On July 10, in a nod to the WWII-era ‘pinks and greens’ Army uniform, soldiers training to become recruiters at Fort Knox, Ky. were among the first to receive the retro-style uniform reboot.
“There was a poster at West Point, and it was this uniform, and it was MacArthur, Patton, Bradley, Eisenhower ― [in] this uniform,” Gen. Robert Brown, the commander of U.S. Army Pacific, told Army Times in 2018. [The poster] said, ‘much of the history we teach was made by those we taught.’ So now, how ironic, 42 years ago, I have a uniform similar.”
First reported by Stars and Stripes’ Christian Lopez, the pinkish-brown trousers and dark olive jackets, like those worn by the Greatest Generation, will be issued to all soldiers graduating from basic training starting sometime this fall. Drill sergeants are expected to be among the second group who will receive the uniforms.
The uniform will be “cost-neutral” to enlisted soldiers and comes at no added cost to taxpayers.
Since the Army’s announcement in 2018, the uniform change has widely been embraced. An Army Times poll found that 72 percent were receptive to the shift to the iconic uniform. The name ‘pinks and greens’, however, is in dispute.
“We’re calling them Army Greens,” Sergeant Major of the Army Daniel Dailey, the top enlisted soldier, told Stars and Stripes in 2018. “Pinks and greens is a World War II nickname.”
Whether it be ‘pinks and greens’ or the ‘Army Green Service Uniform’, the overhaul of uniforms in recent years, from the Navy on down, is trending toward the nostalgic, or at the very least, functional. RIP blueberries.
And the excitement surrounding the return to the retro-styled garb is continuing to grow.
“I look forward to the change to the Pinks and Greens,” Army Reserves Staff Sgt. Joseph Williams told Stars and Stripes. “The history of the uniform is a source of great personal pride.”
