This is so obscure I’m embarrassed to ask – but then again, I just re-upped on the board for $14.95 so I guess I’m entitled and I really wanna know.
I have two US Navy CAPT/CDR combination caps in front of me. One was purchased in about 1998. It looks normal with a fairly broad bill. The other cap was purchased this week and the bill on it is much narrower and smaller – it looks like something out of a comic opera.
Did I miss something? Did the Navy change their combination cap design and not tell me about it? Thanks.
The covers look unchanged to me, but the regs apparently do not specify the size of the visor. What is the brand of the new cover? (The major brand is “Bancroft.”)
Looking at the NEX online uniform shop, they are apparently selling covers made by “Kingform” and “Bernard,” which I’ve never heard of. Maybe these manufacturers are doing things a little screwy?
FWIW, the photos of the models in the USN Uniform Regs are the same ones that have been used for at least the last two decades.
The question I’d ask is whether you’re sure that both combination caps are for the same gender? I was never a khaki, but my impression had been that there were subtle, but visible differences between the shapes of the combination covers for men and women.