US Army gives away the Beret

[Ducimus]

Outside of units like SeaBee's, ive always wondered why the Navy had to have a camo uniform at all. I remember back in 93 or 94 i was taking a few classes at the Naval construction training center in gulfport, and i did see some dunguree's, but im guessing they were fresh out of boot. At some point in their training they stopped wearing them. I have to say though, watching a platoon or whatever the navy calls a unit formation march was funny. Bell bottoms dangling in the breeze everywhere.

[Platapus]

Have you seen the new digital cammies for the Air Force

They are blue.

How many times does an Air Force member need to blend in with the sky?

You can't see me. I am up here in the sky!

I loved the Khakis Uniform myself.
We still used them in the early '80's and they just kicked arse!
Highly polished Jump Boots with the 2 inch soles and all those pretty braids dripping off the shoulders added to the killer Maroon Beret tilted at just the right angle?

OHHH! The hours needed to get that beret formed just right!
And the work needed to get those jump boots formed and polished to perfection!


Also, 4para,
I did some training over there.
Do they still use those barrage balloons as a jump platform?

Also jumped with the Egyptian AirBorne.
THAT was a trip!!
I still have my Wings from that jump.

[MH]

Originally Posted by privateer

OHHH! The hours needed to get that beret formed just right!

All armies are similar i guess.

Originally Posted by MH

All armies are similar i guess.

It's that 'I want to look my best' thing.

After months of very hard training?
We all want to portray ourselfs in the very best of light.
A killer Uniform does wonders to boost that feeling of pride and self worth when you go home.

Being from a small town I remember the first time I went home on my first leave.
As I tried to enter my old hang out, several Guys were blocking the door.
This place was not for the faint of heart by any stretch of the imagination!
It was the place only the baddest of the bad would go to.
I had my Khakis on. Bloused, ribboned and with my Maroon Beret.
One of the Guys said "Lookout! It's a Special Forces Guy!"
And pulled his friend out of the door.
I turned around as I stepped aside, wondering who was behind me!
I don't think I ever felt prouder as I explained I was only a ParaTrooper
home for a few days.
(Of course being the center of attention to all the fine Females that nite was worth 6 months of training! )

[MH]

We used to shave(lol) our berets then press them under the bed for around a week.
In IDF we rarely put berets on our heads but it has to go neatly on the shoulder since it costs lots of suffering to get it.

I recall wetting the new 'mushroom' hat,
then standing in the Sun for hours as it dried.
All the while shapeing it to get that 'just right' look.
Once dried and shaped?
We would shave it as you mention.
And if you made a 'oops!' during shaveing?
You started all over again!

2 things were paramount for us ParaTroopers.
A finely crafted Beret that We WOULD fight over.
And those custom Boots!
Only new Troopers had stock soles on thier boots.
After a few days in the Company?
You sent them out for the 2 inch soles.
They were a bit heavier but kept you up out of the mud saveing your feet alot.

[MH]

Originally Posted by privateer

You sent them out for the 2 inch soles.
They were a bit heavier but kept you up out of the mud saveing your feet alot.

2 inch soles?
Light infantry leather boots for me-preferably softened worn out a bit.
2 inch soles sounds like something for armored unit.

And did you take those boots into the shower and get them good and soaked?
That would break them in real quick.
We were actually required to do that in basic training the very first day.
And I still do that with all my work boots to this day!

2 inch soles on a pair of jump boots just have a look that says "BAD"!


And to be honest?
We never used them in the field if we could avoid it!

[MH]

We used gun oil and boot paste for that.
In IDF generally there is no such a thing as non field boots.
There is 'A' uniform which is almost the same as field one-plain khaki.

[em2nought]

One of the stupid things about being in the Navy was having an entire sea bag full of required uniforms. Should have really only needed dungarees and coveralls. Could have used the space to help to have something resembling a "life". One more reason to "get out".

Army should have boonie hats with the places they go, at least the sun would be shaded (although ripstop doesn't have much SPF from what I can tell). Glad I never had to wear a nazi looking helmet either, even if it saves lives(which is a dubious claim since maybe if more lives were lost while playing war, less stupid actions would be taken by powers that be)

[Stealhead]

Originally Posted by Platapus

Have you seen the new digital cammies for the Air Force

They are blue.

How many times does an Air Force member need to blend in with the sky?

You can't see me. I am up here in the sky!

