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The Navy is ready to dump the military’s most pointless uniform

After six years in the fleet and some controversy, the blue-and-gray cammies could be headed for Davy Jones' seabag. The digital blue Navy Working Uniforms were a fleet mainstay until 2013 after they were found to be unsafe to wear while fighting a fire. One plan is ditching these blue Navy working uniforms in favor of…

After six years in the fleet and some controversy, the blue-and-gray cammies could be headed for Davy Jones' seabag.

The digital blue Navy Working Uniforms were a fleet mainstay until 2013 after they were found to be unsafe to wear while fighting a fire. One plan is ditching these blue Navy working uniforms in favor of their green cousin. The service could potentially save millions by switching to the woodland cammies already worn by Seabees and master-at-arms. The green-and-tans are also not flame-resistant but would be the standard for ashore wear; flame-resistant coveralls and flight suits are mainstays for at-sea wear.

via www.navytimes.com

Of course, CNO wants to replace the blueberries with the Navy's green/brown digital cammo uniform.

Look, just copy the Coast Guard's working uniform, and save everyone time and money.

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Responses to “The Navy is ready to dump the military’s most pointless uniform”

  1. SFC Dunlap 173d RVN

    That would just be too efficient.

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  2. Jeff Gauch

    You don’t fight a fire in your uniform. Incipient and rapid response is intended to contain the fire, maybe put out a small fire. To actually fight a major fire you wear FFE’s. The working uniforms just need to have enough cotton in them to not melt to your skin in a flash fire, that’s a fabric issue that doesn’t require an entire new design. There is room for improvement in the NWU’s – I’d like to meet the genius who came up with blousing straps for a working uniform, and as a nuke I don’t like how the belt is hidden – but a wholesale redesign is unwarranted.

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  3. john henry

    What was wrong with bell bottom dungarees and chambray shirts? They were very comfortable, easy to care for and good looking.
    The dark blue of the pants hid the inevitable grease marks picked up in the course of a normal workday aboard ship. A darker shirt, same material, would do the same thing topside.
    In 1971 the Navy went to dark blue poplin pants and pullover shirt. 30 years later, when nobody on active duty had been issued dungaree uniforms ever, about half of all E3-E6 were still wearing, unofficially, the dungaree chambray uniform.
    I agree about the cammies. What the Hell does a sailor on a ship need with cammies? Maybe to hid from the chief when taking a skate brake?
    Stupid, stupid, stupid uniform.
    John Henry MM1, USN, 67-74

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  4. john henry

    Also, if you ever fell over the side, you could get the bellbottoms off over your shoes. By knotting the legs you could use them as water wings to keep you afloat forever.
    try that with the cammies or poplin pants.
    John Henry

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  5. SCOTTtheBADGER

    The Navy fought some rather impressive fires during the Second World War while wearing cotton dungarees and chambray shirts. It also marked the troops as UNITED STATES NAVY Sailors, not some 3rd world combined service. No cammies at sea.

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  6. John in Philly

    Maybe the Navy working uniforms should have different patterns of camouflage. Airdales could have airplane patterns so they would be invisible on the flight deck, snipes could have a pattern of grey foundations and white piping and they would vanish in the engine and fire rooms. A Mess Specialist with a steam kettle pattern would blend in the galley more ninja like than a ninja.
    Or without my tongue in cheek, and like the previous comenters said, what moron thought the Navy needed a camo uniform in the first place.

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  7. Esli

    While USN camouflage is worthless, nothing is worth less than the USAF plan for blue tiger stripes before they adopted the digital tiger stripe ABU. I had the misfortune of seeing one airman with the intestinal fortitude to wear that travesty of a uniform in about 2004 or 2005, and the image is seared in my mind forever. Of course it was at the food court, too. How could they do that to my favorite camouflage pattern?

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  8. Quartermaster

    Back in ’12 I was in San Dog and visited Midway after the neighboring Supply Center had a change of command aboard. I had to restrain myself, hard, to keep from laughing at the poor swabos that were forced to wear those awful blueberries.
    There’s nothing wrong with the old Dungarees and Blue Chambray shirt. Just start issuing them in cotton again. They wore well and were practical. I went in as they started issuing the pull over and pants. As soon as I got to Newport for ‘A’ school I bought Seafairers and didn’t look back.

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  9. mushdogs

    Dungarees were good enough for me, my father, uncles and grandfather. Going to those damn stupid blue cammies was as bad a decision as Zumwalt’s uniform changes.
    Don’t get me started about letting split tails on combat ships, either.

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  10. LT Rusty

    @John in Philly- Snipes would need to have red camo uniforms, so that they could hide against the bilges, and so that they can be easily seen topside and whipped until they go back belowdecks.

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  11. ultimaratioregis

    For the first year of those stupid uniforms, every sailor I saw in them had the same look on their faces that your dog gets when you put foam antlers on him for Christmas pictures.

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