We called them "Liberty Cuffs" Thanks for bring back a great memory!

“So you know who to get in fights with in the bar.”😂

As a navy vet,, your comment about ships names on the uniform,,, the bar reference killed me! Had me in stitches!🤣

Used to be a place called "7 Seas Locker Club" on Broadway in San Diego. Huge place, took up almost an entire city block. Besides offering showers and a place to store civvies, they tailored uniforms, had a wide variety of Liberty cuffs, food, postcards, food and I remember a machine that rolled neckerchiefs to regulation. Long gone with the Post-Vietnam reductions and the fleet no longer anchoring in the bay.

About the only way I was able to personalize my uniforms was the rank insignia on my dungaree shirts. I went to a tailor that would put the Machinists' Mate screw inside the First Class crow ... just like on my dress uniforms. I had a chief chew me out for that before a big inspection, told me the CO was a real stickler for uniform regs and was going to give me hell. The CO took one look and said that he loved it, and wondered if that could be made standard issue.

I was in during Vietnam. We didn't tend to wear our uniforms in the states. On the other hand, I was proud to wear mine when on liberty overseas. We wore whites, fortunately with a short sleeved shirt, in Hawaii and P.I. Blues in Japan and Hong Kong. We were limited to our ports at the time because of Vietnam and tensions with North Korea. I bought my Gabardines on my 2nd cruise after I made 3rd Class. The jumper had silk lining with a big dragon and the cuffs had the dragons, too. My trousers had silk linings down to about my knees. When Ryan showed the WWII jumper, it was that of a Gunner's Mate 1st Class. Notice that the Crow was on the right sleeve. When the Navy established the enlisted rating system in 1841, there few ratings. Those were all worn on the right sleeve up until 2 Apr 49. The right arm ratings were Boatswains Mate, Turret Captain, Signalman, Gunners Mate, Fire Controlman, Quartermaster, Mineman, and Torpedomans Mate. BTW, Bo's'n's Mate is the only Navy rating that can command a vessel. Usually these are boats like tugs. Oh, the Eagle on a Petty Officer's rating always faces forward.

I was navy, OTM3 from 89-93. I also provided the definity phone system replacement for the USS New Jersey a few years ago. Hope it's still cooking along. Just a few fun facts about the dress blue crackerjacks featured. In addition to the embroidery , sailors would have the beel bottoms tailored so they were extra tight at the top, and extra flared out on the bell bottom. The dress blues pants had 13 buttons forr the colonies, and they were a pain. Also if you notice the first exhibit, the chevron was on the right sleeve. When I was in, rank/rating was on the left arm, but in WW2, you had either right arm or left arm ratings, so your rating(job, MOS) defined whee the patch went. Another fun fact is in the days when you had to take liberty in your crackerjacks, the neckerchief was not good if you got in a scuffle. The sailors used to roll them with a roll of pennies or dimes in them for a makeshift blackjack.

Back in the 1960s and '70s we all smoked cigarettes, but there was no place in any enlisted whites or blues uniform to hold a bulging full pack of cig's. So we all used our socks, keeping the cig packs tucked into the top elastic band of one or both socks, along with our cash. The Bic or Zippo lighter might have just fit into a pants pocket or the hidden inside pocket of a jumper. Our socks were actually POCKETS!

One more, I modified my uniform when I had SP, 1st class and down. You put a half roll of pennies in the back of your neckerchief. That will take down a scallywag that wants to scrap. Never needed it but i felt warm knowing it was there.

Belt buckles were one personalization that was allowed when I was in the Navy in late 70's/early 80's. The buckle would have the name/logo of your duty station, ship, or unit. They were usually a bit wider and sturdier than the plain ones we were issued and swapping out cotton belts for nylon was common. I still wear my black nylon web belt and Diego Garcia buckle all the time.

Ryan is so comfortable doing these now

In the Army in the eighties we were allowed to change one item on our dress uniform. Being in the Air Cav we had Cavalry Stetsons and a lot of us wore Cav spurs as noone looked down

This episode reminds me of when my Uncle who served in the Navy from 1942 to 1946 as a Carpenters Mate tried on his old uniform sometime in the late 1970's and my Aunt had to cut him out of it. My Uncle swore that it had shrunk with age !

