Casey: Blue uniform to display combat unit - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Casey: Blue uniform to display combat unit

FORT BRAGG, N.C — The Army’s new chief of staff is considering a small but significant tweak to the new blue uniform.

“We’re going to do something so the soldier can display his combat unit,” Gen. George W. Casey, Jr. told Army Times on Wednesday during a wide-ranging interview on his priorities for the next four years.

While uniform issues are not at the top of his list, Casey said, he is aware of soldiers’ wishes to display a combat patch on the new uniform, which will be fielded Army-wide by 2011.

The Army refers to the new blue uniform, which replaces the Class A and dress blues, as the Army Service Uniform, and regulation currently doesn’t allow for identifying patches.

The push to replace the Class A began in the summer of 2005, when then-Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker tasked the sergeant major of the Army with assessing the Army’s dress uniforms and selecting a single uniform for all occasions.

Over the past couple of months, Casey and the members of his transition team have talked with dozens of soldiers on a variety of issues and, while no significant issues have arisen with respect to the Army’s uniforms, soldiers expressed a desire to wear something representing the unit they went into combat with.

Casey, who has been on the job since April 10, said no decision has yet been made on how that will be incorporated into the uniform.

“Whether it’s a patch or a pin, I’m not sure yet, but we’re going to do something,” he said.