U.S. Army
In 1902, when the U.S. Army adopted its last standing collar blue uniform for full dress, a modified form of civilian tail coat was also introduced for evening dress, worn with a white tie and vest. This was known as the special uniform for evening wear. At the same time, a mess uniform resembling the British pattern was authorized for less formal evening occasions. The short mess jacket was either dark blue or white, according to climate. After 1911 the blue jacket included lapels in branch color (yellow for cavalry, red for artillery, light blue for infantry, and so on). The individual officer could wear full dress or either of the evening dress alternatives for social functions. In view of the expense involved, it was usually senior officers who appeared in mess or evening dress uniforms. While the blue full dress was worn from 1902 to 1917 by all ranks for ceremonial parades within the continental United States, the two optional evening uniforms were authorized only for officers.
The various blue uniforms ceased to be worn after 1917. However, the white mess uniform for commissioned and warrant officers was authorized again in 1921. In 1928, wearing of the full range of blue dress uniforms was authorized for all ranks, but only when off duty, and at the expense of the individual. In practice, this meant that only the pre-1917 mess uniform, and to a lesser extent the special evening wear, reappeared in significant numbers.
After World War II, the evening dress and mess dress uniforms were reintroduced, with the tail coat having a single Austrian knot (trefoil) over the branch-of-service color (general officers had stars over an oak leaf braid), with the rank placed in the bottom opening of the knot. The mess jacket, intended for black-tie occasions, used an Austrian knot rank system with the branch insignia at the bottom. The number of knots indicated the officer's rank: five for colonel, four for lieutenant colonel, three for major, two for captain, one for first lieutenant, and none for second lieutenant. This complicated system was replaced with the evening coat style (which lost its "tails" in the late 1960s) in 1972, using a single knot and the rank placed above the branch-of-service color. A white mess jacket for summertime wear was introduced in the 1950s.
The special evening dress or tail coat finally disappeared in 1975, replaced by the Army blue mess uniform, which in its modern form closely resembles that of 1911.It is common for soldiers to wear suspenders in their branch color with the army dress uniform trousers, although they are concealed under the coat.
Miniature medals are suspended on ribbons one half the width of their normal counterparts, and are worn on the left lapel. Exceptions to the miniature medals are the Medal of Honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom (although the PMF also includes an optional miniature version), and authorised foreign neck-borne decorations (e.g., Knight Commander of Order of the Bath, Commander of the Order of Military Merit, et al.) Individual and unit awards that consist of ribbons only are not worn on the mess uniform. Miniature versions of combat and special skill badges are worn above the miniature medals, along with miniature versions of Ranger and Special Forces shoulder tabs, made of enamelled metal. Marksmanship and driver/mechanic badges are not worn on the mess uniform. Regimental distinctive insignia is worn on the right lapel. Identification badges worn on service uniform pockets, such as the Drill Sergeant Identification Badge, Presidential Service Badge, Recruiter Badge, Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Identification Badge, et al., are worn between the top and middle buttons on the applicable side of the mess uniform.
The lapels of enlisted mess uniforms are uniformly dark blue, rather than utilizing a branch color. Enlisted rank insignia is worn on the sleeve in the same manner as on the service uniform tunic. Below, on both sleeves, are long service stripes in place of the shorter stripes used on the service uniform. The same longer service stripes were worn on both sleeves of the blue dress uniform tunic until the blue dress uniform was reconfigured to be the Army's service uniform and replace the green service uniform.
Read more about this topic: Mess Dress, United States
Famous quotes containing the word army:
“To make an Army work you have to have every man in it fitted into a fear ladder.... The Army functions best when you’re frightened of the man above you, and contemptuous of your subordinates.”
—Norman Mailer (b. 1923)
“Twenty or thirty years ago, in the army, we had a lot of obscure adventures, and years later we tell them at parties, and suddenly we realize that those two very difficult years of our lives have become lumped together into a few episodes that have lodged in our memory in a standardized form, and are always told in a standardized way, in the same words. But in fact that lump of memories has nothing whatsoever to do with our experience of those two years in the army and what it has made of us.”
—Václav Havel (b. 1936)