Heard from a CT today that they are going back to how it used to be in old army days! Only a Junior and senior privilege! Apparently since the rising soph. already have them they will be grandfathered in and allowed to keep/ wear them.

Now that the entire Corps has a dress uniform they can wear (Class A's), the restriction on the midnights is something I welcome. The only reason, IMO, that the mids were authorized for all the classes was that a prior administration was too cheap to replace the Class A's when they needed replacing.... so put the whole Corps in midnights.

Now if the OOC will bring back Class B Winters....
With the sharp-looking midnight biders.

why does the corps keep changing stuff? what's the point of not letting underclassmen wear midnights?

New army just hates change don't they. ha.

Because black belts shouldn't have midnights or lofts

Kind of a stupid idea. What's the point of saving a specific Class B uniform for certain people? All having multiple uniforms accomplishes is making the corps look like it can't decide what to wear.

Can someone explain this to a dumb non-reg? I was a student in early 2000's and thought midnights and dress class a's were the same.

I know I'm gonna be in the minority here but I never liked the midnights, I just thought they looked plain compared to other Schools Dress uniform, and I always felt that the Class A's looked sharper.

Ramirez is just trying to stand out and leave his mark as Commandant (uniform changes, reinstating outfits, etc.).

quote:

---

What's the point of saving a specific Class B uniform for certain people? All having multiple uniforms accomplishes is making the corps look like it can't decide what to wear.

---

Why not have everyone wear riding pants and boots while you're at it? If you look at a fish next to a senior it looks like the corps can't decide what to wear!

[This message has been edited by Ark03 (edited 5/8/2013 11:12a).]

quote:

---

quote:

---

What's the point of saving a specific Class B uniform for certain people? All having multiple uniforms accomplishes is making the corps look like it can't decide what to wear.

---

Why not have everyone wear riding pants and boots while you're at it? If you look at a fish next to a senior it looks like the corps can't decide what to wear!

[This message has been edited by Ark03 (edited 5/8/2013 11:12a).]

---

Don't be stupid. There is a difference between different shoes called "senior boots" and two-class absurdities. You're obviously very curious and intelligent

I'm with Ark03. Why have different colored belts? Different belt buckles? Different braid on the caps?

Because differentiating by class is part of the Corps experience.

It used to be even more so. In 1967-71, only juniors and seniors could wear serge, for instance.

The midnight shirt was, in the past, like the white belt: a sign you had arrived. I'm glad it's coming back.

I don't mind different uniforms, but there are a few things I disagree with, like taking away privileges of underclassmen that allow them to look good in uniform. For example, military creases aren't a fish privilege. I don't think that accomplishes anything except for making fish look sloppier in uniform, and fish not learning how to correctly roll their tuck when they do get military creases as upperclassmen. Or maybe it's just different in the army outfits, but it seems like no one rolls their tuck into their creases. If they even roll it, they roll it into the seam on the sides of their shirt.

quote:

---

I'm with Ark03. Why have different colored belts? Different belt buckles? Different braid on the caps?

Because differentiating by class is part of the Corps experience.

It used to be even more so. In 1967-71, only juniors and seniors could wear serge, for instance.

The midnight shirt was, in the past, like the white belt: a sign you had arrived. I'm glad it's coming back.

---

So you had rules designed to make underclass men look like bags of shattered *******s? And you think that proves something?

EDIT: ignoring that the green shirt is a Class B's uniform that really looks half-assed, especially when tools stick their cute ROTC medals on the pocket like Girl Scout badges

[This message has been edited by Tango Mike (edited 5/8/2013 4:15p).]

Can you help a t-shirt out and explain what midnights are?

SKF, the current Corps uniforms derive from WWII era army officers' uniforms. A&M's Class A winter blouse and the optional midnight green shirt both derive from the winter dress uniform that was worn by officers in the army from just before WWII until the early '50s.

If you watch the movie "Twelve O'Clock High" on Netflix or something similar, you will see some of the uniforms I am about to describe (even though the characters in the movie are in the Army Air Corps, it was the same uniform as the Army).


When I was in the Corps 1967-1971, our winter dress uniform consisted of a wool single breasted blouse that came down to your about the tops of your legs. The color is sort of a dark olive drab. You wore it with a khaki brown shirt and a black tie. We wore it to march-ins and Corps trips late in the year and to formal occasions such as the Ring Dance and Military Ball and so on.

Juniors and seniors were sometimes presented with the option of wearing a shirt in the color "midnight green" with a khaki tie. For instance, the Corps attended basketball games in Class B winter uniform, but juniors and seniors had the option of wearing their midnights. It was a real treat when sitting in Duncan Hall listening to the announcements and the speaker said, "Midnights may be worn." Much whooping ensued.

In the movie I have referenced, you can see various officers wearing the blouse, wearing the blouse with the midnight green shirt under it, and wearing the midnight green shirt by itself (if I recall correctly).

At some point after 1971--others can help me out here--the Class A winter blouses fell into disrepair, a provider of new blouses could not be found, and there were not enough blouses that could be issued to the entire Corps. As a result, everyone was allowed to wear the midnight shirts as a replacement for the blouse.

