Army guns: Soldiers demand right to roll up sleeves | Fox News:
Spc. Milt Perkins and dozens of other Army soldiers are reportedly ready to roll — their sleeves, that is.
Perkins, a 26-year-old operating room specialist for a combat support hospital, wants Army brass to allow him to roll up the sleeves of his Army Combat Uniform (ACU) to catch a hint of much-needed breeze at Louisiana’s Fort Polk. But Army soldiers have been denied that pleasure for roughly a decade, since the ACU replaced the Battle Dress Uniform. Troops in the other U.S. services, meanwhile, are allowed to roll their sleeves, most notably leading to the Marines’ “suns out, guns out” mantra.
“I sweat every day when I walk to work,” Perkins told Army Times. “You get sticky.”
Army officials told the newspaper that the ACU top was designed to protect soldiers' for
“When it’s hot in Louisiana, we should be able to roll up our sleeves," Perkins said.
Oh Geez!
I remember being in NCO School in Georgia, in 1968. We sweat in the morning and we sweat in the night, and the only thing that kept us going was the certainty that we would be in Viet Nam sometime in the next few months ... and this was Good Training! We were suppose to spend some time in Panama, for "aclimation", but we never went there. This was the closest the Army could come to Viet Nam, and we were glad to get the time suffering. At least nobody was shooting at us.
And the Army encouraged us to Roll Up Our Sleeves!
Remember the 12-mile march we took in August, at Fort Benning? We had a Green Beret dude marching with us ... he dropped out at the ten-mile mark. He was too proud to roll up his sleeves.
The air was like wet cotton balls. You couldn't breathe .. we all just wheezed. And we sweat like frigging pigs!
When the march was over, I asked my buddy to turn in my rifle, 'cause I was too pooped to move. I made the mistake of drinking half a canteen of water ... and I had cramps all night long, because that was the Wrong Thing To Do. But I still fell asleep in my bunk, and I slept for 12 hours, until Reville the next morning.
Now the Army won't allow Grunts to roll up their sleeves .. because the new designed uniforms don't "look right" that way?
If you have never been in the Army, you probably wouldn't understand. But that IS the way the Army works. If it's regulations, it's STUPID!
The funny thing is, when they sent me to Viet Nam, we in The Field always drew our uniforms from the quartermaster corps. They clothing they issued us was .. rags. You never had all the buttons. We never were issued underwear ... talk about a bunch of swinging dicks!
Elbows and knees out ... barely enough buttons to close our fly. And the shirts? we didn't mind that there were only one or two buttons, 'cause more exposure to our chests allowed us the ventilation that we needed very much.
We only had two pairs of socks, and we needed to change them twice a day to avoid Trench Foot. I came down with "Bamboo Poisoning" (horrid runny purple/yellow lesions on my arms, legs, hands, face and feet) which stayed with me for a year after I returned from 'overseas'.
But there were no policies then, about providing adequate uniforms to the troops in the field.
Apparently, the Army hasn't changed a bit. If there is a way to make one's servitude more uncomfortable, the Generals will turn a Blind Eye to any suggestion to make it more comfortable to do our duty.
In truth, I can't imagine why the Army won't provide uniforms which are comfortable in "sultry climate" conditions. The old story about "Good Training", I guess.
One thing is sure: the people who make the rules are, still, not the people who have to suffer.
You got to ask yourself why America is relying on a 'Volunteer Army' to defend this Nation. If everybody knew what petty crap they would have to endure once they were 'admitted' into the Army, nobody would ever volunteer.
Damn sure *_I_* wouldn't!
