Identifying Uniforms of the US Military

Most people tend to group service members together in an all-encompassing title: they're either "soldiers" or they're all in the "army or whatever". The general public is simply ignorant to the jobs, titles, and branches of the armed forces. One of the easiest ways to identify a member of the armed forces as a Soldier, Sailor, Airman, Marine or Coast Guardsman is to look at their uniforms.

The Army

The United States Army currently utilizes three different patterns of camouflage on their Army Combat Uniform (ACU), which was first introduced in February 2005 to replace the Battle Dress Uniform and Desert Combat Uniform, which had been in use since 1981 and 1992 respectively. The ACU comes in the Universal Camouflage Pattern, which is a digital pattern of tan and grey; this first pattern was supposed to blend into most terrains, but has proven wildly unpopular among soldiers and with critics outside the army because it barely blends in to any known terrain.

To mitigate the poorly researched adoption of the UCP, the Army began issuing the ACU in MultiCam, a pattern created by the company Crye Precision, in 2009. MultiCam consists of seven different "earth-tone" colors, in varying shades of green, brown and tan. The MultiCam ACUs were issued to soldiers deploying to Afghanistan starting in 2010, after a trial run with the Army Rangers and other Special Operations units.

Beginning in 2015, the Army began issuing a redesigned ACU in Operational Camouflage Pattern.  OCP is similar to MultiCam but has different color tones; the new ACU is also cut differently, with redesigned collar and sleeve pockets. The OCP-ACU will replace the UCP-ACU in the Army entirely by July 2018, and the MultiCam ACUs by mid-2019.

In terms of service dress uniforms, the Army has adopted its dress blue Army Service Uniform for formal wear, replacing the Class A Service Green Uniform beginning in 2010. The ASU was designed so that soldiers only had to purchase and maintain one type of service dress instead of two, making it cheaper and more economical. Dress blues had been in use with the army to some degree since 1937.

The ASU comes in Class A and Class B (blue coat and trousers for A, long/short sleeve white shirt and blue trousers for B). The ASU is worn in any formal setting or non-combat situation, when ACUs would otherwise be worn.

The Marine Corps

The Marine Corps has the distinction of being the first US branch and second military force overall to adopt a digital pattern camouflage uniform (the Canadian Army first developed a digital pattern uniform in 1997 and began issuing it in 2001).  The Marine Corps began development of the Marine Corps Combat Utility Uniform (MCCUU) in mid-2001, drawing inspiration from the Canadians.

Marine-Pattern Camouflage (MARPAT) was designed in desert and woodland variations; an urban pattern was cancelled and a winter pattern is only issued in cold weather outerwear for scout snipers and any personnel deployed to cold regions. MARPAT fatigues were first issued in 2002 and replaced the BDU and DCU by the end of 2004. The desert pattern consists of coyote tan, sand brown and dark brown colors; the woodland pattern utilizes the same colors as the BDU, with dark brown, dark green, black and light green. The fatigues are worn with an eight-point cover in garrison, and a floppy jungle hat in the field. The desert uniform was only issued to Marines deploying to the Middle East until 2008, when the Marine Corps made it seasonal (deserts were worn beginning in March, and changed over to woodlands in November).  Deserts were worn with sleeves rolled until October 2011, when then-Commandant General James Amos changed the rules to normalize uniform regulations across the force. Beginning in 2014, desert fatigues were allowed to roll sleeves again; in February 2017, Commandant General Robert Neller authorized desert MARPAT for Marines deploying to the Middle East only, with woodland uniforms replacing desert uniforms in all other stations and settings; these uniforms will be authorized to roll sleeves during the summer months.

Marine Corps Service Uniforms comprise of Dress Blues and Service Greens. Blues come in Blue Alphas, Bravos, Charlies and Deltas (blue coat with hanging medals and sword; blue coat with ribbons and badges; long-sleeve khaki shirt with blue trousers; and short-sleeve khaki shirt and blue trousers) while Greens come in Alphas, Bravos and Charlies (green coat with ribbons and badges, long-sleeve khaki shirt and green trousers; short-sleeve khaki shirt and green trousers).  Dress blues are usually reserved for formal events such as funerals and the Marine Corps Birthday Ball, while Service Greens are more informal, for check-ins and office work.

