New Air Force Uniform - Sith-approved!

dwarven1

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A little silliness from my friend, Major Harry W. (Ret).


VaderApprovesNewAirForceUniform.jpg

And an article from Stars & Stripes about the new uniform search.

Air Force tailoring uniform to suit airmen’s needs
By Lisa Burgess, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Saturday, May 20, 2006



(See photos of the prototypes, and details on how to weigh in with your comments, at end of story)

ARLINGTON, Va. — After hearing a planeload of complaints about the “bus driver” look of the Air Force’s dress blue uniform, Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley has launched a project to find out what airmen might like to wear instead.

To start the discussion, the Air Force Uniform Board has created two prototypes for airmen to critique, each based on the garb favored by two of the service’s most famous men: Billy Mitchell, who is often called the “father of American airpower,” and Hap Arnold, the modern Air Force’s first general.

Airmen have almost universally loathed the dress uniform since 1991, when Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Merrill McPeak overhauled the jacket to reflect what he said was a “cleaner” appearance.

The most common complaint is that the resulting uniform looks “like a cheap business suit,” Senior Master Sgt. Dana Athnos, a member of the Air Force Uniform Board.

“When a Marine walks through the airport, everyone knows he’s in the military,” Athnos told Stars and Stripes on Thursday.

“But when [airmen] walk through the airport, people think we’re wearing business suits, or we’re flight attendants — it just doesn’t have a military appearance, compared to the other services.”

After Moseley was sworn in as the Air Force’s chief of staff in September, he directed the Uniform Board to begin the long process of adopting a new uniform, “using our heritage as a starting point,” Athnos said.

The resulting Mitchell prototype includes a distinctive stand-up collar, similar to the collar on the Marine Corps dress mess uniform and reflective of the World War I, Prussian military influence that dominated U.S. military uniforms in Mitchell’s time.

The Hap Arnold prototype has a belt, a vented back, wide lapels, and is “stitch-for-stitch identical” to the World War II Army Air Corps’ “pinks and greens” uniform, Athnos said.

The Uniform Board will select a new dress uniform using the same process it used to choose the new Airman’s Battle Uniform, Athnos said.

The next step is send a survey to hundreds of airmen, asking for their opinions on the dress uniform. The survey should be out within the next 60 days, she said.

The Air Force is also planning to set up a Web site that will be open to anyone who wants to comment on the issue, either inside or outside the service.

In the meantime, the Air Force has set up a special feedback e-mail address just for Stripes readers: [email protected] (see more details at end of story).

This fall, the Uniform Board will meet and discuss all of the feedback, Athnos said. The prototype uniforms will then be changed accordingly, and the results sent to a select group of airmen for wear testing, and the feedback process will begin again.

Like the utility uniform, the dress uniform will go through many changes before Air Force leadership decides to adopt a final look, Athnos said.

“The important thing for people to remember is that nothing is set in stone yet,” she said. “Absolutely everything is on the table,” including the precise color of the fabric, the color, shape, and design of the buttons, pocket placement, the belt question, the collar – “gazillions of details.”

“We can go anywhere or nowhere with this,” Athnos said. “Gen. Moseley is very concerned with making sure this us what the service wants.”
 
Yes sireeeeee you can always tell a Marine





You just can't tell him/her much.

(thank you for your service regardless of branch)
 
If you read the end of the story, you'll find this:
The “Billy Mitchell” prototype

This uniform is based on the U.S. Army’s “Standing Collar Coat,” which the Army authorized for use in 1911. The coat was the standard service dress uniform of Army Air Service and Army Air Corps personnel until 1926.

Combined with this:
The resulting Mitchell prototype includes a distinctive stand-up collar, similar to the collar on the Marine Corps dress mess uniform and reflective of the World War I, Prussian military influence that dominated U.S. military uniforms in Mitchell’s time.
from earlier in the article, and it's obvious that George Lucas stole the Imperial uniforms from the military, and this is just going back to what was once issue.

What's old is new again, etc. Those who refuse to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Sometimes history doesn't just repeat herself, sometimes she screams "WHY DON'T YOU LISTEN TO ME!" and lets fly with a club.
 
At least it looks like a military uniform again. When I joined, our Service Dress coat looked just like my Army Class A coat, except for the color. Right now it looks like a pretty nice sport coat, except for the stripes on the sleeve and other doo dads on it.

I never thought about the nazi look-a-like aspect to it until now, though. Probably because I hate the current one so much anything would look good.
 
If that doesn't look like a Nazi SS uniform I don't know what does.

Balderdash ! The SS uniforms had an open collar and were black and trimmed with silver. No way does the uniform depicted look like an SS uniform or a Mass State Police Uniform (which is based on the WWI French Army officer's uniform, BTW) CMSgt Athos also referred to the other uniform variant as being identical in cut to the World War I pinks and greens. Sorry but it was a WWII era uniform.

Actually if the Air Force would return to the pre-1991 uniform, it would work well. Yes, it was similar to the Army green uniform...but...duh...what branch of the military is the Air Force descended from?

The new Army Blue uniform is a travesty. The current Army Blue Uniform is just fine and with the addition of shoulder patches would make a great service uniform. Instead, they have really messed with it. I don't object to the Army going back to a blue service uniform, afterall that was the original color of Army uniforms.

Mark L.
 
I was just glad they got rid of the lime green summer uniform I was issued. The Army blues isn't bad.

I remember "slimy limeys" quite well. We had a female sergeant in our section that frequently wore them...the absolutely worst uniform the Army ever issued.

The current blue uniform is great...but go to the DA website and check out how they are going to mess with it to create the new service uniform.

Mark L.
 
Balderdash ! The SS uniforms had an open collar and were black and trimmed with silver. No way does the uniform depicted look like an SS uniform or a Mass State Police Uniform (which is based on the WWI French Army officer's uniform, BTW) CMSgt Athos also referred to the other uniform variant as being identical in cut to the World War I pinks and greens. Sorry but it was a WWII era uniform.

Actually if the Air Force would return to the pre-1991 uniform, it would work well. Yes, it was similar to the Army green uniform...but...duh...what branch of the military is the Air Force descended from?

The new Army Blue uniform is a travesty. The current Army Blue Uniform is just fine and with the addition of shoulder patches would make a great service uniform. Instead, they have really messed with it. I don't object to the Army going back to a blue service uniform, afterall that was the original color of Army uniforms.

Mark L.

Yes. I inherited a set of WWI uniforms from a neighbor and, while they were enlisted dress, the blouse looks pretty much like the ones on the models except for color. Change the color to green and the belt to a Sam Browne and it does look like the WWI era uniform.
 
I remember "slimy limeys" quite well. We had a female sergeant in our section that frequently wore them...the absolutely worst uniform the Army ever issued.

The current blue uniform is great...but go to the DA website and check out how they are going to mess with it to create the new service uniform.

Mark L.

Thank God I worked in an area where we couldn't were class A's or B's.[laugh]
 
Thank Heavens they're going to change the uniforms. Back in the late 70s/early 80s when I was in, we all hated the class As. Wasn't too bad with just a shirt, but the jacket was awful. The pinks and greens -style looks pretty good. Personally I wish they'd bring back the Ike jackets. Those were really cool looking.
 
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