Posted on 10/05/2006 12:20:43 PM PDT by 68skylark
West Point, N.Y. IT would be shallow to say that I fell in love with the soldier I married because of his uniform, but it would also be partly true. It’s Cupid’s oldest trick: dress a man for war and love walks in.
Every girl who’s had her head turned by a uniform has her favorite, and for me there is nothing quite like the command of camouflage. A fitted, heavily starched long jacket and bloused trousers in a dark green, black and brown woodland pattern over polished black boots, the Battle Dress Uniform, to me, is the American soldier.
But the B.D.U. is being phased out. Soldiers have been ordered to purchase two sets of the newer Army Combat Uniforms by next May, and soon, like the brown leather boots of the early cold war, the Vietnam-era pickle suit and the chocolate chip Desert Storm camo, the B.D.U. will be history. And I will miss it.
My husband and I are, in the eyes of many, an oddly matched Mr. and Mrs., an Army intelligence officer and a pop-culture-obsessed writer. To paraphrase an old recruiting slogan, ours is not just a marriage, it’s an adventure, a two-person cultural exchange program. Because of him, I can identify a Blackhawk, Apache or Chinook helicopter by the sound of the blades slicing the air overhead. Because of me, he exfoliates.
In the beginning, I favored the B.D.U. because it acutely highlighted the differences between us as individuals, but over time, it has also come to underscore the contrast in our roles.
Spouses don’t experience firsthand the bombs-and-bullets Army — we see only the ceremonial ribbons-and-medals Army, the workaday pack-and-move-every-few-years Army — and my husband’s B.D.U.’s were my connection to the viscera of soldierdom. They were honest....
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
"(Wife thinks the best looking are Navy dress whites.)"
They may look good but I swear when you put them on you attract every dirt particle within a fifty yard radius.
And of course the US Navy is the only service in which the wearer's underwear (the skivvy shirt) is a visible part of the dress uniform. Reaaaal classy. They say it's "tradition". My ass. If tradition is so important, they should just go all the way and have squids dress like jolly Jack Tars, complete with knee pants, Donald Duck caps, and ribbons in their hair.
(Sigh.) Oh well. Maybe the Space Force will get it right.
B-chan
Former MM3, USS ENTERPRISE (CVN-65)
"They HAVE to do that. Its because their paychecks all say:
U.S. Navy. "
Actually, we don't get paychecks anymore. Our pay is direct deposited into our bank accounts, but when we did get checks they said United States Treasury Department. Yes the Marine Corps is part of the Department of The Navy, WE ARE THE MEN'S DEPARTMENT!!!!!!
"Men in camo are hot."
(L98Fiero heads to surplus store)
"(Wife thinks the best looking are Navy dress whites.)"
Nooo! :-) I hated those. I liked the working blues or "stormtrooper" uniforms, even if I did have to wear a tie.
Direct Deposit?
Whoa, now I know I'm behind the times.
How do the loan sharks get paid? We used to stand right behind the paymaster and when your patsy got his cash, you were right there to collect what he owed!
Man, times have changed!
"I liked the working blues or "stormtrooper" uniforms."
TK-421, why aren't you at your post?
BTW, nice try at spin on the Treasury department thing.
All gov checks say that. But the branch of the service was always stamped on the face of it too.
Nyuk Nyuk
Sailors still fall overboard. You don't want camouflage at sea, especially camouflage that will blend in with a choppy sea with white caps.
"How do the loan sharks get paid?"
On-line bill pay.
You have to have a checking account and ATM card when you show up at Basic, or they issue you one (for a fee).
Hee hee....;D
"there is a lot of good natured ribbing with these guys including the jokes regarding Marines are all Braun and no Brains....they all take it in stride.....When I talk to my son about this he has a lot of respect for the other branches because they are all serving this country..."
So true, I have been a Marine for the last 22 years and have made many jokes at the expense of our sister services, but I and 99% of all Marines have nothing but the utmost respect for soldiers, sailors, and airmen. We are on the same team. My oldest son is an Army artillery man in Iraq, and I am very proud that he had the balls to put on the uniform, whould I have preffered that he was a Marine? Sure, but in the end it was his choice and I am just as proud of him.
Just make sure ya get the "Woodland" pattern.....;]
"On-line bill pay. "
Hooy, that would just really blow. Cash transactions were king. MPC to hard green, hard green to dong, dong to MPC.
The circle of life.
Since when does the Navy give a hoot about visibility? Those blue dungarees don't exactly show up real well at night when you're floating in the middle of the South Pacific watching your ship disappear over the horizon. If man-overboard visibility was the main criteria, the Navy would make all the uniforms International Orange.
Besides, real squids stay safely below decks when the ship is underway...
Yeah, we had to go to direct deposit in Oct of 1987, my last "hard check" was 15 Sept 1987.
re post 12
Right on!
The Imperial Chicks (imperialchicks.com) website has a hilarious beefcake, er, banthacake calendar of Imperial stormtroopers in various states of undress. (Strictly PG, of course.)
I believe you can see it on the site's What's New page...or the Troopers & Guards page. I thought the Imperial Biker Scout in camo shorts was nice. :-)
Even the bad guys can look good, if given the right material.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.