WASHINGTON — As of June 14, Soldiers can wear the patrol cap with their ACU, and they can take the uniform to alterations to have their name tapes, service tapes and ranks sewed on.
A Soldier’s skill badges could also be sewn on — if those badges were available in clothing sales.
Sgt. Maj. of the Army Raymond F. Chandler III acknowledged ahead of the recent changes that vendors for military clothing items would not be ready immediately to supply the embroidered skill badges to Soldiers for sewing on their ACU. But during a blogger’s roundtable June 20, he said the Army/Air Force Exchange Service was working with suppliers to have those items hanging from peg hooks in clothing sales by end of the summer.
“The Army G-4 has gone to AAFES and they should have some answers here in a couple of weeks on when vendors will be able to produce (skill badges) in MILSPEC requirements and have those out into the force,” Chandler said. “So I’m expecting some type of answer in a couple of weeks on a timeline, and past practice — probably 8-10 weeks from now.”
On June 11, Army senior leadership announced change to the service’s Army Combat Uniform policy that that involved a change in the default headgear for Soldiers — a switch from the black wool beret to the patrol cap. Additionally, Soldiers were told that they could sew certain accoutrements to their ACU shirts that had previously been attached to uniforms using only Velcro. The changes went into effect for Soldiers June 14.
Read more: http://www.military.com/news/article/army-news/expect-sewon-skill-badges-in-10-weeks.html.
