mojaveman
05-04-2009, 00:19
When we joined the Military we all swore to defend our country, to obey our officers, and to follow all rules and regulations, well, most of them...
When one spends a great deal of time with ones comrades on operations and in the field it becomes inevitable that they eventually become intimately aquainted with the peculiarities of their cohorts. The NCOIC of a 5th SFG communications section that I was in was a devout Mormon who insisted on wearing the special undergarment that is required by his religion. It looked like a long silk nightshirt and it just didn't look right when he was wearing it under his BDUs but considering that I was a young Specialist and he was a Master Sergeant I never quite got up the courage to ask him about it. We had another man in the section who always struck me as a non-conformist and he liked wearing bikini style underwear in many different colors. We had yet another guy who refused to wear any underclothing at all. I guess I was the exception to that ecletic group of men because I chose to wear regulation brown boxers.
When I joined the Army way back in 1980 I was issued plain white underclothing and thought it was kind that I even had my choice of the two basic styles. After basic training I went to Germany where regulations were a little more lax than stateside and had the option of wearing white or green underwear. When BDUs came out a few years later some General at the top of the dung heap decided that everyone was going to wear brown underclothing. Brown wasn't too bad a choice though because when your shorts were heavily soiled and you didn't have access to a washing machine at least they didn't look too bad.
I've often wondered what some of the other forces wore under their uniforms. The ancient Celts didn't worry about wearing drawers because during the warmer months in Europe they went to battle against the Romans wearing only their tatoos. The 7th Cavalry rode into eternity at the Little Big Horn wearing those funny old red one piece long johns that had the little trap door on the seat. The officers who could afford them wore the two piece ones with glass buttons and had their names embroidered on them. I think the Viet Cong didn't worry about underwear too much because they mostly wore black pajamas. Ever wonder what the Taliban wear for skivies? I envision some crude type of boxers or long johns woven from a coarse type of wool or linen. Anyone who's been following the Iraq war closely knows what type of shorts Sadam Hussein wore. Kim Jong-il and Ahmadinejad? I'll stop here.
When one spends a great deal of time with ones comrades on operations and in the field it becomes inevitable that they eventually become intimately aquainted with the peculiarities of their cohorts. The NCOIC of a 5th SFG communications section that I was in was a devout Mormon who insisted on wearing the special undergarment that is required by his religion. It looked like a long silk nightshirt and it just didn't look right when he was wearing it under his BDUs but considering that I was a young Specialist and he was a Master Sergeant I never quite got up the courage to ask him about it. We had another man in the section who always struck me as a non-conformist and he liked wearing bikini style underwear in many different colors. We had yet another guy who refused to wear any underclothing at all. I guess I was the exception to that ecletic group of men because I chose to wear regulation brown boxers.
When I joined the Army way back in 1980 I was issued plain white underclothing and thought it was kind that I even had my choice of the two basic styles. After basic training I went to Germany where regulations were a little more lax than stateside and had the option of wearing white or green underwear. When BDUs came out a few years later some General at the top of the dung heap decided that everyone was going to wear brown underclothing. Brown wasn't too bad a choice though because when your shorts were heavily soiled and you didn't have access to a washing machine at least they didn't look too bad.
I've often wondered what some of the other forces wore under their uniforms. The ancient Celts didn't worry about wearing drawers because during the warmer months in Europe they went to battle against the Romans wearing only their tatoos. The 7th Cavalry rode into eternity at the Little Big Horn wearing those funny old red one piece long johns that had the little trap door on the seat. The officers who could afford them wore the two piece ones with glass buttons and had their names embroidered on them. I think the Viet Cong didn't worry about underwear too much because they mostly wore black pajamas. Ever wonder what the Taliban wear for skivies? I envision some crude type of boxers or long johns woven from a coarse type of wool or linen. Anyone who's been following the Iraq war closely knows what type of shorts Sadam Hussein wore. Kim Jong-il and Ahmadinejad? I'll stop here.