Squared away uniform tricks.

[Drill for life]

I started this thread to see how far you guys go to make yourself make good in your uniform. I do every-thing possible. I crease my shirt, BDU's, cardboard, Shine boots. I do everything I can to make myself stand-out in this sea of vas uniform wearers. What do you guys do? If you have any secrets feel free to tell them. I might even share some.

[Buffa1oso1di3r]

My secrets:

1. If you ace uniform inspection one week, don't change anything.

2. Check, recheck, and check again.

3. Elbow grease will always do the trick.

[TruBlu]

One little trick that I picked up is this: in regards to medals, you can mount them all on a ribbon rack for ease of placement on the uniform. This can be done by taking out the back of the ribbon where it is mounted on the coat (the pin and all that), and slide it right on a ribbon rack. For some medals, this could require some hot glue because they don't just slide on. But wearer be ware! The medals that you modify won't be able to go back the way they were. I only recommend this if you won't be receiving any more medals, or you have sets of threes (three medals per bar, ad more bars as you add medals). If you do choose to do this, make sure you have access to replacement medals because you can never really PLAN on receiving another one, or you may joust foul it up.

I plan on doing this to my national awards after this year when I won't be eligible to get anymore of them (this will make three, so good number). But I've seen plenty of senior cadets that have been in our unit do this, even helped one guy mount them, and it works and looks really professional if you don't have all the time in the world to mount our medals.

[PhoenixCadet]

Originally Posted by Drill for life

cardboard

In addition to the usual sticking cardboard under your insignia, ribbons and badges - cardboard also comes in handy when ironing your uniform. When ironing the pockets of your BDU blouse or other uniform shirts that have pockets, un-button the pockets, and stick a piece of cardboard under it, and iron over it that way.

I see way too many Cadets who simply iron over the pockets with the buttons underneath them. It gives the pocket two white rings, which don't look good at all.

-PC

[Drill for life]

I totally disagree with you. I think the white rings add a sort of nice feeling to the uniform. I have never made below a 100 on a uniform inspection,ever. So I shouldn't have to change anything.

[PhoenixCadet]

Originally Posted by Drill for life

I totally disagree with you. I think the white rings add a sort of nice feeling to the uniform. I have never made below a 100 on a uniform inspection,ever. So I shouldn't have to change anything.

I don't know whether to take that as truth, or a joke.

Watch yourself, Cadet. You started this thread, and I quote "to see how far you guys go to make yourself look good in uniform". I gave an opinion regarding something I thought discredited the uniform, and don't need your attitude. If you've "never made below a 100 on a uniform inspection, ever", why did you post this? Why didn't you post a "here's a list of things you should to do achieve my greatness" thread?



Also - given that we're Cadets, and Cadets let things slip (a lot), I'll let someone who's actually in the military confirm whether or not it's sat to have white rings on your BDU's. It doesn't look sharp at all.

-PC

[PhilK]

Originally Posted by PhoenixCadet

Also - given that we're Cadets, and Cadets let things slip (a lot), I'll let someone who's actually in the military confirm whether or not it's sat to have white rings on your BDU's. It doesn't look sharp at all.

Back in the BDU days of the Army I didn't really like the button rings that I would get when I would take my uniforms to be pressed.

The thing you probably don't realize yet, is that after so many times pressing the flaps with the buttons underneath the flap the material will wear away and you have a nice button sized hole in your BDUs.

There were a few "alterations" we did to our BDUs to ensure that we didn't have to worry about the button holes....but those are things you do not discuss with outsiders.

[Billyd]

Now, I know that an Officer in the United States Army (Ok, ANG) wouldn't perform, or cause to be performed, unauthorized alterations However, the way I found to avoid "burn through" with my BDUs, was to unbutton the pocket and press the flap from the underside and then the pocket and re-button the pocket. And, yes, the white rings from the buttons make the uniform unserviceable.

[armysc_25b]

I didn't have as much of a problem with the rings on the buttons with BDU's the way I ironed my uniforms. To this day, I still have 2 sets of BDU's in my wall locker, one of which I last had pressed when I arrived here in March 2007. The appearance of the press is still there (I've worn that set of BDU's 4 or 5 times, but I take care to not throw my uniform to the ground and stuff when I take them off). Both tops have a small ring where the buttons are, but it's more so because of the starch in the uniform than ironing too much over those spots. Be it BDU's or ACU's, I have a thing for perfection on insignias... my pin on insignias were positioned exactly as prescribed by regulation on my BDU's, and my ACU's each set has the patches placed so they aren't crooked or anything funny like that. I took it a step further and have a set of patches (shoulders, rank, & name tapes) for each uniform so I don't have to fight with the velcro in those places becoming weak from constantly pulling those items off.

As far as Class A's go, once I put them together and have everything in place, I take care to not mess anything up and I leave them assembled until it's time to have them cleaned again. No cardboard or anything like that on the A's, but once the uniform is on everything is sharp, with minor deficiencies at most dependant on the viewer's eye and their perspective of the deficiencies in the jacket and how I worked around them.

[ang1sgt]

Reality...

Even as a First Sergeant, there are times you need to let the Uniform stuff slip. Gosh, it's not about looking sharp and creased when under an F-16 bleeding hydraulic lines!

What "I" cared about as a First Sergeant was that people took some pride in their Uniforms. When things were getting tattered, they were replaced. When a boot got scuffed, they made the attempt to make it black and polished again. The time and effort to be over and above the regulations is a waste of time, and those that strive for it while Sharp, does it really make them a better Soldier, or are they looking for that extra attention. You have to ask yourself that. I'll take 6 hard workers that I can count on any time over a dozen spit polished and creased worry warts.

But that is just my opinion!

A little Side note. I just got back from Arlington National Cemetery to pay my respects to friends, relatives and fellow Soldiers in Arms. I watched both the Army Honor Guard and the USAF Honor Guards in action. As their buses left the area, not a Soldier was sitting down in the seats of those buses. Everyone was standing at attention! I thought it was interesting!