# Why is the U.S. Army changing the basic color of everyday service uniforms AGAIN? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 10, 2019, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-u-s-army-changing-the-basic-color-of-everyday-service-uniforms-again/833795 "2019-05-10T20:01:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2019, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-u-s-army-changing-the-basic-color-of-everyday-service-uniforms-again/833795/21 "2019-05-11T01:29:40Z")
The new WWII cosplay uniforms the Army is going to is not exactly like the WWII uniforms. The pinks and greens were only an officer uniform. With the enlisted uniform the coat and pants were the same color. With the new uniform both enlisted and officer will have the lighter colored pants. ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2019, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-u-s-army-changing-the-basic-color-of-everyday-service-uniforms-again/833795/22 "2019-05-11T01:42:56Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > The bottom line as to why the new uniform: Sergeant Major of the Army Dailey wanted it. The reflective belt wear requirement during daylight hours got killed during his tenure. IMO that earns him at least one other major change, even a bad one, without quibbling or bitching. šŸ˜ƒ ---
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2019, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-u-s-army-changing-the-basic-color-of-everyday-service-uniforms-again/833795/23 "2019-05-11T01:48:35Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > 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 ā€œwartimeā€ camo that people wore in the desert. > > Change IS tradition! When I worked on an airbase the old timers told me tales of how every few years youā€™d get a new base commander, and their goal was to have something on there ā€˜resumeā€™ that they did at the base, and so every new commander would have some new thing the base had to do, just so the commander could have their little check box filled. Wonder if the uniforms isnā€™t the same thing by someone higher up. Because Iā€™m sure if you asked the troops, they could find far more important things that need fixing than the damn uniform colors. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2019, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-u-s-army-changing-the-basic-color-of-everyday-service-uniforms-again/833795/24 "2019-05-11T02:04:03Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > As I said, changes in material are practical. Iā€™m talking about color, which is a much more prominent and basic design element, one that is fundamental to the idea of a uniform. Yeah, I know. I told you what my Army pals have said why they donā€™t like the current uniform. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2019, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-u-s-army-changing-the-basic-color-of-everyday-service-uniforms-again/833795/25 "2019-05-11T02:07:32Z")
> [@DinoR](#): > > The army didnā€™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 ā€¦ The point is that the Army personnel that I see every day went from wearing green to blue and theyā€™re going back to green. From my point of views, thatā€™s changing colors from green to blue to green. And a huge part of the reason to wear a uniform is to be immediately recognizable not only within your organization but also outside it. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2019, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-u-s-army-changing-the-basic-color-of-everyday-service-uniforms-again/833795/26 "2019-05-11T02:31:35Z")
> [@bump](#): > > What heā€™s talking about isnā€™t the switch from the Woodland/3 Color Desert BDU to the UCP to the OCP/Multicam uniforms, but rather the switch from the post WWII [green business suit style uniforms](https://img.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_1484w/WashingtonPost/Content/Blogs/therootdc/Images/NPG_2012_16_Powell.jpg?uuid=wHjvbDstEeKiY_Dr_-0vFQ), to the [blue Army Service Uniforms](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Army_Service_Uniform#/media/File:US-NEW-CLASS-A-UNIFORM.png), and back to the [ā€œpinks and greensā€](https://citizen-soldiermagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/1000x667xCS-1-5-TRENDING-Pinks-and-Greens.jpg.pagespeed.ic.uj_VSx1tpM.jpg) that were [used in WWII](https://www.history.com/.image/ar_16:9%2Cc_fill%2Ccs_srgb%2Cfl_progressive%2Cg_faces:center%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_620/MTU3ODc3NjU1OTQwMjQ1MjE1/dwight-eisenhower.jpg). I understand. Same thing in the AF when I was in. The uniforms just change every few years. