New summer flight uniform -- coming back from the dead?

[BuckeyeDEJ]

http://www.afa.org/magazine/1991/0691splendor.asp

Scroll down to the photo.

Hasn't that photo been dredged up before?

From the article (boldface for emphasis):

Some thirty-five years before US forces were ordered to the Persian Gulf, the Air Force unveiled the uniform for just such a parched environment. Fortunately for the troops in Operation Desert Storm, it had a mercifully short life.

The Air Force's original idea was to allow short pants as a clothing option. What emerged in the 1950s, however, was a full tropical wardrobe, complete with Bermuda shorts, knee-length socks, bush jacket, and optional pith helmet.

When freshly pressed, the outfit didn't look bad on the models in the uniform manual. In the field, particularly on stocky men with knobby knees, it looked ludicrous. Noncoms fumed that the outfit made them look like oversized Boy Scouts. Wives said that, just to keep it presentable, it had to be washed and ironed every night. Several generals said they wouldn't be caught dead in the thing. After going through a brief trial run, the Air Force gave the outfit a decent burial.

'Nuff said.

My opinion: We're a paramilitary organization. As a result, we wear a uniform. We wear it professionally, just as we take the new oath seriously. The "flying club" uniforms need a decent burial, too -- from the golf shirts to the shorts proposal. We're the Air Force's auxiliary, for crying out loud.

[Pumbaa]

I have a better idea....

Why not just take the Flight suit and cut the sleeves and legs off!?!?!  You will then have a fire retardant, summer flight suit!

CHEAP TOO!!  no need to buy extra... If CAP does this we won't have to spend money!!

[Smokey]

Oh my gawd......

(cleaning up the barf off my keyboard)


The sad thing is there is some fool out there who will take that picture and use it in an actual proposal.

[BuckeyeDEJ]

What will be authorized footwear with that flight short suit? Vinyl shoes with Velcro flaps, and knee-high black socks? Nothing would say "Florida" more than that....

(Actually, that photo above, well, looks more like a miniskirt.)

[Pumbaa]

OH Darn!!!

He put on the female version of the summer flight suit!!

Don't ask, Don't tell!

[citizensoldier]

Realizing that I am coming back to all this after 20 years, the move AWAY from the military style uniforms is truly sad. 

[O-Rex]

I have a better idea....

Why not just take the Flight suit and cut the sleeves and legs off!?!?!  You will then have a fire retardant, summer flight suit!

CHEAP TOO!!  no need to buy extra... If CAP does this we won't have to spend money!!

This outfit makes a statement. . .

It's fun to stay at the. . . . . Y.M.C.A!!!

Even if shorts were approved, the wearer would be ostracized by the zipper-suited mafia.

[citizensoldier]

That picture makes me cry.

[BuckeyeDEJ]

I'm not sure whether to cry or laugh at that illustration.

When I was a cadet, back in the 1980s, there wasn't a dizzying array of uniform choices in CAP. There were the Air Force uniforms, and there was the white shirt-gray pants-blazer combination. Seemed a lot simpler back then, a lot more uniform.

I'd say it's time to rein in a bunch of these CAP combinations, and I heartily encourage people to wear the Air Force uniforms if they want to avoid all the extra expense and confusion. Besides, it helps foster a more businesslike, military environment.

[Eclipse]

...I heartily encourage people to wear the Air Force uniforms if they want to avoid all the extra expense and confusion. Besides, it helps foster a more businesslike, military environment.

Its considerably more expensive to wear the USAF-Style uniforms than the corporates, especially if you aren't in the Air Force.

If we could get the USAF to relax a little on the grooming standards, much like many similar programs, including the CGAUX, we'd all look the same.

[BuckeyeDEJ]

Its considerably more expensive to wear the USAF-Style uniforms than the corporates, especially if you aren't in the Air Force.

I never thought it was more expensive to wear my blues, BDUs, flight suits and mess dress uniforms, but my experience may be different. My stuff has been accumulated over 25 years, and in the case of some uniform items, only acquired when I absolutely needed them.

We disagree on this -- I heartily believe our grooming standards must be as stringent as the Air Force's, as long as we wear the Air Force uniform. In most every place there's a CAP unit, we represent the Air Force, since there aren't a whole lot of Air Force installations around (compared to, say, the Army and the ARNG). We ARE the Air Force to many people, as we recently discussed in an SLS in which I helped teach. And since we "show the flag," we need to set our standards high.

[CadetProgramGuy]

Whiny Member: Uhhh Sir?!?

Member: Yes?

WM: I wanna wear shorts when I fly cause I'm too hot.....

