Uniforms

Colleges and Universities A-Z Air Force Academy - Colorado Springs
1

<p>For lack of other things going on around the AFA forum and something to keep my mind off of the waitng, let’s talk about uniforms. Maybe a cadet like UNcynical could help out.</p>

<p>How many are there? How much do they cost and how long does it take to pay them off with the monthly $800? How comfortable are the BDU’s, Blue’s, and Dress uniforms(I have heard that parade uniforms really suck and flight suits are great)? What maintenance do you have to do to them? Are the boots and the other lower cut black shoes(don’t know the name) comfortable or are they greatly enhanced with an insole? Can you pay for the uniforms upfront(graduation gift from grandparents)?</p>

<p>I think the uniforms look pretty awesome and I really hope I get to wear one next year and salute the flag under the Colorado sun. If only they would start letting people in.</p>

2

<p>Wow...That's a long question(s). </p>

<p>Ok, well, you pay for the uniforms with what they call "magic money", which is basically a big portion of the paycheck they are paying you. Your actual paycheck is roughly $700 a month, but it goes down to $100 a month your 4 dig year since you are paying off all the cool new swag you just got. So technically, it doesn't really cost you anything.</p>

<p>Basically you have four different uniforms, and you don't get them all at once. There are:</p>

<p>BdU's
Blues/service dress
Parade dress
Mess dress</p>

<p>You get some of your BDU's right when you get here. The BDU's come with blouse/pants/black t-shirts, boots, and later on in Basic parkas. After Basic you can get flight suits, which are really comfortable. Upperclassmen try to get away with wearing them all the time if they are in flying classes. </p>

<p>Blues come near the end of BCT. You get low quarters with them, which are just regular ol' shoes. No fancy insoles. But they aren't uncomfortable. You will be introduced to shirt garters as well.</p>

<p>You don't get parade dress until the spring semester, unless you're in D&B. I don't have it yet. With that you get coroframs, the fakey plastic shoes you don't have to shine. (yay) </p>

<p>Mess dress you get in your three degree year. You'll have to ask UNCynical about parade and mess dress. </p>

<p>Boots are pretty much the only thing that you can get before coming here. I would highly recommend buying some a few months before and breaking them in. </p>

<p>As maintenance, boots and low quarters must always be polished to a high gloss of course. Now I am out of free time for now, so maybe I'll come back to this later.</p>

3

<p>Shines did a great job at answering your questions. As he(?) said, during your first year here, you only see $100/month of your paycheck (with a little more around the holidays/book-buying time). All of your uniforms cwill be bought out of money you're not seeing. So while you cannot pay off anything like uniforms early, if people are wanting to give you money, you can combine it with the $100/month you see to have a little more cash. The Academy does an awsome job of taking care of cadets financially, though. You don't have to worry about clothes, food, room and board, or tuition. You'll use your money when you go out or buy snacks, cleaning supplies, etc., but you'll find a way to stretch your money.</p>

<p>As it was mentioned, you'll get different uniforms at different times. When you first arrive, you'll have BDUs and boots and sometimes wear physical conditioning gear (t-shirt, athletic shorts, tennis shoes). Once the school year starts, you'll wear the BDUs some days and blues other days. There is an athletic jacket and parka you can wear when it gets colder with your blues uniform. Service dress isn't worn too often and usually only for special occasions, presentations, etc. You'll also get a flight suit at some point, but you will rarely ever wear it. Parade dress gets worn about 3 or so times a year, in the spring, so you don't get it until spring of your first year. Mess dress you wear least frequently - about twice while you're a cadet, the first time usually being Ring Dance which happens at the very end of your third year; you most likely won't even get mess dress until that year.</p>

<p>For boots and shoes, insoles can help. Breaking in your boots before you get here will go a long way in helping your feet.</p>

<p>If I left out anything, just ask.</p>

4

<p>For boots my friend said her brother (at AFA now) would take a shower in the boots to set them then he just ran in them until he got there. Is that the best thing to do?</p>

<p>By the way, his name is Devin Camp, anyone know him?</p>

5

<p>I am a he. My screen name is not very masculine I have to admit. I don't think I know Devin Camp...What class is he? Anyways, yeah, I forgot about PC gear. Basically shorts and a t-shirt, and a running suit as well. I'm wearing it right now. :) As for showering in the boots, that might be OK with regular purely leather boots, but the boots they will recommend to you (and you should get!) are a mixture of leather, Cordura, and Gore-Tex. Taking a shower in them REALLY wouldn't be good. Tecnically they aren't even supposed to be polished. But you will anyways. Just worry about breaking in the old fashioned way-walking. You could run in them a couple of times too, I did that. That helps more with you getting used to the weight of them. </p>

<p>It's a trade off...warm, dry, breathable, ankle supporting boots, that weight 8 pounds apiece. :)</p>

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<p>good to know!</p>

<p>And Devin is a 2nd classman, so I suppose you wouldn't know him lol. He is on the jump team though.</p>

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<p>Devin's a 3rd classman (meaning he's in his second year.<br>
He's in my squad and sits at my lunch table.</p>

<p>"I am a he."</p>

<p>I could have assumed, due to the fact there's over an 80% of any given cadet being male due to the make-up of the cadet wing.</p>

8

<p>True...17 percent women I think...</p>

9

<p>


</p>

<p>Oops, forgot he was at the prep school. That's really neat that you two know each other, small world lol. Give him a hello from his Houston fans. lol.</p>

10

<p>"True...17 percent women I think..."</p>

<p>Yeah, something like that. It varies a little by class but that's in the ballpark.</p>

<p>"That's really neat that you two know each other, small world lol. Give him a hello from his Houston fans. lol."</p>

<p>Yup, will do.</p>

11

<p>Houston huh? I'm from around there...</p>

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<p>Where in Houston are you from?</p>

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<p>Not actually from Houston...But in about a 150 miles radius. Hence the "around". :)</p>

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<p>Well, I'm on the Houston side of the Katy area. Like literally, I can walk down the street and look at Katy. Where abouts are you?</p>

15

<p>Katy, good football team.</p>