September 26, 2007
Looking sharp
The Navy is looking to its past for some "new" uniforms, reviving the service dress khaki for officers and chief petty officers, and reinstating a real dress white uniform with piping on the cuffs and flap.
The khaki uniform is versatile, as well as good looking; the working khaki uniform (open collar) requires only a black tie and a coat to complete the transition to more formal-wear.
This is, with very minor differences, the uniform worn by the Navy during World War II, an era that sported the best looking servicemen in U.S. history.
Alas, only the Marines have retained their 1940s-era uniforms with relatively few changes; the Army and Air Force are horror shows when it comes to their dress uniforms.
It's a mixed bag with the Navy: while enlisted men still have the "crackerjack" uniform, the dungaree working uniform is being phased out and replaced with a generic, janitorial-looking outfit.
One of the nice things about retaining the traditional uniforms is the degree of continuity it provides between those who serve and those who served.
It makes me proud to see pictures of Dad in his Korean War-era blues -- the same style I wore thirty years later, and it's a kick to see Dad joking and smoking with his shipmates in his bellbottom dungarees, chambray shirt and white dixie-cup hat -- the same outfit I wore aboard ship.
It's a shame the Navy is getting rid of the dungarees; one step forward and one step back, I guess.
Posted by Mike Lief at September 26, 2007 11:30 AM
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Comments
I dont know if i'd say the replacement for dungarees looks like a janitor's uniform. Its camoflage for god's sake.
And the service uniform looks like the marine's!
http://www.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=22519&page=3
Posted by: wsb at September 26, 2007 03:18 PM
Now let's see them bring back blue combination-cap covers for winter use. And flat hats....
Posted by: RM1(SS) (ret) at September 26, 2007 04:26 PM