When is it "ok" for soldiers to deblouse while in garrison?

I was stationed at Ft Riley for 5 years and when it got that hot, we had a sgt Major who would come by and over rule the nco in charge. He could not stand those who would say do as I say and not as I do type of nco's. When it got that hot he had standing orders to take of the uniform shirt and leave the undershirt off. Reason is he didn't want to see any one in the medic office for severe sunburns.

I have been stationed at different posts throughout my career. It's always been a continual changing of the guard. I remember back in 85' in Germany, we rolled up our sleeves. Then that wasn't tactical or pretty enough so it was roll them up bust have material left to fold the cuff over to hide the roll. That became the standard for many years. Even at Ft. Hood while there in 87'. Now forward to Hood in the late 80s, sleeves up, then sleeves down, tops off in the motor pool. The Wet Bulb use to be followed till about 2000, then it became a check the block but continued taking our tops off. And have them unblouse their pants to use the draw strings to tie off at top of the boot. It was loose fitting and a little cooler. Then it was put out that we had to wear our coveralls over our BDUs. I had my platoon to change out of their BDUs in between the tanks to wear only the coveralls with the upper part not worn with the sleeves tied in the front. Got chewed out for that. Since the Wet Bulb was crucial, I went to tasC to get posters of the wet bulb breakdown. I posted it in the Co area and in the motor pool. My 1SG ripped down the one in the Co so I replaced it in the PSG/PL office. Again I did the work to rest ratio in CAT 4 & 5. Got my ass chewed for that as well. I had to tread lightly as I was a SSG PSG in a tank platoon. Didn't get any professional support from the other two SFC PSGs. But when your right and going by Regs.....
I believe Army Regs trump all other CMD policies.
One of the comments below mentioned sunburn. The baking heat of Hood, I put enforce my guys to put sun screen on every hour bc the sun in Texas is a muther. Same with Riley, Knox and Polk. It seemed that Big Army was only concerned with appearances and only "burn happy" when a sunburn kept you from work. So a lot of us wearing that black beret was a useless piece of head gear. You would see who worked outside compared to office Soldiers, ring around the nugget. Boonie caps were authorized to wear but never could. If Big Army was worried about the sunburn factor, that would've been the head gear to wear.

An honorable mention to the Arabs in the desert clothing. Yes, they wear long clothing and very loose and Their clothes are way lighter then our uniforms from BDUs to the current uniform now. SFC...you do want is right with your Soldiers. You have the weight on your collar to enforce the standard even if CMD Policy detracts from common sense and Army Regs. When you are correct in enforcing the Wet Bulb standard, you will never be wrong.

Deblousing is a common sense call due to extreme heat weather conditions. The call can come from a Squad Leader, Platoon SGT, 1st SGT or a Commander and some cases a Work Detail Leader. No command wants a Heat related injury on their record. Work for 30 to 45 minutes with a 15 to 20 minute cool down break. Regulations is just a reference to use common sense. Oh! be sure to use a SPF protection lotion to prevent sunburning and possible Melanoma skin cancer.

I was in the Air Force from 1975 to 1999.
If it was cold, we put on a jacket. If it got warm, we took the jacket off. If it got hot, we took off our shirts and worked in a t-shirt. If it was sunny, we used sunscreen. If you worked on the bombing range or flightline, you could be too warm, while the finance guy might be chilled by the air conditioning.
Our leadership believed that if you could be trusted with multimillion-dollar weapons systems and high explosives, you could be trusted to know how to dress appropriately.

I have worked in the heat alot both in and out of the military. When it is hot out my shirt comes off, but I also remember to do it in section. I try to remember to put on about 30min later to cool down the skin. I don't burn like I did when I was younger. I can wear a tee shirt now get red but not burn.

Depends on the situation at hand. Common sense must prevail. NCO's make the call to take tops off. Take care of your troops first and foremost. Take the bite from the Commander or CSM if need be. By the way, I am not Crusty or Grumpy, but I am a retired First Sergeant. Be, know, do...Hoooah!!!

I was a Carpenter in the USAF. I spent time in the far east and south east Asia. The humidity was unbearable at . The work went on rain, shine, cold or hot. Rather than having Troup falling out from heat we were allowed to remove our uniform while on the job site. The job got done and we didn't loose anyone to heat stroke. Common sence tell us that if the mission come frist, our personal must be looked after.

Wetbulb

Call me cynical, but I don't see this as health concerns. Best guess? This is meant to punish everyone for bringing more women outside of office space. Solution, at one's own expense, is the various brands of sun-screening clothes that are designed to be comfortable in hot weather. A white tee shirt is a white tee shirt. If it happens to be sunblocking, well, that's fine.

Unless directed otherwise, individual soldiers don't get to determine that. That is command directed based on CAT rating and situation. The key here is uniformity. If one person in the formation does it, they all have to do it or not do it, unless there is a medical exigency.

The commander is advised each day on the expected weather and temperatures either low or high for the day and makes general decisions and basic orders based on that and passes it along to his training officers and NCOes. There is no strict "you must" directive on this as it would be stupid and hazardous.

SM's are or should be trained on heat symptoms and what to look for and do when they present, even if the weather is not in the higher CAT ratings. An NCO or Jr NCO should be observant of those under their charge and even those that are not and are just part of the formation and be quick to apprise the NCOIC of changes so he or she can make snap judgments. It's up to the NCOIC to make that judgment call.

For instance: An E-4 might be in charge of a detail to fill sandbags, conduct uniform PT or some other detail. Based on their observations they could order the detail to de-blouse given the weather and physical activity. This is ok until such time as a higher ranking NCO or officer countermands the order.

At the end of the day the best answer is going to be NCOes/Officers can order a detail to de-blouse based on needs and their discretion unless ordered otherwise. It's a judgment call.