Adding a pen pocket to the BDU

[notaNCO forever]

Maybe its a wives tale, but I was under the impression that all the pockets were to be buttoned closed at all times, negating the stuff sticking out of them issue. Full, sure, but not hanging open.

As to the pen in the BDU pocket, the problem is that its rare you notice a camouflage space pen or something similar, it usually somebody with a Hello Kitty or Rainbow Bright multi-color deal with tip bright enough to use as a range flare. 

Hey I like my hello kitty pen. I was always told to keep all the buttons buttoned also. I'm almost positive it says do in the 39-1 to. Of course some people go out of their way to make sure stuff is sticking out of their pockets just to be rebellious.

[Hawk200]

I replaced the buttons on my BDU blouse pockets with velcro. It lays flat, and it's much easier to get into the pockets.

Probably a good idea. What I've been thinking about doing is putting a zipper with some Velcro, a la ACU. I'm still trying to figure out how to do it without it being visible.

Mods are fine, as long as you can't see them.

[Always Ready]

Mods are fine, as long as you can't see them.

Agreed. I wouldn't do anything to the visible part of the uniform. If you can't see it, it doesn't exist (well only as far as uniforms are concerned). ^{*Adding zipper and some velcro mods to my list*}

I don't mind stuff in the blouse pockets as long as it doesn't look like someone has a compass tumor sticking out of their chest. It just looks weird and it is redundant for doing stuff like shuffling paperwork at the weekly meeting. Stick what you NEED in your pockets. If you aren't doing something useful with the stuff in your pockets, don't put it in there.

[ol'fido]

As a former 11B, I never liked carrying things in my pockets in the field. In the pants, it justs rubs when you walk a lot. In the shirt, anything bulky between you and an LBE was a pain. In garrison, I carried my normal pocket trash. But, also in garrison, I kept one set of BDUs with the pockets sewn down for "spits and starches Mondays".

[jb512]

As a former 11B, I never liked carrying things in my pockets in the field. In the pants, it justs rubs when you walk a lot. In the shirt, anything bulky between you and an LBE was a pain. In garrison, I carried my normal pocket trash. But, also in garrison, I kept one set of BDUs with the pockets sewn down for "spits and starches Mondays".

...rated best answer.

Get your bulky crap out of your pockets, and don't wear them as though you slept in them the night before.  Especially not in a volunteer SAR organization...

[Gunner C]

As a former 11B, I never liked carrying things in my pockets in the field. In the pants, it justs rubs when you walk a lot. In the shirt, anything bulky between you and an LBE was a pain. In garrison, I carried my normal pocket trash. But, also in garrison, I kept one set of BDUs with the pockets sewn down for "spits and starches Mondays".

"Remember . . . It's not how you play, it's how you look." 
(Idiot Leg 1SG, 1984)

[NIN]

Maybe its a wives tale, but I was under the impression that all the pockets were to be buttoned closed at all times, negating the stuff sticking out of them issue. Full, sure, but not hanging open.

Agree.  That's the way its _supposed_ to be.  This dude was at an airshow one year and I swear: orange vest poking out of one cargo pocket, canteen out of the other, VHF radio in one blouse pocket, FRS in another, notepads or something in the third.. it was just.. silly..

As to the pen in the BDU pocket, the problem is that its rare you notice a camouflage space pen or something similar, it usually somebody with a Hello Kitty or Rainbow Bright multi-color deal with tip bright enough to use as a range flare. 

The Army was actually smart and said "It doesn't matter what kind of pen you have in the pen pocket..." thus blunting dumb[....] 1SGs and SGMs who go "Hey, there, solider, your pens don't match!" or "You should be wearing gold colored pens, not silver" or "Your pencil should always be outboard of the ballpoint in the name of standardization... And your third pen must be a Sharpie.."

I bought a cheapo pen-pencil set at Staples.  Silver and black. Serves my flight suit and my ACUs just fine, its fairly unobtrusive yet professional looking.

Unfortunately, my Pilot G-2s don't fit in my ACU pen-pocket due to the rubber at the writing end, which annoys me to no end as those are my favorite pens.  Fit fine in the button placket of my BDUs, however.