The Navy

Currently, the Navy has three types of service dress uniforms: Service, Full, and Dinner Dress. These uniforms are usually Service Dress Blues for commissioned officers and the crackerjack for enlisted.

The Service Dress Blues consist of a blue coat with ribbons and badges; Full Dress consists of either a white or blue uniform with hanging medals and sword; and Dinner Dress is the most formal, usually a specially-designed white or blue uniform.

For chief petty officers, warrant officers and commissioned officers, there are also Service Khaki uniforms; Service Whites are available to chiefs and officers as well, but not junior enlisted, who instead wear the Navy Service Uniform, which comprises of a khaki shirt and black trousers. Service Whites were dropped for junior enlisted in 2010, when the NSU was adopted.

Service Khakis were first issued to naval aviators in 1913, followed by submarine crews in 1931. The Service Khaki uniform was authorized for all ship-board sailors in 1941.

Chiefs and officers can wear black or brown Oxford shoes with their khakis, although in the Navy it is generally accepted that brown Oxfords are worn by aviation sailors. Chiefs and officers have the option of wearing either their three highest ribbons or all ribbons on their uniform.

The Navy Working Uniform (NWU) was first introduced in 2010 to replace the BDU and other working uniforms aboard ships. The NWU was first issued in a digital pattern of dark blue, light blue and white, but a woodland and desert pattern were created in 2012. The desert pattern NWU is only authorized for Naval Special Warfare Command units (such as SEALs) while the woodland pattern has come to be the standard issue working uniform for sailors, due to replace the blue NWUs by 2019. A blue fire-resistant smock was issued to ship crews beginning in 2014.

The Air Force

The current Air Force Service Dress Uniform, consisting of a blue sport coat and trousers with a light blue shirt and herringbone tie, was first authorized in 1994 and replaced the unpopular McPeak blues by 1999. Enlisted airmen wear cloth rank sewn onto the sleeves of their shirts or coat, while officers wear their rank insignia on the epaulets of the coat and the collar of their shirts. Mess dress is also authorized for formal occasions.

The Air Force typically wore the same fatigues as the Army, adopting solid-green fatigues in the 1960s and the BDU/DCU in the 1980s. When the Army transitioned to the ACU, the Air Force kept their BDU/DCU fatigues until 2011, when the Airman Battle Uniform was introduced. The ABU has the same colors as the UCP-ACU, with digital grey and tan colors, but the patterns form tiger stripes instead of digital squares. The ABU proved unpopular with airmen deployed in desert climates because it was too thick and not very breathable; the Air Force began to authorize MultiCam fatigues for wear in deployed environments starting in 2012.

The Coast Guard

The Coast Guard typically issues the Operational Duty Uniorm (ODU) to its ship crews.  The uniform was redesigned in 2004, eliminating the lower pockets on the blouse and tucking in the blouse to the trousers; this was done away in 2008 with a new redesign. The ODU is dark blue and is worn with a unit ball cap, black belt and black boots. The ODU is also issued to the NOAA and PHS Officer Corps.

In combat situations, the Coast Guard issued the BDU and DCU until 2012, when MultiCam and the woodland NWU replaced them.

Until 1974, Coast Guard personnel wore the same service dress as the Navy, but with Coast Guard insignia. The transition to the Coast Guard Service Dress Uniform was completed in that year. The uniforms consist of Dress Whites (white coat and shoulder boards), Tropical Blues (light blue short/long sleeve shirt and blue trousers), Service Dress Blues (dark blue coat and trousers/skirt), Winter Dress Blues (dark blue long sleeve shirt and trousers), Camouflage Utility Uniform, and Operational Duty Uniform.

Basic training in the military

Each branch of the US military has its own requirements and training, but where do prospective Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen go to train?

United States Army

US Army Basic Combat Training (BCT) is split into two phases: Basic Combat Training is 10 weeks long and consists of training recruits to be soldiers in the army; the next phase is Advanced Individual Training. AIT is where new soldiers learn their MOS, or military occupational specialty. AIT, depending on the MOS, lasts anywhere from 4 to 52 weeks.

