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Everyday gray

Note: This story was originally published October 23, 2006

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The Army’s senior enlisted soldier recently showed off the newly approved dress shirt soldiers will wear with the new Army Service Uniform.

The long-sleeved, light gray shirt is a herringbone weave of 65 percent cotton and 35 percent polyester that will come with permanent military creases.

Earlier this summer, the Army approved the ASU, a version of the current dress blue uniform, to replace the current Class A greens.

Mostly reserved for ceremonies and formal occasions, dress blues — with a dark blue jacket and light blue pants — have been a part of Army history since the Revolutionary War. But instead of white, the Army chose the gray shirt to give soldiers a more durable blouse for everyday wear.

“Everybody said, ‘The white shirt is going to get dirty and wouldn’t wear as well,’“ Sgt. Maj. of the Army Kenneth Preston told soldiers Oct. 10 at the Association of the United States Army’s annual meeting in Washington, D.C.

During meetings with senior and junior enlisted soldiers, Preston had a sergeant first class model the noncommissioned officers’ version of the ASU.

The NCO version, to be worn by soldiers at the rank of corporal and above, will feature gold trouser stripes and a service cap. This is meant to represent a “rite of passage” when a soldier becomes part of the NCO corps.

Soldiers holding the rank of specialist and below will wear the junior enlisted uniform with the black beret instead of the service cap. Also, they will wear plain blue trousers — no gold stripe.

The version for commissioned officers and warrant officers will be identical to the current blues except for the gray shirt.

The Army also chose gray because it looked the best with the skin tones of the Army’s three major demographic groups — black, white and Hispanic — said Dave Geringer, assistant product manager for PM Clothing and Individual Equipment.

“It also looks the best with the dark and light blue fabrics on the uniform,” he said.

There will be an additional short-sleeve gray shirt, to be worn without the necktie and coat as a Class B-style uniform.

White shirts will be reserved for formal occasions and be worn with the necktie before 6 p.m. and a black bow tie after 6 p.m.

Soldiers will not be required to have the new uniform until fall 2011, Preston said. It should be available at military clothing sales stores by next fall, and new recruits should begin receiving it as part of their clothing bags by fall 2008.

The next step in perfecting the new uniform will start Oct. 16, when uniform officials conduct a “fit test” with new soldiers at Fort Jackson, S.C. Uniform officials will select soldiers, both male and female, of a wide range of body types to try on versions of the ASU to make sure the new 55 percent polyester/45 percent wool blend fits most soldiers properly.

The data will be used to finalize the patterns so the manufacturers will know how to make the new uniforms.

The push to replace the Class A began in the summer of 2005, when Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker tasked Preston with looking at the Army’s three dress uniforms — the dress greens, dress whites and dress blues — and selecting a single uniform for all occasions at the lowest possible cost to soldiers.

The Army Service Uniform embodies Schoomaker’s priorities for the effort: simplicity, quality, utility and tradition, said Lt. Col. John Lemondes, product manager for PM Clothing and Individual Equipment.

“With all we are trying to do with this program, the thing we want to impress the most is this is not a uniform change — it’s a uniform reduction,” Lemondes said.