Shoot me first

I think for next Monday I may put out a short open letter to the CNO about uniforms, but let me just put out a short note now about same. Especially now that we have many Sailors of all stripes going ashore in harm's way (ain't Joint lovely?) embedded with Army and Air Force types left, right, and sideways - I have a force protection issue.

While we in the Navy have spent the balance of the war creating Navy specific camo uniforms that no only are specifically for shipboard use and MA ashore only - the rest of the Navy is still stuck with the old BDU and DCU. For those unlucky enough to be the Navy guy in a cluster of Army and Air Force guys (smartly, from a sniper's perspective, it is hard to tell a USA vs. USAF digi-cam as tiger-stripe or not, they use the same rough color scheme) - we stick out like a wart on a forehead. Nice patch of tan in a sea of gray.

Yes, I had a sniper (designated marksman type I think) come over to me at a break and tease, "Colonel (not all SSG are Joint I guess), we need to get you a set of ACUs; you have 'shoot-me first' written all over your tall self."

Harumph - the other token Navy had the Army ACUs on. I guess his SKC likes him. Wait; I think he was an SKC....

Yep, I think it is time for a Monday open letter to the CNO.