Ever-changing uniform requirements can be frustrating. Just when you get your sea bag set, the U.S. Navy unveils a new or updated uniform to add to the list. In fact, there are more than a dozen changes in the works right now — an improved fire-retardant coverall, moisture-wicking warm-up suits, service dress blue jumpers, lightweight pairs of the Navy working uniform, a cold-weather parka, just to name a few. The U.S. Navy isn’t the only one doing this. The Royal Navy has unveiled its new working uniform, which will replace the duds they’ve worn since World War II. Now that’s old school!…
Browsing: NWU
Sailors who need a full list of up-to-date Navy uniform regulations can head here. But be warned — a printout will take up about five full, single-spaced pages. And that’s just the table of contents. If you’ve ever wondered what led to all those instructions — the fleetwide message that would launch many, many fleetwide messages — you’d have to go back a few hundred years. On today’s date in 1776, the first official details for “Uniform of Navy and Marine Officers” were released out of the Marine Committee in Philadelphia. Uniforms for four officer ranks — captain, lieutenant, master…
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-kd9Idcz_w&feature=youtu.be[/youtube] Disclaimer: don’t try this at home. Which is exactly what one sailor did. After news reports that the blue-and-gray Navy Working Uniform will burn rapidly and melt in a fire, one person decided to see for himself. On his dining room table. “I wanted to see if the NWU would really catch fire,” the sailor explained in the caption of his YouTube video, which was posted on Dec. 27. “I held the match in place for about three seconds.” He set the lower edge of his NWUs alight and filmed the results, a do-it-yourself test that paralleled the findings…
At a Nov. 4 ceremony in Cannes, France, honoring the U.S.-French alliance, President Barack Obama and French President Nicolas Sarkozy reviewed troops from both nations. Amid them, standing at attention, front and center, was a formation of sailors in blue-and-gray NWUs. The fleet has often complained that the off-base restrictions on NWUs are too tight: In the U.S., you can’t wear them for personal appointments or shopping. But if it’s good enough for a formal review by the president, isn’t it OK for the mall? Asked that in a Nov. 8 interview, Greenert replied: “I have never had anybody approach…
