For (SecDef) Gates Aides, No (Military) Fatigues at Work

[RamboLiberal]

Source: NY Times

WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has told his military aides not to wear combat fatigues to work at the Pentagon any more, reversing a symbolic change of protocol ordered in the harrowing days after the attacks of Sept. 11.

There was no formal announcement that Mr. Gates had directed his military staff to shed their fatigues in favor of business uniforms — the smartly pressed ones bedecked with combat medals and service ribbons that are the military equivalent of civilian coat-and-tie, worn with dress shoes, not combat boots.

But throughout the Defense Department, where every action by the civilian boss is parsed by officers with a care akin to old-school Kremlinology, Mr. Gates’s decision is likely to prompt deliberations across the armed services on whether to follow his example.

The defense secretary’s instructions took effect with the start of the new year, and were directed at only some of the 23,000 employees at the Pentagon. Even so, the change has been noticed by recent visitors to Mr. Gates’s third-floor suite of offices and has become a topic of conversation along the Pentagon’s 17.5 miles of corridors.

The switch to camouflage and flight suits became the norm in the days after Sept. 11, 2001, and it made a statement: The building itself was a terrorist target; the nation was on a war footing; and it was thought important that even military personnel on the home front should dress for combat.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/19/us/politics/19pentagon.html?hp

---

IMHO, he needs to make that Pentagon-wide if personnel are doing office jobs. Oh and good for the Navy - they never went to BDU's at the Pentagon after 9-11.

[aSpeckofDust]

1. You called?

[Hekate]

2. That makes no sense at all.

[No Elephants]

13. That looks like Rumsfeld in a mask and gloves.

[PacerLJ35]

17. You give him too much credit...

Rummy isn't in that kind of shape.

[pjt7]

3. Gates is CIA

& they should NEVER be in charge of our military.

[TexasProgresive]

4. What does Gates being ex CIA have to do with this order?

I thought it strange that military personnel were not in proper uniforms when not in combat. This must've been something that Rummy came up with along with the order that only the pretzeldent could be call commander in chief - so CiCPAC and all the rest lost their traditional titles to boost the ego of the AWAL deserter.

[TacticalPeek]

19. Hear, hear - bring back the CinCs

It's ridiculous to have these stupid 'combatant commander' titles out there just because multiple CinCs was confusing or threatening to that little coward, Shrub.

[WoodyM]

5. A few weeks back

I saw the coffins of some of our soldiers who were in killed in action being unload from the plane. The ones who were doing this duty was dressed in fatigues. As one who’s military service in the Army, National Guard and Reserves together reach almost fourteen years and going from private to major this enraged me.

This was no work detail or common every day assignment. They should have been dressed in a dress uniform that was clean, well fitting and well pressed. Any and every thing that could be shined and spit polished should have been done so. Each man should been wearing every award, decoration or ribbon he had ever earned.

This was an Honor Duty!

[PavePusher]

8. If I die on AD, I want to be carried by USAF aircraft maintenance troops...

Crew Chiefs, Engine, Hydraulic, Fuels and Electrical troops, with the dirtiest, most grease, oil, fuel, hydro, sweat and blood stained BDU's they can find. Better yet, coveralls. Preferably folks from the helicopter world.

I didn't get my job done by sitting behind a computer looking pretty.

[No Elephants]

14. Doubt Gates (or the CIC) is responsible for choice of uniform for troops at that level, but

you make an excellent point. Maybe you should email or call the WH about that; and someone there can pass down the word.

[dixiegrrrrl]

23. I had no idea.....your POV is enlightening.

So the whole tenor of the military has changed, is that what I am hearing?

[PacerLJ35]

6. Uh....so?

I guess the NY Times ran out of things to write about. Wearing service uniforms (ie, button-up shirt, tie, slacks) is pretty standard in most headquarters units. Many of them even have a "utilities" day (sort of like "Jeans Friday") where you can wear your utility uniform or flight suit. But for the most part, service personnel assigned to staff jobs typically wear their service uniform, not utilities. It's probably a topic of discussion now because Pentagon folks got used to wearing utilities (which are much more comfortable...think wearing sweats and sneakers to work versus a suit). But this isn't really news. The Air Force has instituted a service-wide mandate that those not engaging in activities requiring utilities must wear their blue service uniform on Mondays. I have no idea what it's supposed to do, but hey, that's what the boss wants. So I promptly try to get put on the flying schedule every Monday so I can wear my flight suit...

[PavePusher]

7. Dress uniforms are hideously uncomfortable, impractical and expensive...

and should be binned as soon as possible. And I think my USAF Blues are incredibly ugly. A blind Boy Scout with Parkinsons could have designed something better.

I don't know what the Uniform Boards are given to smoke, but I think I'd like it.

[IndianaGreen]

9. particularly for women

Hey, remember when that AF Chief of Staff wanted to use uniforms that looked like Navy uniforms?

I am old enough to remember wearing khakis.

:-)

[PavePusher]

10. I just missed khakis...

And had to extend my commitment (due to promotion, yipee) long enough that I won't be able to retire in BDU's. I'll have to get the ABU's for at least a year or two. Damn.

[PacerLJ35]

12. ABUs are terrible

It's like wearing a suit of cardboard. Back when DCUs were authorized, lots of aircrew would wear the DCU in theater when they weren't flying because it was more comfortable than the DFDU (desert flight suit). Now it's the other way around...no one wears the ABU unless forced to.

[PacerLJ35]

11. I think the blues were made for victims of a famine...

Because I normally have a 35/36 waist, and I need to buy the size 42 and have the waist hemmed in just so my damn legs fit in the pants without looking like I have spandex on.

[IndianaGreen]

15. LMAO

I can just imagine seeing that!

[PavePusher]

16. Ditto. they are really horrible for sitting.

Seems the entire uniform was designed only for people who stand all day. But they forgot to tell that to the shoes... (Ouch!)

[Thothmes]

21. Depends on the Service

back 40 years ago, when I was a newly minted Ensign, USNR. the Navy officer dress blues were no more uncomfortable than your average business suit. The dress whites were a tad uncomfortable because of the high snug fitting collar. I even found the service dress khaki comfortable, if it was not to hot outside.

[No Elephants]

18. Combat boots to work in the Pentagon? Spare me. Bush was the dress up President.

Always very conscious of his outfit, be it a flight jacket or golf shoes. But, none of it matched his life. Well, okay, maybe the golf shoes.

He was like America's Barbie doll. You can put her in scrubs, but that doesn't mean she knows squat about medicine,

Republican politicians seem fixated on empty symbolism, making a big deal about wearing flag pins, as they vote against veterans' benefits over and over, until even Don Imus screams about it.

Lord, I just have no respect for them as a group. And no respect for anyone who buys into and/or publicizes that shat, either.

[yurbud]

20. Navy probably didn't switch because their ''fatigues'' are so ugly they look like prison uniforms

They make sense squeezing between pipes and boilers in the bowels of a ship, but on land, they just don't look right.

[Octafish]

22. ''Business Uniforms'' sums up what the Military Industrial Complex is all about.

Trillions missing, let alone wasted. Wall Street's doing well, though.