I really don’t understand how wearing the same pair of pants for weeks at a time is any more hygenic than wearing underwear for same period. Unwashed is unwashed.
I can see the packing light point. I can see the sand caught in there point. I do not see hygiene.
Because undies are all snug and tight around your junk. No circulation whatsoever. Don’t underestimate the advantage of things being ‘aired out’. BDU pants are buttoned in the front and allow air to flow… kinda. Undies don’t allow that at all. And instead of the sweat drying and evaporating like it should, it just stays there and gets all funky and nasty and wet and you get crotch rot and stuff. Wet skin gets rubbed off much easier than dry.
Micro Furry, it might seem obvious to you, but practical application and real life experience says otherwise! The tight elastic and poor fitting standard issue undies will rub all the skin off everything down there… There is not that kind of friction with pants alone. Like I said, I dont know the physics of it, but I would NEVER ruck 25 kilometers while wearing underwear.
I did a 4 mile ruck at BASIC wearing undies and learned my lesson early! I did not wear any underwear during Special Forces Assessment and Selection and I was able to avoid any chaffing or fungal infections or any of the other nightmares people suffered through.
Also, IMO, the reason it’s “Go Commando” and not “Go Military” because the rest of the military is not usually too far from their clothes or the means to wash their clothes. “Commando” units, especially like US Army Special Forces, will spend an especially long time in the field.
Seems to me that if commandos were so freakin tough they wouldn’t whine about a little bit of crotch rot.
I’ll bet Marines wear skivvies, and like it. No pussies there.
Peace,
mangeorge.
HA! 
Not only does the wise rucker avoid undies (I cheated once and annihilated a pair of silk Tazmanian Devil boxers in less than 6 miles) cuz of the chafing, the real clever ones grease up w/ vaseline for long MARCHES. It’s probably not good stuff for creeping though sandy beaches, but it lubricates and seems to provide a nice protective barrier against crotch-dwelling nasties from invertibrates to even smaller forms of life.
I always took, “going commando” to refer to the secretive nature of the deed. I am at work (and commando) and nobody knows it. I feel stealthy.
I hesitate to mention swift and unrestricted access to my k-bar–imperitive to effective commando operations.
So Jessica was maybe, you know, nekkid under them camos?
Ive seen guys do the vaseline thing. Never tried it… don’t think I want to. Just the squishyness of it… ewwww… i bet it’s absolutely not a good idea in the sand though!
I just mentioned this to my roommate. I asked him when was the last time he ever wore undies with BDUs… he just laughed. He reminded me about some guys in BASIC who actually cut their underwear off during a march.
Huh?
I have to wear tight boxer-briefs to avoid chaffing.
If i go commando my thighs are fricking sore from rubbing on my pants.
>I did a 4 mile ruck at BASIC
They play rugby there now?
So that’s what you are calling it these days?
I’ve even heard that really tight spandex shorts (or some similar material) are the best at reducing rubbing all over. The problem is that such items are not allowed at Special Forces schools. So it’s Army Issue brown granny undies or nothing at all. I’ve lost all the hair on my thighs from rubbing on the pants, but it never really made thim sore before. YMMV.
This thread here from a couple years ago has some interesting fact-based insights on the origin of the phrase…
Panty hose. I’ve known oil field workers who wore panty hose when working in cold weather. I think hikers (civilian) do too.
I’ve heard that football players wear them too, but I don’t know. I’m not referring to Joe Namath in that famous photo.
Panty Hose on football players? The whole thing? Back when I played, we wore ‘hose like material’ that was only calf high though. The material is good for preventing blisters and adds color to the uniform. Looks nicer than bare legs between the knee-length pants and the shoes.
Are hikers wearing the full hose? Or just for their feet? One trick we have is to wear dress socks (made of that same hose material) under our bootsocks to help prevent blisters on long movements. I’ve never really bothered with any of that. Standard issue socks are fine with me.
If they are wearing the full waist-to-toe hose, it would certainly make sense for hikers. But I’d guess that football pants are already tight enough and would not benefit from hose. Oh yeah, and we called our nylon socks “sanataries” in football. I dont know if that’s what they’re really called or what or why we even called them that.
What I’d like to know is this: do commandos and other military personnel really refer to their underwear as “undies”?
The panty hose wearers I’m sure of are the oilfield workers. And that was in the 70’s. They added warmth and didn’t bunch like thermal undies. Cheap too. I’ll ask my son-in-law if they still do.
The others I’m not positive about, but pretty sure. Same era.
Could it be that some entrepreneur type got wind of the practice and gave us the “specialty” garments of today?
You do know, Phase42, that most military types are, well you know, kinda kinky. All that butt patting and the like.
Oh, wait. That’s baseball.
Mmmmmm…Undies.
Long and entertaining post made short: It’s a guy thing. Over-feminize to imply masculine. I think it’s a technique somewhere between hyperbole & sarcasm.
I am a camper/hiker who wears BDUs frequently. If I run around commando style, I end up with a bad case of heuvos rancheros after a few miles. If you are like me, You got to get a pair of those high performance chones they sell on the camping equipment websites- They are made of nylon/lycra fabric with special anti-fungal treatment. They are quick drying and with some you can hand wash them and hang them up for an hour or two and they are ready to go again without reeking too much-I usually have two pair-no problem. They even work pretty well when kayaking/canoeing when you are wet half the time. Maybe the armed forces should spend more of their time and energy creating the ultimate high-tech undies- our technological advantage will directly translate to success on the battlefield and peace in our world!