[Gunner C]

Maybe its a wives tale, but I was under the impression that all the pockets were to be buttoned closed at all times, negating the stuff sticking out of them issue. Full, sure, but not hanging open.

Agree.  That's the way its _supposed_ to be.  This dude was at an airshow one year and I swear: orange vest poking out of one cargo pocket, canteen out of the other, VHF radio in one blouse pocket, FRS in another, notepads or something in the third.. it was just.. silly..

As to the pen in the BDU pocket, the problem is that its rare you notice a camouflage space pen or something similar, it usually somebody with a Hello Kitty or Rainbow Bright multi-color deal with tip bright enough to use as a range flare. 

The Army was actually smart and said "It doesn't matter what kind of pen you have in the pen pocket..." thus blunting dumb[....] 1SGs and SGMs who go "Hey, there, solider, your pens don't match!" or "You should be wearing gold colored pens, not silver" or "Your pencil should always be outboard of the ballpoint in the name of standardization... And your third pen must be a Sharpie.."

I bought a cheapo pen-pencil set at Staples.  Silver and black. Serves my flight suit and my ACUs just fine, its fairly unobtrusive yet professional looking.

Unfortunately, my Pilot G-2s don't fit in my ACU pen-pocket due to the rubber at the writing end, which annoys me to no end as those are my favorite pens.  Fit fine in the button placket of my BDUs, however.

There's three ways to carry a pen in BDUs, none of which require the pen to be exposed:

• Put the pen inside the left breast pocket.  There's an access opening and a handy holder inside.  Don't put the clip outside the pocket but clip it to the inner pocket pen holder inside. 
• Put the pen inside the channel in the front consisting of the cloth inner panel where the jacket front closure buttons are sewed into.
• Carry your pen in your front pants pocket.  It's not as comfortable, but it's out of sight and it will be handy.

BTW, IMO telling someone what kind of pen they have to carry is dumb, unless you're stipulating that on a ground team you have to use a pencil (the writing doesn't run when wet).

[Senior]

Eclipse do you mean the dosimeter slot on the BDU pocket?
I always keep my pen inside the button cover flap of the  BDU's.

[RiverAux]

Get a brown or black pen and no one will see it in the pen pocket and if they do, so what, its authorized. 

[Eclipse]

Eclipse do you mean the dosimeter slot on the BDU pocket?
I always keep my pen inside the button cover flap of the  BDU's.

Is that what its really for?  I think I've seen you or others make that assertion here before.

Do you have any cite on that?

I've seen all kinds of stuff hanging from there from pens to radios (and as mentioned the lovely blue "I").  They all look bad.

[MikeD]

Unfortunately, my Pilot G-2s don't fit in my ACU pen-pocket due to the rubber at the writing end, which annoys me to no end as those are my favorite pens.  Fit fine in the button placket of my BDUs, however.

If you take the rubber grip off they fit into flight suit pen pockets, so I'd assume that they'd fit in the aCU ones.

[gistek]

The BDU pocket flap has a small opening that a pen can stick through. Sometimes I actually do keep a pen in there, but it's the type where the clip attaches to the very top of the cap. That way it doesn't extend above the flap and obscure the CAP tape.

I sew down the corners of my pockets with one or two loose stitches. That way they stay nicely flat for most purposes, but if I have to put something in the pocket and need the space it's easy to rip the stitch and have the entire pocket volume available.

I like the idea of keeping a form 60 in one of the pockets. I keep one in my wallet, but having one where everyone knows where it is could save a lot of time in an emergency.

[Fifinella]

But *everyone* knows the little gap-thingy in the left BDU blouse pocket is for hanging your sunglasses from... [ducking to avoid flamethrowers] 

[notaNCO forever]

But *everyone* knows the little gap-thingy in the left BDU blouse pocket is for hanging your sunglasses from... [ducking to avoid flamethrowers] 

No it's to clip radios on to.

[O-Rex]

But *everyone* knows the little gap-thingy in the left BDU blouse pocket is for hanging your sunglasses from... [ducking to avoid flamethrowers] 

Ahh!! heresy!! heresy!! 

If you want a pen pocket, like the ABU or ACU, you can unstitch the little pen pocket that's inside the left breast pocket of the BDU then sew it to the lower left sleeve.

