Mess Dress, do you have it?

I the Air Force Mess Dress is mandatory for Officers and optional for enlisted. For SNCO's it becomes a defacto requirement as any SNCO showing up to an event in semi for formal is given the "crazy eye" by all the Chiefs and their SNCO peers as being "that guy."

Ii have had mine since I was a SrA and take my folk aside around that same rank and ask them if they plan on making the Air Force a career? If they are, I encourage them to invest in a mess dress. Most initially balk at the roughly $500 price tag. I ask they if they have a STAR card, which they always do, and then ask them about if they know about the clothing sales side of the card, which most don't! I then run through some basic math with them. The average Airman makes E7 in 15-18 year. Assuming they go to 4 events a year that would require mess dress (and that is generous) they would wear it only 20 times when they become retirement eligible. Now if they got it when they got a line number for E5 (4-5 years) and only wore it once a year till they became a SNCO they would get an additionally 10 wears out of it at a minimum! Be it an ALS graduation, AF ball, dining in, dining out, or order of the sword induction.

Outside of getting more wear for the buck, seeing a young SrA/SSgt with mess dress does set a positive impression on Sr Leaders. You have set yourself above your peers and visibly stand out IN A GOOD WAY!

Finally, a mess dress doesn't have to be expensive. The airman's attic gets them on a pretty regular basis and dry cleaners sell unclaimed ones for the cost of the tab!