CG cuts hot-weather outfit, dress-down days - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

CG cuts hot-weather outfit, dress-down days

The Coast Guard has cut a uniform with shorts, dress-down days and the number of acceptable caps — part of a larger move by the service to change what it calls a “cultural trend” of inconsistency and confusion on uniform wear.

Most of the modifications outlined in the June 11 servicewide message take effect immediately.

According to the message, ALCOAST 291/11, the changes are part of an effort to tighten up uniform standards and find ways to promote consistency in the months ahead. The service also plans to make its rules on acceptable ball caps more strict beginning in October.

“We’re inconsistent,” said Cmdr. Patrick Knowles, chief of the Coast Guard’s policy and standards division. “I don’t think it’s ever a bad idea to tighten up standards.”

Among the new rules:

• The hot-weather uniform — an outfit meant for physically demanding outdoor work that includes shorts hemmed near the knee — is no longer authorized. However, commanding officers can let Coast Guardsmen remove their operational dress uniform blouses in “demanding, prolonged operations in high temperatures” and wear the Coast Guard dark blue crew-neck T-shirt.

It’s a safety-related change, said Carol Brewton, the service’s uniform program manager. He said long pants prevent potential injuries to the legs that shorter pants don’t.

• Casual or dress-down days are no longer allowed, although Coast Guardsmen still can wear civilian clothes for official duties in certain approved situations.

“They’re not part-time members, they’re full-time members, so they should be wearing the uniform of the day,” Brewton said.

• The foul-weather parka and garrison cap can’t be worn with the service dress blue uniform.

• The standard ball cap and unit ball cap can’t be worn with winter dress blue or tropical blue uniform.

• The tiara, a crescent-shaped piece of headwear made from black velvet, has been removed from the list of optional items for female dress uniforms. Knowles and Brewton said the tiara is not worn enough by women in the service to keep inventory of the headwear.

“The tiara was one of those items that had unanimous input of, ‘Let’s get rid of it,’” Knowles said.

The Coast Guard also wants to better regulate its ball caps, eliminating the wide variety of shades and styles, as well as offering Coast Guardsmen an easily replaceable cover.

Beginning Oct. 1, the Coast Guard will authorize only two sources for its ball caps — the Uniform Distribution Center and the Coast Guard Exchange System — and introduce standardized service and unit ball caps. Enlisted Coast Guardsmen will get a one-time increase in clothing maintenance allowance in the coming months to pay for a new standard service ball cap.

Knowles and Brewton said Coast Guard ball caps are inconsistent in everything from color to font size to lettering. By regulating the caps, the service hopes to bring uniformity to its headgear.

“We have some nonstandard, nonuniform ball caps of various styles, and the definition of uniform in my book is ‘the same,’” Brewton said. “So there should be a lot more uniformity.”