Military fashion week: Peacoat out, Army camo in
Welcome to October, when military uniforms change like the fall leaves.
You might notice the change on local Air Force bases, where airmen can now look more like the Army. As of Oct. 1, airmen may wear the Army’s camouflage pattern instead of the Airman Battle Uniform, called the ABU in military alphabet-soup-speak.
The ABU, which combined Vietnam-era tiger stripes with a hint of blue as a nod to the flying service, was donned by airmen in 2007. But airmen became green with jealousy on seeing the more durable and comfortable “optical camouflage pattern” uniform in Army use. For those keeping score on acronyms, the Army uniform is called the OCP.
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The Air Force was wearing the Army’s uniform overseas, and the Oct. 1 shift allows airmen to wear it at home. “Air Force leaders decided to transition to the OCP following feedback from Airmen that it is the best, battle-tested utility uniform available,” the Air Force said in a news release. “It will also eliminate the need to maintain two separate uniforms — one for in-garrison and one for deployments — and it is a visible reminder of the service’s identity as a joint warfighting force.”
{div id=”attachment_26602” class=”wp-caption alignleft”}{p class=”wp-caption-text”}A U.S. Navy officer wearing a traditional peacoat. US Navy Photo{/p}{/div}
While the Air Force change is relatively popular with the troops, the Navy is making a fall fashion shift that’s more controversial.
The Navy is ditching the itchy, black woolen peacoat, which predates the Civil War. The coats are optional as of Oct. 1 and a full phaseout is set for 2021.
It’s so much a part of Navy lore that the service dedicated a historic note on its website to its origins. “The heavy topcoat worn in cold, miserable weather by seafaring men was once tailored from pilot cloth — a heavy, course, stout kind of twilled blue cloth with the nap on one side,” the Navy said. “The cloth was sometimes called P-cloth for the initial letter of ‘pilot’ and the garment made from it was called a p-jacket — later, a pea coat.”
But after nearly two centuries of swaddling American swabbies, the peacoat has met its synthetic match. The “parka, cold weather” is resistant to wind and rain, easy to clean, and hated.
A coalition of Navy veterans and, no surprise, textile companies, is battling the new plastic fashion statement. They have a website, savethenavypeacoat.com, where they’re recruiting folks to sign a petition that will keep the iconic coats in sea bags.
Contact Tom Roeder: 636-0240 Twitter: @xroederx
Contact Tom Roeder: 636-0240
Twitter: @xroederx
