Are people in the armed forces allowed to wear their uniforms outside of a military context?
I’m asking because I was watching American Idol tonight and noticed a few contestants who came to the audition wearing a uniform, and from what I’ve been told, in Canada that would be frowned upon; you’re only supposed to wear the uniform when you’re working or training. Of course, this was info from a friend and I don’t have a cite, so if anyone can confirm or deny the facts, I’d appreciate it.
Does anyone know for sure whether there are rules about when and where to wear the uniforms? If it’s not permitted, what are the consequences?
I’d like to know the rules for Canada, the US, and anywhere else, because now I’m curious if it’s different for different countries.
That sailor was wearing an appropriate uniform in an appropriate way.
The rules attempt to keep uniforms out of situations where the wearer might seem to be giving official military sanction to a political event or stance. There are also rules against wearing them to most kinds of protests.
You also need to wear an appropriate uniform (right season for the Navy, and the Navy has very strict prohibitions against wearing working uniforms in social situations.)
There are a few times where a servicemember might be directed to wear civilian clothing in an area where military members are specifically targeted by terrorism or crime.
I was once in ROTC and the military has it all written down of course but I don’t pretend to remember it all. As indicated above, it certainly isn’t prohibited. My younger brother wore his Marines dress uniform to his wedding for example.
In the U.S., it used to be (i.e., when I was in the Army in 1968-70) that you could wear the uniform pretty much where you wanted as long as there was no risk that you would bring discredit to your service or lead someone to believe that your service supported a particular political viewpoint. For example, wearing your uniform to a Veterans Against the War rally would get you in very hot water and wearing your uniform to a disreputable bar would probably cause a stink. Wearing your uniform to a church wedding or to the PTA meeting would be fine. (I used to put on my uniform when hitchhiking up and down the East Coast - as fast as driving.)
There were then restrictions on what uniform you could wear and what you could do when wearing it. Work uniforms (i.e., Navy dungarees and Army fatigues) could be worn to and from work and while on duty but no where else. You couldn’t, for example, stop on the way home for breakfast at Bob’s Big Boy after getting off the night shift. And you couldn’t do undignified things in uniform. I remember that the Army prohibited officers from carrying two bags of groceries or an infant while in uniform because it didn’t look dignified.
Nowadays, things have changed. It is still forbidden to wear the uniform to political events or when wearing the uniform could bring discredit to the service, but the military realizes that folks in uniform can be great publicity. I think all the services like to see their people in uniform in environments that potentially bring credit to their service. And when I asked a Navy officer recently about prohibitions against carrying two bags of groceries or an infant while in uniform he just laughed.
The other change is that they must have figured out that people think desert camouflage fatigue uniforms look cool. That’s the only reason I can imagine that you see soldiers, from recruits to generals running around everywhere in their work uniforms. (The Navy, as has been pointed out, still restricts the wearing of work uniforms off base off duty.)
So basically, the services’ position is: if it makes us look good, wear it; if it makes us look bad, don’t.
I’m a soldier, currently serving in the US Army and Yeah’s spot on, at least as far as Army regulations are concerned.
Dress uniforms can be worn pretty much anywhere/anytime you’d wear a suit, i.e wedding, funeral, formal dinner, nice restaurant, etc.
Utility uniforms like BDU’s or the new ACU (Army Combat Uniform) can be worn most places you’d wear jeans, i.e. fast food joint, Chili’s, quick run into the mall, etc.
Short of a local commander ordering otherwise, going shopping, to a restaurant, even going to things like a TV show taping, sporting event etc. is allowed in most of our uniforms, so long as the uniform is properly worn and you won’t bring discredit upon yourself or the Army.
The primary restriction, and this is strictly enforced, is against appearing at political events/rallies, etc. when said appearance might lend itself to the idea that you might be there in an official capacity representing the Army or the Government.
Examples off the top of my head:
Professional wrestling event at the Colisseum? OK in any uniform.
Right-to-life rally? Not OK.
Movie theater downtown? OK in any uniform
Democratic/Republican convention? Not OK.
Nice resaurant? Definately OK in Class A, tacky but probably technically legal in BDU or ACU.
Shopping for a new car? OK. Just don’t appear in a TV commercial for the dealer in uniform! (I’ve seen them and I hate it)
KKK rally? Don’t be there at all. Protesting the KKK? Not OK in uniform.
American Idol? OK. I didn’t see the program in the OP, but it was probably fine.
