The latest Marine Corps Uniform Board meeting resulted in a pretty significant change: the adoption of the men’s white dress cover for use by men and women.
The next time the board meets, it may consider a tweak based more in practicality than policy: adjusting the black pixels on the collars of the Woodlands camouflage utilities blouses.
Marine Corps spokesman Capt. Eric Flanagan said the Uniform Board would likely be considering pixel placement because the black squares can make it hard to read enlisted rank.
And with all those black bars and rockers to count, sometimes that task can be difficult enough without a camouflage print to confuse things. Terminal Lance creator Maximilian Uriarte took on this topic in 2010 with his three-panel strip, “The Stare.” (Warning: the below comic does feature a bad word.)
Terminal Lance comic, “The Stare.” By Max Uriarte. Visit the original here
In the comic, a junior Marine frantically tries to count the rockers on the caller of an approaching senior enlisted Marine so he can render the appropriate morning greeting. In the end, he just isn’t fast enough.
Flanagan said a date for the next Uniform Board meeting hasn’t been set yet, though it typically meets once per year.
7 Comments
Just have a Solid Green square on each collar, the insignia will notput anyone in danger, and Marines will be taught to look there….. Duh!!!
Currently, it seems like uniforms are just made from large bolts of marpat fabric. To intentionally position any part of that pattern on a specific place of the uniform would probably increase production time and costs.
E.g., They may need to create smaller bolts of fabric specifically patterned and designed to be cut for the collars of different sized blouses.
It’d be really nice if they figure it out, but I don’t have my hopes up.
So DoD and Congress is in agreement to cut the Cola from my earned retirement to one percent making me loose 87,000 over time so they can waste money revamping things that don’t have an impact on war fighting. So use taxpayer money to pay a contractor to research, develope, and manufacture camouflage utilities so junior enlisted can have an easier time counting the rockers of senior enlisted. I call fraud waste and abuse! Semper Fi
GySgt Stephen Desjardins
USMC Retired, OIF VET
Pissed off constituent
Gunny is 100% right why the hell should retirees take a cut and then waste money on a pointless uniform alternation that is for convenience ? It’s not that hard to read the ranks you just have to be closer. Semper fi gunny hope they pull there heads out if there asses.
Active duty Marine
PFC Stenka
Semper Fi
Not worth the cost and time. Or, like I did, dab out the black with earth tone tan or coyote model paint just under the chevron area. Works like a charm.
In addition to being wasteful, it goes against the Congress’s plan to prohibit service specific uniforms. Until the law is passed though, I guess the order of the day is spend, spend, spend. Why not plan ahead for the inevitable requirement to return to a joint uniform and use that money for something useful? Oh, wait, I’m sorry, since I retired my common sense has been coming back. I forgot… Meanwhile the Congress is cutting our retirement to 1% under COLA, and Imminent Danger Areas are being redefined to save money. Ridiculous.
and how did “caller” instead of “collar” make it past the editors? Or are you now relying only on computer spell check?