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2019, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-u-s-army-changing-the-basic-color-of-everyday-service-uniforms-again/833795/27 "2019-05-11T03:06:16Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > I understand. Same thing in the AF when I was in. The uniforms just change every few years. From my outside perspective, the common daily Air Force service uniform has been blue and recognizable as pretty much the same uniformā€”basically a variation of a blue business suitā€”almost since the Air Force was created. I donā€™t think the shade of blue has been significantly changed, from a common observerā€™s perspective. I recall a brief attempt to make the Air Force uniform look more like a Navy uniform, but I donā€™t actually recall seeing anyone wearing that uniform. The common daily Navy uniform has been dark (ā€œnavyā€) blue in the winter and white in the summer consistently for many decades. I know thereā€™s also a khaki-colored uniform, but I still recognize the navy blue or white uniforms as the commonly known navy uniform. From my point of view, I donā€™t see Air Force and Navy uniforms changing every few years. The every day uniform worn by officers commuting to work or attending meetings in government offices has stayed very consistent in overall appearance. There might have been minor changes from year-to-year amounting to an overall evolution, but I donā€™t recall any radical change in basic color, and certainly not multiple times. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2019, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-u-s-army-changing-the-basic-color-of-everyday-service-uniforms-again/833795/28 "2019-05-11T03:13:33Z")
Iā€™m still waiting to see the Space Force uniform. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2019, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-u-s-army-changing-the-basic-color-of-everyday-service-uniforms-again/833795/29 "2019-05-11T03:19:31Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > Iā€™m still waiting to see the Space Force uniform. Best uniforms in history. Everyone tells me, theyā€™re the best. There have never been, and I know, you can ask me, better uniforms than [these.](https://images.app.goo.gl/XjHd5FjPid7U2H5F8) ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2019, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-u-s-army-changing-the-basic-color-of-everyday-service-uniforms-again/833795/30 "2019-05-11T16:07:02Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Just my personal opinion, but I think the [blue uniforms](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/US-NEW-CLASS-A-UNIFORM.png) look like Navy uniforms. Meanwhile, Navy came up with [working uniforms](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navy_Working_Uniform#/media/File:090707-N-5345W-103_-_RADM_Michelle_Howard,_commander,_Expeditionary_Strike_Group_(ESG)_2,_visits_with_junior_enlisted_sailors_during_a_visit_to_the_amphibious_dock_landing_ship_USS_Fort_McHenry_(LSD-43).jpg) with camo, making them awfully Army- or Marine-esque. The rationale for a service needing camouflage uniforms when its personnel rarely see the folks who are trying to kill them? It hides grease spots better. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Dana\_Scully](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5daacb/32.png) [@Dana\_Scully](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dana_Scully)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2019, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-u-s-army-changing-the-basic-color-of-everyday-service-uniforms-again/833795/31 "2019-05-11T16:16:39Z")
I like the classic, WWII look. Iā€™m glad theyā€™re reverting to the classic Army look. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2019, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-u-s-army-changing-the-basic-color-of-everyday-service-uniforms-again/833795/32 "2019-05-11T16:24:37Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > Meanwhile, Navy came up with [working uniforms](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navy_Working_Uniform#/media/File:090707-N-5345W-103_-_RADM_Michelle_Howard,_commander,_Expeditionary_Strike_Group_(ESG)_2,_visits_with_junior_enlisted_sailors_during_a_visit_to_the_amphibious_dock_landing_ship_USS_Fort_McHenry_(LSD-43).jpg) with camo, making them awfully Army- or Marine-esque. > > The rationale for a service needing camouflage uniforms when its personnel rarely see the folks who are trying to kill them? It hides grease spots better. :dubious: You wonā€™t be laughing when the seeker on a Kalibre missile is spoofed by the sailors camo.:p:D ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2019, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-u-s-army-changing-the-basic-color-of-everyday-service-uniforms-again/833795/33 "2019-05-11T16:26:16Z")
> [@Sicks\_Ate](#): > > Best uniforms in history. Everyone tells me, theyā€™re the best. There have never been, and I know, you can ask me, better uniforms than [these.](https://images.app.goo.gl/XjHd5FjPid7U2H5F8) I think it a reasonable conjecture that United States Space Force (USSF) soldiers will wear orange space suits. Like [astronauts](https://www.livescience.com/32618-why-are-astronauts-spacesuits-orange.html). ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2019, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-u-s-army-changing-the-basic-color-of-everyday-service-uniforms-again/833795/34 "2019-05-11T16:33:08Z")
I like the changeā€“frankly the color mismatch between jacket and pants on the dress blues has always driven me buggy. It looks like laundry day when youā€™re grabbing whateverā€™s clean whether it matches or not. Either make the pants match the jacket or go for a stronger contrast thatā€™s actually in the same family of blue, justā€¦not that. Matching blues is deceptively difficult and whoever okayed that combo was basically color blind. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2019, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-u-s-army-changing-the-basic-color-of-everyday-service-uniforms-again/833795/35 "2019-05-11T16:51:36Z")
