Aviators: Ditch new flight suit wear rules
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Aviators: Ditch new flight suit wear rules
By Joshua Stewart – Staff writer
MC2 JONATHEN E. DAVIS / NAVY As of January, green flight suits are required for all aviators not in tactical environments.
RENO, Nev. — Aviators are chafing at a Big Navy policy that controls exactly how they wear their flight suits and what color they wear.
But they may find some relief if a proposal that lets commanding officers decide how their aviators wear the suits is approved.
If the Navy Uniform Board OKs the proposal, squadrons will once again be able to pick which flight suit their members wear — green or tan. The proposal would undo a January policy stating that green flight suits must be worn in the U.S. and overseas, and tan suits are for tactical environments only.
The January policy required black T-shirts be worn with green suits and brown T-shirts be worn with tan suits. It also relegated graduate-level aircrew training patches to the right shoulder and required garrison caps to be stuffed into either leg pocket with the zipper open and cap exposed.
Previously, squadrons could choose between the green and the tan flight suits and undershirts. As for patches, they could wear either a U.S. flag patch or a graduate-level aircrew training patch — like Top Gun — on their left shoulder. The right shoulder could feature either a community patch, a patch for a particular type of aircraft, a flight hour achievement or any other sort of patch.
The January policy allowed fliers to wear their flight suits at approved off-base functions celebrating the century of naval aviation, which is this year. However, they still aren’t allowed to wear flight suits off base otherwise, except for short stops while commuting and during official travel.
The January policy wasn’t going over well at this year’s annual Tailhook Symposium here.
“Having us wear flight suits, standardized patches, all black shirts — we’ve basically gone to the Air Force way of wearing it, but I’m still going to get attacked” off base if I’m seen with my flight suit on, an aviator said at a forum Sept. 10, bringing applause and cheers from the standing-room-only crowd.
“Is there going to be any leniency to wearing the flight suits from now on?” the aviator from Early Warning Squadron 121 asked a panel of admirals.
‘WE’RE GOING TO FIX IT’
It may happen soon enough, Vice Adm. Allen Myers, commander of Naval Air Forces, said. A proposal is being developed that will give commanding officers the authority to choose between the tan and green flight suits for their squadron, like they did before the January policy.
“As a matter of fact, there’s a proposal that’s going forward. It’s already at the fleet level. We’ll keep you posted. Basically, we’re going to fix it,” he said.
It’s unclear whether the policy would allow aviators to wear flight suits off base beyond centennial events. A spokeswoman for Myers later said she didn’t know whether off-base wear was part of the new submission because the proposal is still being crafted. She also didn’t know if the new proposal would reinstate the old, looser patch rules.
Myers said that before the Uniform Board released its findings in January, the fleet had requested looser off-base rules in addition to being able to wear the flight suits to centennial events.
“The submission went forward from both fleets with a standardized flight suit and the authority to wear them off base and at different events,” Myers said.
However, the Uniform Board did not approve the proposal to loosen off-base wear, leaving in place the old policy that allows flight suits to be worn only to and from work with “brief and appropriate stops,” on military transport aircraft and on official business.