The current Commandant of the Corps found someone to redesign the old army blouses, had enough made for the Corps, and issued them to everyone just this year, I believe.

My speculation is that since having enough blouses for eveyone satisfied the need for having a Class A winter option, the Commandant decided to return to the old days of making midnights a junior/senior privilege.

Hope this helps.










[This message has been edited by OldArmy71 (edited 5/8/2013 10:37p).]

Tango Mike, your post is not helpful to this discussion.

[This message has been edited by OldArmy71 (edited 5/8/2013 10:20p).]

quote:

---

At some point after 1971--others can help me out here--the Class A winter blouses fell into disrepair, a provider of new blouses could not be found, and there were not enough blouses that could be issued to the entire Corps. As a result, everyone was allowed to wear the midnight shirts as a replacement for the blouse.

The current Commandant of the Corps found someone to redesign the old army blouses, had enough made for the Corps, and issued them to everyone just this year, I believe.

---

I can say that from '99 to '03, everyone was issued and wore both the Midnights and the Class A's - it wasn't a question of not enough to go around. We wore them as two separate uniforms (ie uniform of the day was either Midnights or Winter A's), but they were still somewhat interchangeable unless we were marching in a Corps function where we would be expected to match.

Sweet Kitten

Class A Winters:


Midnights (on the left):


On a side note, they need to teach how to roll a tuck!

Thanks for the clarification, Ark03.

Thanks for the photos, bigtruck.

quote:

---

At some point after 1987

---

FIFY

Class AA's: Tuxedo shirt w/bow tie, Blouse, White Belt (Aggie Band only)

If memory serves me right, I think Class A winters were issued and we had to purchase midnights and serge uniforms back in the 60's. For our outfit picture only seniors wore midnights. Everyone else wore Class A winters. I also bought an Ike jacket and Sam Brown belt to wear while carrying a saber. Seems to me the underlying issue about uniforms is a variation of the old debate about class vs. rank. We felt like we had earned the right to have better looking uniforms as we finished each year.
Basically, the uniforms then and now have been frozen in time since WW II. Does anyone think the Corps should adopt the modern service uniforms like most other ROTC programs have done?

quote:

---

Does anyone think the Corps should adopt the modern service uniforms like most other ROTC programs have done?

---

Nope!

Maybe I'm in the minority, but I like the old style.

quote:

---

If memory serves me right, I think Class A winters were issued and we had to purchase midnights and serge uniforms back in the 60's. For our outfit picture only seniors wore midnights. Everyone else wore Class A winters.

---

You are correct on all points.

quote:

---

I also bought an Ike jacket

---

This was not an option 1967-1971.

quote:

---

Does anyone think the Corps should adopt the modern service uniforms like most other ROTC programs have done?

---

HORRORS, no! I think the military should go back to the WWII uniforms.

[This message has been edited by Rev_86 (edited 5/12/2013 1:06p).]

[This message has been edited by Rev_86 (edited 5/12/2013 1:07p).]

Up to '93, Midnights were still an Upperclassmen privilege. From '89-'93 Serge was also for white belts.

I have to say, I really liked the white performance belt on the winter A

Our uniforms look like **** on the whole. So out of date

The black-belt midnights began during the 93-95 timeframe. I'm c/o 96, and IIRC, we got to wear them as pissheads, then the next year the fish (c/o 98) got to wear them. We still had Class A Winters at that point as well.

I'm '98, and we had midnights issued to us.

I recall wearing them several times as a fish.

I don't have any issue with midnights going back to only juniors and seniors since I think they look a ton better with the white belt compared to the black belt.

Weasell66, you are so right! We had to buy our Midnights AND serge uniforms AND boot pants. Non of these were issue items back in 68-72.
I drove to San Antonio to get my Midnights custom made at Lautersteins Uniform Shop. Had to save a lot of pennies and nickels to afford it. Then had to drive back a while later to pick it up.
I couldn't believe they issue serge uniforms to fish and P-heads...after all, why do you think we call juniors Sergebutts? Because they got the privilege of wearing the serge or gabardine uniforms with the nice cowboy cut pocket flaps and yokes...that's why!

I vaguely recall buying a new serge uniform when I became a junior. Everything else after that was used...midnights, boot pants, even senior boots. Most of my pals were like me...always short on cash. Basically ended up selling everything I owned at graduation.
I don't know what the material was called on the serge-like uniforms that everyone was issued to replace khaki in Fall, '64 but I sure didn't miss ironing twice a day. We also were issued new Army Green "tanker jackets" or some such to replace the old Olive Drab field jackets. All this for about $8 a semester. Ah, life was good.

With all due respect to '71, to I have to correct you. Serge was worn by fish in '65 and we had the option of either serge or kahki which were both issued.

Several of us started out in serge b/c it was hell ironing kahki 3 times a day. I remeber turning out in kahki only to be hazed in the hall. as soon as you put them on you were a wrinkled mess.