In the US military, how many pieces of each article of clothing for uniforms, formal, casual, combat, undies, boots, etc. does each person get?
Are they purchased by the individual with an allowance or just given? What if a person loses their helmet while in combat? Do you have a spare or is there a stockpile somewhere?
What if someone keeps ripping shirts all the time? Is there an incentive, other than pride and personal responsibility, to take care of it all?
Are they specifically assigned? Are there names put into them or is there just a huge pile of clean size L white t-shirts?
Is it the same for boot camp as deployed?
What if I want to wear 2 pairs of socks at a time, doubling what everyone else gets, can I get whatever I want?
Can a long time retiree get or buy a new dress uniform for events rather than wear a 40 year old one with faded fabric?
When deployed, are items carefully accounted for, or could something be stolen by enemy and later used as disguise?
Army surplus stores… Is this the same stuff, overruns, rejects, or just pretend?
Here’s the Navy. I’m assuming you can google for other services. You only get one initial issue. Subsequent uniforms are on your nickel. The only exception I saw to that was the Seabee “greens” uniform. It was a special issue uniform, and you could get replacement items by turning in the old ones.
Enlisted folk receive a clothing maintenance allowance, which is very small. Replacement of worn out uniforms is your responsibility. The only incentive is that you will get your ass reamed if you don’t take care of it. When somebody gets tired of chewing on you, you’ll likely get to see the CO for failing to obey an order.
(speaking from service 20 years ago) Items issued for combat are generally a special issue. If you lose it, you buy it. Same with your weapon etc.
In boot camp, you spend a few hours putting stencils on your clothing. A nice fella stands up in front of you and screams at you about where the stencil is supposed to be placed. Your name goes on everything, including your underwear.
If you want to have extra socks, you’ll have to buy them yourself. PX stores have a uniform store where you can procure them. If you’re retired, you can shop at those same stores.
The only control over uniform items are the periodic readiness inspections that are conducted. Enlisted types lay out all their uniforms on a parade ground and an inspecting officer checks to make sure you’ve got your full issue up to snuff. Otherwise, nobody gives a shit.
Army/Navy surplus stores probably buy their stuff from military disposal facilities. That’s a guess, though.
Lots. Four uniform sets, two pairs boots, one Army Service Uniform (previously Class A Uniform), and a whole bunch of other miscellaneous crap. Then, every time you deploy they shove even more junk at you. (You need a waterproof coat? Here, have this entire GEN III kit) It seriously gets to be a burden after a while.
First one’s free. After that, enlisted get an annual allowance. Officers do not. If they lose their gear in combat, they get a new one from the supply depot. If they lose it through negligence, they get charged for it.
If you show up to work with your uniform looking like crap, you can face punishment up to and including UCMJ. If you were negligent, you pay for it on your own. (Most of us end up with a LOT of tan undershirts and boot socks.) There is a process to DX (direct exchange) uniforms that were damaged in combat or normal wear-and-tear.
There are LOTS of sizes. Some people write their names on them. I went to a school that required you to stencil your name on every item. Not fun. They recently started introducing clothing and armor specifically tailored for women as well. I assume it has more of something I am going to call “boob space.”
Also, the first time I deployed I had to stand in a machine that measured my body with lasers to within 1mm tolerance, and the computer told them what sizes I needed. No, seriously. Some company got paid a shit-ton of money for a laser scanning machine just to tell them I need XXL pants.
I haven’t been in a while. I expect that with the new equipment from ten years of war, basic is using the same stuff we get from RFI. When I went to basic twelve years ago we were still using Vietnam-era leftovers while the real Army had moved to molle gear.
Nobody cares how many socks you wear. As long as they can’t tell the difference from looking at you (camouflage body paint and a light coat of CLP!) how would they know? If you want to buy ten sets of ACUs and lug them around for a year, you can do that, too.
Yes.
LOL, yeah, right. There are dozens of places to buy this stuff on the internet. I’m in Kosovo right now, and I can go into a shopping mall and buy counterfeit ACUs right now (they aren’t very convincing, but still…). In Iraq or Afghanistan they could easily steal them from the laundry facility or the trash. There are large markets that sell gear and uniforms stolen from cargo trucks and whatnot. I remember in 2010-2011-ish the TB actually did attack Bagram wearing ACUs. The bases had big bins where we could throw away old unis for destruction, so that they wouldn’t get stolen by the garbage men.
I haven’t seen counterfeit stuff in surplus stores. There’s not much point when any ETS-ing vet will sell you his stuff or put it on eBay. They also sell new ones straight from the manufacturer - same as you’d get from Ranger Joe’s or US Cavalry. I go to my local surplus store all the time for sewing, insignia, hats, etc etc that they sell slightly cheaper than AAFES.
Way, way back in the early 60’s,n if you were ordered to do something that destruction of personal equipment was just about guaranteed, we were allowed to get it replaced on the ARMY dime.
If in a fire fight, if your weapon was mangled & you are wounded and there is no way or one to carry it out or get it out I would raise holy hell about having to replace it because I lost it. States side training, maybe more often than not but it is still not totally zero tolerance.
Our laundry was free as enlisted and if they could not get it clean, we were usually given until the next payday to make it right.
Can’t speak for now, but when I was commisioned in the Army in 1980 we got $300 to buy all our uniforms. Blues, greens and Fatigues. Didn’t even come close to covering it. Two years later when BDU’s came out had to buy them also. My flightsuits and gear were issued.