Posted on Nov 9, 2014
Should officers get clothing allowance when the Army mandates a uniform change?
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Officers get a 1 time uniform allowance when we first come in. With that said, with the transition to multicam next year, this will be my 3rd change of uniforms since 2008. This gets expensive. In my opinion, even officers should be given a 1 time allowance when it's an Army mandated change of uniform. I'm fine with paying for my own when it's just day to day, but when the Army changes everything, there should be an additional allowance. It's going to be around $500 to transition from ACUs/current APFU to the new multi/APFU.
Edited >1 y ago
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 22
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Officers receiving a clothing allowance when the Army mandates a uniform change is actually just a symptom of an illness. The actual illness is the blatant waste of scarce resources when DoD (each service) and DA (the Army) change our uniform as often as some people change their underwear. For Class A's, first we had the greens, then we had to change our greens because a dye was changed, then we changed to ASU (all in last 12 years or so). For combat uniform, we have had deserts, BDUs, ACUs, and now multicams. Keep in mind that every combat uniform change means concurrent changes in TA50 and all of the supporting gear. I would rather focus on curing the illness (changing uniforms every 5 years) then on treating a symptom (should officers receive a uniform allowance during each uniform change). As a taxpayer, this is fraud, waste, and abuse.
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CSM Michael J. Uhlig
great point, there's a couple of us (not mentioning COL Jason Smallfield, PMP, CFM, CM) that also wore the chocolate chip pattern DCUs during desert storm....
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LTC John Wilson
Make the good idea fairies pay the freight from their own wallets. Especially with disasterous foolishness like the ACUs.
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No, they should buy the new uniforms when uniform changes are mandated....here's my logic:
- a MAJ with 10 years of service has a monthly base pay of $6,593
- a SSG with 10 years of service has a monthly base pay of $3,381
- there are points to argue on both sides...but one general point that cannot be denied is that it is our enlisted force that is out there on the ground with more of a chance to rip/tear/stain/destroy their uniforms much more often (during daily duties) than our officers (and in some cases our Senior NCOs)
for what it's worth, I believe for all ranks that stay over 20 years, we should not be entitled to clothing allowance either.
including the pay chart (2014) for those that want to have a look:
http://www.military.com/Resources/2014-Proposed-Pay-Charts-1-percent.pdf
- a MAJ with 10 years of service has a monthly base pay of $6,593
- a SSG with 10 years of service has a monthly base pay of $3,381
- there are points to argue on both sides...but one general point that cannot be denied is that it is our enlisted force that is out there on the ground with more of a chance to rip/tear/stain/destroy their uniforms much more often (during daily duties) than our officers (and in some cases our Senior NCOs)
for what it's worth, I believe for all ranks that stay over 20 years, we should not be entitled to clothing allowance either.
including the pay chart (2014) for those that want to have a look:
http://www.military.com/Resources/2014-Proposed-Pay-Charts-1-percent.pdf
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SSgt (Join to see)
I'd have to respectfully disagree CSM Michael J. Uhlig, while officer vs enlisted pay is another subject all together, I do believe they should get something when theres a mandated uniform change i.e. like when the AF went from BDU's to ABU's.
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LTC (Join to see)
CSM...I disagree with your logic regarding base pay....we are all paid based on our levels of experience and levels of responsibility, as you already know.
I work argue that if the Army is going to require an uniform change, then ALL service members should get an initial issue and then subsequent uniforms are done through eithet DXing the uniform or individual purchase.
I work argue that if the Army is going to require an uniform change, then ALL service members should get an initial issue and then subsequent uniforms are done through eithet DXing the uniform or individual purchase.
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MAJ Mark Wilson
I'm with the CSM, but for a different reason. Not sure if it's NCO or Officer driven, but for sure an officer signed off on the uniform changes. Hit us hard and maybe we will learn not to change things so often or be smarter when we do. Whoever signed off on the ACUs should be court martialed, and don't get me started on the beret.
