# The Army and Rolled Sleeves



## AWP (Jul 7, 2014)

Just...stop, Soldiers, just stop. You sound like little girls, not the "warriors" and "heroes" you're supposed to be.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/07/07/some-army-soldiers-reportedly-demand-right-to-roll-sleeves/



> “I sweat every day when I walk to work,” Perkins told Army Times. “You get sticky.”
> 
> “When it’s hot in Louisiana, we should be able to roll up our sleeves,” Perkins said.
> 
> “In BDUs, they looked more like soldiers, someone to look up to,” Humphrey told Army Times. “You always saw everyone with their sleeves rolled up and tattoos out, no problem.”


 
Sticky? Ewwww! I don't want to be STICKYYYYY!

Sleeves rolled up and showing tattoos...someone to look up to based on that? As a guy with a fair amount of ink that's the most ridiculous (well, I forgot about Mr. Sticky) argument in favor of rolled sleeves._ I'm hot! I'm sticky! Wah! _Got it, I'm on board. I forgot how chill and awesome the Korengal or Route Irish are/ were. Totally forgot about that. We wouldn't you to be "sticky" there, would we, Soldier? Allah knows the locals don't respect us unless our tattoos are showing on our massive guns...

Clowns. Just be quiet. We wore sleeves down in FL and no one moaned or complained or whined to Fox or Army Times. We wore them down and we didn't mind. Adult up, why don't you?

"Sticky..." :wall:


----------



## pardus (Jul 7, 2014)

I don't know about everyone else but it's my balls that get sticky not my fucking arms, I want ball friendly pants!
An operating room specialist is bitching about the heat? When he works he will be wearing short sleeved scrubs, he PTs in short sleeves too, so his whining must come from walking to the chow hall. Phew, tough life! 

The problem isnt the sleeves its the 50/50 cotton polyester blend. Go back to cotton.

Then there's this little gem... 



> The policy would protect soldiers against sunburn and skin cancer, Army officials said at the time,



But we wear PCs all the time


----------



## Diamondback 2/2 (Jul 7, 2014)

LMAO, how are those "stress card" soldiers working out these days? Its hard to believe how things have changed over the last decade.


----------



## AWP (Jul 7, 2014)

A decade ago, whether you agree with his actions or not, we had guys standing up and calling out the SecDef on availability of armor.

Now we have guys whining to the Army Times about being "sticky" because of long sleeves.

How wonderful must our soldiers' lives be if they can complain to the national media about their sleeves? ALLLL of the other problems are solved I guess. Good to know.

Meanwhile, the Commandant of the Marine Corps is happy to see the Army in the news:


----------



## Diamondback 2/2 (Jul 7, 2014)

Yeah I would not say everything has been fixed, more that everything has devolved into stupidity. I would have never thought of talking to the media, much less cry about stupid shit like feeling sticky b/c I can't roll up my sleeves. I mean really, WTF? Shit like this and that stupid specialist who was mocking funeral services, has me really wondering what the hell is wrong with the Army these days.


----------



## Grunt (Jul 7, 2014)

There are those among the ranks that aren't happy unless they are griping about something. I guess those that gripe the most about their sleeves having to be down can't seem to find anything more valuable to whine about...like per se...insurance, pay, etc...

Nah...sleeves down is certainly more worthy....


----------



## DA SWO (Jul 7, 2014)

Loved this comment:
Army National Guard Staff Sgt. James Lowe, a 35-year-old indirect fire infantryman at Texas’ Camp Swift, said he didn't enjoy rolling his sleeves on active duty in the late 1990s and still opposes it. He cited a fellow soldier whose arms were too large to fit through rolled-up sleeves, leading him to make alterations.

I had a guy like that, he cut the arms off his "Bear Suit" so they'd fit.

I think the sleeve down policy was and is dumb, but bitching to Fox News, seriously?


----------



## 0699 (Jul 7, 2014)

Freefalling said:


> A decade ago, whether you agree with his actions or not, we had guys standing up and calling out the SecDef on availability of armor.
> 
> *Now we have guys whining to the Army Times about being "sticky" because of long sleeves.*
> 
> ...


 
In 1998ish, we got a new CMC and SMMC.  The Marine Corps Times had an article/interview with them about the first things that they would do in office.  The "big"changes?  Changing from green t-shirts to brown t-shirts under our  utilities and the SMMC wanted to get rid of the terms "light-green" and "dark-green" Marines (code for black guys and white guys) because he found it offensive.  A lot of my peers were upset, but my take on it was "we must be doing pretty damn good if that's all the changes they can come up with".  We must have solved all the problems with base housing, aging equipment, lack of ammunition for rifle qualification, etc.


----------



## pardus (Jul 7, 2014)

JAB said:


> Yeah I would not say everything has been fixed, more that everything has devolved into stupidity. I would have never thought of talking to the media, much less cry about stupid shit like feeling sticky b/c I can't roll up my sleeves. I mean really, WTF? Shit like this and that stupid specialist who was mocking funeral services, has me really wondering what the hell is wrong with the Army these days.



What has always pissed me off is when serious issues come up in a unit and the bitching gets so loud the CoC addresses it. 
So the BC/CO asks the crowd, "tell me your problems" and some fucktard will always say "my arms are sticky" or "the toilet paper is too scratchy" and the real problems get washed away in the BS and remain unresolved.


