Appropriate time for dress/undress/work uniforms

[paineinthearse]

When I served, the standing order of the day specified the uniform to wear. If we had a special occasion, such as departing or entering port, or on other occasions when we had interface with the public, we had to wear dress blues.

Question: Is it appropriate for Lt. Gen. Carl Strock, US Army Corps of Engineers commanding officer, to wear kackies at a pentagon briefing carried live on CSPAN?



I know he has a dress uniform somewhere, maybe he has lost it?



If you feel as I do that he should wear his dress uniform when addressing the pentagon press corps and the American public, contact his office:

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Headquarters
441 G. Street, NW
Washington, DC 20314

202-761-0001

Executive Office U.S. Army Corps of Engineershttp://www.hq.usace.army.mil/hq_exec/

Edit: added pentagon interview photo & link to cross-post in GEN - http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4990186&mesg_id=4990186

[BOSSHOG]

1. Roger that Shipmate

Its hard to believe that Kammies are the uniform of the day at the Pentagon. It is a work uniform specifically prescribed for specific geographic areas and has no useful purpose in Washington. Not too many years ago we could not wear Khakis if serving in DC. That order was rescinded about 98; without my approval (no one asked me). If you are serving in the nation's capital you should dress appropriately. You have an excellent point.

[MildyRules]

2. BDU's and flight suits are the UOD

for the Air Staff ATT.

[Dharma_Bum]

3. Good point ...

Perhaps his attire suggests ‘combat ready’ i.e ‘a nation at War … always prepared!” or whatever else good ole’ Dub-ya drills into them. LOL!

[paineinthearse]

4. The picture has been sent to the memory hole!

Picture of the general wearing his work uniform has disappeared from the army's website. Was at

http:// www.army.mil /katrina /images /KAT_PentChan_23.jpg

(close up the gaps).

[jody]

5. Yes, it's proper for Strock et al to wear work uniforms for

press conferences. It shows one segment of our bloated federal bureaucracy is working, something that is lost on Bush in his Oval Orifice.

[CarbonDate]

6. BDUs are the UOD Air Force-wide per Gen. Moseley....

...I can't imagine the Army is any different.

The rationale is that the military is in a war-time posture, therefore we should be wearing BDUs, not dress uniforms.

[Acebass]

7. Depends on the Propaganda effect...

what did they want the public to think...
You should know that by now PiTA...

Show and tell we're in a war zone in NOLA so we have to dress the part...

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Captain Hilts]

11. George C. Marshall did okay wearing his Class A.

And we managed to win that war.

This seems like another version of people pretending to be in combat. It started with handing out thousands more medals for Grenada than the number that actually served.

[genie_weenie]

8. Well, what do ya expect from the ARMY?!?!?

US Marines, know better!

[57_TomCat]

9. He looks good!

During my active duty days the fatigue uniform and later BDU's were worn far more often by those of us in the Army than the Marines I worked with. The different services had different standards for uniform wear and I for one do not see any problem with the brass wanting to appear "rough and ready". :)

Much ado about nothing. (in my opinion)

[Recursion]

12. FWIW

The Uniform of the Day is largely a per-command decision and in some vague way reflects the unit's "readiness" posture. Utilities (I think the Army calls the BDUs; I was in the Marines) were chosen by some commands for all but the most formal circumstances. (For a couple of years there, you could tell Marines from Soldiers because we had the cool Waffen-SS digital camouflague. Now they both have them and you have to go back to the shape of the hat.) Whether the ACoE HQ (or rather J1 or something like it, this being the Pentagon) is one of those units I can't say, but it's certainly within the prerogatives of the commander to order utilities as the uniform of the day. (Particularly a "hands in the mud" unit like the Corps of Engineers might have a mindset to do that.)

Since Strock is CO of the ACoE, it's his call what the UoD is for his unit. Which is to say, within the (rather broad) confines of set uniform doctrine (which I believe come from AR-6701, but trust a dogface over a jarhead on that one), he can do whatever he wants. He could appear in a flight suit, or utilities, or bravos, or whatever he felt like. It's good to be the general...

Incidentally, and to be totally pedantic, the green uniform you showed him in is called a "service" uniform. The Army, unlike the Navy and Marines, does not to my knowledge have a uniform that is officially designated as "dress", just service, mess, and evening mess, in addition to the various utility uniforms.

[Captain Hilts]

13. How does the army define the "class A" uniform?

I thought the green suit was the Class A.

[Recursion]

15. "A" meaning the most formal service uniform

Alphas (or class A as the Army calls them) are the most formal service uniform: trousers, shirt and tie, and jacket with ribbons and medals. Bravos are the shirt, tie and trousers. Charlies are a short sleeve shirt and trousers. All three are "service" uniforms.

[Captain Hilts]

14. Geo. C. Marshall did not have to 'remind' us we were at war with clothes.

Today, we DO need to be reminded, but I'm not sure this is how.