US Army Mess Dress

[CMcG]

Over on the Civilian Mess Jackets thread, some people were talking about rules and regulations for wearing the kilt with US Armed Forces uniforms. I'm no expert and it seemed to be a somewhat conflicted issue; if you are in the Army, best check with your superiors regarding mess dress regulations. For people who aren't actively serving, it was recommended to remove the insignia from a military mess jacket or else just get a civilian version of it.

[longhuntr74]

They're not very good pics, but here are two cases where individuals are wearing their mess uniform jacket with a kilt. As the function it is worn to is a quasi-military (a veterans organization) affair, they have opted to wear the jacket with all shoulder boards, rank, awards, and decorations. (If you decide to go browsing through the rest of this album, you will find a bunch of ammunition for "what not to wear" or "how not to wear it"...just a warning...as I said, they aren't particularly good photos or examples maybe)
http://picasaweb.google.com/sams1921...30331840470834
http://picasaweb.google.com/sams1921...31003528815154
As I have stated (I think in CMcG's mess jacket thread), I have a mess jacket and have contemplated wearing it with a kilt...but have opted against it. While I've been known to break the rules a time or two (many more, actually) during my career, I'm not keen on committing a flagrant violation of uniform regulations. As MoR has explained quite well, it can be done (the mess jacket thing)...but you'd need to dedicate the jacket strictly as a kilt jacket and make some modifications (buttons, removing some trim, etc) and as the mess jackets are quite costly, you'd probably be better off just getting a PC or Argyll jacket.