I had an off-base tailor modify my dress blues (vintage '61-'65) because the uniform was too baggy for my tastes. First, I had the tailor taper the jumper from the armpits to the bottom of the blouse (I think that's what it was called). Then I had the tailor add a hidden zipper down the left side of my blouse. I placed the zipper on the left because if the zipper was on the right side, it would be too noticeable when I saluted). Then I had my dress blue trousers (13-buttons) tapered from my butt to my knees--and then reversed the taper from the knees to the bell bottoms. The result was that the top accented my waist, and the taper-to-reverse taper of the trousers accented the bottom of the bell-bottom trousers.

In the early 70's I converted regulation patch pocket bellbottoms to civilian jeans by sewing on colorful strips of cloth around the very bottom of the bellbottom. May seem odd now but hippies did it. Inside the cuff decoration: Usually done by tailors ashore. In the Philippines, they worked cheap.

I was Canadian Airforce. We had flight jackets. So we had unit (squadron) specific patches we use to sew on the flight jackets. Once you were posted to that squadron you could keep the patch. Just moved and sewn onto different spots o the back sleeves and chest. But your current squadron would be upper left and right shoulder and left upper breast for unit name/callsign patch. Some guys were walking footlockers like your bumper sticker foot locker

Really enjoyed this video and all the comments. In my personal life, I don’t particularly care much for clothes. Tee shirt and jeans and I’m good. But I’ve always been fascinated by uniforms, be they real or imagined. I can pour over books and websites for hours looking through various military uniforms, Star Trek uniforms, WWE and superhero costumes. Thank you for continuing to provide one of the most informative KZfaq channels. Your videos are a great source of fun facts and interesting tidbits of history. I particularly like that you don’t just focus on your ship, but you look at other ships contemporary to BB-62 and her namesakes.

The decorated cuffs are “Liberty Cuffs”. Just as you stated when you leave the ship / boat on liberty, undo the buttons and turn the cuffs up to reveal the unique design inside. I have the similar thing done to my jumper (13 button) trousers. Didn’t called ‘em “Liberty trousers” for no reason. Story #2 - rating badges. My rating badge was a crossed spark and quill as a CT. One of my not so observant counterparts went to the exchange and purchased a new “crow” (rank/rating badge). Much his chagrin at some point the next day he found himself “out of uniform” and repeatedly called YN1 (Yeoman). He couldn’t figure it out. Took him aside at lunch and pointed out his lack of observation skills. His nickname is Yeoman-boy to this day.

I remember Fleet Locker Clubs in San Diego and Long Beach.

I have three vintage Bluejacket's Manual (1917, 1940, and 1944) and naturally I wouldn't have seen the ruptured duck insignia in those books. I learned two somethings--didn't know about the Coast Guard shield (it's in the 1944 manual) or why the ruptured duck became part of the uniform. I knew about "no civvies" because Soldiers, Sailors and Marines didn't have them, especially on board ship. Museums and historians remember these things for the rest of us.

A bit of Army trivia. All Army officers except those who are in the Corps of Engineers wear the same buttons on their dress uniforms - that was standardized in 1902. Engineers have a different button that has been used since 1802 and were allowed to keep their 'Essayons' buttons. And contrary to the gun bunny who commented below, Engineers also wear red suspenders instead of the regulation black ones with dress uniforms. Sometimes even with Micky Mouse embroidered on them. Ah, the lengths we went to to be funny 50 to 60 years ago.

In the coast guard you could wear a small gold earring if you had been marooned or had survived a sinking. The Coast Guard had isolated duty stations that were primarily LORAN stations found all over the Pacific. Being on one of these stations was considered being marooned for a year. I was on a small station in northern Okinawa for a year so I got my earring. The ring was always supposed to be worn in the ear opposite your best eye. This stemmed from an old tradition that went way back. One other thing. The ribbon panel that you see on dress uniforms was commonly called "fruit salad".

I wore fishing lures on my ball cap when at sea. The CO and XO were both fishermen and approved. I was the Supply Officer.