> [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](#): > > I think it a reasonable conjecture that United States Space Force (USSF) soldiers will wear orange space suits. Like [astronauts](https://www.livescience.com/32618-why-are-astronauts-spacesuits-orange.html). Even if it is created, the odds of a Space Force trooper going into space not under the auspices of NASA are zero. They are all just going to sit behind different varieties of desks. Maybe some will do inspections of satellite factories or whatnot, but otherwise, they will wear whatever is most comfortable for the real chair force. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2019, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-u-s-army-changing-the-basic-color-of-everyday-service-uniforms-again/833795/36 "2019-05-11T17:06:40Z")
As mentioned there is always a tweak here and a tweak there ā€“ nut I have noticed an increased frequency that IMO is a phenomenon of the 21st Century Army seeking some look that will distinguish them from the Army of the 80s and 90s (AG office wear, BDU field wear), whose look got too quickly copied by every Fudd and Blart out there, AND that would become iconically recognizable. Plus for some reason I canā€™t fathom, there seems to have been an intense multigenerational dislike of the AG class A suit by some in the Army for decades. In the early 80s they had followed the Air Forceā€™s lead in doing something sensible: use one single pattern and color of ā€œoffice wearā€ uniform whereby you could switch from dressier to business casual by ditching the jacket and to summer by losing the tie with a short sleeve shirt. But then as they keps expanding the situations in which you could just wear the camo fieldwear, in the 00ā€™s they decided to go one step further and consolidate the officewear version with the special-ocassion dress version, and they kind of botched it by upgrading all the way to the Dress Blues. Originally the everyday version was supposed to have a grey shirt, but there were procurement problems so they went completely to what had been the ceremonial version. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2019, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-u-s-army-changing-the-basic-color-of-everyday-service-uniforms-again/833795/37 "2019-05-12T20:23:21Z")
The WWII ā€˜pinks and greensā€™ were changed in part because after the war there were millions of surplus uniforms, and they were sold to the public for work clothes. So the military suddenly had the problem that their uniforms looked like the clothes farmers were wearing, and there could be confusion if civilians in surplus army uniforms wore the same as current soldiers. But it has now been long enough that all that surplus clothing is gone, so the army is free to go back. And Iā€™m glad they did - I always thought the pinks and greens were great looking uniforms. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2019, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-u-s-army-changing-the-basic-color-of-everyday-service-uniforms-again/833795/38 "2019-05-12T20:27:31Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > The WWII ā€˜pinks and greensā€™ were changed in part because after the war there were millions of surplus uniforms, and they were sold to the public for work clothes. Now thatā€™s interesting. Does that explain why you see pictures from the 50ā€™s where everyone from milkmen to truck drivers wore a uniform? They were surplus? ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2019, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-u-s-army-changing-the-basic-color-of-everyday-service-uniforms-again/833795/39 "2019-05-12T22:25:03Z")
Huge quantities were sold off, and many state institutions bought them for clothing road workers. Prisons also issued them to inmates on work parties, which didnā€™t do anything for the uniformā€™s image. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2019, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-u-s-army-changing-the-basic-color-of-everyday-service-uniforms-again/833795/40 "2019-05-13T13:35:56Z")
> [@gdave](#): > > The new uniform is closely modeled on the WWII-era uniform, which at that time were referred to as ā€œpinks and greensā€, because the khakis, in some lighting conditions, seem to have a pinkish hue. Yep, my dad had actually commented on the pants being called ā€˜pinksā€™ back in the 1980s, when we went to a football game at our alma mater (Texas A&M. The cadets were wearing the [winter dress uniforms](https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/thebatt.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/c/8e/c8e95eaa-3ff6-11e9-ae38-7bfc32872a0c/5c7f9a80222f4.image.jpg), which for all intents and purposes have been the ā€˜pinks and greensā€™ ever since the end of WWII, probably because they were able to get them cheap. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-u-s-army-changing-the-basic-color-of-everyday-service-uniforms-again/833795.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-u-s-army-changing-the-basic-color-of-everyday-service-uniforms-again/833795.md?page=3)