Great minds think alike?

[N6RVT]

The Coast Guard Aux just adopted a uniform they call the "AWU"  Its the Civil Air patrol CWU with blue pants instead of grey and the seal on the other side of the polo shirt.

The blue pants are NOT USCG uniform pants, they are commercially available "5.11 type" which means in practice they will be a variety of styles and colors.  Sound familiar?

To be fair, this was in response to the fact a new USCG Aux member was faced with a seriously daunting initial uniform expense, and they just came up with the same answer CAP did.

And for the full regular field uniform, (their equivalent of OCP is the Navy type III in USCG Blue) they will have name tapes that for the first time do not match the color of the uniform, but now will be Blue lettering on .....grey.  The contrast is about the same as dark blue tapes on ABU camouflage.

[Shuman 14]

Well when the USCG "Working Blues" was simply a set of Blue Dickies (With the Dickies' Tags cut off), any Auxie could get all of their uniform needs taken care of at Sears or Pennys except for a Ship/Facility Ball Cap and black combat boots, there wasn't much of an issue.

When the USCG changed uniforms in the early 2000s, they let Auxies have a super long wear-out date so no one was really butt-hurt about the cost. I had just joined the USCGAux when this happened, so I just bought the new stuff and drove on.

I think is a good move, especially for certain USCGAux missions like Vessel examinations and dealership visits, less military/LE appearance will actually get a better response... just my opinion.

[RiverAux]

Biggest gripe I've heard so far is that they didn't come up with a less inexpensive outerwear garment than the existing Foul Weather Parka.  That was the most expensive thing on the uniform list for your average Auxie.

[N6RVT]

Biggest gripe I've heard so far is that they didn't come up with a less inexpensive outerwear garment than the existing Foul Weather Parka.  That was the most expensive thing on the uniform list for your average Auxie.

Give it time.  Most likely they will authorize anything as outerwear for it just like CAP.  Consider that most of us (USCG AUX types) have blue cargo pants as part of a uniform, and they specifically said you do NOT use those with this, but instead get some off the shelf civilian pants.  Were you wearing a foul weather parka over the jumpsuit uniform? (serious question, In 17 years I have never seen anyone wearing that, it seems about as beloved as the "Smurf Suit")

The whole idea, just like with CAP was to come up with a cheap, easily obtainable general purpose starter outfit.  Just like with CAP, you buy the polo shirt online and everything else comes from wal-mart.

[SARDOC]

Blue BDU style uniforms are easily available and aren't that expensive.  Many Agencies use them.  I think the cost factor alone prevents some members from getting ABU's and now even fewer vendors will be making them, because they were proprietary to an organization that no longer uses them with the exception of the auxiliary.

BBDU being used a the CFU is great because they are available at reasonable price points and there are multiple vendors still producing them.

I think CAP should seriously consider making the CFU open to all members cadets included and set a phase out date for ABU's in 4-5 years.

Keep the USAF Style Traditional uniforms...just change the field uniform to something more universal in the field for those who do ES work.

Standing by for selected outrage

[PHall]

Blue BDU style uniforms are easily available and aren't that expensive.  Many Agencies use them.  I think the cost factor alone prevents some members from getting ABU's and now even fewer vendors will be making them, because they were proprietary to an organization that no longer uses them with the exception of the auxiliary.

BBDU being used a the CFU is great because they are available at reasonable price points and there are multiple vendors still producing them.

I think CAP should seriously consider making the CFU open to all members cadets included and set a phase out date for ABU's in 4-5 years.

Keep the USAF Style Traditional uniforms...just change the field uniform to something more universal in the field for those who do ES work.

Standing by for selected outrage

You do realize that not everybody in CAP participates in ES, right? So why should everybody else have to comply with the wishes of a minority of the membership?

[TheSkyHornet]

What is a "USAF Traditional Style Uniform?"

Statistics indicate that nearly half of cadet members join because "they get to wear a military uniform." I point everyone back to TLC Basic.

[SarDragon]

What is a "USAF Traditional Style Traditional Uniform?"

Statistics indicate that nearly half of cadet members join because "they get to wear a military uniform." I point everyone back to TLC Basic.

FTFY.

I think that is the uniform that cadets have been wearing for 70+ years - the current USAF uniform, with CAP modifications, in both dress and utility combinations.

I'm not sure what you are getting at here.

[RiverAux]

Not that it is likely to make much of a difference, but I am hearing that there is going to be pushback from fairly high levels in the Auxiliary to the Auxiliary-specific items on the "test" replacement for the untucked ODU. 

[N6RVT]

Not that it is likely to make much of a difference, but I am hearing that there is going to be pushback from fairly high levels in the Auxiliary to the Auxiliary-specific items on the "test" replacement for the untucked ODU. 

There already IS an aux-specific boat crew uniform, the USCGAUX equivalent of the "Smurf Suit".  In 17 years I have never seen one, but it is still in the aux manual.  Granted that has not been revised since 2011.....

There is also an operations polo shirt which does seem to be the direct equivalent to the CAP polo.  I wore mine three times, twice I was told never to wear it again and once I was actually taken off the boat crew when I showed up that way.  I even had the page from the regulation to show them it was an authorized equivalent and was not considered mixing uniforms (Unlike the aforementioned jumpsuit)

[RiverAux]

The Auxiliary jump suit?  They don't even bother to put it in the national uniform presentation powerpoint.  Never seen one.  The fact that all members would have to wear it is probably a disincentive.  Though, I could see being a lot cooler in a lightweight jump suite than in the ODU. 

Didn't the ops polo shirt have some atrociously huge lettering on the back?  Thought that looked ridiculous, but maybe I saw something that wasn't quite official.

[TheSkyHornet]

I guess I'll be that person...

What's the hot topic here? How does this affect CAP?

To look at the purpose for this forum:

Uniforms & Awards Ask questions about and discuss the wear of the various CAP uniforms, for both Senior Members and Cadets. Also for the discussion of CAP awards and decorations.

[SarDragon]

And on that note (a C#) we conclude our program.