The first time I ever entered a military clothing sales building I immediately had a sudden desire to join the military just so I could wear some of those awesome new combat boots. But, those days are long gone. Now every time I enter clothing sales I expect trouble. I expect the items he needs to be missing. I expect to see every size but his. Of course my expectations never let me down. But, I suppose you'll have that anywyere. We ended up finding only about half of what he needed, the rest is on order.

My husband tried on his new blue pants and shirt and picked up all the ribbons and decorations and all that other stuff that I never even thought about him needing to make his Air Force service dress uniform complete. I walked through the racks of clothing as he was in the dressing room. I fingered the pants and jackets, skirts and shirts of the various uniforms. They look really spiffy from far away, but up close? Um, ew.

Ok, seriously. Polyester? My grandma doesn't even wear that stuff anymore. Then I looked at the cuffs of the jackets (which they only had in women's sizes, of course) and was appalled at the sight of the strings hanging from the sleeves. My mother would have a fit if she ever walked in there. She would say something (loud enough so everyone could hear) about cheap manufacturing and storm out, after pulling each of us by the arm saying, "Let's go find a store with clothes that are <em>well-made</em>."

I understand that there are budgets and restrictions to development of new uniforms, but these men and women are buying their own uniforms, so isn't that enough of a profit? Shouldn't they then have the resources that they need to make better ones? Military members are supposed to be proud of their uniforms. How can they be proud of marching around in 1970's style polyester?

The ABUs are wonderful. I have no complaints about the regular work clothes. They're well-made and sturdy. I just couldn't believe the outdated, poorly manufactured selection of the service dress uniforms. Even the shirts were awful. They felt scratchy. Why can't the clothing items be made of something nicer than polyester? A cotton blend or something. The uniform looks nice when it's all put together - from far away. But up close? Again, ew.

I didn't look at the uniforms of the other branches, so my opinion here is limited to strictly Air Force. But I wonder who is in charge of making these uniforms and what is the basis on which they choose the fabrics.

The other gripe I have with clothing sales is that they never have everything you need in stock. Every time we go there he has to put his name on some sort of a list and wait weeks or months until the item comes in. Do you know how long he had to wait for a winter coat? He put in that he needed one in November. He got it in February. When the coats finally came in, they disappeared off the racks so fast because so many other people were waiting, too. That made me mad. These people are out there doing fod walks on the flight line, picking up debris in their regular uniforms. They aren't particularly warm.

The fact that military members only get a small amount each year for clothing is also something that bugs me. Right now my husband gets $200 a year for clothing. We spent $136 on just the stuff he got the other day. That didn't even include the jacket and the shoes (which they didn't have in stock). Plus, he had to pay the tailors in the shop to sew on his patches and hem his pants. Shouldn't that part at least be free?

This was just one uniform we purchased. Luckily he's in Maintenance so he never has to wear his blues, but he still needed it just in case. The ABU set cost quite a lot as well. That alone exceeded the $200. And he only has one every day uniform. That's all we can afford right now.

What about all those families in the military with children? How can they afford all this stuff?

It makes me wonder why they can't just issue at least one ABU to the soldiers. Just one each. If they want more, they can buy more. And maybe throw in a service dress uniform. Still make them buy their stripes and ribbons and all that, but even that little bit would help out tremendously.

As for the blues, it's slightly ridiculous how much you have to pay for poorly made, crappy looking uniforms.

 Soemthing else that was brought to my attention is the resemblance between the new Air Force service dress uniform and the old Nazi uniforms. Can't they come up with something a bit more original and less sinister?