----------



## policemedic (Jul 8, 2014)

I wore rolled sleeves for a short period on Bragg after we were pulled out of the field during Hurricane Hugo.  So, maybe a week, and then we went back to Ord.  

I didn't see the big deal then, and don't now.  Maybe the whiners need to go to Iraq in July and wear full battle rattle for a full shift.  Sticky...for fuck's sake.


----------



## Muppet (Jul 8, 2014)

policemedic said:


> I wore rolled sleeves for a short period on Bragg after we were pulled out of the field during Hurricane Hugo.  So, maybe a week, and then we went back to Ord.
> 
> I didn't see the big deal then, and don't now.  Maybe the whiners need to go to Iraq in July and wear full battle rattle for a full shift.  Sticky...for fuck's sake.



I rolled my sleeves while wearing BDU's but because of my fucking awesome guns, needed to go to Bragg BLVD and get the sleeves altered for the bicep / tricep girth. Most days I took my shirt off, my arms were numbs from the sleeves (even altered) cutting into my arms and cutting off my circulation. Life was tough then.:wall:

F.M.


----------



## Diamondback 2/2 (Jul 8, 2014)

I used to roll my sleeves two cuff links in the field when I needed to let a little air in, but generally if you got into some thickets or under growth (and I spent a lot of time crawling through south Texas brush) you really wanted to cover up as much as possible. I never rolled my sleeves in BDU’s or ACU’s while in garrison. Working a detail we would normally pull our blouse off, but other than that, it was always sleeves down and proper uniform.


----------



## Muppet (Jul 8, 2014)

You never rolled BDU's in the summer?

F.M.


----------



## Diamondback 2/2 (Jul 8, 2014)

Firemedic said:


> You never rolled BDU's in the summer?
> 
> F.M.


Nope.


----------



## AWP (Jul 8, 2014)

We rolled our sleeves until about 97 or 98, but after that were wore them down all of the time. Our tops came off for a work detail, but that's pretty standard regardless. Honestly, seeing someone with rolled sleeves now would just look odd.

As a guy who is no longer in, roll them or not, but seriously..."I'm sticky" and whining to the Army Times or Fox News? And this is an issue worthy of the senior leadership's time? After being at war for over a decade? All of the problems now or likely to be in the near future and THIS is something to snivel about? As someone who was in during the 90's you "new" guys haven't seen anything yet. I guess if you "Warriors" are uncomfortable, then fight for the right to roll your sleeves, Boo-Boo.


----------



## RetPara (Jul 8, 2014)

I'm so fucking glad I'm retired....


----------



## DA SWO (Jul 8, 2014)

It'll be interesting ( i.e. fun, in a sick way) to see how guys/gals who have been at war for 10 plus years react to the Garrison Army Mentality.


----------



## reed11b (Jul 8, 2014)

It already sucks balls. I was in once during gari-trooper years, but since I knew nothing else, it didn't seem so bad. Now that I have a frame of reference, it's killing me slowly.
Reed


----------



## Brill (Jul 8, 2014)

Wait, so the RA doesn't wear team PTs to work?


----------



## Marine0311 (Jul 8, 2014)

The USMC had this problem about a year ago and after the shit went down the USMC went back to the "seasonal" approach.


----------



## racing_kitty (Jul 8, 2014)

Commander's discretion.  I never had this problem, since every commander I had took one look at my ginger ass and said "NO!  You, sleeves down.  End of story."  At least it kept the ticks at bay.


----------



## DA SWO (Jul 8, 2014)

racing_kitty said:


> Commander's discretion.  I never had this problem, since every commander I had took one look at my ginger ass and said "NO!  You, sleeves down.  End of story."  At least it kept the ticks at bay.


The boss staring at your ass didn't bother you?


----------



## racing_kitty (Jul 8, 2014)

Nope.

ETA:  Most of them thought I was a lesbian, so I never had to worry about getting hit on.  That would've creeped me out.


----------



## pardus (Jul 8, 2014)

racing_kitty said:


> Nope.
> 
> ETA:  Most of them thought I was a lesbian, so I never had to worry about getting hit on.  That would've creeped me out.



OH SNAP!
I'm a lesbian too!


----------



## SpongeBob*24 (Jul 8, 2014)

It isn't the "sleeves down" rule making troops hot, its the fact that they use the same material on a ACU top that they do to keep Astronauts from Freezing to death on the Moon when Temps hit  -400 deg F.


----------



## Viper1 (Jul 8, 2014)

ISIS, GRU, Boko Haram, AQIM, IMU, and any number of extremist organizations  for us and our allies to battle on a moment's notice.

What's on the mind of the Army Times?  Rolled sleeves. :wall:

That, ladies and gentlemen, is why I cancelled my subscription years ago.


----------



## Scotth (Jul 9, 2014)

I don't know during the '80's it was pretty standard, in garrison you could roll your sleeves up if you wanted and in the field it was sleeves down regardless.  I'm not even sure why this would even be an issue, seems kind of chicken shit to me.

Whining to the Army Times and the Army Times actually publishing the story about it.  How are you not horribly embarrassed to be quoted in the story?  Unbelievable.


----------



## 104TN (Jul 9, 2014)

To quote Anthony Bourdain, "How do you expect us to fight Al-Qaeda if you can't suck the meat out of a f*cking crab."


----------

