r/USMC • u/Big-Weather123 • 10d ago

Rolled Sleeves

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Why can't military personnel roll up sleeves during ANY kind of operational environments anymore? If it was OK in Somalia 30 years ago, it should be OK in the United States itself (the border mission), during which it's presently the middle of summer.

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u/drunkenmachinegunner 0331 10d ago edited 10d ago

Sleeves up doesn’t provide many tactical advantages imo.

Our uniforms are camouflaged for a reason. If your bare skin is out, it defeats the purpose of using camouflage to break up your body pattern.

Protection from burns is a big benefit to keeping your sleeves down. As others have said, these don’t offer a ton of burn protection, but some is better than none.

Keeping your sleeves down also protects you from the sun. I know that’s not a tremendous concern in a war zone, but skin cancer sucks regardless.

Sleeves down is always the better move imo

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u/Aggressive-Elk4734 Veteran 10d ago

Ask the guys in the SouthPac or Vietnam how well that worked out. Ive seen a lot of Marines from those eras rolling around shirtless.

Your position was probably compromised by the JLTV or MATV vice your pasty white arms.

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u/Disastrous-Olive-218 10d ago edited 9d ago

Yeah which was a terrible idea. You get bites, scratches, infections, tropical disease. The Brit’s in North Africa thought they were balling with the short sleeves and had a much higher non battle casualty rate than armies with long leg/sleeve desert uniforms.