The other services have different rules. I’m pretty sure that Air Force rules run pretty much the same as the Army. Navy and Marine rules state that utility uniforms can’t be worn anywhere off-post except for to and from duty and to make a quick stop at a gas station, say for milk and bread (and even that’s frowned upon). I work in a Joint environment with Marines and this severely limits lunch options on days they’re dressed in utilities.
This is completely second hand info. When my brother was doing his military service in Spain they were told they could not wear their uniforms while off duty. If they wore the uniform, they were assumed to be on duty. Say that one of them was walking down the street in uniform and an officer saw him and gave him an order: the soldier couldn’t say “oh, but I’m not on duty and anyway you’re not in my chain of command.” It’s an officer of the same army* in which you’re a soldier, he’s in uniform, you’re in uniform, so long as the order isn’t illegal you freaking well obey. (*The Spanish term ejército covers all services. An “army” which doesn’t include Navy, Air Force, etc would be ejército de tierra.)
I think this isn’t just different regs but a general different attitude. I’m always surprised when I’m in the US and I see people wearing clothes that are clearly a work uniform, when they’re clearly not on duty nor even in their work center. In Spain an employer that requires uniforms must provide at least two uniforms a year, a locker, changing room, showers… it’s up to each company to decide who’s in charge of the washing (usually the company) but the only uniformed people you see in the subway are cops, subway employees and security guards, all of them on duty.
I noticed at the airport that the troops traveling were in their BDUs. I thought that in such a situation they were supposed to wear something higher up on the fancy scale, like their class B* or whatever. When did this change?
I always got a chuckle at seeing guys all butched out in desert fatigues or even flight suits, even though their job was working in a cubicle in Crystal City.
It’s not like the one guy was a rogue sailor or anything. The Navy let AI shoot footage on an aircraft carrier. They were fully involved and probably see it as free advertising.
Since others have correctly covered the issue of military regs, I’ll address the etiquette question.
In the US, it is perfectly proper, according to standard etiquette, for a servicemember to wear his or her uniform socially. This is assuming, of course, that the uniform being worn is the appropriate one, according to the uniform regs of the particular service.
By ‘standard etiquette’ I mean ‘what you will find in etiquette books.’ I have American etiquette books on my shelves dating from the 1920s to last year and this rule (that the military uniform is appropriately worn socially) is consistent throughout all those books and all those years.
if an officer saw a guy in civvies, he’d assume the guy to be civilian unless he happened to know him. So he might order him to “not pass this point” but not to “take my gun and keep civilians from passing this point”; also, he’d expect a civilian “uh… ok” and not a “siryessir”.
If the officer knew the guy and the situation warranted it, then the officer could tell the guy “you’re on duty now”, but still, that second order wouldn’t work very well. People seeing a soldier standing on a spot saying “don’t go this way” obey; the same for a guy in civvies would lead to a lot of hysterical calls to 112. So the officer would still be limited in what orders he could give to the soldier for practical reasons.
Interesting. Does anyone know what the rules are for Canada? I’ve only ever seen people wearing military outfits if they’re carrying a giant duffel bag and presumably heading off to training or something, or at military weddings, so I wonder what the official word is.
I’m also a little intrigued about how the different branches of the US military have different rules about this - why wouldn’t they all just follow the same besic set of rules?
At one time here, you weren’t allowed to go outside the base in anything but uniform. Indeed you weren’t allowed to be in possession of plain clothes in case you instantly deserted.
Since the early '70s, when terrorism became frequent, off-duty servicemen haven’t been allowed out on a pass in uniform, nor do they generally get seen out and about in it. Weddings would be an exception to this, but I can’t think of many other social occasions where it wouldn’t be thought weird.
Yes. During WWII, for example, you had to wear a uniform at all times. As to wearing it in disreputable places (as if any true blue soldier would do such a thing), the MP’s conveniently placarded some locations as OFF LIMITS.
Now this is funny, then. Last night on C SPAN some House Armed Services subcommittee was having hearings about equipment for Marines in Iraq. Answering questions were 2 Marine brigadiers (commanders of R&D type groups) in dress greens, and a sergeant (combat veteran) in utilities.
Was the rule perhaps “bent” to emphasize the sarge’s combat vet status? He was testifying about Marines’ equipment needs in Iraq, so was a little “spin” being applied? Otherwise I’d find it unusual for anyone to appear in battle dress before a House hearing.