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Commandant approves uniform changes

Female Marines earned a half-inch on their heels, male officers must continue wearing the French-cuffed, white soft-bosom shirt with their dress blues jacket and all Marines have to slide a pair of physical training shorts on over their spandex running shorts.

Those are among the latest changes to the Corps’ uniforms, according to a recently released Corps-wide message, MarAdmin 361/08.

Commandant Gen. James Conway, who has been quick to make uniform changes during his time as the Corps’ top officer, approved three, disapproved four and tabled a single recommendation from the most recent board. The moves come on the heels of other recent changes, such as the addition of a new Marine Corps running suit.

One change affects 29 senior enlisted sailors serving with the Corps, who are now eligible to wear their command senior enlisted leader identification badge on the right pocket of their utility uniform, according to Mary Boyt, program manager for the Marine Corps uniform board.

Also, prior to the announcement, women were limited to a 2.5-inch heel on a pair of pumps. The change was made because Marine exchange stores did not carry pumps with a 2.5-inch heel, as 3-inches is the more accepted standard, Boyt said.

Male officers have always been required to wear the long-sleeved, white soft-bosom shirt with their dress blues jacket, but some have been spotted not wearing it recently. The uniform board shot down a move to make the shirt optional.

The uniform board approved wearing spandex-style running shorts under an official pair of PT shorts to prevent chaffing and for modesty, Boyt said. The “compression” shorts — popular with civilian athletes — must be the same olive green as the PT shorts and must be roughly the same length.

“It will be hard to find an exact match lengthwise, but it has to be close to the length of the shorts,” Boyt said.

The board disapproved a measure to include reflective striping on general purpose trunks, sweats and the PT shirt. Boyt said some commanders expressed concerns about reflective gear in a combat zone.

The board also moved to disallow Marines to wear a command identification badge on their uniforms.

Boyt said the board put on hold a motion to increase the number of uniforms issued to each Marine. She said a lack of funding prevented the uniform board from issuing each Marine a third set of desert and woodland camouflage uniforms.

“We need to see where we can get the money from,” she said.

For now, Marines will have to cover the cost of additional uniforms on top of the two woodland and desert uniforms they are issued by the Corps.