Are there different kinds of service stripes for the Army Service Uniform?

"Dress blues and tennis shoes" or "Dress blues, tennis shoes, and a light coat of oil" used to mean getting dressed up, or sometimes used to refer to those who never seemed to get their hands dirty (as in 'the folks at HQ in dress blues and tennis shoes'). It was also sometimes used when asked what the uniform was, or if you were told to be somewhere it could be equivalent to 'with bells on' or just added emphasis to the order for everyone to be there looking sharp. Yeah, I'm old. I came in in Feb 1980 serving in all MTOE units - still plenty of Vietnam vets and we had a LOT of colorful phrases. Heard this more from the Marines working near us though.

SGM Robin Johnson - Thanks, SGM Johnson! Great description and oh what
memories. Another old one comes to mind...have to clean it up a tad for here...."F&%$ 'em all but 10...6 pallbearers, 2 road guards, 1 counting cadence, and 1 carrying the Guidon"!!! The only 10 really important people in your life...LOL!! Hey, you aren't "old"...my first enlistment was in 1963 (to 1966), then an 8 year break, then 22 years in active reserve. When I went back in, I told myself that the first thing that pissed me off, I would be instantly history. Years later I told my friends..."It's amazing what you put up with, when you know you don't have to be there". Truth is, I really enjoyed it, had a lot of fun along with all the work, and felt like I really did contribute something, as little as it was. Whats that old saying?..."I wouldn't do it again for a million bucks, BUT I wouldn't take a million bucks for what I did". Thanks again, and Good Luck to you....AND thank YOU for your service!!!!!!

Thank you for yours as well!

SGM Robin Johnson - I remember one from the 60s, "C**t cap and shower shoes and right shoulder wall locker",

I'm guessing the SFC in the pic is the groom, and he is wearing the 'old' dress blues (therefore the large stripes). As far as the belt and sword, correct - they should not be worn with the mess uniform, but he is not wearing the mess uniform. The no headgear rule is not for just formal events. It is for 'evening' formal events. I was NCOIC of the Honor Guard for my brigade for quite a few years and was trained by the 'Old Guard' in DC. We did a ton of dining-outs, weddings and other formal and informal events. When it comes to weddings, we stuck with the wishes of the couple being married (headgear, no headgear, sabre, bow tie, four-in-hand, etc) as long as the uniform faithfully represented the values and traditions of the Army.

The only place you'll find any information about the sword or saber is TC 3-21.5, but it is largely centered around the Drill and Ceremony movement and very little regarding the actual wear of the sword. There are no Army regs that discuss which uniforms you can or cannot wear the sword with (that I'm aware of). That is usually covered by SOP, but more than likely unless you're assigned to an honor guard your SOP won't touch on it. The one constant is that if you are wearing the sword or saber then you are "under arms" and should be wearing headgear, regardless of the uniform you're in.

MSG (Join to see) I wore greens once or twice in my day, and I don’t recall ever wearing DUIs on my lapels. The SSG isn’t, either. It looks like he’s wearing a US insignia and Branch insignia, as he should be.
I also don’t recall removing those from my jacket for formal events.

SGT (Join to see) - Exactly. That’s collar brass.

Thank you 1SG Michael Blount ! I appreciate your reply!

SGT (Join to see) - Let's keep this simple. I think better that way