Crossing the Line: BDU Preparation

[Archer]

At what point do you cross the thin(heavily starched) line between properly maintaining your BDU like a disciplined military professional and over doing it to the point that you're not doing much other than displaying to everyone around you that you don't know how that uniform is supposed to be used?

Honor-guard-shined boots?
Razor creases?
Ironing at all?
Shirt-stays(garters) on your undershirt?
Strings(IP) removal?
Boot blousing bands?

Where is the line drawn?

[Panache]

During my time in the Army, I did all of the items you listed while wearing BDUs, with the exception of undershirt garters.  Those aren't really needed with BDU's, as any benefit you get from it will be hidden by your BDU blouse.

[Garp]

^ this

[Archer]

Have you had any experiences with your uniform not holding up, specifically in the field, due to the added stress you put on them with that?

[Stonewall]

Wash, dry, iron (no starch).

Brush polished boots.

/thread

[NIN]

At what point do you cross the thin(heavily starched) line between properly maintaining your BDU like a disciplined military professional and over doing it to the point that you're not doing much other than displaying to everyone around you that you don't know how that uniform is supposed to be used?

Honor-guard-shined boots?
Razor creases?
Ironing at all?
Shirt-stays(garters) on your undershirt?
Strings(IP) removal?
Boot blousing bands?

Where is the line drawn?

I've always thought the line was pretty fuzzy and a little zig-zaggy, depending on a lot of factors (who is wearing the uniform, the purpose of the uniform, the people and command climate around you, etc).

WIWAC, I had a commander who was a full-time ANG NCO, former Army infantryman Vietnam vet.  Fatigues, in his way of thinking, were a "work/field uniform." We'd wear blues 3 meetings a month and fatigues 1. Marching in a parade in fatigues? Ain't happening.

So the rule was "clean and neat, but don't overdo it."

Uniforms we not wrinkled, insignia wasn't all buggered up, boots were black and had been shined.  There was no extra credit given for parade ground "8-ball" shine on the boots, 4lbs of starch in a 2lb uniform, etc.

(Its like my old joke giving the command "At Ease" wrong.  "Oh, so you want to relax with precision?" We're going to make our work/field uniform a parade uniform? What?)

FFWD for me to the Army, and yeah, in Basic and AIT, my uniforms were "squared away" but all I did was get them laundered by the Quartermaster laundry with whatever level of starch they used by default.  I bought a pair of jump boots for those times when I wasn't mired in hydraulic fluid, kept one set of BDUs "oil free," snipped the threads off the uniform, and that was it.  They all pretty much still got dirty, cleaned, pressed, etc.

When I got to Korea, however, I was on my battalion's color guard and we stepped it up a notch. But just a notch.  Since our KATUSA counterpart on the color guard only owned issued boots, it didn't make sense for the rest of us to wear jump boots.  (So we bought him a pair of jump boots.. LOL!)  But our uniforms were still only laundered and pressed by our aijumas.  We made sure they were 100% AR 670-1 compliant, but they weren't dipped in white glue and left to dry or had super-special nametags made or anything like that.  Just "wear it correctly."

Now, today, do I wear my BDUs "sharply?" Yes.

Do I do all that crazy stuff?  No.  I want to present a sharp and consistent image to the cadets, but not an unrealistic hyper-crazy one, either.

My BDUs are clean and pressed.  I check them for threads. My insignia is well stitched. 

My jump boots are shined, but honestly, the last time I sat down and Kiwi'd them was like 5-6 months ago. They're still pretty high-speed looking, but I don't abuse them. They get worn, and then taken off and put away where they're not going to get ruined.   I do wipe them off, touch them up, etc.  Nobody is going to look down at my boots and say "Crikey, did the colonel use a hot Hershey bar on those?"  They're clean, black and highly polished, and look that way every week.

And that is what I expect the cadet's boots to look like: clean, black and have seen Kiwi.  Get rid of the dirt, the boots are supposed to be black, and look like they've been polished since you owned them.   Not a huge scuff across the toe, brown leather showing, or caked on mud.  (don't get me started on sham-shined boots. Especially poorly sham-shined boots<GRIN>)  I'll be impressed with your extra work if your boots are highly spit shined and look great.  But if at the same time you can't pass your Aerospace test, or give me the cadet oath, we're going to have a talk about where your emphasis is.

Razor creases are not necessary. I like mine with creases, sure, but there is a limit. Especially if overdoing it contributes to abnormal wear.  A cadet whose uniform looks like it has seen an iron since the last time he wore it will get no gig from me.  The guy whose uniform looks like it was balled up in the corner of his bedroom between meetings (or slept in last night) is going to get one.

Shirt-stays on the t-shirt is just... stupid. There, I said it.