The Army has four sites where BCT is conducted:

-Fort Benning (Columbus, Georgia): BCT, along with Infantry and Armor AIT
-Fort Jackson (Columbia, South Carolina): BCT, largest of the army's training sites
-Fort Leonard Wood (St. Robert, Missouri): BCT, along with Corps of Engineers, Chemical Corps and Military Police AIT
-Fort Sill (Lawton, Oklahoma): BCT, also Artillery AIT

Training

Soldiers are trained by drill sergeants. A drill sergeant is typically an NCO (rank E5-E7) who is on his or her second enlistment. Drill sergeants do 2-year tours in the drill field, and have an option to stay on for another tour once they are done, similar to recruiters. Drill sergeants teach soldiers drill, how to properly address superiors, military culture and history, and army regulations. Drill sergeants are with soldiers for the entirety of their training and are responsible for their safety.

Basic training in the army consists of three phases (Phase I, II, III). Phase I is when soldiers begin to learn basic drill and marching, barracks upkeep, military customs and courtesies, and unarmed combat tactics(such as Combatives, or Ground Fighting Techniques). Phase II is when soldiers begin to fire and become familiarized with weapons, such as the M-16 rifle. Unlike other branches, soldiers will also fire machine guns, grenade launchers and antiarmor weaponry during their basic training.

Throughout BCT, soldiers are subjected to physical conditioning and receive corrective action for even the slightest infraction.

US Marine Corps

US Marine Corps Recruit Training is the longest training of any branch in the US military, running for 13 weeks. Recruit training is where prospective Marines, called 'recruits' learn the basics of Marine Corps life and culture. Once they have completed recruit training, newly branded Marines attend either the School of Infantry (for infantry) or Marine Combat Training (for non-infantry). SOI is 10 weeks long, and MCT is 4 weeks. Non-infantry marines, upon completion of MCT, go on to their respective MOS schools, which range anywhere from one month to over a year. Infantry marines go to their units once they finish SOI.

The Marine Corps has three sites for basic training:

-MCRD San Diego, CA: all males west of the Mississippi River
-MCRD Parris Island, SC: all males east of the Mississippi River, and all female recruits
-MCB Quantico, VA: Officer Candidate School, for all prospective Marine officers

Training

Recruits are almost entirely trained and supervised by Drill Instructors. A Drill Instructor is typically a Marine NCO (E5-E7) on his or her second enlistment, who does a 3-year tour as a drill instructor. Once they complete their first tour, they have the option to return for another tour. Drill instructors have a reputation as being the harshest trainers in the military, and as such, Marine Recruit Training is the most difficult of any branch.

Recruit training is divided into three phases (First Phase, Second Phase, Third Phase). First Phase is where recruits learn about Marine Corps history, regulations, customs and courtesies, and drill. Recruits spend the most time with physical conditioning during this phase. Second Phase consists of swim qualification and rifle range qualification, during which recruits fire their M-16 rifles. Recruits are not exposed or familiarized with other weapons systems until they attend SOI or MCT. During Third Phase, recruits qualify for their tan belt in the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program (MCMAP), pass final inspection and drill, and conduct the Crucible, a 3-day field training event where recruits have to work as a team and utilize their training to get through obstacles. Upon completion of the Crucible, recruits are awarded the Eagle, Globe and Anchor emblem, and officially earn the title of United States Marine.

US Navy

Recruit Training in the Navy is 8 weeks long.  Sailors are indoctrinated and trained by company commanders, which are typically navy chief petty officers (E7 or above). Like the other services, sailors are taught basic drill, navy orders and regulations, customs and courtesies, and physical conditioning.

There is only one site for Recruit Training in the Navy:

-RTC Great Lakes, North Chicago, Illinois

The Navy formerly had sites in San Diego and Orlando, but they were shut down in 1999. Great Lakes is often called the "Quarterdeck of the Navy" because it has been in use since 1911, making it one of the oldest basic training sites in the US.

