American Flag Patch. Creased or not?

[lordmonar]

Personally, I like a uniform that portrays the wearer.  You could always tell an Airman with wrinkled sleeves and dull boots was in need of motivation.

Tell me that after I crawl through a ceiling to run your phone line, and the best response you'd get would be "Understood."

There's a difference between showing up at 0-dark looking like you just rolled out of bed, and having a hard day's work reflected on
your clothing at the end of the day.

I don't get how having a job that gets you dirty sometimes is an excuse for looking unprofessional the rest of the time.

Let me tell you a story....one of those horror stories.....and this one is very true.

We just came off a job....pulling some aerial cable and doing on the pole terminations for the base cable television system.  We were just finishing up the paperwork and putting away the tools when in walks the wing commander.  We all gather round and he is meeting and greeting everyone.....when right there in front of God and all us airman....he places his highlty shined (looked like leather luster) jump boot...between the toes of my supervisor and said "My boots are shineyer then yours"....and then he walked out.

I learned leadership from that man......How not to make youself look like a FPOC!

It does not take long to take care of you uniform.  Hang it up as soon as you get home, wash it when it needs it, run the kiwi over the boots everyday.

That is the standard......follow it.  If you want to impress me with how hard school you are with your creases and spit shines?  Make sure you are good to go on your leadership, AE, and PT tests.  Make sure you have met all your suspenses and show me some leadership and help your flight mates get their act together.  That goes a whole lot farther in my book then boasting on how you spent hours getting your boots just right.

[Hawk200]

Personally, I like a uniform that portrays the wearer.  You could always tell an Airman with wrinkled sleeves and dull boots was in need of motivation.

Tell me that after I crawl through a ceiling to run your phone line, and the best response you'd get would be "Understood."

There's a difference between showing up at 0-dark looking like you just rolled out of bed, and having a hard day's work reflected on
your clothing at the end of the day.

I don't get how having a job that gets you dirty sometimes is an excuse for looking unprofessional the rest of the time.

You just made an assumption that I show up to work that way. Never did. I did however get regular comments from those people in offices/hospital/cubicle farms about how dirty my uniform was right after crawling through their ceiling or under their floor to run their phone line. It's part of the reason why maintainers and office types don't get along. At least the SEA was a former maintainer, and didn't give us grief about working for a living.

A dirty uniform at 1530 was the sign that you worked. Too many fixate on having a perfect uniform all day. I remember one guy who had some issues because he would get a little dirt, go home and change at lunch for even the slightest thing on his uniform. This would happen a couple times a week. He was usually late back from lunch, and he tried to avoid work so he could stay clean. That's unrealistic, but he had that mindset because it was drilled into his head at tech school. That fixation caused problems, especially when he tried to defend it with "I look professional!" When the way you defend it comes across as superior, then you've lost.

You don't need glass shines on boots (a consistent issue with cadets), and your uniform doesn't need to stand up by itself. Iron it, a little polish, and you're good to go.

As to the orginal post, I wouldn't crease a flag patch, or a wing patch either. Do it too much, and the border starts coming loose. That looks bad. Part of professionalism is not destroying your uniform to look pretty.

[AngelWings]

Personally, I like a uniform that portrays the wearer.  You could always tell an Airman with wrinkled sleeves and dull boots was in need of motivation.

Tell me that after I crawl through a ceiling to run your phone line, and the best response you'd get would be "Understood."

There's a difference between showing up at 0-dark looking like you just rolled out of bed, and having a hard day's work reflected on
your clothing at the end of the day.

I don't get how having a job that gets you dirty sometimes is an excuse for looking unprofessional the rest of the time.

Hit the head on the nail. It is only an excuse so people can be lazy.

Somehow, I don't think you have the necessary experience in the right places to be making that statement.