I also use the wide blousing bands because they don't cut the circulation off as badly, and i think they make the blouse look a little nicer (and this from the guy who had his ACUs setup with elastic....). However, there are so many ways that cadets can "blouse poorly" (uneven left-to-right, too low, etc) that my standard is "is it at the top of the boot-ish? Good. Even? Wow. Great."  Most of the time I look down and I'm not 100% sure the cadet has even bloused his boots. "Uh, hey.."

Bottom line is: making BDUs a parade uniform is a kabuki-theater thing. Its not "more military"

They should look "right," and not "over-right".

[lordmonar]

When I was on active duty and wore BDU's.....I took my uniforms to dry cleaners asked for heavy starch.

I could get 3-5 days wear out of a set of BDUs....took them off and hung them up as soon as I got home.....depending on how messy I was at work (comm maintenance is not really that hard on BDUs).

For CAP.....I wash them at home.  Iron them when they come out of the dryer....no starch.
I wear Jump boots.....a little Kiwi a quick buff with the brush.....good to go.

I don't stress the spit shine and razor creases for my cadets......it is not necessary.

[HGjunkie]

Sometimes when I'm really bored I'll take out the sta-flo and have some fun, but 90% of the time I just steam press my BDUs and wear em until they need to be washed.

[Flying Pig]

Please.... Please.... Im begging you... Don't wear shirt-stays on your undershirt!!!

[Flying Pig]

When I was in the Marines (back when we wore woodland cammies) all I did was buff shine my boots and steam iron my cammies and used VERY light starch.

Cammies (BDUs) that are starched rock solid and honor guard shined boots, to ME, looks completely silly.  Id tell cadets that I appreciated the effort, but save it for your blues.  I cant count the number of cadets Ive seen who get it backwards.  BDUs look like they are standing inspection at NCC, and their blues look like they just got back from the field. 

[MIKE]

When I wore jump boots with BDUs, I shined them... then I bought some black Infantry Combat Boots for cheap back during the waning days...  Instruction booklet said no polish so they have none on them.  I clean them but I don't shine them.

I iron my ODUs same as I did BDUs.  I don't use starch at all.  At my last squadron they were big on starched BDUs, but most of them also had the Hock Shop Special 100% cottons that faded and wore terribly.  I had EHWBDUs.

I have had a few different styles of blousing bands.  I currently use the standard ones... which work best with my ICBs,

[Eclipse]

I carefully snip the retaining threads from the blousing ties and use the tie to pull a rubber blousing band through the
same channel.  Once through, I close the rings together with pliers and let them fall back into the pants invisible.

The result is an elastic bunch foot opening that insta-blouses when you put your pants on and is easily adjusted
if things shift around.

Otherwise my BDUs go to the cleaners and get starched hard, I like the look, and am unconcerned with IR signature.
If that's too much, keeping them clean and ironed won't hurt you and will put you a few clicks of those in your flight
who look like they sleep in the dryer.

[Archer]

I'm surprised no one here has taken the field-utility stance(nothing at all ever except a wash and dry occasionally).

[Eclipse]

I'm surprised no one here has taken the field-utility stance(nothing at all ever except a wash and dry occasionally).

By far the vast majority of CAP field uniforms never see anything resembling a "field".

[Spaceman3750]

I'm surprised no one here has taken the field-utility stance(nothing at all ever except a wash and dry occasionally).

By far the vast majority of CAP field uniforms never see anything resembling a "field".

Mine rarely see anything but the field.

[a2capt]

I'm surprised no one here has taken the field-utility stance(nothing at all ever except a wash and dry occasionally).

Thats it. Wash, remove from water, use the shower head with warm water to rinse one more time, and hang to dry.  They come out flat, nearly ironed looking. Done.

[abdsp51]

Nothing wrong with highly shined boots and a creased uniform.  However if that's all that is relied on to get through then that's a problem.  But the basics need to be there, shined boots, clean, neat, serviceable and pressed uniform.  I have a had hard getting cadets to this as is.

[LSThiker]

I'm surprised no one here has taken the field-utility stance(nothing at all ever except a wash and dry occasionally).

That is all that I do with mine.  Wash it, dry it, and iron it a little (mostly collar) to get the proper shape back.  My pocket corners are sewn down (still functional pockets) so I do not have fabric sticking out.  I have no creases running down my sleeves and no starch.  My boots are shined but not to a high gloss.  My cadets were told that the BDUs will be inspected but not to the same degree as the service uniform.  They were in weekend ES activities every two months. 

[The CyBorg is destroyed]

Except for way back in Basic Training, when one had to have their BDU's hung in the wall locker a certain way or incur the wrath of the MTI's, I just wash/dry/hang up/ready to go.

[ol'fido]

In garrison and on Monday morning, it was spits and starches. In the field, everything, and I mean everything, turned a nice shade of reddish brown including me. Hawaii=Lava Dirt.