Uh you are thinking of the new US Navy BDU not the USAF BDU

new USAF: http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums...amouflage-Pics

new US Navy last section of page:http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/...-jordan-02045/

So it is "you cant see me I am the sea!!"

[Platapus]

I was on an Air Force base when I saw them and it did not look like a squidly. I could be wrong. The Navy has been lurking around all sorts of bases in the last few years.

[Stealhead]

They must have been Navy troops the USAF just made the Tiger Stripe love child pattern as the only official "Work" uniform just in 2011 been around since 2006 though(I missed it by one year thank god I think the pattern is odd).I don't see why they'd change to a different pattern less than a year after making one official the brass that make these decisions are a bit stupid but they are not that stupid.Also I have heard nothing from friends that are still on active duty in the USAF about any sort of blue pattern.

The USMC started the trend of the "digital" patterns they got the idea from the Canadian Military CADPAT(both came out at around the same time but the Canadians had been developing theirs longer and Im sure some Marine got the idea) then the Army was next with theirs then the AF and the Navy was last.Some of the patterns are questionable.You will also see US troops wearing this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MultiCam-trans.jpg I saw some guys wearing this at the Airport a few months back turns out that some special ops units wear it as well as the 173rd Airborne and other Airborne units and also Rangers.

The ergonomics of the uniforms has been vastly improved over the old "BDUs" mainly in the layout of pockets they also gave up on the old buttons and use heavy gauge zippers or velcro which are much more practical the front breast pockets they slanted which is how they where during Vietnam they made them straight to line up better with name tapes but being straight you can not put anything in them if you have a ruck sack straps going over your shoulders the slanted pockets don't have this issue.The USAF "ABU" has not been very popular some of its pockets are rather useless and the material is said to be too heavy in hotter climates and the pattern has been questioned by many airmen same goes for the Army ACU it was rated as poor in certain types of terrain and barley effective in Afghanistan by many troops.

As you can see even when they get the good idea to make a more useful combat/working uniform they still at times focus too much on looks.I think that the "combat uniform" should be functionality only you can get your "looks" from the dress uniforms.When I was in the USAF we only wore the BDU pants and the under shirt and hung up the blouse in a locker at shop and wore either blue or OD green coveralls if you where lucky youd traded some of the blue coveralls for some tanker coveralls from "Old Iron Sides" tankers they liked the lighter weight blue ones and we liked their heavier more durable tanker coveralls the brass is not on flight lines very often so no one was able to get at us for not wearing a proper AF coverall and it was about wearing the most practical stuff not looking cool.

Also post 92' 93' many bases are used by multiple branches they combined the training commands to all be at the same base for the same job so you cant assume just because it is an Air Force Base that every person you see on the base is an airman.For example Fort Lenard Wood is where they train most every form of heavy or specialty vehicle operator for every branch.All DOD working dog technical training is done at Lackland AFB those are just a few examples.That does not consider troops just stopping over.Also many foreign troops wear bluish patterns and will find a handful of Gulf State air force members training at many bases.

It is funny because in the old day at least BDU wise every branch had the same uniform now I suppose it is trendy to market your self and be different when really it does make sense to use the same thing when your doing the same thing.That was the idea that McNamara had and to some extent it is a sound practice when gear is doing the same job from one branch to another it should be universal McNamara just took the concept to the extreme and thought every thing should be universal when sometimes this does not work.They are spending millions of dollars on all these different uniforms money that could be better used some place else.

Hey at least we dont have integrated reflector strips like the new Australian Navy uniform does. http://www.navy.gov.au/File:New_navy_uniform1.jpg
Are they serious? The guys face looks like that because he hears the bullets snapping past him.

Might as well just wear a bulls eye.

O.K. I did some searching and found some airmans blog there was a test version of the current "ABU" that did have a much more blue tone to it but the testers hated it so they
dropped it went with the current pattern maybe you saw someone with that test pattern they normally make the SPs at the gate wear new crap like that. This was the test pattern that they dropped: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_t7cpKso2WZ...520uniform.jpg this would have been way back in 2007 though if your visit was around that time period it probably was the test pattern that you saw.A way to tell Navy(and Marines) from others is they roll up their sleeves showing the inside of the fabric the Army and Air Force do not also Navy and Marines wear pointed field hats Army and AF do not.

[TLAM Strike]

As bad as our uniforms are just be glad you are not these guys...


^Troops of the Elite Iranian Revolutionary Puffy Hat Brigade.



^The Iranian Munchkin Soldier Regiment?