Civilian Mess Jackets

[macwilkin]

Todd,
The US Army just "discontinued" the service whites (the uniform on that link) from the inventory about 3 years ago in the same change message where they published the the transition guidance from the green Class A uniform to the new ASU (essentially a modified version of the old dress blue uniform). Until that time we had a white uniform that was cut nearly identical to the green uniform...but nobody wore it, which is probably why they got rid of it.

The did, however, keep the white mess uniform and evening mess uniform as an authorized evening uniform (probably for senior level officers who attend summertime joint service dining functions where many personnel from other services may be wearing a white uniform). It's a sharp uniform and only costs about $350 for the jacket and pants. Jacket is a white mess jacket cut exactly the same as the blue mess jacket but with same colored lapels (instead of the traditional branch colored satin). Pants are high-waisted black flat-front tux pants with a black satin stripe down the outseam. The differentiation between the mess and evening mess are black tie, pleated shirt, cummerbund vs. white tie, stiff front shirt, and white waistcoat.

Good to know. I'm surprised the service whites lasted as long as they did.

T.