By Evangeline Lacroix
Out with the green, in with the blue.
This school year, all JROTC programs will be making the upgrade from the old, olive green uniforms to new navy blue uniforms.
“They are what the Army considers the Dress Blues, which is the more fancier uniform,” said Yasmine Gali Div. 567. “Lane was one of the first JROTC schools that were able to get them.”
The uniforms are new top to bottom. The shirt is gray, and is pleated, and more fitted. The jacket is blue and is also cut differently. It has a more tailored fit, with a gold trim. The pants are now blue. A gray beret replaces the old olive cap.
This is radically different from the green uniform that dates back to the 1970s. The green one was more boxy, and unflattering.
The green uniforms were also unnecessary to the Army.
“The green uniform have become the dress up uniform because everyone wears the camouflage stuff every day, even in the pentagon,” Colonel Kochheiser said. “The Army had to maintain two uniforms that were never worn.”
The Army decided since they had to update the green uniform to just consolidate the green and the blue into one uniform. The Army has since stopped making the green uniforms. To distinguish the blue uniform during more formal events, students will be asked to wear a bowtie. Students wear this outfit to events such as the yearly Military Ball.
But this change will be at no cost of the students. The Army pays for all the uniforms issued to each JROTC program.
“Student are issued the uniform and the only time they have to pay for it is if they lose it,” Torres said.
At the end of the year, the coat, pants and gray button up are returned. If they are not, a debt of a couple of hundred dollars are issued to the student. All students are also issued shoes, a pair of socks, an undershirt, and a hat. Students get to keep these items.
Because Lane has one of the biggest JROTC programs in the city, only juniors and seniors will be receiving the new uniforms until all orders can be filled by the manufacturer. Until then, freshmen and sophomores will be issued the old olive green uniforms that upperclassmen had until the rest of the orders can be placed. There is no official date for the rest of the uniforms to be supplied, but Kochheiser and First Sergeant Torres hope the order will be filled by the end of the school year.
“There are 47 JROTC programs [in the United States], with over 9000 cadets. [This] is a lot of uniforms to make,” Torres said.
Overall, students in the JROTC program are looking forward to the new uniforms.
“It is a new chapter, we are getting new uniforms, [and] we are in a new place, the basement,” Gali said.
