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Opinions on Attire Not Quite Uniform

Apr- 4-2005 » Filed Under: 1/25 SBCT

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By Steve Fainaru, Washington Post

MOSUL, Iraq -- Famished and sleep-deprived after a 48-hour combat mission, Spec. Rusty "Doc" Mauney shed his heavy body armor and headed for the chow hall. He was near the door when a booming voice halted him.

"Where's your headgear, soldier?" said the sergeant major.

Mauney stammered that he had been out on a mission all night and hadn't brought along his cap.

"You're not coming in here," snapped the sergeant, according to Mauney. "Just because you're in a combat zone doesn't mean you can blow off Army regulations."

A change in command last month at the forward operating base, or FOB, that serves as headquarters for U.S. forces in northern Iraq has dramatically altered the military culture here. A corps of disciplinarians that has come to be known to soldiers as the "Nine Disciples of FOB Courage" has launched a crackdown on inappropriately tucked-in shirts, improper use of sunglasses and even swearing. [...]

In some ways, the renewed attention to uniform standards is a measure of the Stryker Brigade's progress, particularly in Mosul, where attacks have plummeted since the elections.

"Every once in a while you gotta reel it in and say, 'Let's get back to reality,' " said Command Sgt. Maj. Ricky Pring, who enforces military regulations for the 11th ACR. "And I think that's what happened when we showed up. It was kind of like, 'Okay, everything has slowed down, and let's look at ourselves. What can we do better?' "

Pring described the Stryker Brigade as "the best unit I've ever seen" but was unapologetic, saying, "Discipline makes our Army stronger than any other army on the planet.

"I've been in the Army 27 years. A happy soldier is a bitching soldier."


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