XBradTC

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XBradTC

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Uniformity

I was having a discussion this morning with friends about wearing a suit to a job fair. Which, yeah, you should. I’m reminded of the several times as a recruiter when a young man or woman would decline the opportunity to serve because “I don’t want to have to wear a uniform.” Usually said with…

I was having a discussion this morning with friends about wearing a suit to a job fair.

Which, yeah, you should.

I’m reminded of the several times as a recruiter when a young man or woman would decline the opportunity to serve because “I don’t want to have to wear a uniform.”

Usually said with the counter of a fast food establishment separating us.

But here’s the thing.

Everyone. Wears. A. Uniform.

Wall Street Tycoon? Bespoke suits during the week, and Brooks Brothers casual while out on Long Island for the weekend.

Tattoo artist? Please, I at least got to take off my uniform at the end of the work day.

Unix programmer? Hope you like Cheetos.

One thing outsiders rarely grasp is that, within the service, there’s actually a pretty fair amount of individuality just in the way the uniform is worn.  The common patrol cap worn with the ACU uniform (or the BDU in my day) was crushed and shaped in a nearly infinite variety of ways, each of which was a reflection of the individual.  A guy that really kinda regretted joining? Flat brim, just slapped on his head. Guy who wanted to be a Ranger, but not enough to, like, go to Ranger School? The brim was really rounded, and had a textbook Ranger Crush.

Another thing not instantly obvious to the outsider is that uniformity forces you to consider a person by truer signifiers. How one dressed told you little about them. Instead, you had to consider their deeds and words. By stripping away the most superficial signifiers, one was forced to actually get to know people.

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  1. Sean

    It has also been said that one of the side benefits of the draft and having everyone spend a little time “wearing a uniform” is that everyone got taught the basics of how to actually wear a uniform!

    Things like how to shine shoes, how to tie a tie, how to tuck in a shirt…the little things that let people know that you didn’t just wander into your closet and have some clothes fall on you.

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  2. captainned

    As I iron my Land’s End Hyde Park Oxford dress shirt every morning (twice as thick as most Oxford dress shirts) I ponder over the “preppy body armor”. Welcome to working in finance in Vermont.

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  3. xbradtc

    That’s a pretty decent shirt, but I usually go with this.

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  4. SFC Dunlap 173d RVN

    Three creases on the back captainned?!?!

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  5. Esli

    I don’t ever see myself spending $92 for a shirt. Of course my uniform is now a brown t-shirt, green socks, a rumpled and ill-fitting ACU, and boots that rapidly become stained and un presentable. Sadly, there is zero pride in appearance today. Oh, and a hat with a rolled bill and crushed in at the crown.

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  6. captainned

    Center the back gusset on the board (I’ve got a really wide and very sturdy board). Iron all around the gusset, then gently slide the iron up the middle to capture the perfect 3-crease gusset.

    The yoke is the real bitch to iron without wrinkling anything else. I’m also a fat bastard, so there’s a lot more shirt to iron for me than for the average Joe.

    Oh, and at least here in VT, button-down collars are mandatory,

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  7. captainned

    Oh, and the only proper iron is a Black & Decker Classic. Heavy, strong steam, and a steel sole. I despise the teflon-soled things I have to use in hotel rooms.

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  8. Bill Brandt

    My nephew applied for a postion – payinkg well, and when he left the interviewer was said to have been impressed wit the fact that he actually wore a suit.

    That’s is how far down we’ve gone.

    I think too it depends on where you are interviewing. If applyinkg to Google would you wear a coat and tie? The interviewer probably isn’t.

    Don’t want to overderess or fart more common, underdress compared to the interviewer.

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  9. timactual

    I get to wear Hawaiian shirts to work. 100% cotton, of course.

    I have seen people wear rumpled sweatsuits to a job interview. Or blue jeans and a sweatshirt. They got hired.

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  10. RichK

    While serving as an ROTC instructor in the 80s I had a young man sitting on the fence, probably afraid of the commitment. I asked him what his main reason or dislike about becoming an Army officer was. He said it was the fact he would have to get haircuts and wear a uniform. OK I said, what is it you want to be in life? He said he wanted to be an attorney. I then told him attorneys wore uniforms also, they just don’t call them uniforms. As an attorney you will not appear in a courtroom before a judge looking like a dirtbag, you will be wearing a good suit and have a fresh haircut. Last I heard of him he was an airborne artilleryman at Fort Bragg, don’t know if he ever went the lawyer route.
    I served 74-96 and wore starched cotton fatigues and khakis, perma-press fatigues, TWs, jungle fatigues, and many varieties of BDUs including the originals with the “flying nun” collar. Fortunately, I retired before the black beret thing came out.

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  11. xbradtc

    Thanks for stopping by, Rich! And thanks too for your work at NMPW.

    Like

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