Guns out: Why the Army moved to allow rolled sleeves for soldiers
The practice was banned for years. Then there was a pilot program. The results were studied closely. And on Tuesday, the Army made its big decision: Rolled sleeves on camouflage uniforms are now completely acceptable.
The move gives a stiff-arm to recent history, in which the Army was the only Pentagon service that did not allow rolled sleeves, even in the hot summer months at places such as Fort Hood, Tex., and Fort Benning, Ga.
A memo signed by Lt. Gen. James C. McConville, an Army chief of staff, said that effective immediately, commanders may authorize soldiers to roll up their sleeves on camouflage uniforms. When doing so, the camouflage will remain exposed on the roll, something that had become known as “camo out” in the ongoing debate.
Army Sgt. Major Daniel A. Dailey, the service’s top enlisted soldier, said in an interview Tuesday that if the service can change something that doesn’t “break good order and discipline” and soldiers want, it makes sense to do it.
“”We’re the only service that doesn’t do it, and we used to,” Dailey said. “So it’s not one of those things that if we do, we can’t survive. Because we’ve done it before and we know it’s not going to hurt anybody.”
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That perspective is new. Dailey said in an Army Times article published in February that there was no need to allow rolled sleeves, saying doing so was “not consistent with a neat appearance.” His predecessor, then-Sgt. Maj. Raymond F. Chandler, also said several times that he was against it.
Gen. Mark Milley, the Army chief of staff, announced on June 16 a 10-day pilot program at Fort Hood and seemed open then to making the change permanent. Soldiers wore rolled sleeves with a previous camouflage uniform, the Battle Dress Uniform (BDU), until it was phased out in 2005, and there are numerous photographs from World War II and Vietnam that show soldiers with their sleeves rolled.
The decision comes less than a year after Milley took over as Army chief and Dailey took over as his top enlisted adviser. Although it has no effect on operations, it’s the kind of cultural change that can endear senior leaders to their troops.
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But the decision will not be popular with all soldiers. Some have observed that the Army’s sleeves, which include patches and pockets with Velcro, could be difficult to roll and uncomfortable to wear.
Dailey said he kept his own opinions to himself during polling because he did not want to influence the results. But like the majority of the Army, he said, he favored rolling with camouflage out.
“I’m rooting for my camo out folks,” he said.
The issue has caused friction in the Marine Corps previously. In 2011, Commandant Gen. James F. Amos banned the rolling of sleeves, causing an outcry among many rank-and-file Marines who considered it a time-honored tradition. He reversed course in 2014, saying he realized how important it was to his troops.
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