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Show 2 Hilltop Times NEWS Nov. 8, 1991 UJciiifOB'itt Continued from Page 1 ed grades, another new design feature will be wear tested. Specifically, one stripe will be taken off the bottom and put at the top starting with master sergeant. Senior master sergeant will have two stripes up with five down and chief, three up and five down. This provides the top three enlisted ranks with a distinctive look as well as standardizing the Air Force rank with that of the Army and Marine Corps, McPeak explained. The overall cost to buy and maintain uniforms will decrease once the new ones come on line in 1994. The current cost for the service dress ranges from SI 45 for women officers to $115 for enlisted men. The new service dress is estimated to cost $137 for women and $130 for men. But because there are fewer accouterments and less duplication on the same items, the overall cost to buy and maintain the new uniform will be $9 to $34 less, depending on the individual's rank, officials said. Air Force members currently spend about $30.5 million on uniforms and accessories each year. When the new uniform is introduced, it's estimated that those costs will drop to $27 million a year, an overall savings of $3.5 million. Ail too often Air Force members have been required to have uniforms they seldom wore, officials said. So senior leadership decided a review of the overall uniform program was needed, resulting in a three-phasprogram. Phase one eliminates the blue ceremonial and white ceremonial uniforms which became optional items in February. The distinctive new service coat design should suitably replace them at functions previously requiring those uniforms. Phase two is to redesign the service dress uniform with emphasis on style, comfort, fit, quality, mass producibility and customer satisfaction. Three blends in different different fabrics, polyester-woo- l in this phase. also are weaves, being blends were chosOfficials said the polyester-woo- l en because they are easy for manufacturers to work with and, because of the fabric dying process, each item can be purchased as a separate rather than a uniform set. The type of wool being used will be warm during cold weather, and during hot weather will help wick away the moisture, officials said. Also, the 88th Air Force Uniform Board approved a wear test of two new women's skirts with functional pockets. This wear test has been incorporated into the service dress coat wear test. Phase three will involve reviewing other uniform clothing items, insignia and accouterments, and . ()) (S J i i ' : A t j i $ e U.S. Air Force Photo Uniform look Artist's conception of new male and female service dress uniforms. The dark blue uniform is a polyesterwool blend instead of 100 percent polyester. Key changes from the current service dress include the following: elimination of name tag, epaulets, metal insignia and outside pocketing and the addition of braided rank on the officer's uniform, similar to that used by the Navy. wear-teste- d Enlisted Airman Airman 1st Class eliminating duplication where possible. McPeak said the Air Force is looking at eliminating the service dress hat as a mandatory item. The new uniform, in the full range of sizes, will be tried by 300 military members during the fit test. A fit assessment will be determined and a size prediction chart will be generated to help determine who should wear what size, based on their individual measurements. It's an opportunity to identify and correct problems with the uniform prior to wear-tes- t article-productio- n, officials said. The wear test will involve 800 participants and will address user comfort, ac- - New Insicjnicas Officer b7 Master Sergeant Senior Second Lieutenant First Lieutenant ceptability, fit, appearance and ease of care. Any problems identified during wear test will be correct- ed before mass production. Senior leadership will "harden" on the final uniform design, fabric and rank insignia style after the wear test and an evaluation of the results. This evaluation will include comments from approximatewear ly 800 persons participating in the test that is scheduled to start in May. The three primary locations for the wear test are San Antonio, Washington, D.C., and AFB, Ohio. The contract for the uniform was awarded to Red the Uniform Tailor Inc., May 30. Research and development is scheduled to be completed in December 1992 with patterns and specifications being delivered to the procuring agencies by March 1993. The plan is to have the Army and Air Force Exchange Service introduce the new uniform through the military clothing sales stores. It should be available during May 1994. The Defense Personnel Support Center plans deliveries to the recruit center at Lackland AFB, Texas, and military clothing sales stores starting in spring 1995. It could become mandatory in fiscal six-mon- th Wright-Patterso- n 1999. Master Sergeant Senior Airman Chief Master Sergeant Captain Major Brigadier General Major General Staff Sergeant Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force Technical Sergeant rsS Lieutenant Colonel Colonel y Lieutenant General General Combat Strength Through Logistics Hilltop Times Published by MorMedia. Inc.. a private firm in no way connected with the U.S. Air Force, under exclusive written contract with Hill AFB. This commercial enterprise Air Force newspaper is an authorized publication for members of the U.S. military services. 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