WASHINGTON — Recruiters, drill sergeants, and initial entry trainees will be among the first to receive the new Army Green Service Uniform, as program officials look to distribute it to all installations by the middle of next fiscal year.
The uniform harkens back to the “greatest generation” of Soldiers who fought during World War II.
“For the past year, I’ve been wearing the Army Greens. Wherever I go, people tell me that they love the uniform,” said Army Vice Chief Of Staff Gen. Joseph M. Martin.
“As we transition to the next phase of the rollout, I’m excited for the Soldiers who are about to receive the uniform,” he added. “I think that when they see themselves in the mirror they’ll feel connected to the Soldiers of the past and realize that they’re writing the next chapter of what people feel about our Army.”
Rollout schedule
Personnel in basic combat training and one-station unit training should receive the AGSU beginning in the first quarter of fiscal year 2021, said Lt. Col. Naim Lee, product manager of Soldier Clothing and Individual Equipment at Program Executive Office Soldier.
Fort Sill, Oklahoma, will be the first training location to issue the uniform, shortly followed by Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri; Fort Benning, Georgia; and Fort Jackson, South Carolina, he added.
The Army had originally planned to begin issuing the uniforms at IET locations before the end of this fiscal year. However, Lee said, setbacks during production related to COVID-19 forced a short delay in the rollout process.
Soldiers attending the Army’s Recruiting and Retention College at Fort Knox, Kentucky, started to receive their AGSUs earlier this month, he said.
The Army is continuing to work through its distribution and production channels to ensure all recruiters are issued the uniform starting in November through April 2021.
“The Army prioritized recruiters and drill sergeants, because they serve as the face of the Army,” Lee said.
After a select group of recruiters were able to wear the uniform as part of a pilot, they indicated that the new uniform may help attract quality applicants. The uniform may also help inspire the next generation of leaders by connecting the “all-volunteer force” to its historical lineage, Lee said
Moving forward, the Army and Air Force Exchange Service will supply the new uniform through a wave-based rollout approach, Lee said. The AGSU is currently available for purchase at the Fort Knox AAFES location.
The majority of AAFES locations within the U.S. are scheduled to have the new uniform by December. Stores in Alaska, Europe, Japan, and South Korea, along with National Guard and Reserve military clothing locations, should have a supply of uniforms by February 2021.
The mandatory wear date for all Soldiers is Oct. 1, 2027.
Active-duty enlisted Soldiers, including Active Guard and Reserve Soldiers, will continue to receive their annual clothing-replacement allowance to offset the new uniform’s cost, Lee said. Other Guard and Reserve Soldiers will begin receiving uniforms no later than the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2021.
Everyday service uniform
The Army is currently the only service without an everyday business uniform, Lee said.
The current Army Service Uniform, commonly known as dress blues, was previously considered an optional purchase uniform prior to 2008, PEO Soldier officials said. Over time, leaders realized that the dress blues were too formal for everyday business use.
With the launch of the AGSU, Soldiers will now have an everyday service uniform, which will set an appropriate standard for professionalism within an office setting, Lee added.
Eventually, the Army will stop issuing the dress blues to all Soldiers. The uniform will continue to be optional and serve as a dress uniform for all Soldiers requiring a formal attire.
Limited user test, evaluation
As the Army delivers its new uniform, PEO Soldier will continue to conduct limited user testing and evaluations through May 2021, Lee said.
Early in the development process, the Army held an all-female uniform board that determined the design, components, features and fit of the female uniform. While both the male and female uniforms are similar, PEO Soldier officials said the female version allows for an elective skirt and shoe wear option.
In January, leaders held an additional uniform board to solidify minor changes to the uniform that were identified during ongoing user evaluations.
“Soldiers shared how the uniform is a better fit to their body,” when compared to the Army Service Uniform, Lee said. “In terms of comfort — we made changes through the limited user evaluation feedback process” to improve the Army Greens.
Feedback will continue to be solicited from a larger Army population, specifically from Soldiers who wear the uniform often. Through this process, program leads will shape future iterations of the ensemble to accommodate different body types or make improvements to the product’s longevity.
“We have teams that will receive feedback through Soldier touchpoints,” Lee said. “And given the current environment [with COVID-19], we will have to incorporate” other forms of communication.
“Soldiers are enjoying this new uniform and they are eager to go out and get it,” he added. “We can’t get it to them fast enough.”
By Devon Suits, Army News Service
The Army – Still trying to look like Marines…
More like the Army trying to look like the Army. This uniform set is patterned after a uniform that dates back to pre world war 2 the Marines uniform was enacted right in unison. There colors go back to world war 1 but patterns evolved. The Form we know of the Marines service Greens dates to 1943 the Army uniform was in lock step as the two changed. Those changes though can also be seen with Navy Service Dress Khaki, Aviation Working Greens and Service Dress Grey. Generally though one would have to be pretty clueless to confuse the main two sets of Army and Marine. The Marine uniform is Forest green cover, coat, and trousers with Khaki blouse and black buttons and pins well the Army is varying shades of OD the darker coat with lighter matching trousers and blouse. Antique metal features. Marines like the Navy are standard black leather accessories. The Army is going back to russet brown. The Army is adopting a crushed style peaked cap well the marines will retain the fixed style.
