RangerRay
Army.ca Veteran
- Reaction score
- 3,879
- Points
- 1,260
I have thoughts…
First, since the horrible green cloth is going away with the dodo, what better time to revisit the uniform. And yes, I am biased aesthetically to the British/Australian/New Zealand pattern just because.
Since there always seems to be a shortage of operational clothing in all services, and there materials are more expensive than poly-cotton service uniforms, it makes no sense to wear them in non-ops settings. I get that they’re comfortable, but I don’t know of any other profession it’s appropriate to wear pajamas to the office. That’s really the only reason I preferred wearing combats in garrison over garrison dress. What’s needed is a practical and easy to care for ”garrison/work dress” (not the hideous blade dress we were saddled with in the 90’s) or lower order of service dress so that operational clothing doesn’t get wasted/worn out on office duty.
Another point is on the grooming standards. What often gets missed in these bun fights is the opinion of taxpayers who wouldn’t know the difference between a competent pilot or an incompetent infanteer. I can’t seem to find it online anymore, but a couple of years ago, there was a poll about modernizing the RCMP’s grooming standards. The poll found most taxpayers were not supportive of the changes and viewed them as “unprofessional”. It doesn’t matter how switched on you might be, the general public don’t like their uniformed services looking like 10 pounds of shit in a 5 pound bag. We still live in a society where first impressions count.
Rant off.
First, since the horrible green cloth is going away with the dodo, what better time to revisit the uniform. And yes, I am biased aesthetically to the British/Australian/New Zealand pattern just because.
Since there always seems to be a shortage of operational clothing in all services, and there materials are more expensive than poly-cotton service uniforms, it makes no sense to wear them in non-ops settings. I get that they’re comfortable, but I don’t know of any other profession it’s appropriate to wear pajamas to the office. That’s really the only reason I preferred wearing combats in garrison over garrison dress. What’s needed is a practical and easy to care for ”garrison/work dress” (not the hideous blade dress we were saddled with in the 90’s) or lower order of service dress so that operational clothing doesn’t get wasted/worn out on office duty.
Another point is on the grooming standards. What often gets missed in these bun fights is the opinion of taxpayers who wouldn’t know the difference between a competent pilot or an incompetent infanteer. I can’t seem to find it online anymore, but a couple of years ago, there was a poll about modernizing the RCMP’s grooming standards. The poll found most taxpayers were not supportive of the changes and viewed them as “unprofessional”. It doesn’t matter how switched on you might be, the general public don’t like their uniformed services looking like 10 pounds of shit in a 5 pound bag. We still live in a society where first impressions count.
Rant off.