I've read several accounts of ex-servicemen immediately after WW2 getting free/reduced fares on trolleys, trains, etc. due to having their "honorable service" patch (aka the ruptured duck). A lot of people may have left their civilian clothing in a seabag ashore; a couple of years later, they might be discharged in a different port, or the clothes no longer fit, or have gotten moldy ...

Thank you for this interesting information! (Eager for more about ancient uniforms..) 👍🏻⚓️

I entered the Navy during the Zumwalt transition. Was issued the CPO like bus driver's double breasted outfit at bootcamp but immediately purchased a set of gaberdine crackerjack set up after graduating bootcamp. Got to wear them for a year before they were officially phased out. The issued style blues were were all made of Melton wool material but you could get privately made uniforms of gaberdine with embroidered silk linings. Whites were made from 100% cotton and LOTS of starch.

I was Coast Guard back in the late 70's for six years. Going to and coming back from Southeast Asia I was instructed not to wear my uniform because of the anti-war sentiment that was strong at the time. There's also an old joke about a drunken sailor who goes into a restroom to use the urinal and as he's unbuttoning the 13 buttons on the front flap of his pants, a Marine comes in taking the urinal next to him. The Marine sees what's going on so tells the sailor that he's glad he's not a sailor because of the button issue. The drunken sailor then agrees with the Marine by telling him that he wished he was in the Marine Corp also so all he would have to do to take a pee was take his hat off. Lol, still funny after all these years. Take care everybody.

I had a set of "Liberty Blues" The trousers had functioning waistband buttons and two of the 13 buttons, the ones on the corner of the Broadfall, The other 11 were sewn on the front of the Broadfall. The Broadfall was held in place with the two corner buttons and velcro. My jumper had a zipper on the right side and I had Liberty Cuffs on each sleeve. One was a Polar Bear because I crossed the Arctic Circle and the other was a Dragon because I was a Shellback. Got the tayloring done in PI

We wore our white hats 'Dixie Cups' in different ways. some kept them normal and round. Some pulled the outside edges out and made them look sort of like wings in a way. (I did this.) Some rolled the very top when they were stored and they had a downward turn around the top rim. There were others.

There's a whole load of other badges and stripes you could look into on this video. Rank badges, good conduct stripes, trade badges... It's a fascinating subject.

Ryan Thanks for what you do. Sharing the history of the USS New Jersey, and the Navy.

Fascinating! I remember having Dragon liberty cuffs on my dress blues with "Hong Kong" underneath. Made at the China Fleet Club in Singapore, whom had done it for years. Sailors used to have embroidery done on the back of the flap and also the front bell bottoms flap. Have heard of but not seen flares that were sewn into the bottom of the bell of the pant cuffs. Back then, sailors had Liberty Dress Blues and Inspection Dress Blues. It wasn't until Admiral Zumwalt was in power that the off ship uniform requirement was rescinded. With all of the horrible guerilla tactics that occur nowadays, it's more common sense than anything else that forces all servicemen to dress in civilian clothes if they have the option off base or off of ship. My dollars worth-John in Texas

During boot camp, I was issued a Flat Hat, which we all called the Donald Duck hat. I only wore it once during an inspection that called for dress Blues A. With a white hat they are dress blues B.

Thank you.

I love the bit of the Coastie shield, in the same vein as the red patches worn by landing party Marines.

First jumper you held up looks just like my dad's! The rank/rating on the sleeve was that of a Yeoman Second class or Y 2/c. Dad served aboard USS West Virginia prior to WWII, was a plank owner on USS Casa Grande (LSD-13) during the war as a Yeoman.

I remember purchasing a custom fitting dress blue gabardene (sp?) jumper and pants off base. These customs were OK by the Navy, and were a much better looking and fitting dress blue uniform than the boot camp issue. You could get the dragon or other "sleeve art" sewed in as well, if you happened to be in port in either Subic Bay P.I. or Yokosuka Japan

Hm thats interesting. In the australian navy, the three stripes on the blue collar represent nelsons three major battles, dunno if thats same for the USN but who knows

A couple of things, prior to WWII the head of the Eagle or "Crow" was pointing to the back, this was turned to point forward, as in "Facing the Enemy" Second the Dragon on "Liberty cuffs" always had 4 finger Dragons, 5 finger Dragons, where only use by the Empidor of China and could cause problems!