Most civilians won’t see the difference. Just look at all the complaints of people saying civilians confused the dress blues with police officers, Navy, or Air Force uniforms.
Modernizing the green uniforms incrementally would have been too easy.
Except the Army killed those Off a half decade ago. Not the first time a service did so. In WW2 both the Army and Marines phases out their Blue uniforms save for Recruiters and ceremonial troops. Since then The Army like the USAF has had one uniform for both ceremony and business dress.
Yeah but by that bar I have seen Bus drivers, Park Rangers and Country Sheriff departments who dress like Marine Greens. If someone is going to make that mistake nothing will stop it.
Why does the Army always take so long to roll out clothing to soldiers?
The Improved Hot Weather Uniform is very comfortable, yet very hard to find in normal sizes. This uniform will take a long time for those you want to purchase it.
About a million soldiers in uniform. That’s why it takes so long.
All the photos I have seen for this uniform show the garrison and peaked caps as headwear. Does this mean the black beret will go away as a standard item of headwear or will it be relegated to specific uniforms or occassions?
The AGSU is a good looking uniform and does fill a niche in the Army’s uniform palette. That said, the process of getting to this uniform is what annoys me.
When the old Class A was targeted for retirement, the party line was that the ASU would be sufficient for all occasions, would be recognizably Army and would harken back to the traditional blue uniforms the Army wore in the 19th century, and would streamline the clothing bag.
The objection that the blues were too formal for day to day use was brought more than 10 years ago, and was ignored. The Army’s PAO passed along messages about how excited the troops were to be receiving the new uniform, almost word for word what the press releases about the AGSU are saying.
So the Army ditched a perfectly functional and recognizable green uniform in favor of the blues, then decided that they were in error and needed a green uniform. More money was spent on prototypes, surveys, uniform boards, and testing that could have been saved by simply keeping the old uniform.
I’m glad that Soldiers will have a nice suit to wear to the office, and am also glad my retirement is before the mandatory possession date.
So, in WW II we put around 11 million GIs into something close to this uniform in four years while fighting a war on three fronts, but it will take 7 more years to get about 1 million or less Soldiers into the AGSU.
It’s ironic, check out this quote by Matthew B. Ridgway in 1955 trying to get congress to appropriate the funding for the new Army Green uniform so the Army could get rid of the WW II uniforms.
Gen. Matthew B. Ridgway, then Chief of Staff, to a Senate subcommittee hearing on appropriations for the Green Uniform in 1955:
“The American soldier requires and deserves a uniform which he can wear with pride. In our never-ending search for men of high caliber and firm determination, we must offer a uniform that is military, distinctive and dignified.”
What goes around comes around.
In world war 2 this uniform was already in service sine the 1920s for the Officer corps. The Uniform that you are talking about for General Ridgeway was adopted officially in 54 it wasn’t mandatory wear until winter 1960.
Two things. Number one, they didn’t want anyone to have to buy the uniform except for professional Soldiers. That’s the reason for the long phase in.
Two, the old Army Green Uniform was referred to as a “Corporate” look. You want to look like you’re in the military or working for IBM?
SSD,
Could you source your quote about it being a corporate uniform?
Nope, you can call me a liar. I don’t have access to any of my references due to moving.
I’m not saying you’re a liar, I’ve just never seen that stated anywhere in any of the research I’ve done on the AG44 uniform.
I am interested in uniform history,like how the uniforms Nixon had for the White House secret security personnel ended up being used by an Iowa high school marching band.
No, my only point was that those who wore the original “pinks and greens’ or the OD four pocket service uniform or Ike jacket were the strongest proponents for moving on to something else. Now here we are all these years later reverting to something close to that uniform. I’m now retired so I don’t have a dog in the fight, and the decision to ditch the ASU has already been made. That being said, having grown up in the sixties, I still have the image in my head of a Green Beret in dress greens with bloused boots on TV. It was an awesome sight. I’m pretty sure it was CPT Roger Donlon receiving the MOH. He didn’t remotely resemble anyone who worked at IBM.
What’s being lost in the discussion is why (right or wrong) the Army moved away from “pinks and greens” to greens.
Post WWII there was a huge surplus of uniforms from downsizing an eight million man army. (For comparison’s sake the Marines were less than half a million.)
Those garments were offloaded into the civilian market for pennies and become the mainstay of everything from bus drivers to mechanics to cab drivers to plumbers. Anyone wanting a uniform look for their work force could buy surplus Army uniforms and if one was in the market for work clothes, again surplus uniforms were cheap.
The decision was made that the uniform had to be changed since Soldiers were wearing the same garment a huge amount of civilians in some pretty non glamorous jobs were wearing.
Brings a new understanding to the irony of those complaining that blues sometimes made one look like an ice cream man…
Still a waste of money.
Fire everyone on the uniform board!!! BILLIONS wasted on making everything UCP, now this!? What a load of crap. I guess cops need a certain amount of crime and the uniform board needs to invent a change every decade just to justify their jobs. Fire them all!!!