Go into any surplus shop and you’ll see at least 4 different “every day wear” uniforms from the 90s to now.

I’m okay with (and generally supportive of) my taxes going toward military spending. Requiring servicemembers to wear a different style of clothing every 10 years or so is just a waste, though. Changing the uniform because some crusty old fuck decides they want to does not help the country win wars at sea.

~~These have been in for over a decade…~~

I remember when ~~they~~ the first NWUs first came out the heavy coat wasn’t available, the only way was if some “fell off a truck” but at least that meant the were half price.

Real nice Gortex jackets, but half price was still 100s of dollars.

Ironically they went to these because they hide stains better, but because you can wear them off base, they can’t be stained…

Which sounds like what led to this shortage.

I’ve seen the dungarees, the utility uniform, the blue camo pattern, and now whatever this is. I just don’t see what the point is in changing it over and over again.

Government contracts? Those defense contracts can be very lucrative.

the military-sartorial complex

Fuck man, you’re right…

Article called them NWUs and I just assumed the website fucked up the picture.

But the new NWUs are green, not blue like the ones I was thinking of.

On the plus side, now if you go overboard you’re not camouflaged so you can’t be seen by anyone on board.

It’s been a while, but I think they changed the coveralls, too.

It all just seems like such a waste. I get that the old NWUs could be worn anywhere. Underway, in-port, out in town, etc. Would have been a lot more cost-effective for the powers-that-be to just say “you know what, just wear coveralls everywhere, as long as they’re not covered in paint.”

I have a stack of ancient uniforms that replaced a stack of even more ancient uniforms. The Navy changes their uniforms faster than the ship’s laundry can pretend to wash the last set.

The Navy changes their uniforms faster than the ship’s laundry can pretend to wash the last set.

Hold up…

You had laundry people?

We had to try and do that shit between 6/6 shifts…

Eventually we sneaked a washer/dryer into engineering to not wait in line with everyone else, but we still had to be there to switch it over

I have these conversations all the time and I’m so amused by them, because everyone has wildly different stories.

For my part, 3 ships, all small boys. In the early 2000s we would put socks, undershirts, and skivvies in laundry bags to be taken to ships laundry, where the Ship’s Servicemen (SHs) would use industrial washers and dryers to do entire berthings worth of laundry at a time. That’s why all uniforms had to be stenciled, they would mostly be thrown in together and then sent back to the right berthing to be divvied out by the compartment cleaners that day.

You could take your chances with your civilian clothes, but for the most part we would go in search of laundromats and cleaning services during port visits.

By the 2010s ships laundry was used mostly for coveralls, and a portion of the space was carved out for individual washers and dryers. I think we had 4 or 5 washers/dryers for the ~280 crew, then a set for the wardroom and a set for the chiefs mess.

We had laundry, but nobody really used it except for the officers. They got their uniforms nicely washed and pressed. Enlisted got their uniforms balled up with the rest of the laundry from their berthing and shoved into an industrial washer. If you were lucky, your stuff was on the outside of the laundry ball; most of the time it barely got wet.

Most people used the self-serve laundry. We had something like 8 or 10 washers you could use on a first-come-first-serve basis. Usually half were broken.

This was on a small boy, early 2000s.

Would have been a lot more cost-effective for the powers-that-be to just say “you know what, just wear coveralls everywhere, as long as they’re not covered in paint.”

They couldn’t, because those coveralls were super flammable and a danger to anyone wearing them.

The camo was because the Navy was jealous of the army’s new camo pattern that didn’t work, so yhey issied it to all sailors to ensure you wont be found if you fall overboard.

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The Navy Runs Out of Pants for Its Working Uniform – Won't Get More Until October(www.military.com)

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