Posted on 01/19/2010 3:40:00 AM PST by tlb
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has told his military aides not to wear combat fatigues to work at the Pentagon anymore, reversing a symbolic change of protocol ordered in the harrowing days after the Sept. 11 attacks.
There was no formal announcement about Mr. Gates directing his military staff to shed their fatigues in favor of business uniforms — the smartly pressed ones bedecked with combat medals and service ribbons that are the military equivalent of a civilian coat and tie, worn with dress shoes and not combat boots.
But throughout the Defense Department, where every action by the civilian boss is parsed by officers with a care akin to old-school Kremlinology, Mr. Gates’s decision is likely to prompt deliberations across the armed services on whether to have personnel working in the Pentagon follow his example.
The defense secretary’s instructions took effect with the start of the new year and were directed at only some of the 23,000 employees at the Pentagon. Even so, the change has been noticed by recent visitors to Mr. Gates’s third-floor suite of offices and has become a topic of conversation along the Pentagon’s 17.5 miles of corridors.
The switch to camouflage and flight suits became the norm in the days after Sept. 11,and it made a statement: The building itself was a terrorist target, the nation was on a war footing, and it was thought important that even military personnel on the home front should dress for combat.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Gates and the rest of Obama’s cronies don’t want to be reminded that the USA has a military. What a jerk!
>>>If it were up to me, the Army would go back to the WWII era tobacco brown/khaki service uniforms: they had real class
I agree the officers cut looks good in those old movies but the enlisted men’s cut looks like a potato sack with legs and sleeves.
They are not asking for FULL DRESS, it is what in the early 70’s in Naval service called service blues or service whites. Ribbons/dress shoes.
It is not unlike the professional business world, there is NO place for blue jeans and collarless/tshirts in my org. Although I do not expect suit and tie anymore, most of my employees naturally wear dress slacks/oxford shirt tie. Casual friday ... it is a stupid concept ... my approach to business attire is my business only professional 4 days a week?
Adm. Zumwalt brought in the liberty civilian clothes for one main reason ... sailors in uniform were being spit on as they came through the airports. I experienced that in San Francisco. Ask any sailor the prevailing attitude of Nor(folk Va. during the late 60’s .. sailors and dogs keep off the grass.
Even in an industrial setting with a ship in Dry Dock, the quarterdeck watches .. OOD/POW and associated rovers ... were in dress uniform.
The only way off base was in appropriate civvies or dress uniform. Khaki’s with ribbons were acceptable to and from duty station without a stop for officers/cpo’s, enlisted dungarees were prohibited off base in any scenario.
The service dress uniform is NOT an imposition on military, particularly in pentagon roles. It is professionalism on display. The expectation is the same in my business.
Some people may criticize this move but, as a retired AF officer, I always thought that arbitrarily making military wear fatigues was kind of a sham. If you’re in combat, deployed, or have a job where it makes sense—then absolutely. If you’re in CONUS, working in an office, then what is the point? Other than “solidarity” with those who are deployed, I can’t think of one.
You nailed it!
Not a problem.
My son is a Naval Captain and works at the Pentagon, I'll have to call him and get his thoughts on this.
“military personnel on the home front should dress for combat.”
I don’t think this is a big deal. BUT. The NYSlimes has to put an “eveil” spin on it.
FYI, ya’ bootlicker reporters...the Fatigue uniform is, and has been, the uniform of the day in Garrison, not just for combat.
We had a standard Olive Drab for Garrison fatigues, and Camo, as needed, for combat, but the genderless PC leadership canned that. You’ve gone to the “One” uniform concept with that dreadful new Class “A” uniform and only Camo’s. And now, our civilian Secretary is afraid that Camo’s will, what, scare the muzzies???
no need for the REMFs to wear camo, they should dress like the clerks that they are.
was that too harsh?
I believe that having a dog is still the #1 crime deterent. Now you don’t have to have a “liability” dog, a dog that is medium size and that barks at everything that gets anywhere near the fence works for us.
Did you ever hear any democrat speak up for the military during the rants that went on....no, not until the American people started calling and emailing did they go silent.
I recall the 9/11 Pentagon attack, and I remember seeing members of our military IN UNIFORM,and all ranks, rescuing,fighting the fires,and caring for the wounded literally hundreds IN FATIGUES at the time,if it's cleaned and pressed fatigues now,the dress uniform will be next.....
....as long as we have people deployed and their lives are in danger, I see nothing wrong with his aides, military aides,with earned ranks,earned awards,deployment ribbons and all,performing their duties as aides in Military dress.
fatigues today,dress uniform tomorrow
what annoys me is the pre9/11 way of thinking, everything is past tense. Are we not losing men and women in the military? Isn't it the same military making the decisions who should show solidarity with the troops in the field....or has it become a topic of conversation along the Pentagon’s 17.5 miles of corridors.
You see the conversation shouldn't be about dress,it should be about the mission. If I were over there the last thing I would be concerned about is how people are dressing
Nobody, and I mean nobody from the USMC or USAF used the word "business uniforms" to an idiot NY Times reporter.
No...just ignorant.
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