I went through boot camp at Great Mistakes in 1980 and our company was one of the first to get the reissued Cracker Jack (NOT Donald Duck!) uniform. The Service Dress Blue Cracker Jacks were awesome! Especially in the Fleet. In boot camp, we were taught a way to fold them that made sure they never got wrinkled. And many of us, myself included, would stow the uniform under our coffin rack mattress. Always looked fresh as a daisy when pulled out. The embroidery on the cuffs is known as "Liberty Cuffs". By the time I was in, we were always on liberty in civvies, so I never saw them on liberty, but the ones I did see were dragons. The polar bear motif is really unique, at least to this WestPac Sailor. About civvies on liberty. I was on Carl Vinson and we made a liberty call to Hong Kong in 1983 (IIRC). That was the only time I had to wear a uniform on liberty, but just on the first day in port. USS Texas was in our battle group. The skipper of that ship made his Sailors were a white shirt and tie when they went on liberty. Yikes! Never heard of that on any other ship. You'll notice on some of the uniforms, the rank is on the right sleeve, and some on the left. I don't know when that ended, but all our ranks were on the left sleeve in the 80s and beyond. When there were ranks on the right, those ratings were called "right arm rates". All deck rates IIRC. BMs, GMs come to mind. I don't remember when ship/command names became mandatory for E-6 and below. I made CPO in 1989 and I never had to have my command name sewn on my uniforms when I was a "white hat". I think it was sometime after 1990 when that was mandatory. On the trousers, there were 13 buttons, I'm sure for the original 13 states. Well, if you were drinking and needed to use the facilities, you had to "go through 13 states to take a piss"! So, more than one Sailor had a zipper installed around edge of the flap on the front of the trousers. MUCH easier. Interesting tidbit: I was told by my English mother-in-law that it was good luck to touch the star on a Sailor's frock.

When you’re fresh out of basic and get to the fleet, E1 thru E3 are about the same. Once I got my first stripe and went from an Airman to Petty Officer 3rd class was such a great feeling and accomplishment. You left the “us” group and became part of the “them” group. And the Navy promotion system is different than any of the other branches. It’s not easy to advance. Then when I got my second stripe I became a professional sailor. Much more responsibility and less of the crap from above. I discharged a month before I was eligible for 1st Class Petty officer. Almost made me want to stay in another 4 years

I am currently trying to figure out my uncle's WW2 Navy Sea Bee unform insignia. Thanks this helped a bit.

I remember the 13 buttons on the pants of the Crackerjack Uniform. Always said to represent the 13 colonies and also 13 chances to say no. Some would have their pants altered so the "flap" was velcroed so it could be quickly unfastened allowing access when needed to relieve yourself in cases of when you might be inebriated.

I was Coast Guard in the early to mid 70s. Due to the Vietnam war, we were forbidden to go ashore or on liberty in any type uniform, working or dress, unless we were on orders to do so. The OOD would inspect us at liberty call to ensure we were in civies. The mood towards men in uniform was hostile. It was for our protection. We referred to the Navy uniforms issued us as Crackerjacks and the flat tally hat as the Donald Duck hat/cover. We transitioned to the current Bender Blues/Bus driver uniform in the mid 70s. I still have both types of unifom in storage. USCG enlisted wear a single shield on the right forearm. Officers wear a shield on each forearm above their rank stripes on the cuffs. The shield is supposed to represent the maritime law mission of the USCG. Great topic, we could spend hours on this subject.

I was an Electronics Technician 1st Class Qualified in Submarines from 1998-2007. I personalized my dress blues only by wearing a set of submarine “silver dolphins” dipped in actual silver. My navy coveralls were personalized with my ship’s logo (the golden arrowhead with a silhouetted bucking bronco and cowboy of USS Cheyenne) with the ship’s logo on my belt buckle. The first uniform you showed was that of a gunner’s mate, a man who worked in the ship’s gunnery division (think of Callaway from “Under Siege”). The crossed cannons give it away. Mine was a helium atom and, later, 4 horizontal lightning bolts (when ET became IT (information systems technician).

