed to instill good order and discipline and gets you into the habit of following orders, something which you no doubt would find great difficulty in doing. If your friends/acquaintances have any brains they'll ignore a putz like you.
A military organization cannot leave off-base wear up to individuals, because among them are individuals who were formerly pierced and/or tattoed lower-class mall rats whose idea of dress and deportment com from MTV and gangsta rap. If you're going off base in civilian clothes, they have to be proper civilian clothes. I.E., you ought to look better than civilians you left behind in your former life.
If you're going off base in uniform, it should be in the proper uniform of the day, not a field uniform. Quite simple, really.
We are having a bit of a fashion crisis in this great land, young fellow, and not only among the young. Grown men are walking the streets of our towns looking like the vagrants of their fathers' generation. Compare they way the crowd looks at a ball game today with the crowds in old newsreels.
And speaking of really important crises, who authorized the wearing of those ridiculous patent leather pre-spitshined shoes? Makes an officer look like a tango instructor!
You should know better. The Peoples Republik in SF may not, but for the most part, Californians respect and admire the military.
As for the uniform policy, the BDU’s are considered a Utility uniform and not for general wear off base. The AF has the same rules in allowing convenience stops off base.
As other posters have said, after a while, folks tend to take advantage of the allowance and start looking like S***. Then the commanders have to rein everyone back in.
This regulation has NOTHING to do with California.
SZ
Dress Blues were the Utility uniform of the 1800’s just as greens were of the early 1900’s.
Personally I believe that if Marines want to wear utilities (cammies) off base then they should give up the right to wear civilian clothes.
Actually I really believe they shouldn’t be allowed to wear civilian clothes at all, unless their duties demand it.
My 15 months of combat in the worst spots in Iraq speaks for itself, thank you very much. It wouldn’t have been made any more successful had I not been allowed to proudly wear my uniform off-post.
Discipline is one thing. Idiotic decrees from higher-ups who seem to have nothing better to do is quite another.
Get bent, dickhead. You don't know anything about me or my experience or where I've been or what I've done. And you sure as hell had better be a combat vet if you think you can even begin to talk to me like that.
I have never, never seen a sloppy looking Marine off base.
The Army and the Marine Corps are different, and the uniform regs are merely one in a whole host of differences that seperate them.
I’ve met and served with several fine soldiers, and my father, who I still revere, served in the US Army in the 28th Division during WWII.
Your service in Iraq is deeply appreciated by me. Perhaps you would repay me the courtesy of returning that respect by not disparaging the branch of service that I went to OIF with.
You are entitled to your opinions, but remember the FR is populated by a lot of vets who have as much pride in the USMC as you obviously have in the army. Ribbing and interservice rivalry are fine, but when start putting a hard edge on it, expect the same in return.
Perhaps it would be better to focus on the team aspect...
Welcome home and, if I may, Semper Fi.
Ha....the bag clashes....
Okay Friend, Here I am:
I don’t know what grade/rank you were when you served in the US Navy or what Characterization of Service you were awarded at the time of your discharge (and I wont ask) but I surmise by your tone and attitude in your last thread that you might have had some trouble “following the rules.”
In the military, as you may know, rules and regulations are not made to “make somebody’s life a little more difficult” or “because someone on high is being stupid.” Rules, regulations, and orders are written for the “greater good of all members” AND overall “general good order and discipline” otherwise you have members doing just what the hell they want to do.
If all service members, no matter what branch, could assure the command or staff leadership that they could abide by wearing an appropriate uniform off-base, then there would be no need to dictate the specifics on “Uts and Boots” out in town. That is not going to happen because the leadership usually has to deal with the 10 percent of service members who just don’t give a damn about any rule or regulation.
As a point on rules, laws, etc, I always like to point to a classic line in the movie “Midnight Express” where the main character Billy Hayes is complaining about getting locked up in a Turkish jail for trying smuggle hashish out of the country... He felt that the “law” (read rule) was wrong. The character played by Randy Quaid responds: “It’s not whether the is law is wrong or the law is right, the law IS.
ALL Marines, Sailors, Soldiers can make their service experience more enjoyable if they JUST FOLLOW THE RULES!
“ALL Marines, Sailors, Soldiers can make their service experience more enjoyable if they JUST FOLLOW THE RULES!”
Nice touch, exempting Airmen....
I would like to see more cammies in public. Gives me more opportunity to pay for their meal and thank them.
Marines have always been able to wear their uniform off base, except for utilities (cammies), overalls, and flight suits, which are regarded as work clothes.
That is the reasoning that USMC fixed wing aviators wear different colored t shirts; it’s not a uniform.
ET1(SS) (Nuclear). EP on evals. Honorable discharge, you little prick (for questioning my service).
Maybe it had something to do with the fact that in Adm. Rickover's nuclear propulsion program you are required to question the rules, not follow stupid credos like: "ALL Marines, Sailors, Soldiers can make their service experience more enjoyable if they JUST FOLLOW THE RULES!"
Perhaps you never did anything in your military career that was of great enough significance that required you to think about the rules that you followed. That was not the same for me. I have had often tell officers and senior enlisted that they were screwed up and that even the procedures that they were following were screwed up. And if there was a rule that existed for some reason I would be expected to question it. If I didn't hundreds of millions of dollars of hardware and the safety of a nuclear reactor located less than 20 miles from a major city were at stake. Blind compliance would have gotten me fired.
Blindly following the rules is what the brainless do. Servicemembers have brains and question the rules all the time. If a rule makes sense they will follow it. If it does not they will have it changed. They will not simply find a stupid way to comply with it.
Back to the way it was when I was in the Corps. In my day emergency stops were allowed, but it was abused something terrible. Everything became an “emergency”, from stopping for milk to making an hour long stop to shop for furnitue.
About time it got reined back in.
Are you kidding?
Any Marine who would think of disgracing the uniform is disgracing the Corps.
Marines are Marines, obeying regs is a pretty distinguishing characteristic that sets them apart (and it seems to have worked fairly well over the last couple hundred years).
Stryker semper fis to you, but I doubt you’ll ever be a snake eater.
Whew! I got a couple today, as a matter of fact : )
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