SWO Leather Jacket

[nittany03]

Do you really want to know why SWO's do such painful stuff to each other and to ourselves.
Not completely by tradition, but also because it feels so darn good when we stop.

What does your therapist think about that?

 

[AllAmerican75]

I always thought if I was a SWO CO, I'd be sending my JOs all over the place with the small craft to give them some command at sea time. Lunch at Harborfest, crabbing up an estuary, at-sea paintball battles against the JOs from that rusty piece of crap two piers down, etc. Get some swagger. And probably a CoC without a band.

That's a surprisingly accurate description of life on a PC or Minesweep. The rest of the Surface Fleet forgot how to have fun.

 

[Sam I am]

My Ol' Man is spinning in his grave right now. Back in the day I told him that SWO's were authorized to wear brown shoes and he just laughed and said no self respecting Ship Driver would ever wear those.

 

[ChuckMK23]

Holy hell:

https://www.public.navy.mil/bupers-npc/reference/messages/Documents/NAVADMINS/NAV2020/NAV20004.txt

Talk about "prescriptive".

 

[Griz882]

Holy hell:

https://www.public.navy.mil/bupers-npc/reference/messages/Documents/NAVADMINS/NAV2020/NAV20004.txt

Talk about "prescriptive".

Where do they put their skull and crossbones patch?

 

[CAMike]

You have to unzip the jacket and it will find it permanently affixed on the inside left silk liner (discreetly). Kind of where your Bart Simpson Tailhook patch was affixed in the mid-90's.

 

[Jim123]

Somebody's selling those on eBay for about ten bucks! ?

 

[nittany03]

Great; I’m sure they’ll make a killing shipping to the old folks’ home . . .

 

[azguy]

I won't turn down a free jacket but my problem is that as a guy that loves going to sea and serving operationally, it's not functional. I'd rather have the North Face style soft-shell jacket that all the aviators wear. Of all the aviators I see on base I almost never, ever see anyone wearing a leather jacket - but they all wear this green soft-shell jacket.

 

[SynixMan]

I won't turn down a free jacket but my problem is that as a guy that loves going to sea and serving operationally, it's not functional. I'd rather have the North Face style soft-shell jacket that all the aviators wear. Of all the aviators I see on base I almost never, ever see anyone wearing a leather jacket - but they all wear this green soft-shell jacket.

A) That jacket is the Massif and it's comfy AF.
B) Most people save leather for khakis/SDB wear to keep it nice.

 

[Renegade One]

Of all the aviators I see on base I almost never, ever see anyone wearing a leather jacket...

And yet we whined like 12-year olds in K-Mart until we got them back. Same same for brown shoes. I dare say the SWO jacket is more of a morale thing than a nod towards "at-sea functionality", and I'm happy for that.

 

[insanebikerboy]

I wouldn’t wear a uniform on the way to work but once at the squadron and in the bag, I wore the leather jacket all the time. Broken in, I thought it was warmer and more comfortable than the alternatives.

 

[Jim123]

Great; I’m sure they’ll make a killing shipping to the old folks’ home . . .

#okmillenial

 

[mad dog]

...I wore the leather jacket all the time.

Ditto.

 

[AllAmerican75]

And yet we whined like 12-year olds in K-Mart until we got them back. Same same for brown shoes. I dare say the SWO jacket is more of a morale thing than a nod towards "at-sea functionality", and I'm happy for that.

As a guy looking at making O4 in the not too distant future and having to buy dinner dress, can we also bring back the boat cloak? You know, for morale purposes.