7:33 in 1967 the coast guard is transferred to department of transportation until 2003 and then it was transferred to the department of homeland security

Dad's Liberty Cuffs were embroidered dragons that were done right after the Japanese surrendered. He was on the USS Fomalhaut (supply ship) and survived the typhon that hit Buckners Bay Okinawa in Oct. 1945. He was then sent to Tokyo then on to China as a crew member that patrolled the Yellow and Yangtze rivers. He reenlisted in the Army Air Corps which turned into the US Air Force. He retired after 28 years' service and awarded the Air Force Commendation Medal.

I recall the liberty-cuffs as having several practical purposes. Those woolen jumpers could get HOT. Just by undoing the cuffs, the personal comfort level went way up. Also the white piping on the cuffs were dirt magnets. Having the cuff unbuttoned and rolled back helped to keep the piping clean. The various designs were a small bit of personalization. I just had a wild thought: Liberty cuffs with white piping on them to help ward off the glances of overly pushy CPOs who have not had enough to drink yet and can still see straight. Good show today.

Interesting to see the ship's name on a shoulder patch. In the Royal Navy the ship's name is usually written on the cap tally, but during wartime a plain "HMS" cap tally was substituted for the same security reasons mentioned here.

The Coast Guard Shield was sewn on the Right sleeve for the enlisted men. Officers like the Navy, with their stars and other devices, had the shield on both sleeves. I had a set of gaberdine blues that were tailor made with large bells and the jumper had a zipper under the left arm so it would fit tight. Easy to get off and on.

There was a band that went around your helmet and it kept the cammo cloth tight on the helmet guys would write all sorts of things on those mostly FTA

Great video! More of these please. They are really interesting.

When I was in the Royal Canadian Air Cadets I went through basic at CFB Esquimalt. We were issued ball caps with the RCAC badge embroidered on it, and a bunch of us got some red sharpies and coloured the maple leaves in the badge red. A few enterprising individuals even coloured the eyes of the eagle in the badge. I may or may not have been one... Our CO wasn't particularly impressed but noted that enough Cadets had done the leaves that the rest could do so as well, in the spirit of uniformity and esprit-de-corps.

excellent little short stories on uniforms

The Army in Vietnam allowed each unit to have this or that, this is where the Special Forces got their now famous Green Berets, by the 1980s the Pentagon tried to get the whole Army to wear the same uniform, with only a little success. The combat uniform was pretty much standardized with the BDU, where you see the personalization now is often the combat uniforms. In Iraq, I noticed at least five thousand possible variations. Things like extra pockets began to appear on sleeves and legs. The modern combat uniform adopted many of these. The coolest thing that I have ever seen was a white shirt worn under a set of dress blues but the back was a multi hued sunset.

5:30 “….so you know who to get into fights with in the bar.” LOL!

Two stories about the 13 buttons on that damn flap. One way to "enhance" your uniform was to have the buttons sewn in place, then have a hidden zipper behind the flap. Made nature calls much easier. Sometimes, we didn't button all 13 of the buttons, but only the top corner buttons. It made access much quicker and easier. Sea Story: A marine and a sailor make a bathroom stop. The Marine unzips, does his thing, and zips up. The sailor goes thru the ritual of unbuttoning all 13 buttons and dropping the flap before he can relieve himself. As the Marine watches the sailor, he makes a remark along the lines of "in the Marines, we have easy to open uniforms". The sailor responds with "in the Navy, they teach us not to pee on our hands".