Training

Navy recruit training is divided into weeks (Week One through Week Seven). During this training sailors are only taught to qualify on the Mossberg 500 shotgun and the Beretta M9 pistol; the Navy discontinued M-16 qualification, which is done once a sailor joins the fleet and depending on their job. Sailors also learn swim qualification, watchstanding, customs and courtesies, and physical conditioning. Sailors also learn shipboard firefighting and damage control procedures, basic seamanship, and drill. Upon completion of recruit training, sailors are sent to apprentice schools, or "A-School" to learn their navy job, or rating.

US Air Force

Basic Military Training is conducted at Lackland AFB in Texas. Airmen are trained by Training Instructors, or TIs, who are Air Force NCOs (E5 and above). BMT is 8 weeks long and consists of drill, physical conditioning, and firearms safety (airmen don't qualify on the M-16 rifle until the middle of BMT). BMT, like US Navy RTC, is divided into weeks (Week One through Seven). Unlike other branches, BMT is when airmen sit down with job counselors to select their military job, typically during Week Two. Also unique to the Air Force, BMT teaches airmen about post-deployment life, after they attend the BEAST in Week Five (Basic Expeditionary Airman Skills Training). Upon completion of BMT, airmen are sent to tech school to learn their military jobs.


US Coast Guard

While it is not part of the Department of Defense, the Coast Guard by definition and tradition is a military branch. Its recruit training is conducted at US Coast Guard Training Center Cape May, New Jersey, and is 8 weeks long. Recruits are instructed in basic seamanship, firefighting, drill and customs and courtesies. Unlike other branches, recruits are instructed in the use and qualification of the SIG P229R pistol. Unique to the Coast Guard, the branch upholds high physical standards for enlistment, making them particularly strict on who joins the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard Academy in New Haven, Connecticut is also the only service academy that has competitive admissions, which means they only choose the most qualified men and women to become officers.  Upon completion of recruit training, also unique to the Coast Guard, new Coast Guardsmen are automatically promoted from Seaman Recruit (E1) to Seaman Apprentice (E2). They also attend A-School (depending on the job, ranging from 2-6 months and located in either Petaluma, California or Yorktown, Virginia). Coast Guard company commanders, who train Coast Guardsmen, are usually ranked E5-E8.

Weapons of the US Military

The United States Armed Forces command the largest arsenal in the world, ranging from nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and submarines to guided missile cruisers and destroyers to 60-ton main battle tanks and long range artillery howitzers, down to individual firearms for our men and women in uniform. For the sake of simplicity, we're going to stick to the firearms.

Rifles

The standard rifles in use with all branches of the military are the Colt M16 and M4 rifles, based on a design first adopted in 1961 from Eugene Stoner's AR-15 design.  The weapon fires a 5.56x45mm NATO round from a 30-round magazine; the weapons can also have a 40mm grenade launcher or bayonet attached to them; since the early 2000s, the new M16A4 and M4A1 rifles have integrated rail systems on their stocks that allow for the attachment of laser sights, scopes, forward grips, and tactical lights. While the US was the first nation to adopt the M16, over 15 other nations use the weapon today. Canada has license-produced the rifle since 1988, and the Canadian variant is in use with the Netherlands and Denmark.

The military also utilizes several other rifles for snipers and designated marksmen. The Springfield M14, initially adopted in 1957 as the standard service rifle, was relegated to secondary duties after the Vietnam War. During the 1980s, the M21 variant was created with the attachment of a scope for a designated marksman to use; the M25, which had a Kevlar stock, was adopted in the early 2000s. The M21 and M25 both saw use in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. More modern variants, the Mk14 and the M39 Enhanced Battle Rifle, were adopted by the US Army and Marine Corps respectively.

The Remington 700 bolt-action rifle, which fires a 7.62x51mm round like the M14, was first designed in 1966 and adopted at the same time by the Marine Corps as the M40A1 sniper rifle, fitted with a Unertl 10x magnification scope. The M40A1 was replaced by the M40A3 in 2001, and the M40A5 in 2008. The Army, which was slow to start its own sniper program, did not adopt the Remington 700 as the M24 until 1987. The US Air Force also utilizes the M24 Sniper Weapon System. The Army and Marine Corps began the process to replace the M40/24 rifles in 2012.

