The late Gen. James Gavin wrote in his just-released autobiography, "Paratrooper", that he knew his men were ready for combat when, after a week of field exercises without sleep, they were in class "A" uniforms catching a bus into town in less than 15 minutes.

What ever happened to wearing your dress uniform off-post? Are Soldiers not on active duty full-time as a profession? Why not say so in public?

Soldiers should be allowed and encouraged to wear their class "A" or "B" uniforms with ribbons off-post to restaurants, malls, shopping centers, etc....The uniform should not be worn to disreputable bars or similar establishments, but to places where fights are not likely to develop. The post commander/MP's could come up with a list of acceptable night spots. Wearing class "A" or "B" uniforms would improve the public's opinion of the military since Soldiers would command more respect than just with a short haircut and civilian clothes.

Of course class "A" uniforms are worn on payday activities each month, but a Soldier should be able to go do dinner with a date any time--not just on special occasions.

It should be remembered that anyone in the military can be ordered in harm's way at any time to defend freedom. That's heroic in and of itself and the wearing of the dress uniform only reinforces that fact.

Phil West of England writes:

"I think the reason that servicemen won't wear Class As is that they are too formal for modern wear.

Modern Soldiers spend most of their time in tee-shirts or open necked shirts. U.S. Army class "A" uniform tunics are designed to be worn with a shirt and tie. British Army No.2 dress has the same type of collar, but looks odd unless worn with a belt, making it look even more formal.

What is needed is a tunic with a collar that can be worn buttoned up, open or with a shirt and tie for formal wear. The British battledress (No.5) blouse had a collar of this type, and a better tailored version of this design should be incorporated into service dress. The battledress blouse itself was not that smart, though the American copy, known as the "Ike jacket", was. A modern version of such a jacket might prove very popular with service men. I was watching Where Eagles Dare; last night, and the wardrobe department on this movie seem to have known their stuff. What was impressive was how versatile the Wehrmacht fieldblouse was. This jacket was usually worn fully buttoned, but this was a generation used to starched collars.

Worn without a belt it seems to have been used as barracks wear, off duty dress and informal mess dress. Many Soldiers would have a privately tailored tunic that would be used as Walking out dress-ie, for visiting family or going out on the town.

Wearing the tunic with a belt I think indicated that the Soldier was on duty. Officers might wear a pistol while non-officers might wear a bayonet, often decorated with a bayonet knot. The tunic would also be worn with webbing -either as field wear or for sentry duty.

The Point? - a properly designed service dress could be made that Soldiers would feel comfortable wearing and could fill a broad range of roles, making it more economic. It can serve as service dress, parade dress, walking out dress, mess wear, guard wear, barracks wear etc.

Colour should be something like green or khaki, so wearers are not too easy a target for a terrorist sniper. The brown-green used by U.S. troops in WW2 would also be good. Espirt de Corps can be improved by the addition of distinctive headgear, emblems, stable belts etc.

A greatcoat with a waxed cotton exterior would complete the outfit for parades and sentry duty in foul weather."