I have been covered in mud my fair share, have twice been partially covered in rust, have had been head to toe covered in dust, and once had some leftover fuel in a improperly closed gascan spill on me a bit. I have had periods recently when I have to prepare two uniforms in 30 minutes or less after I was done with everything for the night. I can't say I have been covered in oil, grease, blood, or other things. I can't say I have, for a week, been so strapped on time I couldn't even iron a uniform for all of 15 minutes when I went home I was that busy. I can however, from experiences with multiple airmen, soldiers, marines, and sailor, that they all told me (if they were not deployed) that they could find a time to make themselves look professional and well kept. They didn't have mirror shined boots, but they were well kept and polished, they didn't have extreme creases, but they could be seen. One of my acquaintances showed me a photo of them after they were done with work, and they looked horrible, but that is a days work (particular person was aircraft maintence). It didn't matter to anyone I asked if they were going to get covered or not, they did it anyways. It'd be hard to argue with what multiple people say over one mans experience. I have to ask, for my general knowledge, were you ever (in the states, not on deployment/TDY) so strapped for time in your week that you couldn't use 20 minutes at most to pick up an iron and quickly go over your uniform, and dust off your boots?

[AngelWings]

Personally, I like a uniform that portrays the wearer.  You could always tell an Airman with wrinkled sleeves and dull boots was in need of motivation.

Tell me that after I crawl through a ceiling to run your phone line, and the best response you'd get would be "Understood."

There's a difference between showing up at 0-dark looking like you just rolled out of bed, and having a hard day's work reflected on
your clothing at the end of the day.

I don't get how having a job that gets you dirty sometimes is an excuse for looking unprofessional the rest of the time.

You just made an assumption that I show up to work that way. Never did. I did however get regular comments from those people in offices/hospital/cubicle farms about how dirty my uniform was right after crawling through their ceiling or under their floor to run their phone line. It's part of the reason why maintainers and office types don't get along. At least the SEA was a former maintainer, and didn't give us grief about working for a living.

A dirty uniform at 1530 was the sign that you worked. Too many fixate on having a perfect uniform all day. I remember one guy who had some issues because he would get a little dirt, go home and change at lunch for even the slightest thing on his uniform. This would happen a couple times a week. He was usually late back from lunch, and he tried to avoid work so he could stay clean. That's unrealistic, but he had that mindset because it was drilled into his head at tech school. That fixation caused problems, especially when he tried to defend it with "I look professional!" When the way you defend it comes across as superior, then you've lost.

You don't need glass shines on boots (a consistent issue with cadets), and your uniform doesn't need to stand up by itself. Iron it, a little polish, and you're good to go.

As to the orginal post, I wouldn't crease a flag patch, or a wing patch either. Do it too much, and the border starts coming loose. That looks bad. Part of professionalism is not destroying your uniform to look pretty.

Great points, and I am sorry you had to deal with the unappreciative and ignorant comments of fools who you just helped out.

[NCRblues]

I have to ask, for my general knowledge, were you ever (in the states, not on deployment/TDY) so strapped for time in your week that you couldn't use 20 minutes at most to pick up an iron and quickly go over your uniform, and dust off your boots?

Yes, several times. One of the most memorable one was when the Fort Hood shooting was ongoing and my base was locked down, and all the rest of that week when we were in FPCON C....

So, yup..

[Hawk200]

Great points, and I am sorry you had to deal with the unappreciative and ignorant comments of fools who you just helped out.

I think you're the only person to ever say anything to that effect to me. It is appreciated. Many of the ignorant ones have the idea that I showed up to work that way. Nothing could be further from the truth.

[SarDragon]

I have to ask, for my general knowledge, were you ever (in the states, not on deployment/TDY) so strapped for time in your week that you couldn't use 20 minutes at most to pick up an iron and quickly go over your uniform, and dust off your boots?

Iron - yes. Boots - usually, no. However, dust wasn't usually a problem. It was the aircraft fluids that made my boots ugly.

