Dress blue shirt for Cadets

[ARGNC145]

My son's current rank is Cadet Senior Airman. When he wears dress blues (no coat), can he only wear the short sleeve shirt? He is under the impression that LS is for senior members/to be worn under a a dress blue jacket.
Thanks!

[MSG Mac]

The long sleeve shirt is for everybody and has to be worn with a tie.

[TheSkyHornet]

The short-sleeve shirt is the mandatory uniform for cadets. They need to own this item.

The long-sleeve shirt is authorized for everyone, but a tie must be worn with this shirt. The long-sleeve shirt (and mandatory tie if worn) is an optional item to purchase. The service coat is not required to wear the long-sleeve shirt.

The service coat is an optional item to purchase. If worn, a tie must be worn with either the long-sleeve or short-sleeve shirt, whichever is worn with the coat.

You will find some units only state the service coat is to be worn by cadets on staff, or just seniors, or a particular grade/rank of the unit's choosing. This is a unit standard operating procedure, not a CAP regulation. Units do have the authority to enforce this.

Units cannot mandate that you wear a particular uniform item, except for the Blues uniform, with the exception of those that the unit provides. This is a CAP regulation. If a unit provides cadets with a service coat and tie, then it can require cadets to wear the service coat and tie. If they tell a cadet that he/she has to purchase that uniform item and must wear it, then the cadet (and parent) should take that up with higher headquarters and get that situation addressed.

The only exception to this is that some CAP activities may require a specific uniform (e.g., Encampment, NCSA), or certain unit "teams" (e.g., Honor Guard).

[wacapgh]

Both are known as the Blue Service Uniform (Class B).

As TheSkyHornet says, only the short sleeve Class B is required per CAPM-39-1:

1.2. Wear of the CAP Uniform.
1.2.1. Individual members will obtain and maintain for wear either of the minimum basic uniforms
described here. These combinations meet the requirements of most CAP events. A commander may
require cadets to wear other optional uniform items only if the purchase is voluntary (such as requiring a
specific uniform for participation in a National Cadet Special Activity) or if the uniform is supplied
without expense to the cadet.
  1.2.1.1. Minimum USAF-style Uniform: The minimum basic USAF-style uniform is the
Blue Service Uniform (Class B) with short sleeve shirt (male) or blouse (female) as appropriate. Cadets
authorized to wear the USAF-style uniform are required to maintain this uniform.

What 1.2.1 means is that to attend your regular unit meetings, you have to provide your own Class B short-sleeve uniform. If your unit want's to require ties, long-sleeve shirts, Class A uniforms, BDU's, or ABU's they will have to provide them to you for free.

However, if you choose to go to an optional activity - summer encampment, an NSCA, Emergency Services training/missions, or volunteer for a color or honor guard then you have to provide the uniforms for that activity yourself.