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A former Marine myself, it has been a major adjustment to see so many items on the uniform. I jokingly say we should just carry a laminated version of our CV, it would be cheaper.
In particular, the ASU uniform would look much cleaner with less items.
Am I the only one that thinks this?
On the ASU, I would keep ribbons and medals, specialty Badges and rifle/ pistol badge. Changes I'd like to see: delete the name plate; remove the extras above and below ribbons and medals as well as pocket mounted devices.. Keep the lanyard. Less is more in this case...for me. Sister services, what changes would you like to see with your uniforms?
In particular, the ASU uniform would look much cleaner with less items.
Am I the only one that thinks this?
On the ASU, I would keep ribbons and medals, specialty Badges and rifle/ pistol badge. Changes I'd like to see: delete the name plate; remove the extras above and below ribbons and medals as well as pocket mounted devices.. Keep the lanyard. Less is more in this case...for me. Sister services, what changes would you like to see with your uniforms?
Posted in these groups: 
Uniforms
Uniforms
Posted 10 y ago
Responses: 13
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SSG(P) (Join to see) Aha, a former Marine, i knew i liked what you had to say. But do be careful, some soldiers get pretty sensitive about their flair. I've discovered this on several threads on this site. Most recently the below.
Army uniforms especially (and to a lesser extent AF and Navy) make me think of office space to paraphrase "fifteen pieces of flair is the minimum ok.....and if you feel the minimum expresses you then ok.. but we just want you to express yourself."
What would I change about the USMC uniform? Get rid of the mess dress for field grade officers and Senior SNCOs and make it all Dress Blue (or White) Alphas.
https://www.rallypoint.com/answers/should-there-be-a-tab-for-paratroopers?page=1&urlhash=358114#358114
Army uniforms especially (and to a lesser extent AF and Navy) make me think of office space to paraphrase "fifteen pieces of flair is the minimum ok.....and if you feel the minimum expresses you then ok.. but we just want you to express yourself."
What would I change about the USMC uniform? Get rid of the mess dress for field grade officers and Senior SNCOs and make it all Dress Blue (or White) Alphas.
https://www.rallypoint.com/answers/should-there-be-a-tab-for-paratroopers?page=1&urlhash=358114#358114
Should there be a tab for Paratroopers? | RallyPoint
I spent 17 of 20 years on active jump status. Aside from those who served with the 82nd and loved they're status few cared.The other units I was with cared less. My proposel is this, a tab for those with a minimum of 25 jumps in all conditions with a follow on mission. Combat gear.Just because you are not a jumpmaster with at least a star does not make you irrelevant as what seems the modern case. Does 25 jumps and above not make you a Jump...
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Capt Richard I P.
GySgt William Hardy I think you and I will have to respectfully disagree on this one. I think we've made the right moves in simplifying the uniform more. Patches, bangles, stripes, tabs, ribbons, badges and devices get excessive quick. The fact that we keep it to EGA, rank, service stripes (for enlisted), ribbons (or medal depending on uniform-and less than the other service's hand-out driven stacks) shooting badges and the very few warfare skill specific badges-EOD, Jump, Dive, Pilot/Air Crew wings (and a max of two of those) keeps a cleaner look that focuses on the Corps, on what unites us rather than divides us. In fact, I'm going to add to my above, in addition to eliminating the entire mess dress uniform, if I were king for a day I would also drop warfare badges from the uniforms for the reasons cited above.
Simplicity, unity, professionalism.
Simplicity, unity, professionalism.
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GySgt William Hardy
I'll second that Captain. Other than patches on the shoulders of a dress uniform, there really isn't that much difference. We use to have them and I personally do not see the harm in bringing them back. I am in the process of collecting my Marine Corps patches for my display case. Fortunately, they are out there. Some are a bit hard to find but they are there. When I served on Joint Service Duty in Germany, I had a black and a red name plate that I had to wear. It did not seem to detract from the uniform. IMO
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GySgt William Hardy
I remember when I was a young Devil Pup back in the late 60s and I hated having to use the ink kit to mark all my clothing. One little slip and you had "ink flags" around your name or to much ink and it blotched. Ever have someone telll you that you needed to restamp your name? What a pain! It was so hard to aline your name stamp with the name on your uniform, especially if you had gotten a new stamp since it was last stamped. The letters never aligned correctly. Looked like crap. Same goes for the iron-on EGA. The first time on a new set of utilities was OK. You could usually get it aligned, but you were going to redo it some where down the road and it usually didn't look that good.
When I joined the Army NG in the mid 80s, it made me a believer in tags. It looked so much better than a name stamp and it never had to be redone. As a matter of fact, I took them off my first set and had them sewn on a new set.
Another thing I liked better in the Army was the rolling up of the sleeves. The Army method had two advantages over the Marine Corps way. (1) When rolled up, the last fold-down left the outside of the sleeve showing which made it match the uniform instead of having the inside on the outside. Back when we had utilities in the Corps, it didn't matter much, but the newer camos had a distinctively lighter color. (2) To roll down the sleeves, the Marine Corps ways was to roll it down. It could take a minute or two. The Army way was you grabbed the bottom of the outer fold and pulled down and it was done. Takes just a couple of seconds.
We get stuck in a prideful mode sometimes and refuse to look at the real advantages of some simple changes. After getting into the "Army way" I was more adaptable to some of the more petty items like name tags and sleeve rolling. One thing has not changed however:
Why in hell can't the Army do it if the Marines can. They are the same kind of men; why can't they be like Marines.
Gen. John J. "Black Jack" Pershing, USA; 12 February 1918 or
The safest place in Korea was right behind a platoon of Marines. Lord, how they could fight!
MGen. Frank E. Lowe, USA; Korea, 26 January 1952
When I joined the Army NG in the mid 80s, it made me a believer in tags. It looked so much better than a name stamp and it never had to be redone. As a matter of fact, I took them off my first set and had them sewn on a new set.
Another thing I liked better in the Army was the rolling up of the sleeves. The Army method had two advantages over the Marine Corps way. (1) When rolled up, the last fold-down left the outside of the sleeve showing which made it match the uniform instead of having the inside on the outside. Back when we had utilities in the Corps, it didn't matter much, but the newer camos had a distinctively lighter color. (2) To roll down the sleeves, the Marine Corps ways was to roll it down. It could take a minute or two. The Army way was you grabbed the bottom of the outer fold and pulled down and it was done. Takes just a couple of seconds.
We get stuck in a prideful mode sometimes and refuse to look at the real advantages of some simple changes. After getting into the "Army way" I was more adaptable to some of the more petty items like name tags and sleeve rolling. One thing has not changed however:
Why in hell can't the Army do it if the Marines can. They are the same kind of men; why can't they be like Marines.
Gen. John J. "Black Jack" Pershing, USA; 12 February 1918 or
The safest place in Korea was right behind a platoon of Marines. Lord, how they could fight!
MGen. Frank E. Lowe, USA; Korea, 26 January 1952
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I vote for taking all but nametag, US Army (service), current unit patch, and combat patch off. And I could see my way clear to voting for just name tape and US Army.
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SSG(P) (Join to see)
I lived through an Era where we didn't wear name tapes on our BDUs...I think your ribbons and medals say enough about who you are. Good reason to start a conversation if there is no name tag, just saying...
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