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LTC John Wilson
CSM U.... You're fallaciously mixing uniform maintenance with uniform replacement upon major upgrades (that are largely not necessary). No officer would argue that Soldiers are more likely to wear out uniforms faster than an officer. And these Soldiers may DX their uniforms free of charge through their supply (whereas Officers pay out-of-pocket as needed).
We are discussing the fact that total overhauls of Clothing Bag items is too costly... even for Officers to have to fork over everytime another"Good Idea Fairy decides he doesn't like the current uniform or we don't have a new uniform like the Marines...and now I'm in a position to fix it (more often than not such GIF committees include a CSM or two... maybe interested in sticking it to the O's once more? :-) )
These major and routine overhauls are not fair to the ONLY members of the Service who must pay the freight from their own pockets. The injustice becomes even more egregious for Officers in the Reserve Component who have the SAME uniform expenses at 1/6th the pay of their AC brethren. It's bad enough RC Officers work long hours at home -- without pay, mind you -- to get things done that can't be completed in one weekend a month. And some of us commute across country. I currently drive 7 hours one way to remain at the unit that was once 7 minutes away because of a civilian job move).
We are discussing the fact that total overhauls of Clothing Bag items is too costly... even for Officers to have to fork over everytime another"Good Idea Fairy decides he doesn't like the current uniform or we don't have a new uniform like the Marines...and now I'm in a position to fix it (more often than not such GIF committees include a CSM or two... maybe interested in sticking it to the O's once more? :-) )
These major and routine overhauls are not fair to the ONLY members of the Service who must pay the freight from their own pockets. The injustice becomes even more egregious for Officers in the Reserve Component who have the SAME uniform expenses at 1/6th the pay of their AC brethren. It's bad enough RC Officers work long hours at home -- without pay, mind you -- to get things done that can't be completed in one weekend a month. And some of us commute across country. I currently drive 7 hours one way to remain at the unit that was once 7 minutes away because of a civilian job move).
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I believe a mixture of yes and no. Should ALL officers get a clothing allowance? No. Should the junior officers get one? Yes.
As CSM Michael J. Uhlig pointed out, there is a significant pay gap between different ranks, but don't lump the younger company grades with the older field grades.
Maybe the solution is to have a "base pay cutoff". If $5k/month was used as the cutoff, then all enlisted up to E7 and E8s with less than 22 years would be covered (I don't mentioned E9s because I'm not sure if any with less than 14 years are out there). Additionally, W1s, W2s with less than 18 years, 1LTs and 2LTs would also be covered (and a very small windows for CPTs).
Adjust the cutoff to whatever figure works for the bean counters (E9s max out at $7,500 a month base pay .. that would include O1s-O4s and W1s-W4s) and bump it up with annual increases in base pay.
Strictly from a financial point of view, expecting a junior officer to have to buy all his uniforms again doesn't make any sense.
As CSM Michael J. Uhlig pointed out, there is a significant pay gap between different ranks, but don't lump the younger company grades with the older field grades.
Maybe the solution is to have a "base pay cutoff". If $5k/month was used as the cutoff, then all enlisted up to E7 and E8s with less than 22 years would be covered (I don't mentioned E9s because I'm not sure if any with less than 14 years are out there). Additionally, W1s, W2s with less than 18 years, 1LTs and 2LTs would also be covered (and a very small windows for CPTs).
Adjust the cutoff to whatever figure works for the bean counters (E9s max out at $7,500 a month base pay .. that would include O1s-O4s and W1s-W4s) and bump it up with annual increases in base pay.
Strictly from a financial point of view, expecting a junior officer to have to buy all his uniforms again doesn't make any sense.
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MAJ Ronnie Reams
Probably in the band. I have noticed a lot of SGMs there. For those not familiar with 19th Century chevrons, a SGM is 3 stripes and 3 arcs. They start as a Bn QM Sgt, 3 stripes and one arc. Probably most are SGM prior to 14 years.
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