Do you still have your uniform?

fuzzybuddy

fuzzybuddy

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The Sticks, Northeast PA.
My last duty station was GTMO, Cuba. At that time (1970) GTMO was pretty isolated-no TV, no phones back to the US, little news. No contact with home, but through letters. And living on a Navy base, it was hard to get away from the Navy. So, I tossed my uniform as soon as I got out. Now, I wish I kept it.
Do you still have your uniform?
 
During my time in service, they transitioned from OD greens to the BDUs, so I had a set of each. When I got out, I got picked clean by my family. LOL. I did keep one of my coats for a while. I don't know what happened to it.

As far as my dress greens, last I saw, they were hanging in a locker in the barracks at Ft. Carson Colorado. I wore civvies home.
 
My Navy uniforms fell victim to time and frequent moves. I still have an officers set from the Coast Guard sealed up from its last dry cleaning many years ago.
 
My son has my dress blues, white hat AND blue flat hat. The flat hats were banned in the First Naval (and Coast Guard) District in 1954, I believe. I served between 1953 and '57.

He also has my dad's WW1 uniform, He and his brother served in France during that conflict.
 
No. My dress blues & dress whites I gave to my best friend. We both had E-5 & one hash mark, same mechanic designation & wore the same size. He had 2 kids & couldn't afford to buy extra sets for inspection & general wear. My work uniforms wore out. My peacoat went to good will. Only thing left from my time in the Navy is a lot of good memories.
 
I knew when I got out that I would not stay within grooming standards ... hair and beard.
And I also knew I'd never be a civilian in uniform and out of standards.
I'd never wear the uniform again and tossed most everything within six months of retirement.
I saved a few patches, chest candy and devices.
Oh and I kept some working coveralls for dirty work but removed all patches and insignia.
... still have my seabag but it's empty, folded and stored in a closet.
 
Still have a bit of clothing left in the same OD green duffle bag they gave us at the basic training Lackland AFB Green Monster. That includes that heavy blue winter wool overcoat.
 
Military uniforms disappeared along with almost everything else with the Ex... I have one of my medic shirts left and have worn it to 3 funerals already
 
Eupher said:
Yep, I have my BDUs and my Class A's. I wish I could say I could fit in them, but that ship sailed long ago.
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Veteran's Day concert I played with the Ft. Leonard Wood band in Nov. 2012. Last known occasion of me wearing a uniform.
 
Nope. In Canada you got to return all your greens minus underwear, socks and tshirts. Kept a few bags, some name tags, unit crests, medals and so on. Kept my dress unis for a while.

After some time, I realized that the memories I have, are more valuable than the unis, not too mention hundreds of pics of my career, so clothing in the storage box is just that...storage.
 
Radrook said:
What meaning do those stripes on the uniform's forearm have?
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Service stripes. Each "hashmark" equals three years of service. I completed 20+ years of active-duty service, without enough to get the 7th service stripe. Had I had service in a combat zone (I don't), on the other sleeve would be horizontal stripes, each one denoting 6 months time, and sized smaller than the service stripe.

Edited to Add: An example (lifted from the internet and is not a personal photo belonging to me) is shown below. The soldier on the left shows two combat service stripes on his right sleeve, denoting a year (or more, up to 18 months) in a combat zone. The soldier on the right shows two service stripes on his left sleeve, denoting at least 6 years of service and less than 9 years (whether active duty, National Guard, or Reserve). The blue uniform they are wearing replaced the green uniform I was in when the photos were taken of me above.

service&combat stripes.jpg
 
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Radrook said:
What meaning do those stripes on the uniform's forearm have?
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Any idea what Canada does with the uniforms that you've turned in? Re-issue them to reservists, or Canadian equivalent? Seems kinda funky to me, even though I'm sure those uniforms are cleaned before re-use.
 
Eupher said:
Any idea what Canada does with the uniforms that you've turned in? Re-issue them to reservists, or Canadian equivalent? Seems kinda funky to me, even though I'm sure those uniforms are cleaned before re-use.
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Yeah I am not fully sure, but I heard one supply tech say they are cleaned and sent to basic training stores. Basic training kit is always old grungy worn out. So it does make sense that is where it ends up.
 
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