Why does the Army Like to Enforce Non-Required Issues to its Soldiers?

Of the seven and a half years while I was in the Army, there were many times I was angered with the Chain of Command of my units.  It seemed at times they would only focus on minute, pointless issues over issues that did matter.  For instance, about a week or two ago I got into it with some stupid, brainless minions that lost all way of thinking for themselves about unit PT shirts.  You see, in the Army, and I do believe in the other branches as well, units will have clothing with their insignias on it for sale to their personnel.  I never had an issue with units doing this, I mean, if someone wants to wear clothing with their unit insignia on it is fine by me.  The problem with it is units will try to force their Soldiers to buy this clothing just so it looks like there is pride with the unit, and everyone likes being in it.  It’s not really so much the sweatshirts or the sweatpants they offer for sale, it’s the t-shirts that Soldiers can wear during PT sessions in the morning.  I remember my past units where the First Sergeant would tell the formation in the mornings that the shirts weren’t required but encouraged to buy, and when I say encouraged the leaders in the company would almost harass Solider into buying these shirts.  Some of the things these leaders would pull are assigning a Soldier to more CQ/Battalion Staff Duty than usual, deny their leave form, or not give them a weekend pass.  Just a bunch of immature, high school inspired bullying only to purchase something that is technically not authorized under AR 670-1.  Now, some of you may say “It is authorized, under command discretion”, that only means it’s an in-unit authorization under Battalion Command, and it doesn’t say in AR 670-1 that it’s required to have.  It states the standard-issue physical fitness uniform consists of the following components: a. Jacket. b. Pants. c. Trunks. d. T-shirt. e. Undergarments. f. Footwear. g. Socks., and that is it, no unit t-shirt in there.  If a unit tries to state it’s a requirement to have, they are wrong and can be punished under UCMJ to make such a statement.  To be honest, if units really wanted their Soldiers to wear unit PT shirt, then the unit can purchase them for their troops and issue them out, or have the leaders contribute money into purchasing the shirts which I’ve seen done before.  Other items units always seem to try to enforce Soldiers to purchase are jump boots, Stetson hats, or any other special items that come along with being in specific units.  For instance, jump boots you would only wear if you’re in an Airborne unit or an Air Assault unit.  I was stationed at Fort Campbell for a better part of four years in my time in the Army, and I remember my unit didn’t really enforce the purchase of jump boots to its Soldiers, but I did know some people in units that did so, even if you didn’t become Air Assault qualified.  To me, being I never became Airborne or Air Assault qualified, buying and wearing jump boots would’ve been, say, sacrilegious.  Unless I became one of those, I had no business wearing them.  However, you can only wear them while you’re in that particular unit, and once you go into a unit that isn’t an Airborne or Air Assault unit, you can no longer wear them.  The same goes for Stetson hats, an item very special to Cavalry units in the Army.  I’ve also known people in Cavalry units that weren’t even Cav Scouts where their leadership wanted and tried enforcing them to purchase a Stetson hat.  Now, I know some Cavalry units won’t let you wear one until you’ve done a Spur Ride, which is a traditional activity done by Cav units with new personnel.  It usually can be a variety of activities, like a PT test, a rifle range, ruck marching, or all three together where you have a score very high in.  Others included just drinking a nasty concoction out of your combat boot.  Either way, like jump boots, I would feel it would be sacrilegious to wear a Stetson hat if not performing a Spur Ride of some sort.  But enforcing Soldiers to purchase jump boots or a Stetson hat is very unacceptable, considering these are not cheap at all.  Finally, this isn’t an item of purchase, but I feel it’s something that also goes along with the lines of this subject; Battalion Balls.  Every unit I was part of always pushed to get all their Soldiers to be pathetic, high school inspired dances so leaders could show there’s comradery within the unit.  What a load of bullshit! I mean, units were so serious about these that Soldier had to go to the Battalion Sergeant Major and explain why they couldn’t go to a ball if they weren’t going to go.  It’s funny how the Army tries to say their family-friendly with their personnel, but then turn around enforce them to go to functions that are really nothing more than brown nose fests.  Let your Soldiers have lives for God’s sake, and let them spend time with their families as much as they can because when it comes time to deployments or even field training, at least their Soldiers have gotten reasonable time to be with their own families.  I have fucking spoken!


Disclaimer:The views expressed in this article [or, book, blog post, essay, op-ed] are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the [insert your agency, institution, organization], Department of the Army, Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government.

The Angry Private! 
US Army Ordnance Corps 2009-2017
OEF 2010-2011