harmonica
Diamond Member
- Sep 1, 2017
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how long were you in and what medals?Well, I don't know about the Navy, but in the Air Force, all of what you just said was required dress code in compliance with AFR 35-10. At all times, you had to have a properly maintained uniform in all the required uniform sets. That would be Battle Dress Uniforms (cammies), approved casual fatigues (daily work uniforms), dress blues, and I'm not sure, but the officers had to maintain formal uniforms for those occasions where a flag officer was presiding. I can't recall the name of that set. Mess Dress or something like that.
Hey, I had a full seabag, but because there weren't many occasions that required dress blues, so the only time I wore them was maybe once or twice a year, which is why I had them freshly dry cleaned. Sitting in a closet for 6 or 8 months kinda required me to get them freshly cleaned. I didn't want to take a chance on failing.
Most times I wore working blues (had 3 sets), working whites (had 3 sets), or dungarees (only 3 sets required for inspection, but I kept 5 because of the work conditions on the ship).
Quick question....................did you wear you dress uniform every day, or was it only for special required occasions? I only had to wear them a couple of times a year. And, when you did have to wear them, didn't you get them freshly cleaned just to be sure for inspection? I did.
I get that. We usually had three or four base parades a year. We were still required to keep on full, in regulation, Service Dress uniform. That included making sure the medals were up to date. The Commander could, no his whim, call a uniform inspection and we'd be obligated to go home and change into a full dress uniform. I even had an occasion to attend a flag event in full Mess Dress so I had one of those uniforms. I didn't keep that one up though. That dress required the actual medals, not just the ribbons. Air Force uniforms are pretty damn dull if you ask Me. At the time, I was thankful for that given what the Marine full dress looks like.
See? Even by your own admission, you didn't keep up your medals for your full Mess Dress uniform because they are expensive to mount. That is the reason the only time I updated my medals was when I had to.
My ribbon bar was kept up to date because they were relatively cheaper.
Not true. I said I wasn't sure if the regulations required us to have a full mess dress uniform. We WERE required to maintain one 35-10 Service Dress uniform. For the Air Force, Service Dress would be considered Dress Blues. Mess Dress was for formal occasions that had a flag officer or higher in attendance. I was enlisted so I wasn't required to attend formal events, and I don't remember, but I don't think enlisted were required to meet the "Mess Dress" uniform requirement, though they could if they wanted to spend out of pocket for it. I was a bit gung-ho when I was in and did things like that.
Like I said, I kept my ribbons up to date, but only had my medals mounted when I was required to go to a formal gig that required them. At the end of my career, a new ribbon bar was around 20 bucks for me.
And, I didn't consider my dress blues to be inspection ready after hanging in the closet for 6 to 8 months unless they were freshly dry cleaned. It's hard to keep the white piping on the Crackerjacks white if they are hanging in the closet.