Crackerjacks Ryan. That's what we used to call the service dress blues when I wore them. Never called them Donald Ducks. STG1 (Ret.) 79-99

Between 1971 and 1973, I was in the 2nd fleet out of Norfolk and was not a 7th fleet (asiatic) sailor but I did sew the asiatic cuff liner (dragons) into my dress blues. Strictly prohibited, but impossible to see unless you rolled up your cuffs. I also had the legs of my dress blues pegged for more of a flair look. Issue pants are nearly straight legged baggy pants..not really bell bottoms. On my dungarees and undress whites (short sleeve white shirt instead of a jumper) my belt buckle was silver with a picture of my ship instead of the standard issue brass. This was not strictly legit, but no one cared. I believe the three stripes on the blues cuffs and flap commemorate the three greatest naval battles in history. Not sure of what they are, but believe one is for the battle of Trafalgar. In the days of sail, I am pretty sure the flap was buttoned on and could be replaced if it got dirty from tar. The old salts used to tar their hair purposely….which is why sailors are called tars. There is no way you can cut off the flap on a modern blues jumper without a major tailoring job. But that’s okay as i don’t think anyone tars their hair any longer 😉. I had an American flag and squadron logo sewed on my working jacket but my division officer eventually made me remove them. Go figure. We could wear the “official” ships baseball cap or white hat with our dungarees as we so choose. Some guys wore gaberdine blues which were prohibited, but they got away with it. Some guys also had patent leather shoes (which I always hated). Again, though prohibited they seemed to get away with it. Instead of issue boon dockers, I bought a pair of Marine Corp black rubber soled combat boots which I wore with my dungarees. You may want to show the button flap pants which have 13 buttons on the flap commemorating the 13 original colonies. I always thought that was an interesting feature of the uniform. Another interesting factoid is that through most of the 20th century, deck ratings (boatswains, gunners, etc) used to wear their insignia on their right arm. Everyone else on the left arm. The name of the ship was not allowed on the uniforms during WWII because when you are on liberty, everyone (spy’s included) can tell what ships are in port. When I went in, no civilian clothes were allowed. You could not get off the ship or even the base without a dress uniform of the day. We used to have locker clubs outside of the base where you could keep civies. By the time I got out, that had changed. I thought the ruptured duck was for reservists back in the forties?? Every sailor had to have a wardrobe that exactly duplicated what you were issued in boot camp (and yes, we used to have what they called sea bag inspections on the ship). You ran the risk of getting put on report if you failed to maintain your boot camp issued stuff. True chicken shit, but there you have it.

I still have my Dress Blue Navy uniform. I earned Gold Chevrons and 5 Gold Hashmarks. 1982-2003...

My father had a dragon inside his cuff. He also had anchor with a ribbon twist around the anchor tattoo on his arm.

On my dress blues I had dragons under the cuffs.

Watch caps, anyone still have theirs? My Pop had one knitted for him while in Hong Kong. It had a nice embroidered band but you couldn't tell unless you got close because it was all the Navy Blue. He also had his uniform custom tailored in Hong Kong. I have heard that these uniforms were against regs.

The ultimate uniform was to have a tailor made uniform, in gaberdine. Cuffs, your crow and chevon's were embroiled.

Great video from the battleship.

So, what I noticed here is that Ryan didn't talk about red versus gold coloring for the chevrons on the arms. I was just a civilian working in the Pentagon from 1989-1995, and I heard a couple different stories about that. However, I'd love to hear better explanations from sailors around that time.

awesome! Thank you.

the way of showing youve sailed the oceans is putting the "salty dip" into the dduck cover by flaring the rim and putting a crush into the crown giving it the battleship sailor look

Man I wish I could do a whole video on this. The best part is the liberty cuffs. It's gone now. The three stripes is almost acurate. The flap is close. Port and starboard rating badges is fun. The broken bird is 💯 true.

pretty good, but if you have to use a nickname for the Service Dress Blue uniform , the term "crackerjacks" is the one to use, not "the Donald Duck Uniform" ... and those decorations on the inside of the sleeve are called "Liberty Cuffs" because you only turned up your cuff when you were on liberty ... you don't see them much today however ... perhaps in a future segment you could mention how rating badges show the sailors job was, why some uniforms have the rank badge on the left or right sleeve (only a WWII and before convention), the meaning of hashmarks and why the difference between gold and red markings, a brief discussion of WWII ribbons/decorations, why E-1 to E-3s have different color rank -- blue, red, white, etc. ... finally, i recall my Dad (WWII vet) telling that you were not allowed to wear civilian clothes anywhere -- on or off base during the war ... thanks for your post.

