When the smallest length is too large.

[AngelWings]

I have noticed before that some cadets have somehow been able to make Steve Urkel look like he is sagging his pants. I have seen one or two cadets in the past before wearing their blues pants so far up that the bottom portion of their chest pockets were tucked into their pants. Definetaly well above his waste line, and I promptly corrected the cadet (in a very respectful and "hey bro" style).

That right there made me wonder, in the case of our "fun" sized little airmen, what if the shortest length is still too long? What if a cadet is physically too short for an extra short option, especially on non hemable items like the pockets of a blues shirt or the BDU pants (think of how low the pockets would be if you hemmed them)? I have yet to run into this situation, but thought it would be interesting to see what the responses would be.

[NIN]

I have noticed before that some cadets have somehow been able to make Steve Urkel look like he is sagging his pants. I have seen one or two cadets in the past before wearing their blues pants so far up that the bottom portion of their chest pockets were tucked into their pants. Definetaly well above his waste line, and I promptly corrected the cadet (in a very respectful and "hey bro" style).

That right there made me wonder, in the case of our "fun" sized little airmen, what if the shortest length is still too long? What if a cadet is physically too short for an extra short option, especially on non hemable items like the pockets of a blues shirt or the BDU pants (think of how low the pockets would be if you hemmed them)? I have yet to run into this situation, but thought it would be interesting to see what the responses would be.

That would be one short cadet were he too short to hem the trousers below the pockets (I have BDU pants hemmed below the pockets. They're called shorts.)

I had a small cadet whose mom hemmed his BDUs by basically unstitching the bottom pockets of the shirt and turning up the bottom of his shirt about 2 1/2 inches, and stitching the pockets back on.  She did a fantastic job of shortening his sleeves too, that you would never even notice unless you were told where to look.   He had extra small/short trousers and of course, you just blouse them. I don't believe mom modified the cargo pockets. But I suppose you could.

[AngelWings]

I have noticed before that some cadets have somehow been able to make Steve Urkel look like he is sagging his pants. I have seen one or two cadets in the past before wearing their blues pants so far up that the bottom portion of their chest pockets were tucked into their pants. Definetaly well above his waste line, and I promptly corrected the cadet (in a very respectful and "hey bro" style).

That right there made me wonder, in the case of our "fun" sized little airmen, what if the shortest length is still too long? What if a cadet is physically too short for an extra short option, especially on non hemable items like the pockets of a blues shirt or the BDU pants (think of how low the pockets would be if you hemmed them)? I have yet to run into this situation, but thought it would be interesting to see what the responses would be.

That would be one short cadet were he too short to hem the trousers below the pockets (I have BDU pants hemmed below the pockets. They're called shorts.)

I had a small cadet whose mom hemmed his BDUs by basically unstitching the bottom pockets of the shirt and turning up the bottom of his shirt about 2 1/2 inches, and stitching the pockets back on.  She did a fantastic job of shortening his sleeves too, that you would never even notice unless you were told where to look.   He had extra small/short trousers and of course, you just blouse them. I don't believe mom modified the cargo pockets. But I suppose you could.

I have made BDU shorts within the past week out of old and beaten up BDU pants  . I was thinking more along the lines of having a lower than usual cargo pocket rather than a high hem.

That is very clever, and crafty. I know a lot of people do not have type of sewing savy, though. It would be an undertaking to say the least for many people, and probably result in a poor job due to the lack of required skill. I bet that the base cleaners, or a local seamstress could do it, though.

[Pylon]

Had a cadet who had to wear the closest approximation to blues pants they could find commercially in the boy's clothing section of department stores because he was... well, a lot smaller than the shortest/smallest blues pants made for the Air Force.  He eventually grew into standard uniform pants.   Some might call foul for not wearing official USAF-approved pants;  I'd say that unless Vanguard is going to manufacture special order pants that there's no better option.

[The CyBorg is destroyed]

Had a cadet who had to wear the closest approximation to blues pants they could find commercially in the boy's clothing section of department stores because he was... well, a lot smaller than the shortest/smallest blues pants made for the Air Force.  He eventually grew into standard uniform pants.   Some might call foul for not wearing official USAF-approved pants;  I'd say that unless Vanguard is going to manufacture special order pants that there's no better option.

That's exactly what we had to do for a very "small-fry" cadet...and he wears his uniform as proudly and as correctly as any other cadet I've seen.