Why is the army changing the base color of its (non-combat) uniforms so often? Isn’t one of the points of a uniform to preserve a sense of continuity and tradition?
From my point of view, I want a particular organization, particularly ones as large and old and important as the uniformed services, to look pretty much the same from decade-to-decade.
Even if minor style points or materials evolve a little from year to year for practical purposes, I think the overall impression that the uniform gives should be consistent over many decades. To me, that’s inherent in the concept of a uniform.
Why are basic style elements, like color, changing so often?
The tradition IS to change uniforms every 5 years or so. I was in the AF for 22 years, and watched the uniform go from regular camo with nametapes, to no nametapes but leather nametags, back to nametapes, new service dress uniform, to everyone having the same US insignia on their collars, back to officers and enlisted being different, to distinctive AF camo uniforms, now some crappy “wartime” camo that people wore in the desert.
I defer to others on whether soldiers have ever liked their dress uniforms, but from the folks I talk to, there seemed a special dislike for the current one. I’ve heard criticisms that they are not durable and that soldiers liked having patches on the shoulders instead of the pins for certain things, like their combat unit, the qualification tabs, etc.
It certainly is in the AF. I grew up an airforce brat and then joined the Air National Guard in the 80s. You’d think I would know all the ranks etc. from when I was a kid? Nope, they’d changed the names of E2 E3 and E4 in the meantime. And E4 had been split into essentially two ranks, Senior Airman and (Buck) Sergeant. Later after I’d been out for a couple years, I went back and visited my old unit and found they’d changed the Master Sergeant insignia.
As for the new Army uniforms, I understand they’re going for a WWII look.
As I said, changes in material are practical. I’m talking about color, which is a much more prominent and basic design element, one that is fundamental to the idea of a uniform.
The new ones look better. My friends in the Army called the old dress uniform “the bus driver suit.” For better or worse, the image of the U.S. Army during World War II has become the most iconic in living memory, so they might as well just roll with it.
And why is the new style called “pinks and greens?” I get the greens part, but where does pink come in? I might have missed it in the linked article, or perhaps they assumed that everyone knows. How could everyone know, it’s not an internet meme is it?
The new uniform is closely modeled on the WWII-era uniform, which at that time were referred to as “pinks and greens”, because the khakis, in some lighting conditions, seem to have a pinkish hue.
The army didn’t change to the blue uniform. There were two uniforms for different circumstances. The green Class A/B and the dress blue uniform existed together for different uses. What happened was the Army decided to use one dress uniform for all situations covered by the previous two. It was essentially the dress blue with some modifications and a new name the Army Service Uniform (ASU). The blue uniform was more expensive and not issued to everyone. Officers were required to have it by regulation. As NCOs moved up to senior ranks there was pressure to purchase the blues for formal events. Some specialized duty positions like the ceremonial guard at Arlington and funeral honor details had troops issued the uniform. The Army is essentially moving back to that old two uniform plan. They are doing it with what had long been a popular proposal to replace the green Class A/B.
There were numerous complaints about it as a daily wear uniform. I didn’t mind it as formal wear and never had to wear it as a daily duty uniform. I can imagine many wearing it regularly still aren’t fans. Wear without the coat (the Class B wear) really draws the eye to the white shirt …and all it’s coffee and lunch stain showing power. The officer rank shoulder boards seems like they would be a giant pain in the ass for carrying a shoulder bag. I could see officers wearing the ASU and commuting on public transportation around DC hating them for that reason. Replacing the right shoulder worn Shoulder Sleeve Insignia - Former Wartime Service (aka combat patch) worn on the right sleeve with the Combat Service Identification Badge on one of the pockets near a host of other eye catching stuff wasn’t all that popular to begin with.
I see this as more falling back to what was probably the more popular change option when they made the ASU change.
The bottom line as to why the new uniform: Sergeant Major of the Army Dailey wanted it.
Well that’s because the USMC Service A uniform was copied off of the Army pinks and greens. Pinks and greens were around for almost 20 years when the Marines started wearing Service As.
The current Marine Service As were issued first in 1943. That’s the uniform that looks like the pinks and greens. There were earlier khaki uniforms but they had a different design. Service alphas have been basically unchanged since 1943.
