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Navy Working Uniform Type II and III - finally something sailors can wear....

Flash

Flash

SEVAL/ECMO
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
phrogdriver said:
I guess I'll buy the idea that when attached to an Army command, Navy personnel should wear a uniform that does not stand out. However, lots of Navy types are in the desert supporting non-Army commands. Shouldn't they have a desert uniform of their own, or perhaps maybe they could use some synergy (to use a buzzword) and just adapt an already existing uniform, like the MARPAT or NWU II? Take the eagle, globe, and anchor embroidery off the pocket, and maybe the micro-eagle, globe, and anchors out of the fabric, replace them with little Navy emblems, and voila! Desert uniform. Or adopt the NWU II. Whatever. Now they'll get NWU IV or V or VI or whatever, and the concept of "uniform" is somewhat weakened, isn't it?
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Why isn't everyone in the Navy allowed to wear the NWU II? Apparently because your former Commandant objected to the similarity of the pattern to the Marine one (I find it interesting that I cannot find a link to that story on Military Times, I wonder if it was pulled). I am not sure when we started worrying about the delicate sensibilities of our USMC brethren but I guess we now do.

phrogdriver said:
Why do the specops/specwar guys need a unique uniform? They didn't have one before. Why does the Marine Corps camouflage have to be unique? We got by for years and years with a DoD-wide camo pattern. Especially IRT the specops NWU II, isn't part of special operations NOT standing out? It's a corner case, to be sure, but if a base is all of a sudden crawling with guys in a unique uniform, might that not tip somebody off that something is about to go down?
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I am going to go out on a limb and say that the original intent was to not just limit it to just specops types but now that you all whined about it looking too much like your precious cammies that is a politically palatable and easy answer to tell the masses. You can wear your desert cammies with your delicate pride intact!

Alpha_Echo_606 said:
I thought when the Marines came up with the digital camouflage they tried to get the other branchs to help pay for designing it. As I recall every service including the Navy turned the offer down and that is why the Navy doesn't use the same pattern and design.
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I have heard that line several times but when they originally came out I remember hearing a lot of bluster about how part of the reason they were doing it was to make the Marine uniforms unique and distinctive. The 'we were forced to go it alone' story plays well for PR and a little bit of 'martyrdom' that the Marines seem to sometimes revel in, until I see it in writing I call BS.
 
Alpha_Echo_606

Alpha_Echo_606

Does not play well with others!™
Contributor
Flash said:
Why isn't everyone in the Navy allowed to wear the NWU II? Apparently because your former Commandant objected to the similarity of the pattern to the Marine one (I find it interesting that I cannot find a link to that story on Military Times, I wonder if it was pulled). I am not sure when we started worrying about the delicate sensibilities of our USMC brethren but I guess we now do.



I am going to go out on a limb and say that the original intent was to not just limit it to just specops types but now that you all whined about it looking too much like your precious cammies that is a politically palatable and easy answer to tell the masses. You can wear your desert cammies with your delicate pride intact!
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After a bit of searching the interwebs I must admit that this is the best theory. I could find no evidence to support my statement. Sorry for speaking out of my rear.
 
Flash

Flash

SEVAL/ECMO
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
Alpha_Echo_606 said:
After a bit of searching the interwebs I must admit that this is the best theory. I could find no evidence to support my statement. Sorry for speaking out of my rear.
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Actually I misspoke, it isn't you whose delicate sensibilities would be offended, sorry!
 
Treetop Flyer

Treetop Flyer

Well-Known Member
pilot
Even if the Marines just wanted to look different and blocked the Navy from copying them, it still doesn't explain why the Navy still copied them on a limited basis and outfitted the majority of their personnel with smurf cammies.
 
helolumpy

helolumpy

Apprentice School Principal
pilot
Contributor
Treetop Flyer said:
Even if the Marines just wanted to look different and blocked the Navy from copying them, it still doesn't explain why the Navy still copied them on a limited basis and outfitted the majority of their personnel with smurf cammies.
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We like to think of them as Warrior Smurf Cammies!!
 
phrogdriver

phrogdriver

More humble than you would understand
pilot
Super Moderator
Just wrap a glow belt around your aquaflage and you'll actually cause a singularity of military uniform ludicrousness.
 
pourts

pourts

former Marine F/A-18 pilot & FAC, current MBA stud
pilot
Flash said:
I have heard that line several times but when they originally came out I remember hearing a lot of bluster about how part of the reason they were doing it was to make the Marine uniforms unique and distinctive. The 'we were forced to go it alone' story plays well for PR and a little bit of 'martyrdom' that the Marines seem to sometimes revel in, until I see it in writing I call BS.
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Forgive me if I don't just take your word for it until I see that in writing. I find it hard to believe with out limited budget the Corps wouldn't want to pawn off some of the development costs for the uniform.

Its absolutely true that we wanted a uniform that wouldn't be the same as random dudes playing paintball, which was the case at the time. Somewhere along the way the "distinctive from Joe-schmo playing paintball/airsoft" was miscontrued to become "distinctive from the other branches because we are so high and mighty."
 
Flash

Flash

SEVAL/ECMO
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
HAL Pilot said:
Is that to keep the other services from laughing their asses off?
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You would think, just the Navy continuing to cling to it's insistence on being barely formal while the Army and Air Force pretty much gave up trying in DC for much of the last decade. The SECDEF was leaning the same way about 2 years ago, no more cammies for the guys on his staff. There was even a memo put out by the Director of the Navy Staff about the same time reminding aviators that bags were not allowed in DC, it had become informally allowed with some commands. Yes, he was a SWO.
 
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