The Barrett M82A1 was first adopted in the late 1980s as the first .50-caliber sniper rifle, able to hit targets a mile away. The M107, a more modern version, was adopted in the early 2000s. The Barrett has been adopted by dozens of other nations because it is one of the few weapons available that can hit a target over a mile away. Due to its weight and size, the weapon is only used by snipers for certain missions.

Machine guns

The military uses three machine gun designs: the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon, the M240, and the M2. The SAW fires the same ammunition as the M16, with a firing rate of 800 rounds per minute. The M249 was adopted in 1982 by the army, but didn't see widespread use with the military until 1989. The M240 is a 7.62mm medium machine gun first adopted in 1977 as a turret weapon for the army's tanks. It replaced the M60 as the military's infantry machine gun later in the 1990s, and currently serves in three variants: the B, G, and L. The B is the Marine Corps version, the G is the Army's, and the L is a titanium alloy weapon that is lighter than the other variants and began to see service with the Army in select units in 2015.

The M2 is a .50-caliber heavy machine gun, which was first designed at the end of World War One. An experimental variant was created in 1922 but was not very successful; the M2 was designed and issued in 1933, and has been in the US military arsenal since then, the longest serving firearm in US military history. The machine gun has seen action in every US conflict since World War Two, and has been adopted for service by over a hundred other nations. A new variant with a quick-change barrel was adopted in the mid-1980s; other than that, the design has remained the same.  Due to its size and weight, it is usually mounted on vehicles or aircraft; in a ground unit, it takes three men to operate it.

Pistols

The Beretta 92FS, a 9mm pistol designed and manufactured in Italy starting in 1976, beat Glock and SIG-Sauer in a 1981 competition to select a replacement for the Colt 1911, a .45-caliber pistol that had been in service with the US since World War One. The pistol was adopted in 1985 as the M9; it had a troubled early service after Navy SEALs suffered injuries from the weapons' slides exploding after only a few hundred rounds. The weapons, initially made in Italy, contained the soft metal tellurium which has a low melting point. Manufacturing of the M9 moved to the US and tellurium was removed from the process. A new variant, the M9A1, was adopted in 2012 with a rail under the barrel for the attachment of a tactical light; in 2017, the US Army held a replacement competition and selected the SIG-Sauer P320 to replace the M9, starting in 2019.

The Colt M1911A1, first entered into service in World War One, was officially replaced by the M9 in 1985, but remained in use with Special Operations and some Marine units to certain extents. In 2012, the Marine Corps adopted a new model built by Springfield, which was used by Force Reconnaissance and military police units.

Starting in 2014, the Glock 19, a 9mm pistol design from Austria, began to replace the M9 and other handguns in use with Army Rangers and Green Berets; MARSOC followed in 2015 and Navy SEALs in 2016.

Some military police units in the Army and Air Force carry the M11, a version of the SIG P228.  The US Coast Guard's standard sidearm is the .357 SIG P229, just like the Secret Service.

Other weapons

Most other weapons in use with the military are with Special Operations units, who utilize submachine guns like the German-made MP-5 and MP-7. These units often have a lot of leeway in what kind of weapons they carry, and sometimes even use the same weapons as their enemies.

Shotguns have been in use with the military since World War One; these days they are usually in use with security troops, or ground units who need them to breach doors or other obstacles. Today, the Mossberg 590, Remington 870, and Italian-made Benelli M1014 are in use with various units across all the branches.

A Historical Operator Feature: Carlos Hathcock

The United States Marine Corps' history is rife with legendary heroics and superhuman feats in combat, which means the branch has a lot of heroes. From the first day of boot camp, you are taught about the escapades of Dan Daly, who led a charge against the Germans in World War I after refusing orders from the French to withdraw, or of Chesty Puller, a veteran of the Banana Wars, World War Two, and Korea who was awarded five Navy Crosses over his 40-year career, or more recently of Kyle Carpenter, who at the age of twenty jumped on a grenade and saved his best friend's life during a mission in Afghanistan in 2010. 

One of the most hallowed heroes in the annals of Marine Corps history is Carlos Norman Hathcock II (May 20, 1942 - February 22, 1999).

