I just kinda take for granted the fact that I know how to wear my ABUs. We get tons of memos about gortex, fleece, watch caps etc so I've never had to refer to the AFI. But today we started our bag drag drills and there was some issue taken over the color socks we should wear. I have searched high and low through just about every AFI supplement on epubs and can find NOTHING about ABUs. Crazy, yes or no?
My socks are not the issued dark green (those are just terrible). Instead I have some brownish-green Smartwool socks that are great and they match my ABUs perfectly. No one has checked my bag yet and I'm not overly concerned, but I'd like to bust out some regs if a certain NCOIC tries to be a smart mouth.
Come on carolinapooh, I know you can come through for me. LOL!
With prior service in the Army, I was Soldier of the Year at my base. I used to reel off military trivia without a thought. Most of that is gone, or changed. i wore BDU's and all this stuff is brand new again.
Question: old military awards. wear them or not? (mine being Army).
You'll have to pull the AF reg on ribbons and decs for the answer to that; it's in the 36 series (as in the same one 36-2903 is in - all the 36 regs are personnel related). There are some you can wear, and some you can't.
Most of the ribbons you can wear (other than specific things like shooting ribbons or Army unit awards, I think). Other things such as badges are only authorized when in permanent assignment to a unit of that service (you could wear an Army medic badge if you were assigned permanently to an Army unit and you had previously been awarded. You would still wear any AF badges higher, like your Nurse Corps badge).
If you let me know what awards, I'll look 'em up for you.
I have the Under Armour socks, too. They are awesome. I've been walking around all weekend in them and they're very comfortable. It's been strange to be in uniform again after 13 years of NOT being in uniform.
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thanks rghbsn! I have an army commendation medal, 3 army achievement medals, good conduct, overseas ribbon, and army service ribbon. It's all on my DD214. It's not so much to need to wear them, just wondered if I could. Seems strange to put on captain bars and have no jewelry to go with it. lol.
Yes, you can wear all of them. While at COT you will wear them as follows:
Army Com, Army Achievement (with device as Army prescribes), Army Good Cookie, National Defense Service (if awarded for a different conflict, then with bronze star), Army Service
Upon graduation, you will place the AF training ribbon between the National Defense Service and the Army Service. If you earn AF Com, AF Achievement, AF Good Cookie, they will go to the high side of the same awards from the Army.
I have looked all over the Ribbon reg and can't find anything regarding Air Force guard ribbons. Are we authorized to wear ribbons earned in the guard that are specific for the guard (Ex. Adjutant General Award)?
Just FYI, none of my leadership can find anything regarding the wear of ABUs (except of course for the random memos we get from time to time). NICE! Let's just make it up as we go along. Better yet, lets enforce standards that no one is aware of. Okay, I'm just bitter over this bag drag.
ut student: your answer is right here: afi 36-2903, 4.3
4.3. non-air force service awards. air national guard (ang) members wear state decorations when
serving in state status but not while on federal active duty. wear other military service department awards
not included in figure 4.1. in the order the awarding service prescribes. exception: air force
awards take precedence over equal awards. wear awards for wars, campaigns, and expeditions in the
order earned. the army valorous unit and meritorious unit commendation awards are larger than air
force ribbons. when members wear these awards with their air force ribbons, they must purchase ribbons
that are the same size as their air force ribbons.
little greek...the memos are used to differentiate between bdu's and abu's. so, essentially, you wear the abu's as bdu's with differences noted in the memos. what questions do you have about the abu's you're not getting answered?
Little Greek...the memos are used to differentiate between BDU's and ABU's. So, essentially, you wear the ABU's as BDU's with differences noted in the memos. What questions do you have about the ABU's you're not getting answered?
Lots of little questions being asked. The problem is that no one in my chain has saved the memos going back to the beginning of the institute of ABUs. So, now we are having a bag drag and people are asking about tee shirts with insignia/print, sock color, etc and no one has a paper trail to prove any of the "regulations". Not a huge deal, but no one likes being told "it's supposed to be like this" but nothing is concrete to back it up. This might seem to some that the issue is so small that I'm blowing things out of proportion, however we just had an issue with the proper wear of scrubs in which the NCOIC just made up some rules without speaking to the commander. When it was found out that these "new" rules were not based on truth, people are now questioning statements made about the wear of ABUs.
It's just confusing because the new AFI even has an attachment about the wear of the IPTU, but there is nothing about ABUs. One would think that the AFI would be updated but that's waaaaay above my pay grade now isn't it?
Call the AFPC Call Center and they can tell you where the instructions are and probably send you copies or links. They're actually very helpful down there (and friendly!).
My theory on the lack of a formal AFI is that the uniform design is not a permanent one. The ABU has been around since (I think) 2006, it's now 2010 and there's no reg? I'm raising the brown flag, folks...
My theory on the lack of a formal AFI is that the uniform design is not a permanent one...
I see your point, but I don't know how they can have an end date for BDU's and no permanent design...I think ABU's will be around for awhile (like 'em or not) and that someone's trying to save a nickle and not redo printed AFI's, lol.
Memos would be nice to have...somewhere other than about.com or wherever.
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carolinapooh, BSN, RN
3,577 Posts
You'll have to pull the AF reg on ribbons and decs for the answer to that; it's in the 36 series (as in the same one 36-2903 is in - all the 36 regs are personnel related). There are some you can wear, and some you can't.