If you are a chief or officer and frustrated with how your high-collared choker whites fit around your neck, your complaints have been answered.
In fact, the answer is now over at your local Navy Exchange and will cost you just $13.50 — parts and labor included.
Officials have approved a metal hook and loop closure designed to keep your choker collar closed, an optional improvement over the Velcro closure that tends to come open after a lot of use.
"The change was the result of feedback that some were dissatisfied with the Velcro closure fit," Capt. Robert Gantt, the deputy commander for uniform programs at Navy Exchange Service Command, told Navy Times Nov. 4. "It [also] loses the ability to stay fastened over time.
"The optional closure consists of a hook and eye assembly and is similar to the closure used on the Marine Corps service dress blue men's jacket."
The hook and eye is a nickel plated metal, 1½" in size and made in the USA.
The fix was developed, Gantt said, by the exchange's Uniform Program Management Office and experienced tailors and clothing designers at the Navy Clothing and Textile Research Facility in Natick, Massachusetts.
The hook and eye assembly was then recommended to and subsequently approved by the chief of naval personnel's Uniform Matters Office. The fix is optional, but Gantt said it will improve the fit and function of the collar, and also the appearance of the uniform.
The Velcro closure on the current choker collar has been authorized since June 1985 and has been popular because of its fit and ease of use, but as the Velcro wears over time, it tends to lose its ability to stay fastened.
Prior to the Velcro, sources tell Navy Times, the uniform included three separate hooks to fasten the collar. These were considered difficult to fasten and unfasten, leading to the adoption of the Velcro fasteners.
Gantt said the hook and eye closure is available now at Navy Exchange tailor shops worldwide for the total cost of $13.50, which includes the cost of the alteration to install it.
Mark D. Faram is a former reporter for Navy Times. He was a senior writer covering personnel, cultural and historical issues. A nine-year active duty Navy veteran, Faram served from 1978 to 1987 as a Navy Diver and photographer.
