Navy: Sailors must buy working uniforms - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

Navy: Sailors must buy working uniforms

With the mandatory wear date for the Navy Working Uniform about four months away, Navy officials are worried a majority of the fleet won’t have the required four complete sets of the uniforms and all accessories by Dec. 31 deadline.

On that date, the NWU becomes the official working uniform of the Navy, replacing existing utilities and wash khakis altogether.

According to NavAdmin 287/10, released Friday, sales of the uniforms indicate the average sailor has purchased just 1.3 uniforms, “well below the four uniforms per sea bag which most sailors have been paid to procure,” the message said.

The message also extended the mandatory wear date two years, to Dec. 31, 2012, for some sailors.

Those who attended boot camp in fiscal years 2008 and 2009 prior to April 27, 2009 — when Recruit Training Command Great Lakes, Ill., began issuing the NWU — will only be required to have two complete sets by year’s end, the message states. They will be allowed to purchase the rest over the next two years.

Chiefs and officers won’t be required to have four sets before the end of the year, the message notes, but they are “responsible for buying and maintaining uniforms appropriate to their assigned duties and as required by their prescribing authority. “

Chief get clothing replacement allowances each year. Officers are required to purchase new uniforms out of pocket.