Winter weight jackets still exist, made out of a heavier nomex and a liner. I still do not have one, and am not holding out hope either.
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The Great Flight Jacket Thread (wearing/buying Leather, NOMEX, WEP jackets/patches)
- Thread starter Lt_SNA_USMC
- Start date
It can get down to below 40 and rainy in Jax in the winter at night.
This December/January we had a good number of days where it was in the 20s in the morning. Quite unpleasant. Though at the end of the day I'd say I need it less than, say, our FEs, who are out there in the rain and all kinds of nastiness, but they don't have cold/foul weather flight jackets either. They don't have them either. Yay Navy supply.
It keeps you dry as opposed to the old ones that are pretty much sponges. AWs don't always like it though, the fit caused the jacket to ride up when utilizing weapons and exposing them to the elements. Also, they're very hard to come by and some squadrons have the strange habit of treating them as "pool gear" that's checked out on an as needed basis for a flight vice organizational clothing that's issued. The other issue is that apparently the goretex and the fuzzy fleece jackets were made out of unobtanium because they were in short supply for several years. Now there are some other jackets, such as the Massif Elements, that are authorized.
So I'm just a young padawan in the HTs, but how do you come about getting these? Squadron has X dollars for purchase of "gear" and the PR Shop/Supply puts in an order for the NSN and it's charged back to the Squadron's pot of money?
If it's new stuff that no one has, the squadron will often put in a bulk order for everyone. If you're at a place that's huge, this may be hard to do due to limited funds. I think there are ways to get plus-ups for stuff that you actually need. For instance, if you knew you were going to be deployed to AFG in the winter, the squadron could ask for extra money (I think, I'm not a supply guy. An MCO could better fill you in on how it's done). If your squadron already has the stuff and you're a new guy then you should just have to talk to supply and tell them what you need. That's how it worked for brown boots when I got to the fleet. After saying hello and welcoming me aboard the next thing the OPSO told me to do was to go to supply and get some brown boots.
At my current squadron when the Massif stuff was authorized I had taken a personal interest in getting decent cold weather gear so I went down to supply and worked with them to get it ordered for the flyers who wanted it.
I do know the regular MX funds and aircrew flight gear funds are different pots of money, how that translates into getting gucci stuff like the goretex I don't know. It could just boil down to the motivation of your LSs.
You're right, they are different funds, but there's still a lot of stuff that's maintenance related that gets purchased through the 7F funds. More often than not, it's more money related than LS related. The MCO is going to either be Santa Claus or Scrooge. If the MCO can be convinced, then it's a matter of the PRs actually putting in the order and the LS order it. Here's where a good LS comes in, and doesn't loose the order. Finally, after all that, stuff has to come in. Depending on how it's procured, that could take months.
ADS seems to be "selling" their services to squadrons (and other non-aviation commands like the SpecWar/Ops community) as a company that can get you your stuff for the best prices in minimal time. Sounds great, but here's where that motivation of your LS(s) comes in.
I don't know how the Gortex stuff got to us funds-wise but when it came in it was like Christmas in February. I ended up with a full set of Gortex outerwear and the fleece liners. I just wish I would have been given all the Gucci stuff when I was in Maine and it was actually useful. The stuff works great in the rain when you do have it with you and it'll be perfect for ski season this winter. All that said, I'm not sure it was the smartest use of funds for those of us in Florida.
I dunno, a lightweight goretex jacket would be pretty ideal for the afternoon Florida rain showers.
Edit: As opposed to the issued one I have tried wearing in the rain a few times.
Edit: As opposed to the issued one I have tried wearing in the rain a few times.
Good luck, I'm still trying to get all my flight suits issued to me, hell with jackets and all that other Gucci gear.