I'm hoping this "prototype" will be scorned heavily enough by the rank & file that it doesn't survive without serious revisions.
Don't mind the collars, and I was pretty much thinking this colorway was likely, including the dark jacket/lighter slacks, and I have no problem with their choice.
You know, other than the jacket design
Edit: Also, Patton went this route, and they said "oh hell no" ...LOL
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Warning Essay ahead.
When Patton made that it was for Tankers. The jacket Was padded and the trousers he is wearing are cargo type. Plus we see the helmet, the original probably had a more practical one than the Washington redskins foot ball helmet he is wearing. This Green Hornet suit was supposed to be a work wear. Meant for use in the tank like modern coveralls. Or then peers Black German or Russian Tanker uniforms. However it didn’t get the green light.
Where it seems as the Space force is trying create a Star Trek lower decks version of the USAF uniforms to apply it to a modern military business suit.
Now the USAF has been something of a hot mess in terms of uniform design for decades.
these are photos of rejected USAF uniforms circa 2006.
Here we have what was called the “Billy Mitchell heritage” which is Ironic as General Mitchell reportedly hated the closed collar.
Then the “Hap Arnold heritage “ which if you are thinking looks familiar. It’s basically a re color of the US Army Pinks and Greens.
*photo source both images
New service dress prototypes pique interest
As stated both failed leaving the current modified pattern since the 1990s. I like to think part of the failure is simply that they were trying to create a fictional history as both those sets are Army uniforms. Combined with the obvious issues of the discomfort via Collar or belt.
Yet 2012 USAF “Command” uniform.
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Image source
Welsh
Again another fail part of which dates back to the one that really started the whole thing the McPeak uniform which is almost a navy uniform. It created a huge mess as McPeak’s redesign didn’t succeed in popularity and was one of the first attempts at a singular uniform to combine both Service and Dress. The McPeak came with a mandatory phase out of its direct predecessor uniforms meaning that since almost no one wanted them the USAF had to
rapidly fix the uniforms or else have nothing to wear. Creating the modern sets. However they walked into a problem that has been in the USAF since 1947.
If you look at the Navy, Army (restored) and Marines they have really separate uniforms for Service and Dress. The Navy Wears Khakis for most office work and busts out Blues or Whites when they put on a Show. The Army wore and now again wears Green for office and busts out Blues for parade the Marines same deal. The USAF never quite worked that one out.
They wear Blues for all things. When it’s formal they change shirts. They realized this soon after founding and for a time kept blue for office (had a tan summer uniform early on) but broke out
White(summer) /
Black (winter) ceremony uniforms. Until the 1980s when the black was replaced with a more blinged out set of Blues and Whites left both Air Force and Army closets. Then McPeak and ever since officially they only have one uniform well top generals and Special units have been using old pre McPeak Ceremonial blues or custom Command variants to try and look more formal. Well rank and file switch shirts. It’s the so called not quite issue. In the Traditional western dress code you have 5 classes of dress active wear, work wear, casual (Business), Semi formal and formal. Active being PT uniforms, Work being coveralls or Camouflage utilities, Business being Service, Semi formal being Tuxedo or mess dress Formal being full dress Ceremonial.
So this just seems to have added fuel to the fire.
If this was the Ceremonial/band uniform fine but as a Service uniform they went to gimmicky.
I mean the collar is off of the Costume for Paul Reiser in the movie Aliens matted to a Cavalrymens shell Jacket.
Gimmick based so called “futuristic” suits can be seen on runways by designer brands yet you never ever see them on the street or in an office. Because most of the circumstances that demand formality are very conservative. Though the cut may change, though some aspects might be altered the Western Business suit has been pretty well set for the last better part of 200 years. The military uniform it descended from and cohabitate with has changed over the last century yet since the end of the 1930s the two have more or less been matched and fixed. This sort of gimmick last such I think like the 2006 prototypes I think will as such don’t go far. Additionally color has been a long argument for US services as they fight to differentiate from each other. The US army went back to Greens as they were getting confused for police, Bus drivers or worse the USAF. USAF was unhappy with McPeak as they were getting confused with Airline crews. So keeping the same colors is going to cause issues to.
Maybe I am to old fashioned but I think both sides of the USAF and USSF should have hit the reset back to the 1950s uniform pattern.
The Uxbridge blues. Have the Ike jacket for day to day the coat for more formal.
A grey for the Space force I think could have worked. First early USAF uniforms had a grey tone to them in both the Uxbridge and Silver tans.
historically the British set the pattern for most uniforms. The British army was the first standing army in the modern age it adopted Scarlet for its uniforms early on as the dye was cheap. It adopted facings to identify units. Other European countries changed the vivid colors but kept the concept. Eventually the British Army adopted earth tones and they to were copied by armies globally perhaps different tones perhaps different cuts but it’s hard not to see an inspiration. The Royal Navy’s uniforms are globally copied detail by detail. When the RAF was founded it chose Blue tones and every Air Force since has a blue suit.
Today there is only one Space Force, but it’s not British. Yes other agencies exist with similar missions yet they are more conjoined than a separate service. The only true preexisting concept has been in Science fiction. Since the 1920s Sci-fi serials Grey has been the go to color for a Space Force. From Flash Gordon to Buck Rodgers, Starfleet TOS (Trousers charcoal),TMP, TNG, DS9, Modern films to The Galactic Imperial Navy, both BSG series, Starship Troopers (They didn’t wear just Jack boots though), Forbidden Planet, even Stargate Atlantis. Grey has been the choice.
In terms of traditional formality Charcoal grey has been considered just as appropriate as Navy and dark blue for wear. Funerals, weddings, business of court and private.
The only US service that wore grey was the USN for a short period in the 1940s when it was pushed to replace Khakis. Grey or charcoal fabric is common in some law enforcement uniforms but not as common as midnight blue so fabrics would be easily sourced. No need for a gimmick cut as an existing or historical style would and even alternative like mess dress could be worked into it.
www.military.com
The Seal and flag (Oft compared to A Startrek line art that dates to the 1990s) have been criticized.
I think that Adm Kirk has every right to have written his OPED and he hasn't broken the Temporal Prime Directive, yet, unless he's given them Star Fleet material or info from the future.