As for sewing down the pockets, been doing that for years, even when I was on active duty-alot of NCO's did (however, we usually maintained a 'functional' set for actual field wear.)  I also removed the pleated bellows material from the BDU shirt pockets (ABU's don't even have them) and elasticized the bottom of my BDU pants-goodbye blousers.

Waaaay back in the Army when we had guard-duty, everyone had a 'supernumary' uniform and LBE (on some installations, the sharpest soldier didn't have to pull guard duty, and was put on standby, called supernumary-competition for that was fierce!) Uniforms were tailored and pockets sewed-down and LBE was in pristine condition.

Sure, some uniform-nazis may bristle, but I can remember when the bdu was cut like a potato-sack, and alterations were not authorized; we'd go to a local tailor to give the bdu shirt a bit of a flare, and lo & behold, later generations of BDU's were actually made that way. 

If the modifications are done right, you'd never know they were there: you'd just see a sharp-looking uniform. 

[Eclipse]

Sure, some uniform-nazis may bristle, but I can remember when the bdu was cut like a potato-sack, and alterations were not authorized; we'd go to a local tailor to give the bdu shirt a bit of a flare, and lo & behold, later generations of BDU's were actually made that way. 

I did the same thing with my USAF-style service jacket.  A tuck here and there to give it a little shape.  I know its supposed to be a "drape cut", but not the living room curtains!

[O-Rex]

Another example of a uniform mod that became standard were special operations folks taking the bottom pockets from the BDU and sewing them on the upper sleeve: wouldn't you know it? the ACU and MARPAT utilities now have them.

The Khaki uniform itself was derived from a field modification: British soldiers in India in the late 19th century dyed their tropical white uniforms tan to avoid getting picked off by snipers-that color became a standard uniform color the world over for nearly a century.

When I get flight suits with the little flap on the sleeve pocket, I take them off (they're useless) and use the material, which is incidentally just the right size, for a handy pen-pocket on the lower leg zippered pocket (like the 'McPeak' style flightsuits have)  and NO, I don't wear a 'morale patch' on the pocket velcro (I actually wear a little 1X2 inch piece of 3M black non-IR cloth reflective tape with velcro backing-it's flat black, but turns bright white when you shine a light directly at it.)  Under normal conditions, you wouldn't know unless I told you. As for the reflective tape, most folks who discover that little secret (at night when we're preflighting by flashlight for a midnite aerial bug hunt) actually ask me if I have one for them-which I usually do.

Now, this is where I insert the "don't try this at home" disclaimer: If you are going to noticeably alter the appearance of the uniform item to the point where it looks more 'different' than it does 'sharp' or functional when worn, then stop right there.

(still-growing) Cadets: if you are wearing a uniform that you may hand-down when it no longer fits, you might want to hold off-the cadet who gets your uniform might not appreciate the mods.

It's kind of like plastic-surgery on pop stars and aging actresses: sometimes a little is good, but a lot gets just plain weird. 

[sfdefender]

Another example of a uniform mod that became standard were special operations folks taking the bottom pockets from the BDU and sewing them on the upper sleeve: wouldn't you know it? the ACU and MARPAT utilities now have them.

That is one of the best mods for guys who routinely wear body armor or some sort of tactical vest that prevents the use of the lower two pockets.  I am glad that they went that route on the ACU. It is very Tactical and Practical

In my 13 years in CAP and combined 9 years in the Air Force/Army. I have never used the lower pockets on my BDU top. 

MATT BREWER
Major, CAP

[O-Rex]

Matt: 

I think that part of the reason was the change in the cut of the uniforms as well as the development of body armor.  If you compare the BDU with the VN-era jungle fatigue shirts (man, I loved that uniform!) the latter was actually longer and the bottom pockets were lower.  Plus the design and cut of present-day body armor covers more area that previous gens did.  I was out long before the current models came into being, but I remember the marked difference between the old Green vests and the PASGT models when we swapped steel pots for Kevlar helmets in the '80s. 

I do remember that the high collar and material on the newer vests chafed the hell out of our necks, and can appreciate the convertible mandarin-style collars on the current Army and Marine uniforms.

I always thought that lower pockets were impractical when in the prone position, which is where you probably want to be when the bullets start flying (?)