After more than eleven years serving in the U.S. Army National Guard and I’m still struggling with uniform issues.I began my career during the end of the BDUs (pants and tops in the camouflage green pattern, black boots), and soft cotton sweats for physical training. After a few years, the Army transitioned to the current digital grey pattern (Army Combat Uniform or ACU) with some upgrades to the trousers and blouse. These included a zipper close on the top instead of a row of buttons, pockets galore to even include a pocket on the bottom left sleeve for writing utensils.

But they also included velcro. Velcro tabs to hold the top’s flap closed, velcro on ALL the pockets, velcro for all the interchangeable name tapes and rank. The boots changed from black to desert tan which signaled the end of spending hours each evening shining boots. (I often wondered what the Drill Sergeants replaced that discipline skill with in Basic Combat Training.) Continue reading →