I was always told that the dragons inside the sleeve had something to do with being a shellback or golden shellback -- would not be surprised if the polar bear meant something like a deployment near/around the arctic. There were also folks that would have the crows on their uniform looking back instead of forward (on uniforms that have rank on the collar of the uniform, like the modern coveralls.) It was because "they had your back." The most common uniform modification that I was aware of was getting a zipper or Velcro sewn into your dress blue pants so that you didn't have to undo so many buttons to go to the bathroom.

U.S. ARMY 1968-1969. Stateside only unique part of any class uniform was last name tag. Everything else was closely prescribed. In Vietnam, quite common for combat troops to decorate their helmet covers with slogans, nickname and playing cards. REMFs like me could crease our caps, and the sewn on last name tag.

BOO!! Never mind the ruptured duck, was that not a right arm rate uniform? I had a wonderful father in law that was a right arm sailor during WWII. You gotta stretch it but it could be your next episode, many swabbies have no idea the Navy had right arm rates.

I've seen used jumpers that had a custom pocket sewn on the inside so you could carry a pack of cigarettes or a lighter or something. And extra pockets in the bellbottoms. Nice little practical things like that.

Current issue dress blue pants have a standard button and zipper fly now, the complainers of the 13 button flap finally got their way and it was reduced to an ornamental sewn on flap. The dress blue jumper is pretty much the same now as it was in WWII, but the rank insignia is on the left arm now, as are the service stripes (one per 4 years.) One change that is recent is the use of gold chevrons, before you could only wear gold if you had 12 years of continuous service with no NJP. As of 2018, now anyone over 12 years of service can wear gold. As a wearer of gold chevrons who retired in 2014, I do not approve. One other thing: the dress blue jumper has always been wool, AFAIK, which is why it is worn in winter only. For summer white jumper and pants are worn. The dress white jumper flap and sleeve had blue stripes added a few years ago, so they look much like the dress blue jumper. Rating badges have come and gone, as rates have been created or disestablished. My original rate, AK, or Aviation Storekeeper, was folded into SK in 2001.

To this day, the dress uniform is still the prescribed liberty uniform and always had been, although nowadays Sailors get storage inside their rack and a wall locker so their's enough places to store your civies. Also the military tends to prefer us not to wear uniforms in foreign countries anymore due to the threat of terrorism (the uniform making you a giant target).

In the early 60's the Navy decided to put crows on our pea coats. Our first class had one of his petty officers take his coat to a tailor in Sasebo and sew on a "crow". Aviation ratings have wings on most of their insignia, black shoes don't, but ole Stan had the tailor put wings on Richards crossed flags. During inspection the Captain of the Lexington got a big laugh out if it. Richard did not. SMC,USN,Ret.

Hate to say this but civilian clothes were allowed on ships in the late 50s-60s. In fact, most of the time that dad did any traveling while in the Navy he was out of uniform. And that included time while on military aircraft. While on Cyprus, the only time he was in uniform was while on base, not while traveling to or from the house to the base. And most pictures taken of the Navy personnel even for many official functions such as promotions were done in civilian clothes. His name and all the other Navy personnel's names were listed in the US Consulate's phone directory which should give a hint as to one reason why they were not in uniform off base. His trip from here to MD in 1963 was in civilian clothes for a military conference. Dad's trip to his ship out of South Africa in 1964 was authorized travel in civilian attire per his orders which were amended in route to show his promotion to MCPO. None of this was due to the Vietnam War, it was due to who they were and what they did. Even the rating names hid what they did until the 1976.

It is a common belief in the US Army, that Navy enlisted ranks and ratings exist to confuse the US Army. Geoff Who notes back in the 1970s Grade was inserted behind the written rank in inter-service written communications. This is because a Captain in the US Army is O-3, in the US Navy O-6.

We would get hand made belt buckles in the Philippines. Most common was having one with your rate. But I've also got one with the plane I worked on as the design.