M: Open the air vents

WM: But that the smart and logicial thing to do....

M: I know....


----OR------

Sir?

Yes?

The horse is dead, sir!!

Keep beating it, it will come back to life.......

[SarDragon]

I'm not sure whether to cry or laugh at that illustration.

When I was a cadet, back in the 1980s, there wasn't a dizzying array of uniform choices in CAP. There were the Air Force uniforms, and there was the white shirt-gray pants-blazer combination. Seemed a lot simpler back then, a lot more uniform.

I'd say it's time to rein in a bunch of these CAP combinations, and I heartily encourage people to wear the Air Force uniforms if they want to avoid all the extra expense and confusion. Besides, it helps foster a more businesslike, military environment.

Men's service uniform combinations (or corporate equivalent)

1968 - 6
1987 - 7
1997 - 7
2008 - 7

Men's utility uniform combinations (or corporate equivalent)

1968 - 1
1987 - 2
1997 - 2
2008 - 3

Have things really changed all that much?

YMMV.

[CadetProgramGuy]

I'm not sure whether to cry or laugh at that illustration.

When I was a cadet, back in the 1980s, there wasn't a dizzying array of uniform choices in CAP. There were the Air Force uniforms, and there was the white shirt-gray pants-blazer combination. Seemed a lot simpler back then, a lot more uniform.

I'd say it's time to rein in a bunch of these CAP combinations, and I heartily encourage people to wear the Air Force uniforms if they want to avoid all the extra expense and confusion. Besides, it helps foster a more businesslike, military environment.

Men's service uniform combinations (or corporate equivalent)

1968 - 6
1987 - 7
1997 - 7
2008 - 7

Men's utility uniform combinations (or corporate equivalent)

1968 - 1
1987 - 2
1997 - 2
2008 - 3

Have things really changed all that much?

YMMV.

Albeit a slight one, it is an upward trend over the years.

How it should be is you replace one uniform with another, not "here's another one to try"

[DC]

...I heartily encourage people to wear the Air Force uniforms if they want to avoid all the extra expense and confusion. Besides, it helps foster a more businesslike, military environment.

Its considerably more expensive to wear the USAF-Style uniforms than the corporates, especially if you aren't in the Air Force.

If we could get the USAF to relax a little on the grooming standards, much like many similar programs, including the CGAUX, we'd all look the same.

How so? Maybe the greys an whites, assuming the member has a suitable pair of grey pants, but the vast majority of corporate uniform wearing seniors these days seem to be in the CSU, which is just as expensive as the USAF style, and really practically the same, change the shirt and the color of the epaulets and the nameplate...

But, I think we all agree here, it doens't get hot enough anywhere to justify a uniform involving shorts and white tennis shoes. Nor does it make sense to have more uniform combinations than the Navy, we need less not more.

[CAPLAW]

 I live in Florida, can I wear a tank top with my BDU'S and flip flops.  And can I turn my service cap into a sun visor

[LittleIronPilot]

OH NO......Don't tell me the flying club mafia is back at it.

I'm so sick of those folks who just want to fly on someone else's dime and want to distance us from our parent (the AF).

The total lack of a professional appearance is so abhorrent to those folks, that they whine and cry about having to wear a uniform, salute, or act the least bit professional and exhibit a little esprit de corps.......I just wish they would go join the Ranger Corps.

Careful Smokey...someone is gonna chime in and say "well how does what I wear affect the mission". As if the mission is the ONLY thing that mattered.

I mean if it were, than we could all wear flip-flops and shorts with tank tops, fly whatever we wanted (I mean the more birds up the better right?), and basically run our own show!

[LittleIronPilot]

...I heartily encourage people to wear the Air Force uniforms if they want to avoid all the extra expense and confusion. Besides, it helps foster a more businesslike, military environment.

Its considerably more expensive to wear the USAF-Style uniforms than the corporates, especially if you aren't in the Air Force.

If we could get the USAF to relax a little on the grooming standards, much like many similar programs, including the CGAUX, we'd all look the same.

Eclipse, it IS relaxed, at least as far as weight is concerned.

How much more relaxed do you want it? I already seen enough "too much sausage packaged into to small a skin" with the flight suit now! Heck man if people would just learn to push away from the donuts and buffet every once in awhile we would not need relaxed standards!

[BillB]

CAPLAW

I live in Florida, can I wear a tank top with my BDU'S and flip flops


ONLY if you're female.

[AlphaSigOU]

I live in Florida, can I wear a tank top with my BDU'S and flip flops.  And can I turn my service cap into a sun visor

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh! Thanks for the eyeball-burning description!