[AngelWings]

I have to ask, for my general knowledge, were you ever (in the states, not on deployment/TDY) so strapped for time in your week that you couldn't use 20 minutes at most to pick up an iron and quickly go over your uniform, and dust off your boots?

Yes, several times. One of the most memorable one was when the Fort Hood shooting was ongoing and my base was locked down, and all the rest of that week when we were in FPCON C....

So, yup..

What service were/are you in? If it was the Army, weren't you guys in ACU's?

[PHall]

I have to ask, for my general knowledge, were you ever (in the states, not on deployment/TDY) so strapped for time in your week that you couldn't use 20 minutes at most to pick up an iron and quickly go over your uniform, and dust off your boots?

Yes, several times. One of the most memorable one was when the Fort Hood shooting was ongoing and my base was locked down, and all the rest of that week when we were in FPCON C....

So, yup..

What service were/are you in? If it was the Army, weren't you guys in ACU's?

Littleguy, when was the last day you could wear BDU's in the Army? A little research will give you an answer.

Uniform changes don't happen overnight...

[AngelWings]

I have to ask, for my general knowledge, were you ever (in the states, not on deployment/TDY) so strapped for time in your week that you couldn't use 20 minutes at most to pick up an iron and quickly go over your uniform, and dust off your boots?

Yes, several times. One of the most memorable one was when the Fort Hood shooting was ongoing and my base was locked down, and all the rest of that week when we were in FPCON C....

So, yup..

What service were/are you in? If it was the Army, weren't you guys in ACU's?

Littleguy, when was the last day you could wear BDU's in the Army? A little research will give you an answer.

Uniform changes don't happen overnight...

BDU phase out date for the Army, April 30th, 2008. Fort Hood shooting, November 5th, 2009. I've collected uniforms since I was 13, and have been familiar with what the military does with their uniforms since around 2000. How about letting the person I was asking answer my question instead of trying to make an invalid point for something you didn't research yourself.

[NCRblues]

I have to ask, for my general knowledge, were you ever (in the states, not on deployment/TDY) so strapped for time in your week that you couldn't use 20 minutes at most to pick up an iron and quickly go over your uniform, and dust off your boots?

Yes, several times. One of the most memorable one was when the Fort Hood shooting was ongoing and my base was locked down, and all the rest of that week when we were in FPCON C....

So, yup..

What service were/are you in? If it was the Army, weren't you guys in ACU's?

USAF-509th Bomb Wing, 39th Air base wing (that is the wing I was at during the fort hood incident) and the 332nd EMG.

All military installations share a common D.O.D. wide alert reporting system. They are unclassified, up channeled, alerting messages concerning possible hostile action or actual hostile action on a military base (helping hand/covered wagon). It does not matter if it's Army/Navy/Air Force/Marine.

When bad things happen at one base, all the rest take notice and change procedures to make sure it is not an attempted mass attack on military areas.

[AngelWings]

I have to ask, for my general knowledge, were you ever (in the states, not on deployment/TDY) so strapped for time in your week that you couldn't use 20 minutes at most to pick up an iron and quickly go over your uniform, and dust off your boots?

Yes, several times. One of the most memorable one was when the Fort Hood shooting was ongoing and my base was locked down, and all the rest of that week when we were in FPCON C....

So, yup..

What service were/are you in? If it was the Army, weren't you guys in ACU's?

USAF-509th Bomb Wing, 39th Air base wing (that is the wing I was at during the fort hood incident) and the 332nd EMG.

All military installations share a common D.O.D. wide alert reporting system. They are unclassified, up channeled, alerting messages concerning possible hostile action or actual hostile action on a military base (helping hand/covered wagon). It does not matter if it's Army/Navy/Air Force/Marine.

When bad things happen at one base, all the rest take notice and change procedures to make sure it is not an attempted mass attack on military areas.

OK, thank you. Makes more sense now  . I can see how in a situation like that how you couldn't get to an iron.