Served in the Navy in the 80's...hated the dress blues so much I ignored it unless I was required to wear it...never gave any thought to adding to it...the 13 buttons were a bitch...best thing that happened when I got to be duty Master at Arms for my duty section and didn't have to stand OOD watches on the Quarterdeck..Think I had one set of civilian clothes on board when we were deployed...no way to wash them but...

I had a "Jedi Knight" tab that I put under the velcro shoulder flap on my ACUs when I was deployed.

I visited Hong Kong in the Navy 1980s and got silk Dragon Liberty Cuffs

USS Constitution would've had a surgeon who would also have functioned as the ship's barber.

4:10 Ooooo, I see... Now I understand what that flap is for. It's been bugging me for decades.

No personalization of USAF uniforms. The only "seemingly personal" item I can recall were the baseball type hats with unit designation applied. They were regulated by unit level regulation, for example: my unit in Japan was a communication unit. 1956 CG was it and if you didn't wear that you wore military issue.

Hypothetical question... Would the four Iowa class battleships be able to save Mariupol if they were stationed off it's coast?

Never heard the enlisted dress blues referred to as a Donald Duck uniform,. We always called them Cracker Jacks. I served 26 years retiring as an AWCS in 1998. My dad served in the Coast Guard during WW2 and I always told him that the only difference between Navy sailors and the Coast Guard was that Coast Guard sailors had to be at least 6 feet tall so that they could wade to shore if their ship sank. I don't think he liked that joke!

We had a full day of training on uniforms, insignias and rank.

The collar device for Navy Civil Engineer Corps officers is a pair of "crossed bananas". Just remember that the acorns always point up.

We did have an aramak contractor in the mess hall way out of line the petty officer got onto him.

In the basic training we had a master chief wearing camouflage 4 sizes too big he said "when I say feet you will say feet back to me you have to work as a team the only way you will make it in the fleet!". "Feet!" Then he said "that was not together we will try it again! "Feet!"

Army, I removed the buttons and sewed in velcro. I was ahead of my time. It wasn't allowed but I didn't get caught.

You missed something about ranks. In WW 2, you did not come out of boot camp with three stripes on your cuffs, the amount of stripes on your cuffs told your rank. Also, we didn’t call dress blues “Donald Ducks”, they were cracker jacks, the Donald Sucks refer to the old blue covers, similar to what Donald Suck wore, I believe they went out sometime after WW2

The color of the seamen stripes indicated which group you belonged to (deck, aviation, or propulsion).

After WW II men being discharged were allowed to wear their uniforms 30 days since travel was not as easy as it is today. Trains, bus's by car. hitchhiking, what ever. The "duck" patch or pin showed you were discharged and military police were to take note of that fact. Many guy wore the "duck" pins on there clothing into civilian life to show they had served. We have a WW II vet in my Veteran Organization who has one he wears.

I wish I had my fathers sea bag and his dress uniform and hat he had brought home and had in a dark upstairs closet, I would often admire it in its zippered opaque plastic bag hanging inside and the hat on the shelf, I never got a chance for him to explain it all to me then at five years old because very soon after my discovery it all disappeared because my mother found out it carried too many memories of a single man sailor of the Pacific in the Korean war, his birthday just passed two days ago he passed in 05, He would have been upset about the Sullivan's ship, he served on the Heavy Cruiser USS SAINT PAUL CA-73. Any way my mom donated his uniforms and hat including his boatswain whistle which really hurt me. She dumped all his fun times pictures of him in Japan and The Philippines except for the on board duty pictures of him and his mate's, still have his tour book, blue jackets manual and his boatswain knife though. ⚓

Once you are well and truly done with your unies....... donate them to a theater group. Period decorator Items and furniture is often welcomed.

I can't confirm the authenticity of this, but as a Marine stationed in Memphis working with the Navy, I was told that the two stars on the collar represented each time that the US Navy defeated the Royal Navy (battle for independence and then the war of 1812) and the space between the two stars was so there was room for more stars, should the need ever arise. Can anyone confirm that?

It is a tradition for the Field Artillery to wear red socks and suspenders with our Army Blue Uniform. The rest of the Army chose not to follow our example.