Have you ever had a casual Friday at your Command?

ENS Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 16 Jan 2017 01:59:28 -0500

If you have, what is your opinion on them? How did it affect morale? Would you consider implementing it weekly? Monthly?

Response by Capt Seid Waddell made Jan 16 at 2017 2:01 AM

Capt Seid Waddell — Mon, 16 Jan 2017 02:01:51 -0500

Never in the military, or in my civilian jobs, either. In both cases the job description determined clothing.

My wife has had casual Fridays at her job though. However, I don't know that it did anything for morale that I could see.

Response by Sgt Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 16 at 2017 2:09 AM

Sgt Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 16 Jan 2017 02:09:52 -0500

I do not think it affects morale. During the last ten years of my civilian career, they adopted Casual Friday. I would occasionally skip wearing a tie but that was about it. I have no problem with it as long as everyone understands the Casual Friday dress code. In a professional work environment, business casual does not include shorts or dirty tennis shoes, etc.

Response by CW2 Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 16 at 2017 5:51 AM

CW2 Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 16 Jan 2017 05:51:48 -0500

Casual Friday in the motor pool does not make much sense so, no.

Response by MSG Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 16 at 2017 10:05 AM

MSG Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 16 Jan 2017 10:05:31 -0500

The HHD of my BN, they have casual Sundays when they hold BTA. But the caveat is, is that they must donate money to the FRG in order to wear civilians on the Sunday of said BTA. I think it's a great idea, but not many Soldiers take advantage of that.

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 16 at 2017 11:02 AM

LTC Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 16 Jan 2017 11:02:00 -0500

I had 3 jobs where I wore shorts and t-shirt to work in the Army. I wore my uniform on laundry days. My morale was great!

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 16 at 2017 11:21 AM

LTC Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 16 Jan 2017 11:21:41 -0500

we substitute "big Sarge" for "dude".

Response by PO1 Brian Austin made Jan 16 at 2017 4:32 PM

PO1 Brian Austin — Mon, 16 Jan 2017 16:32:55 -0500

At my final duty station we had "Civilian Clothes Day". It was done to help raise funds MWR. If you contributed funds, you received a "Civilian Clothes Chit" allowing you to wear civilian clothes on a designated Friday. Do's and don'ts of what to wear were put out beforehand. It was basically "business casual". Invariably someone would dress inappropriately and would have to change.
Personally i didn't care for it. Too much of a pain in the butt enforcing the clothing standards.

Response by MAJ David Vermillion made Jan 16 at 2017 5:32 PM

MAJ David Vermillion — Mon, 16 Jan 2017 17:32:12 -0500

The world has become more casual in their dress and the military when I was serving was about being dressed for respect. One reason I joined the Airborne was the "Spit and Polish" look. Let's keep our standards higher, not lower.

Response by MSgt Richard Randall made Jan 16 at 2017 5:56 PM

MSgt Richard Randall — Mon, 16 Jan 2017 17:56:21 -0500

Just the opposite. We’d occasionally get notified late in a duty day there would be a mandatory open ranks inspection the next day at 0700 with Class A uniforms. That kinda sucked but it was rather entertaining to see some folks with munged up haircuts.

Response by Cpl Justin Goolsby made Jan 17 at 2017 11:58 AM

Cpl Justin Goolsby — Tue, 17 Jan 2017 11:58:22 -0500

LOL hell no... we had "Fancy Fridays" which translated to wearing your Service Uniform every Friday. It sucked of course because Cammies are way more comfortable, but it did come with the added benefit of being allowed to eat off base during chow.

For those unaware, Marines are not allowed to wear their Cammies off base, so it might not sound like a big deal to get to eat off base, but to Marines, it's a pretty big deal.

So since we were in our Friday's Finest, my shop would pick a place to go out and actually sit down together as a shop and enjoy lunch. So the camaraderie aspect was great. But the uniforms are by no means comfortable.

Response by SGT David T. made Jan 17 at 2017 1:28 PM

SGT David T. — Tue, 17 Jan 2017 13:28:11 -0500

Every Friday, but then again he only have 2 or 3 actual service members here lol.

Response by PO1 Dallas Shewmaker made Jan 18 at 2017 8:55 AM

PO1 Dallas Shewmaker — Wed, 18 Jan 2017 08:55:58 -0500

I've had two commands in the Navy where a "casual Friday" dress was allowed. On the ship, they would allow us to wear our coveralls/jumpsuits on the ship and pier no matter what kind of work we doing. This was in contrast to the "working uniform" of the day (dungarees/utilities/charlies/NWU) that we commonly wore. On a shore command... well, that was tricky. Twice a month, usually the second Wednesday, we were allowed to wear Navy issued PT gear. This was in conjunction with a command incentive towards personal wellness and physical training. The idea was that more people would be motivated to PT in the last hour of the work day if they were already dressed for it.

Personally, I think that it does help morale somewhat. I mean, I wouldn't go as far as to make it a policy but we sacrificed so much already that a free day of not having to dress up or not having to shave helps a little bit in keeping your spirits up.

Response by SCPO Larry Knight Sr. made Jan 18 at 2017 9:04 AM

SCPO Larry Knight Sr. — Wed, 18 Jan 2017 09:04:36 -0500

Not necessary, I don't believe that this would have any benefit with morale. We have (steel beach picnics on Sundays out at sea),which in my 25 year's boosted morale quite significantly. We have good order and discipline in all branches of the United States armed forces, casual anything doesn't need to be a part of daily evolution. I have seen this in the civilian community with some companies and it's successful in some cases and a total failure in the rest. You have to keep in mind that your still dealing with the human factor, give them an inch and they'll take the proverbial mile.

Response by PO1 Edward Spencer made Jan 18 at 2017 1:30 PM

PO1 Edward Spencer — Wed, 18 Jan 2017 13:30:53 -0500

One day at morning quarters before the LCPO's and Divo's got up to the hangar bay, my divisional LPO announced that the following Friday was going to be Hawaiian Shirt Day, a la Office Space.

When the Chiefs walked out to the hangar bay the following Friday to find all of Reactor Electrical wearing Hawaiian shirts over their coveralls, they had to visibly hide their amusement before ordering us to make them disappear before the division officers came up (though unbeknownst to them, one of the DivOs had helped think up the prank).

That LPO is now a Master Chief, and not too long ago completed the Senior Enlisted Academy.