Army Times on Rolling Sleeves: Do you agree or disagree with changes allowing the rolling of sleeves?

“I sweat every day when I walk to work,” said Perkins, a 26-year-old operating room specialist for a combat support hospital. “You get sticky.”
All he wants is to roll up the sleeves of his ACU and catch a hint of glorious breeze. But under Army rules, he cannot.
No soldier may. And while soldiers might suffer this summer under the rule, most may not even know why it’s there. Troops in the other services are allowed to roll their sleeves, but soldiers have been denied the pleasure of doing so for roughly a decade, since the Army Combat Uniform replaced the Battle Dress Uniform. The Army’s official explanation, in response to questions from Army Times, is that the ACU top was made to protect soldiers’ forearms from the sun, insects, and other elements and it’s not designed to be cuffed. While sleeve-rolling is not on the table right now, leadership is “always looking to make our clothing and equipment better,” said Command Sgt. Maj. Doug Maddi, senior enlisted adviser to PEO Soldier, the office which procures and provides soldier equipment.
“Soldiers can request changes to the Department of the Army Pamphlet 670-1 Guide to the Wear and Appearance of Army Uniforms and Insignia, by submitting a Department of the Army (DA) Form 2028 to the Army G1 though their chain of command,” Maddi said in an emailed statement. Troops are ready to roll. When Army Times asked soldier how they would change the ACU, Perkins was one of dozens who commented on social media or wrote in saying they want the Army to scrap the ban on sleeve-rolling. “When it’s hot in Louisiana, we should be able to roll up our sleeves,” Perkins reasoned. Long-sleeves are not only hotter, but also dirtier, said PFC. Ian Strutt- Kist, a 19-year-old who works at the Tustin, California, Army Reserve. It was a problem in California’s 80- and 90-degree summers, but also when he was digging foxholes in Basic Combat Training. “When working with dirt, if dirt gets on your forearms under your jacket and you’re sweaty, it basically becomes mud up your sleeve and it is very uncomfortable,” Strutt-Kist said. Most soldiers told Army Times the heat was the primary reason they want the OK to roll sleeves, adopting the “suns out, guns out” mentality of their Marine brethren.
Other soldiers chimed in to say rolled sleeves could actually improve a soldier’s appearance. Spc. Ian Humphrey, a 26-year-old construction surveyor at Fort Bragg, North Carolina and the son of a Marine scout sniper, recalls the crisp cuffed sleeves of the BDU era. “In BDUs they looked more like soldiers, someone to look up to,” Humphrey said. “You always saw everyone with their sleeves rolled up and tattoos out, no problem.” A loophole in the regs allows Spc.Tyler Morin and his fellow auto mechanics to roll the sleeves of their coveralls in the heat of their Fort Story, Virginia, motor pool. He would like to see the privilege expanded to ACUs, particularly in the summer. “I’m for it, especially for people stationed where it’s warmer, like Texas, or even when you’re up north,” he said. “When you’re working, it makes such a difference to roll your sleeves up.” Morin said it would be easy enough to apply sunblock to bare arms — and if it takes a few extra minutes to get a proper cuff, so what. Not all soldiers agree it’s time to lift the ban. Army National Guard Staff Sgt. James Lowe, a 35-year-old indirect t fire infantryman at the Camp Swift, Texas, training center, said he wasn’t a fan when he rolled his sleeves on active duty in the late1990s. He still opposes it. When it was allowed, he knew a soldier in the 82nd Airborne Division whose arms were too large to fit through his rolled up sleeves. He had to get his tops altered by cutting off the sleeve material and having the cuffs sewn on for the look. “I know this would not be a common problem, but it caused him to have to spend money to alter uniforms,” Lowe said. The rolled sleeves sealed off air flow to Lowe’s arms and required him to apply sunscreen to protect them. To boot, the 10 minutes it took to properly roll the sleeves, he said, was “more trouble than it’s worth. “Big Army’s rationale many soldiers interviewed for this story were unclear on why the Army won’t let them roll sleeves. Some speculated it had something to do with tattoos, but that’s not the case, officials say.
The Army’s ban on sleeve rolling began with one sentence tucked in one all-Army message from April 5, 2005, when then-Army chief of staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker replaced the BDU with the digital ACU.
ALARACT 078/2005, which dictates instructions for wearing the ACU stated: “sleeves will be worn down at all times, and not rolled …….