Now that the Air Force is switching over to the OCP/Multicam, why don’t they adopt more of the standards from AR670-1?

Is that a coast guard meme?

SFC, Were you not around when we all shared BDU's? Don't worry, Airmen will be fine correcting folks who assume they are Soldiers.

I’m currently in AFCENT and they’ve updated to 1 Jan 2018 all personnel arriving to the AOR should be issued what they’re calling ACU’s now “Airman combat uniform”, super original right. As of now all the coyote undergarments, belts, boots can either be tan or coyote brown. One thing I’m really fond of is he baseball cap, it’s much more comfortable and I think just looks way better honestly. My o my gripe is that these new uniforms are all extremely hard to find the right size because they’re only sizes in small medium large instead of actual numbers. When I was issued mine I wasn’t able to fit a medium regular which is basically a 32 which I wear in ABU’s so I had to order a large regular which is way too big. I think if the Air Force were pick one multicam/scorpion/ocp uniform and make it standard it would be way better, I’ve seen three different types of OCP’s here.

That's really interesting. Some would say that this is what happens when pilots choose the uniforms of ground troops! All in good fun, of course.

Yeah but who gives a crap about "airmen" that don't work on the flight line? Oh the Services guys have an opinion? That's cool and all but.... shut up and serve my food! (Or "shut up and hand me a clean gym towel!")

SSgt Joshua Hurley - Wow

SSgt (Join to see) - You know you've thought the same thing! Unless you're one of those Services guys.... in which case--shut up and serve my food! <3

SSgt Joshua Hurley - Lol if one of my job perks is an Air Conditioner, I'm winning.

SrA (Join to see) - Yeah easily-distinguishable officer ranks are beneficial for friendly forces to recognize officers at a distance and render proper customs and courtesies.... but it also makes it easier for the enemy to recognize officers at a distance. Which kind of supports the old rule that you don't salute officers in combat situations so as to not flag them for enemies as being an officer. Just saying....

Oh but yeah, just noticed you're ANG so no combat situations lol. Yeah the uniforms weren't really designed with weekend warriors, and making their ability to salute officers easier, in mind.

That does make sense. As an engineer, we have “no hat, no salute” designated areas. Perhaps the military could carry on the rule, like you stated where there are no saluting in combat situations. Therefore officers will use the small rank badges, but when they are back from deployment at whatever base, a larger rank could be worn. Even as a weekend warrior, who wears the same uniform as you do, with the same U.S. Air Force across the chest. So there are differently different ways to look at the proper wear in uniform, dependent upon the location of that commissioned or enlisted personnel.

SrA (Join to see) - Well that *IS* a rule.... you don't salute in combat situations. Period. If you do on accident, the officer will usually politely (or extremely impolitely) remind you to NOT salute him. And I was simply pointing out that your lack of experience in the matter (being an ANG A1C, you likely have never deployed overseas, and likely have never seen combat--but please correct me if I'm wrong) results in you not being able to reach a conclusion which at least understands some of the reasoning behind uniform decisions.

But it appears that you actually *want* different uniforms for deployments and home station? Again, your lack of experience results in you seeing a "problem" that doesn't really exist, and formulating a "solution" which would negatively impact the actual *war-fighting* capabilities of this branch of military.

Pro tip time. If you're ever finding it difficult to determine at a distance if a person is an officer or enlisted as you approach them, just remember the old saying that you (hopefully?) have heard in the past: "when in doubt, whip it out!" Meaning.... if you aren't 100% sure the person is enlisted, just salute anyway! What's the worst that happens? The enlisted guy/girl cracks a smile and returns the salute?! Yeah.... much easier than trying to bring the Air Force back to the days of having different uniforms for home station and deployments, which was the entire reason for switching from BDUs/DCUs (for home/deployment) to ABUs (for both!) in the first place! They switched so that they could eliminate the need for multiple sets of uniforms for every member of the military. Point is: your branch's "higher ups" probably know what they're doing more than you do.

SrA (Join to see) - Oh and you made an excellent point! You *DO* wear the same uniform as active duty personnel that *DO* see combat. Maybe stop trying to change their uniforms to make your non-combat state-side ANG life easier?