U.S. Army Service Uniform
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The blue Army Service Uniform will be the "newest" service uniform to be adopted Army-wide after Fall of 2011, replacing two uniforms already in use – the "Army Green" uniform and the "Army White" uniform. The "new" uniform was announced in 2006 by current Army Chief of Staff General Peter Schoomaker, and will serve as the U.S. Army's dress, garrison, and ceremonial uniform. Once the new Army uniform is phased in, the only green uniform remaining in the U.S. Armed Forces will be the "Marine Green" uniform (a slightly darker shade of olive drab) worn for service/garrison duty by members of the U.S. Marine Corps, along with U.S. Navy personnel (hospital corpsmen, doctors, nurses, and chaplains) attached to the Fleet Marine Force.
The new Army service dress made its "debut" at the 2007 State of the Union Address when General Schoomaker wore his Army Blue "B" uniform at the otherwise non-ceremonial event (his fellow members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff wore their "Class A" service/garrison uniforms).
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[edit] Description of New Uniform
As of 2006, it is expected that the new uniform will use the current "Army Blue" uniform as a model. Accordingly in terms of color the uniform will resemble the campaign uniforms worn by Army personnel during the American Civil War, Indian Wars, and the Spanish-American War prior to the introduction of khaki uniforms in the 1890's (phased out in 1985) and olive drab (OD) uniforms in 1902 (phased out and replaced with "Army Green" in 1955-57), making the blue uniform a dress uniform. Dress uniforms of dark blue tunics and light blue trousers were worn by all ranks until 1917 and reintroduced in a modernized form (with open collar and tie) for officers and warrant officers in 1937.
In order to distinguish enlisted personnel and NCOs from officers, the new service uniform will require some adaptations to reflect their status.
[edit] NCOs & Enlisted Personnel
The new "Army Service Uniform" for NCOs and Enlisted personnel will most likely consist of the current regulation "Army Blue" coat, which is a four-button open-front coat similar in cut to the current "Army Green" uniform, but trimmed with gold for the sleeve cuffs and shoulder epaulets. A white dress shirt and black necktie is worn with the uniform coat, as well as sky blue trousers with a gold 1¼-inch stripe down each leg; the stripes being reserved only for NCOs (Corporals to Sergeants Major) in a manner similar to that of the U.S. Marine Corps use of the scarlet "blood stripes" for their enlisted ranks.
The black beret and ribbon bars will most likely be worn for most garrison situations with the enlisted "Army Blue" combination cap (a blue cap with two gold stripes at the visor, and bearing a black-colored "chinstrap" and U.S. Army insignia on a disc), full-size medals, and a ceremonial "pistol belt" being reserved only for more formal events, and a black bowtie and miniature medals for dinner dress events. Rank chevrons will be worn on both sleeves, as well as diagonal service stripes indicating 3 years of service at the bottom of each sleeve.
[edit] Commissioned & Warrant Officers
Commissioned & Warrant Officers will wear a uniform identical to that of the NCO/Enlisted uniform, except that the sleeve piping is replaced with a broad gold stripe on each sleeve, with a narrower stripe of the Officer's branch-of-service color in the middle. The branch of service colors includes red for artillery, light blue for infantry, yellow for cavalry etc. These color distinctions date back to the nineteenth century and appeared as trouser stripes, tunic piping, hat bands, cords and tassels in the blue dress uniforms worn until 1917.
In place of the shoulder epaulets, officers will wear their rank on short rectangular shoulder straps bearing the individual's rank on a branch-colored background. Like the branch colors these shoulder straps are a historic feature of the U.S. Army's blue uniforms, dating back to before the Civil War. The shirt, necktie, and trousers are identical to that of the NCO/Enlisted uniform, except that the stripes will have a 1½-inch gold stripe instead of the narrower 1¼-inch stripes.
For garrison wear, it is anticipated that the beret and ribbons will be worn, with the officer's version of the peaked or ("saucer") cap, medals, and "pistol belt" being worn for formal events.
Similar in appearance to the enlisted cap, the officer's peaked cap differs in: the design of the cap badge (it is the Seal of the United States as worn on the enlisted cap, but without a round metal backing); having a gold-colored chinstrap above the visor; and carrying decorative branch-of-service stripes similar to the sleeve stripes of the coat. In addition, field-grade officers (Majors to Colonels) will also have the distinctive "scrambled eggs" or gold oak leaves on the visor itself. Dinner dress will also be identical, with the possibility of the more formal "mess dress" being retained for state occasions.
[edit] General Officers
General Officer uniforms will be identical in appearance to the Commissioned/Warrant Officer uniforms, except for the following changes:
- The sky blue trousers will be replaced with trousers in the same color as the coat and bearing two 1-inch gold stripes down each leg.
- The sleeve cuffs will have a solid gold stripe in place of the two-colored branch-of-service stripes. This is due to the fact that General Officers do not belong to a particular branch (exceptions including the Surgeon General of the Army and the Chief of Engineers, the former wearing the caduceus insignia and the latter wearing the "gold castles" worn by Army engineer officers).
- The combination or "saucer" cap worn for formal occasions will have an additional braid of "scrambled eggs" in place of the branch-of-service braid as used on the lower-ranking officers.
- All General Officer rank insignia will be on black backgrounds.
[edit] Female Personnel
Female personnel, from Private up to General Officers, will have female versions of their respective uniforms. Currently, the female "Army Blue" uniforms are worn with a skirt, unlike their female Marine counterparts who have access to slacks for formation wear. The new Army Service Uniform will have either a dark blue skirt or sky blue slacks available for female personnel to wear, depending upon the situation of the nature that requires either item to be worn.