Hathcock was born and raised in rural Arkansas, and lived with his grandmother through most of his childhood after his parents divorced.  He was introduced to shooting at a young age, and became quite adept at shooting his .22-caliber rifle mostly out of necessity, since hunting was his primary way of bringing good to the table of his poor family.  Like most boys of the time, he spent his free time taking his dad's WWI-era Mauser rifle into the woods, where he played soldier and hunted imaginary Japanese troops.

Hathcock held a lifelong goal of becoming a US Marine, so on the day of his 17th birthday, he enlisted in the Marine Corps.  From his entry in 1959, Hathcock became a military policeman and became involved in Marine Corps shooting events, including winning the Wimbledon Cup in 1965 and several other events aboard Camp Perry before that.

Hathcock deployed to Vietnam for the first time in 1966, where he was noticed by Captain Edward James Land.  Captain Land is well-known within the Marine Corps for initiating the Scout Sniper program, because he advocated having a sniper in every Marine platoon.  Land noted that Hathcock was an expert shot with a rifle, and recruited him as one of his many snipers, whom Land trained and groomed for long missions.

As a scout sniper, Hathcock favored the Winchester Model 70, an early bolt action rifle that would pave the way for the Remington 700, which was adopted by the Marine Corps as the M40A1 sniper rifle later in the Vietnam War, and eventually by the Army as the M24 in 1987. Hathcock also tested a Browning M2 .50-caliber machine gun that was fitted with a scope, as the first anti-materiel rifle, where he killed a Vietnamese soldier at a range of 1.40 miles in 1967. This distance held the world record for longest range sniper kill in history until 2002.

During his time in Vietnam, the North Vietnamese called Hathcock the "White Feather Sniper" because he wore a white feather in the band of his jungle hat during missions.  The North put a $30,000 bounty on Hathcock, the highest ever on any American sniper in the war; every known Vietnamese marksman that went after Hathcock was subsequently killed by him.  Other Marine snipers also put white feathers in their hats to confuse the enemy because they knew if Hathcock was killed it would effect their morale, so they purposefully made themselves targets for enemy snipers.

Hathcock would attain 93 confirmed kills during the Vietnam War, although unofficial records indicate he may have killed upwards of 300-400 enemy. Hathcock holds the distinction of having the second highest kill count of any Marine sniper, and fourth highest kill count of any American sniper.

Missions

-During a patrol in 1967, Hathcock was fired upon by a Viet Cong sniper who was downhill from Hathcock and his spotter.  Hathcock reflexively fired back, and eventually located the sniper's body. The Vietnamese sniper had been armed with a Russian-made Mosin-Nagant rifle fitted with a PU-1 scope; Hathcock had unwittingly shot the enemy sniper through his scope, killing him.  It is the only time this is known to have happened in warfare, and it was copied during a scene in the 1998 film "Saving Private Ryan."

-Hathcock was tasked with killing a North Vietnamese general, so he crawled more than 2,000 feet armed only with his rifle and five shots, and camouflaged with his ghilly suit, which took him three days because he crawled inches at a time.  Once in position, Hathcock fired and killed the NVA general with a shot to the heart; Hathcock took his time crawling back from his firing position, often coming within inches of being stepped on by Vietnamese soldiers who were looking for him.

Post-Vietnam

After the war, Hathcock remained in the Marine Corps, where he became involved in the Marine Corps Scout Sniper Program.  Hathcock was one of the first official instructors in the program, and he used his experiences in Vietnam to teach prospective Marine snipers tradecraft and other skills.  Hathcock left the Marine Corps in 1979 after twenty years of service.

Later in his life, Hathcock was diagnosed with MS (multiple sclerosis) and he became confined to a wheelchair in the last decade of his life.  In 1996, he was awarded a Silver Star for pulling several fellow Marines from a burning vehicle after it rolled over a landmine in 1969.  Other than the Silver Star, Hathcock was also awarded a Purple Heart and a Navy/Marine Corps Commendation Medal during his service.

Hathcock died in 1999 from MS complications.  His son, Carlos Hathcock III, served in the Marine Corps and retired as a gunnery sergeant just like his father; his grandson joined the Marine Corps in 2010.